Esports has been growing at a tremendous rate over the past two decades. Esports is one of the most popular industries today, garnering millions of enthusiasts, and has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. This industry is an organized competitive video gaming that involves teams competing in a tournament against each other.
Based on the statistics in the year 2020, the Esports industry has generated a revenue of $947.1 million (₱2,553,582.66). And the recent prediction, by 2025 the industry revenue will grow to $1.87 billion (₱103,953,300,000).
But how did the Esport garner millions of revenue? Who is paying all this money? This includes revenue from media rights, publisher fees, digital revenues, streaming, and in-game purchases, merchandise, and tickets for events. A recent study has estimated that there are over 215 million Esports enthusiasts worldwide. Major tournaments fill thousands of fans, who watch live-action gameplay on giant screens.
What is Esports
Esports is a highly organized competitive environment for video games The games can range from popular, MOBA’s (Multiplayer online battle arenas), to first-person single-player shooters, to survival battle royales, to virtual reconstructions of physical sports. The term Esport originated from South Korea’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism at the founding ceremony for the Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA). South Korea is widely known for its high-speed broadband connection and government initiatives to promote gaming culture and become the cradle of competitive gaming.
Esports is a competitive video game that celebrates professionalism and skill. Theoretically, any video game can be an Esports as long as you can compete in it and win prizes and there are enthusiasts willing to watch. Either players will play one-on-one matches against one another, or in team format. For example, shooters are pitted against each other in various modes to complete objectives, these are games like Counter-Strike and Call of Duty. Whereas, League of Legends has five players play against another five-man team in an arena to destroy each other’s base. Depending on the game the rules and strategies can differ.
History
Esports history started in 50’s and the first codes meant for gaming were written in that decade. Nobody at that time thought that a big evolution concerning this market would happen. The first ever video game was created in 1947, and Tennis for Two in mid-1958 is known as the first competitive gameplay appeared. This was a novelty to have 2 player game and this is where Esports history begins.
60s and 70s
In the new decade, the Esports background became stronger, and the Spacewar was released in the 60’s. After this different game surfaces and styles and modes changed significantly. It has been seen the improvements in gaming technology as time went on. Companies became interested in growing this world and tournaments became a big thing worldwide. This was the decade when consoles were at their first peak and tournaments were limited to universities and similar institutions.
The generation was able to watch other types of games such as Sea Wolf, Asteroids, and Pong with the use of an arcade console. Moving on, the first international Esports Football video game tournament was held with the help of Atari.
80s
The appearance of teams, and standardization of games started in this decade. Several games have made their appearance on arcade controls such as Donkey Kong, and Pac-Man. TV networks have also started broadcasting the games which is a big step for Esports.
90s
This is the decade of emergence of the internet. This has brought huge growth and more opportunities for the Esports industry. Games such as Super Mario Bros, Sonic, Virtual Racing, and Tetris have become popular worldwide. Not only consoles have improved, but they also allowed competition to grow however, new computers started their appearance in the market. Because of the accessibility, this has greatly improved the momentum of Esports. Gaming modes and fighting games, Racing games, and FPS have become genres in 90’s
00s
The new millennium was accompanied by technological advancement which helped the Esport to be known worldwide. This era had a focus on computer games and old games have begun to be seen on computers. Games such as Warcraft III and Age of Empires have ruled the world. Later on Defense of the Ancients (DotA) has taken over the gaming world. Consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation also started to deliver new games.
2010s
Dedicated streaming platforms have begun to rise. Twitch is one of the pioneers of this platform. They helped Esports get exposed to the market which increased the number of streamers to 45 million.
Computer manufacturers, telephone companies, food and beverage companies, and a few others started to sponsor local and big Esports teams and events.
DotA was replaced by League of Legends as the most-played MOBA game. It has been the most exploited and played in the industry. Afterwards, advanced games have also started to appear such as Dota2, COD, and more. PUBG pushed the Battle Royale genre to the market by the end of the decade. This has led to the major tournament for Fortnite that has raised a prize pool of $100,000,000 with over 2 million spectators.
2020s
New technologies have begun their way and streaming platforms are widely known to the world. This has led to Esports getting televised as a normal sport. The evolution continues and Esports has also become a popular sports event in the Sports Betting industry.
Sports Betting for Esports
Over the past few years Esports industry has become popular. People started to build their interest in betting on their favorite gaming teams. The number of betting sites has increased opening the door for betting in Esports. Online bookmakers have started streaming live games and allowing you to place bets in numerous ways. You can place your bets based on how the game is progressing. You can place a bet on who’s team wins the match, which team wins overall, the final score, and so on.
If you wish to get involved it is ideal that you research the best esports betting site Philippines such as 2ezbet to have the best Esports betting experience.
