The popularity of esports has grown quickly over the past few years, and there are many reasons why it is continuing to grow. From the increasing number of games with competitive aspects to the rise in popularity of streaming sites such as Twitch, there will be no shortage of opportunities for people to watch esports in the future.
What is Esports?
Esports, also known as electronic sports, is a form of competitive video gaming. The most common genres of esports are real-time strategy games, first-person shooter games, and multiplayer online battle arenas.Competitive video gaming has been around for almost as long as video games themselves. The earliest known esports competition took place in 1972 at Stanford University, where students played the game Spacewar. Since then, the popularity of esports has grown exponentially. Today, there are professional leagues and tournaments for dozens of different games all around the world.
The global esports market is expected to grow to $1.65 billion by 2021. This growth is being driven by increasing sponsorship deals and investment from major companies like ESPN, Coca-Cola, and Intel. Esports is also becoming more mainstream, with events being broadcast on television and online. There are many different types of esports competitions. The most popular format is the tournament, where teams of players compete against each other for a prize pool. Tournaments can be either offline or online, with offline tournaments typically being more prestigious and having larger prize pools. Other formats include leagues, where teams play each other in a regular season followed by playoffs; show matches, where two teams or players face off for entertainment purposes; and exhibitions, where players showcase their skills in a particular game or challenge each other to friendly matches.
How much more popular has esports become over the past 5 years?
It’s no secret that esports have been on the rise in recent years. But just how popular have they become? Well, according to a report from Newzoo, the global esports economy was worth $696 million in 2017, and is expected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2020. That’s a pretty significant increase in just a few years! But it’s not just the overall size of the esports economy that’s growing. The number of people watching esports is also increasing rapidly.vNewzoo estimates that there were 385 million esports viewers in 2017, and this is expected to grow to 557 million by 2021. That’s an impressive compound annual growth rate of 12.8%!
So what’s driving this rapid growth in popularity? Well, there are a few factors…
First of all, there’s been a huge increase in investment into esports over the past few years. This has led to more prize money being up for grabs, which has attracted more professional players and made the competitions more exciting to watch. Secondly, the way we consume media has changed dramatically in recent years with the rise of social media and streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube. This has made it much easier for people to discover and watch esports content online. And finally, there’s simply been an increase in awareness of esports as a result of all the above factors.
The future of the esports industry
There are many reasons for the optimistic outlook on e sports. Firstly, the industry is still relatively young and has a lot of room to grow. Secondly, there is a growing number of people who are interested in watching and playing e sports. And lastly, more and more companies are investing in e sports, which will help to grow the industry even further.
From gaming equipment manufacturers, to supplement and neutropenic companies there are no shortage of partnership opportunities within the esports space, there is one common theme: the performance of the player. The obsession with winning that comes with many of the athletic events we enjoy around traditional sports exists within esports as well. Companies are dedicated to keeping these competitors performing at the highest level. Companies like razor with cutting edge keyboards, monitors, and mice or Revitalize Energy designed to provide instant energy and eye fatigue relief. Learn more here: www.myrevitalize.com
As Esports continues to grow, we will see fans, brands, and companies pour more and more resources into seeing their favorite teams and competitors come out on top. With so many different games to choose from and the ability to play casually, or competitively there's bound to be one that you'll enjoy watching or playing. If you're not already familiar with eSports, I highly encourage you to check it out. You might just find yourself getting hooked on the action.