Is competitive gaming here to stay?
When I was five, I was luckyenough to be gifted a PlayStation 2 by my family. This started my love affairwith video games that is still as strong today as it was then.
The gaming industry haschanged dramatically since then, but in the last two years has found itselfcatapulted into the mainstream media unlike ever before.
Competitive gaming is stillrelatively unknown to the masses, despite being tipped to become a billion dollarindustry thisyear. Even the more commonreference to competitive gaming, Esports, often garners smirks when I chat topeople who can’t help but chuckle about the irony. Gaming, a symbol of theindoors and isolation, and sport being the antithesis.
However, with prize money in the millions and Esports athletes such as Ninja signing brand deals with huge sport brands, people are starting to take Esports seriously. Butis there a limit to how much it can grow?
Even though global phenomenonFortnite, has arguably catapulted competitive gaming into the public eye, it’snot a new concept. The earliest-known video game competition took place on 19thOctober 1972 at Stanford University for the game Spacewar. And, while it mightnot be at the forefront of the mainstream media, Esports has been quietlyflourishing.
During the 2010s, Esportsgrew tremendously, incurring a large increase in both viewership and prizemoney, even garnering investment from traditional sports organisations. Take-TwoInteractive partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA) to createthe NBA 2K League, using the NBA 2K game series. It’s the first Esports leagueto be operated by a professional sports league, and the NBA sought to have aLeague team partially sponsored by each of the 30 professional NBA teams.
Similarly, EA Sports has followedsuit with leagues such as the E-Premier League. For organisations of thismagnitude to invest, they must see some serious potential.
While the majority of Esportsviewers tune in via streaming sites such as Twitch, it’s the physicalviewership of competitions that perhaps provides the biggest indication thatthe industry could keep thriving.
League of Legends is leadingthe way in this regard, selling out the Staples Centre in 2013 for the Season 3League of Legends World Championship. The 2014 League of Legends WorldChampionship in Seoul, South Korea, had over 40,000 fans in attendance. Just toput that number into context, that is the capacity of Chelsea’s stadium in StamfordBridge.
Esports isn’t without itschallenges, and the debate will rage on about its place within sports. In addition,as with other sports, it also comes with people trying to unfairly gain an advantage,whether this is through hacking or even performance enhancing drugs. Furthermore,gambling and betting on Esports matches have generally been illegal in majormarkets.
These trends have subsequentlycreated a black market and since Esports isn’t regulated, this may encouragematch-fixing by players themselves. The lack of regulation has also led toissues with underage gaming due to the demographic that video games attracts.
Despite these issues, onecan’t deny that Esports certainly is in the ascendency. The popularity ofgaming doesn’t look like it is going to decrease any time soon and through theincreasing trend of free-to-play games, such as Fortnite, it also makes it moreaccessible.
If the investment of majororganisations continues, it’s hard to picture Esports not continuing to breakinto the mainstream media.
Many see the Olympic Games as a potentialmethod to legitimise Esports and, honestly, that is well within the realms ofmy imagination should it keep growing at its current rate.