Esports Gaming: Where is the Future Headed?
This is a digital industry known as electronic sports and its major function is the offer of sports video games. The industry has become popular within the last decade and has quickly developed into a mainstream multiple gamer industry.
The objective is simple; gamers participate in one of the sports events with the intention of obtaining one of the cash prizes. These awards can be substantial, in fact, just recently, in 2015; the International DotA 2 awarded the larges prize in eSports history, an amount rising above $18.5 million.
eSports is certainly making inroads in the digital business world, and sponsors are quickly vying for attention through this type of gaming.
How Are Competitions Held?
Generally the competitions are played online or over LAN networks and watched by billions of spectators all over the world. A recent report made by worldwide eSports shows substantial revenue growth for the eSport Market over the next 5 years.
This financial analysis shows that the prize pool offered and type of tournament affect the market share growth.
How Big is the Actual Market and the Participation in The System?
Electronic Sports are a type of game that stimulates the mind and adds interest as players can win contests and cash awards. It is an organized competition of the best gamers throughout the world. Most games are multiplayer, and some of the most common of these include MOBA, FPS and RTS.
The games are then broadcast live on streaming platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. The game host seeks out sponsors and advertisers on the platform because of their huge audiences.
Will the Industry Grow?
Experts believe there is great potential for this industry as streaming platforms have increased the interest in this type of gaming by both participants and spectators. The number of eSports tournaments has increased significantly in the last few years. When these tournaments began back in 1998 there were only 7 tournaments, and in 2013 we saw an increase to over 1500.
Streaming content, media rights, and corporate sponsorship have gone a long way in increasing the popularity of these eSport tournaments.
The Overall Landscape
The competition of these tournaments is intense, and there is certainly a large number of young gamer followers here. The market concentration seems to be higher in developed countries such as the US but it is also becoming popular in developing countries like India and China.
Gaming giants such as Microsoft Studios, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, Neowiz Games and others are investing a significant amount of time and placing a large budget in the broadcasting of these tournaments, which may mean a significant future growth for the eSports gaming industry.
