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What is eSports?
This is a form of competition where professional players compete as a team or as individuals. As with non-digital sports, the most popular eSports are team games played in leagues or tournaments.
eSports demands some skill set and training and is a professional sport that involves wages and specific price money. This involves huge spectatorship, and the eSports market is constantly evolving these days.
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History of eSports
In 1972, the video game contest took place at Stanford University for the ‘Space War‘ game. It is a space combat game in which five students clashed over the coveted prize of a one-year subscription to ‘Rolling Stone Magazine’.
During the 2000s, the games like Starcraft and Counter-Strike increased in popularity. With the emergence of online streaming services, eSports show a huge surge in viewership and prize money.
During the 2010s, the number of tournaments has increased from 10 tournaments to 260 in 2010. Nintendo hosted Wii Games Summer of 2010. Spanning over a month, the tournament had over 400,000 participants, making it the largest and most expansive tournament in the company’s history.
There is also a rise in Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) Games where teams compete in the group against each other. The Major international tournaments and professional Leagues were launched. Some of them are World Cyber Games, the Electronic Sports World Cup, and Major League Gaming (MLG).
Different categories of E-sports are organized these days implies different skill sets. Below are the examples of such E-sports categories:
- Multiplayer Online Battle games like League of Legends, Dota 2, and so on.
- First Person Shooter (FPS) events like PUBG, Call of Duty, Halo, Fortnite, and so on.
- Sports Games like FIFA, NBA2K, and so on.
- Fighter Games like Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Street Fighter, and so on.
- Real-Time Strategies Games like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Comand & Conquer, and so on.
- Card Games like Hearthstone, Legends of Runeterra, and so on.
Covid-19 helped the E-sports gaming industry to show huge participation in recent times. Peoples are more involved in E-sports, and with the increase in competition at the global level, it becomes a billion-dollar market and could generate almost $ 3 Billion by 2025.
Some of the Famous Games involves in eSports Industry –
- League of legends
- Dota 2
- Fortnite
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Overwatch
- PUBG
- Hearthstone
- World of warcraft
- Free Fire
- Call of Duty
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Rising of Viewership in E-sports
eSports gain a lot of momentum and widespread popularity, and it has quickly become famous in recent years. Various competitions around the world are organized at different levels – World Championships like League of Legends World Championship, Call of Duty League, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events, FIFA eWorld Cup, and so on.
E-sports also emerges Global eSports Arena that makes feel like a stadium experience and saw huge spectatorship for dedicated sports venues such as Blizzard Arena, E-League eSports Arena.
eSports can be easily streamed online via sites like Twitch, Mixer, or Youtube Gaming online services that draw huge attention in spectatorship and attract millions of viewers worldwide.
This also opens up the market for small players to gain popularity with online streaming and become famous and could generate sponsorship and revenue with these services.
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Who organizes the eSports Competition?
Many companies organize eSports tournaments at the highest level. Mostly, this competition is organized by a gaming company. Team Liquid leads the list of E-sports organizers with the largest share of revenues and viewers worldwide. They organize a competition on Dota 2, Leagues of Legends, PUBG, and many more games. Here is the list of some of the famous organizers worldwide.
- Team liquid
- Fnatic
- Faze Clan
- ESL
- League of Legends world championship
- Riot games
- Call of duty League
They are the most popular league organizers worldwide, and also generate significant revenues.
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eSports Gaming Industry in India
The ecosystem of eSports in India saw a huge rise in 2020 due to Covid Pandemic and more people attracts to the internet, social media and online games, and much more. This fast-growing eSports has allowed the gaming industry and players to showcase their talents and increase their popularity in the country.
One of the reasons why E-sports are becoming increasingly popular is also because the Internet is easily and cheaply available across the country in comparison to previous years.
“E-sports is the only sport that can outrun cricket easily. We need government support to recognize it as a sport and not mix it with online gambling,” said Lokesh Suji, director of E-sports Federation of India, who estimates there are 200 million E-sports enthusiasts in the country.
Many companies investing in India in the eSports industry – including Qualcomm, Logitech, Dell, Acer, Coca-Cola, Airtel, Oppo, Mountain Dew, and numerous other eSports sponsorship tournaments in India. It also favors competition that gives a huge boost to the popularity of eSports games in the country.
The E-sports industry in India faces many challenges not only to strengthen the community but the infrastructure as well.
India still lags behind many countries such as China, the US, Korea, and Japan in the eSports gaming industry. There is a need for more concrete infrastructure and resources, as well as some support from the government and some initiatives to promote eSports across the country.
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Market Share of eSports Industry
It is one of the largest industries in the world that has experienced rapid growth since 2016. Between 2018 and 2019, the number of people watching eSports grew by nearly 13%. The top 5 countries, which share the highest revenues in the world of electronic sports are –
1. China: $40,854 Million
2. US: $36,921 Million
3. Japan: $18,683 Million
4. South Korea: $6,564 Millon
5. Germany: $5,965 Million
“A career in eSports or gaming in India can easily earn you anywhere from Rs 50,000 to Rs. 2 Lakh in a month.”
Akshat Rathee, Managing Director, Nodwin Gaming
©credit – flurrysports.org
eSports has gained recognition in international sporting events like the Asian Games 2018 not as a sporting event but on a trial basis where India won bronze in eSports.
Recently the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) included eSports as a medal sport for the first time at Asian Games 2022.
eSports may become a sporting event as part of the Olympic Games.
How do I make my career in the eSports industry?
If you like to play online games and you want to make a career in it you can easily make it, but only when you should be very good at online gaming.
Here’s a simple way you can start a career in Pro gaming…
- Select a game to begin with
- Choose your geographical region
- Make a team and find potential team members
- Find appropriate hardware systems
- Practice with the team
- Make your E-sports website
- Compete at a higher level
- Promote the team
- Create a Fan base
- Secure sponsorships
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Conclusion
The major companies investing in eSports and mega-events organized in different of the world and eSports continue to grow and become popular among people worldwide.
With the younger generations inspiring to continue their careers in the gaming industry the future of the eSports industry looks bright. This also opens more possibilities in the world of gaming.
