SUMMARY
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a type of video game competition. Esports are usually organized multiplayer video game events between professional players, either individually or in teams. Although organized tournaments have long been a feature of video game culture, they were mostly between amateurs until the late 2000s, when professional gamers began to participate and spectatorship of these events via live streaming skyrocketed. Esports has become a substantial part of the video game industry by the 2010s, with many game makers actively designing and supporting tournaments and other events. Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), first-person shooter (FPS), fighting, card, battle royal, and real-time strategy (RTS) games are the most popular video game genres linked with esports. League of Legends, Dote, Counter-Strike, Valeant, Over watch, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros., and StarCraft are just a few of the popular esports titles. The League of Legends World Championship, Dote 2 International, the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), and the Intel Extreme Masters are among the most popular Esports tournaments. Many other events, like as the Over watch League, feature a series of league matches with sponsored teams.
Although the legality of esports as a legitimate sporting competition is still debatable, they have been featured alongside traditional sports in certain multinational events in Asia, and the International Olympic Committee has debated their inclusion in future Olympic events.
By the late 2010s, it was predicted that esports would have a total viewership of 454 million people, with revenue exceeding $1 billion, with China accounting for 35% of global esports revenue in 2020. Online streaming media platforms, particularly YouTube and Twitch, have become increasingly important in the growth and marketing of esports tournaments. Female gamers have also participated professionally, despite the fact that the viewership is roughly 85 percent male and 15% female, with the bulk of spectators between the ages of 18 and 34. Esports first gained popularity and reputation in Asia, with considerable growth in China and South Korea, the latter of which has licensed professional players since 2000. Despite having a major video game industry, Japan’s esports business is underdeveloped, owing to the country’s stringent anti-gambling regulations, which prohibit paid professional gaming competitions. Outside of Asia, esports are popular in Europe and the Americas, with regional and international competitions taking place in both.
History of ESports
How it all started
The first eSports event, according to game historians, took place on October 19th, 1972 at Stanford University in California. Students competed in Spacewar, a sci-fi rocket battle game, with the winner receiving a year’s subscription to the Rolling Stones magazine. There’s a certain beautiful romance to this and it’s not surprising it took place in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of what is now known as Silicon Valley.
1980’s’s
The United States National Video Game Team was founded in 1983 and competed in events such as the Video Game Masters Tournament. At the time, the most popular games were Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. During this time, televised eSports competitions included the American show Starcade, which aired 133 episodes from 1982 to 1984 and centered upon contestants competing to beat each other’s high scores on an arcade game. Then, in 1988, Netrek appeared, an internet game for up to 16 players that was one of the first to employ megaservers’ and was dubbed “the first online sports game” by Wired Magazine.
1990’s
Street Fighter II, released in the 1990s, was crucial in the development of the eSport concept, since it entered a new era of direct, tournament-level, face-to-face competition between two players. Prior to this, video game victors were determined by the highest score. People watch eSports for a variety of reasons, one of which is the social contact between players. This, as well as audience involvement, is a key role in both traditional and eSports. The 1990 Nintendo World Championships, which toured across the United States and finished at Universal Studios Hollywood, were the first eSports competitions. In 1994, Nintendo held a second World Championships for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.This was followed by television series incorporating eSports, such as Gamemaster and Bad Influence in the United Kingdom, A*mazing in Australia, and Video & Arcade Top 10 in Canada, which helped it become more mainstream.In the 1990s, internet speeds and connectivity would be the next key driver, and major games like Counter-Strike, Quake, and Warcraft would be released.
2000-Now
As seen above, video game player competitions have been going on for years, but after 2000, they began to become more organized, with international tournaments such as the World Cyber Games and the Electronic Sports World Cup, followed by the Major League Gaming (MLG) in 2002, which is still the largest eSports league today. South Korea will be a major driver in the future, with 24-hour televised coverage of StarCraft and Warcraft III events on cable TV gaming channels.
eSports has become a substantial part of the video game industry by the 2010s, with many game makers actively designing and supporting tournaments and other events. The rest is pretty much history; eSports is now a billion-dollar industry, the world’s fastest-growing sport, and with eSports players making millions, it’s impossible to stop it.