Esports can be called many different names. Professional gaming. A leisure activity. A sport. Whatever sounds right, call it a business. As I started playing video games at a young age, I never thought once Esports would get this far in the competitive gaming world. Fast forwarding to now, done with my childhood video game addiction, I have turned my attention to how in the heck did video games turn into to Esports and how did Esports turn into a billion-dollar industry. In the world today, it is becoming common knowledge that Esports is booming and it will not stop anytime soon. I have a few key points from my own experience – plus a decade as a gamer – to help you understand everything you need to know about Esports:

The Games

Esports has a wide variety of games. The majority are fighting games, first person shooters (FPS), multiplayer battle arena games (MOB). The MOB genre is by far the most popular in terms of participation and viewership. Furthermore, Fortnite and Dota2 are just some games that have taken Esport gaming to a whole other level. The number of tournaments and prize money for these games will make you want to quit your day job and start practicing. The one thing you can’t forget about also are the sport games itself. Madden and the NHL video games also hold many different tournaments with a large money prize as well. Overall, there is a wide variety of games for all types of gaming people.

The Popularity

Video games have been popular over the past 30 years. Esports have been popular for the past five years. Your first question might be why is Esports so popular now? Competitive gaming isn’t new by any means, but it has become much more mainstream just in the past few years. It has been starting to gain a lot of momentum from it’s huge tournament events. For example, the League of Legends World Championships or the FIFA eWorld Cup, which attracts millions of viewers across the globe. Regardless of attending the event in person, Esports have been actively broadcasting events on a variety of platforms like Twitch, ESPN, TBS, etc. The amount of viewership and engagement for Esports has just sky rocketed popularity for the Esports Industry.

The Money, Money, Money

Esports is a billion dollar industry. There is no shortage when it comes to the prize money available to Esports gaming participants and teams. The top Esports organizations are worth more a lot more than you would think. According to Forbes, the top organization are listed at $200 million dollars. As the money being turned over to teams and organizations, one aspect of Esports that make most of the dough is the sponsorships. The breakdown on money in the Esports industry is from sponsorships, media rights, advertising, and merchandise and tickets.

The Future of Esports

What’s especially exciting about the Esports industry is how much growth potential still yet remains. As time goes on, greater percentage of the overall population will be within the potential audience pool for Esports. With most people in their teens, twenties, and thirties the exposure the industry will only increase. In addition, with more tournaments being created all around the world, it’s just an amount of time it will surpass one of the modern-day sports. With talks about Esports being a potential sport in the Olympics just goes to show how much traction Esports has and will gain over the next few years. According to Newzoo, in 2019 they predicted Esports to hit over $1 billion and they did just that. The number will continue to grow and reach further into the billions.

Overall, Esports has a bright future ahead thanks to the variety of games and the professional players that make it worthy to follow and watch. In the coming years, it is highly likely that Esports will make headway and be listed as a true sport. Keep up in the news as every year Esports will continue to gain more traction and pass other major sport leagues. What major sports league will Esports pass first? Please let me know in the comments!