The news about eSports is everywhere these days, and rightly so. The cyber athlete action isn’t about pure entertainment, but competition and the fanbase grow every second. We tried to analyze this phenomenon and understand why eSports win supporters in so many countries.
Comparable to traditional sports
eSports borrows the best from the sports many of us have grown on: cricket, football, basketball, and makes it even better. The feeling of competition is tighter because there are much more things going on every second. Such speed makes it more challenging to make bets live on Betwinner, which has an informative review at https://bookmaker-ratings.com/review/betwinner-bookmaker-review-rules-support-sign-up-free-bets-site/.
The walls between the fans and particular teams or athletes are thinner: most of them stream their gameplay on such public platforms as YouTube or Twitch, where anyone can ask them questions, donate and get closer to their favourite player.
Accessibility
Most of the significant traditional sports events ask for a subscription to watch. For the newbies, those who came to the stadium or turned the live stream the first time, it’s also hard to understand what’s happening. And the learning curve seems to be understandable: some traditional sports games are centuries old, and commentators don’t feel the obligation to explain every rule.
eSports, on the other hand, is relatively young. It’s only 32 years since the first Professional League was founded, marking the creation of the new sport. The promoters of the events don’t refer to the fans as only hardcore ones, excluding the most famous ones, such as “The International.” They try to include some small learning videos in the streams, which are free most of the time, for the spectators to understand better what’s going on the screen. The promo team also invites bloggers to the studio. They ask the commentators and pro players questions, which also helps to learn the basics.
Career opportunities
While the social stigma from the older generation is still there, gaming and eSports are becoming more and more universally accepted. Countries like the USA, UK, Singapore, Spain, China have long developed official college programs for students who want to work in this industry or become cyber athletes.
It’s a legitimate job, so the candidate must know what to do, how to achieve it, and what instruments he’ll need for that. In any position, from copywriting to training and management, the person aiming to be employed must be ready to work hard. The fact that eSports is so close to gaming doesn’t mean that everyone is relaxed and plays them all the time. The most significant part for cyber athletes and everyone who supports them is “Sport,” which means competitiveness and being fit for the job all the time.
Revenue growth
Along with brands and traditional sports, Forbes continues to follow the growth of the eSports industry. Since 2018, some have almost doubled in value, like Team SoloMid, from $250 mln to $410 mln.
The prize pools in tournaments also grow: all the six top places by their size are occupied with the different years of “The International,” which is the largest DOTA 2 contest in the world. Since 2015, it has increased from $21 mln to $40 mln. But bear in mind that the last number was buffed due to the cancelled tournament in 2020, and the prize pool added to the next one.
