Introduction to eGaming
Video gaming has long stopped being entertainment solely for the solitary player holed up in their living room. Players saw a massive shift occur in the late 2000s. Competitions and tournaments became far more professional, began to attract spectators and viewers, and saw game developers include features conducive to such competitions in new games.
Today, not only is video gaming a networking activity, but it has also become a regularly scheduled, profit-generating pastime in the form of eSports. eSports can be described as organized multiplayer gaming events, mostly between professional players. There is usually a series of tournaments which culminate in championships, both at a regional and a global level.
The rapidly growing phenomenon surrounding eSports continues to gather steam, as the intersection of gaming and sports offers an innovative wave of branding opportunities, engaging content and activations for millions across the world.
The eSports market is indeed experiencing a rapid growth, despite being in its formative stage. In 2016, worldwide revenues generated in the eSports market amounted to 492.7 million U.S. dollars. By 2020, the market is expected to generate over 1.48 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, which indicates a compound annual growth rate of 32 percent.
These revenues came from betting, prize pools and tournaments, but overwhelmingly from sponsorship and advertising, which brought in almost 661 million U.S. dollars in 2016. Looking at the latest regional profitability data, Asia was considered to be generating a lion’s share of the revenues in 2016, followed by North America with its 275 million U.S. dollar eSports market and Europe.
With such potential in revenue, the market will attract huge following of enthusiasts like the F1 or Olympic crowds. In the next article, we will explore the audience market for eSports market.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 271,476+ people.
Subscribe to receive our top stories here.
