The electronic gaming industry has grown dramatically in recent years as an alternative to other sports and, in many countries around the world, eSports is already recognized as an official sport which clearly illustrates its dynamic. In 2020, and in spite of the pandemic, the revenue of the eSports industry amounted to $947.1 million. According to analysts, the global revenue of eSports will reach and exceed $1 billion by 2021.
The online gaming industry is huge. There are currently over 2 billion e-gamers globally, generating approximately $1 billion per year for the industry. Additionally, a good amount of money is derived by purchases that the players make when playing, such as when they buy in-game currency or in-game items.
Most people are now familiar with eSports and people younger than 40 have almost definitely had a discussion regarding eSports with friends or acquaintances. When eSports started gaining traction, the very inclusion of the word “sports” in the context of videogaming was enough to lead to mockery and sarcasm. Generally, discussions orbiting around eSports spark controversy. The success of eSports lies—partly—on the fact that the industry tapped into a market that simply did not exist before, as gamers are not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of sports professionals or fans. Whether you love it or hate it, it does not matter anymore; eSports is on the up and up and one needs only turn to the numbers to understand the extent of its success.
Over the last decade, the eSports industry has experienced phenomenal growth, leading people to question the conventional definition of sports, one that assumes the involvement of physicality. In short, one side argues that eSports do not necessarily constitute a sport because they lack the physical aspect that we’re used to seeing in sports such as basketball, football and others. On the contrary, the other side suggests that eSports, through their competitive nature, as well as their ability to entertain, should definitely be included in the bucket of sports. In this article, we don’t seek to take part in this debate but rather explain why eSports, through their financial outlook and popularity, are here to stay.
Video games were considered a waste of time by the majority of parents who saw their children spending an excessive number of hours in front of a screen, with a controller in their hands, instead of studying for school. Nowadays, there are people who quit their 9 to 5 jobs to become professional gamers and earn up to six figures per year. This form of competitive video gaming, where teams or individuals compete against each other, mostly in online tournaments, to earn prize money or other benefits, is called Esports.
