Esports has been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the gaming industry for the past 10 years. It’s incredible how fast this sector reaches new milestones and breaks records. Of course, the continuous advancements and innovations in technology make this activity more entertaining and sophisticated than ever. We all remember when players gathered in so-called Internet cafes and played their favorite games together locally. Today, we have professional players and tournaments watched by millions of people.
Even during difficult times, like the pandemic, the Esports industry kept growing. It generated a revenue of $1.08 billion US dollars, compared to $947 million in 2020 and $957 million in 2019. According to some stats, the income of the global Esports market will reach $1.61 billion by 2024. Now let’s see what Esports are and what’s behind their popularity.
What is Esports?
Esports, e-sports, eSports, electronic sports…these terms describe the same thing – a type of competition using video games. Usually, the terms are used for organized, multiplayer video competitions.
The early history of Esports started in the 1970s when the first video game competitions occurred. In a modern sense, Esports was established in the 2000s when the first professional gamers began appearing at events with live streaming. That’s when the audience got involved, and this form of competition became popular globally.
Several video game genres are present in Esports tournaments, including RTS (real-time strategy), battle royale, card, fighting, FPS (first-person shooter), and MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena). Some popular Esports video games include Street Fighter, StarCraft, Overwatch, Valorant, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Dota.
The current state of Esports and its future
As we already mentioned, the number of players and fans of Esports is constantly growing. The tournaments that once had prize pools of just a few thousand dollars are replaced with events that promise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the most successful participants. Also, according to some experts, the number of global fans of Esports has reached over 400 million in 2021.
The advancement in technology and the popularity of Esports have unleashed the creativity of both software developers and players. As a result, we now have sub-categories like mobile Esports, VR (Virtual Reality) Esports, etc.
Another interesting thing we should mention here is the sports betting statistics (or should we say Esports betting stats). Namely, betting on Esports became a thing from the moment the first professional tournaments appeared and are now a multimillion-dollar business. People are following the best players and teams and wager money on the outcome of single matches or outright winners. There are specialized portals with match predictions and stats that can help Esports bettors make a decision. Once again, this is another trending market that people should watch if they are interested in electronic sports and/or betting.
Final words
Esports is not just on the rise – it’s literally booming. Unlike traditional sports, Esports keeps evolving, providing many surprises to the fans and keeping pro players busy. When we take all the things we mentioned in this blog post, we can say that Esports will soon become one of the dominant forms of entertainment.
