There was a time in life where playing video games was a leisurely activity people, mostly young people, would do in the comfort of their homes with their favorite video gaming console or computer. Fast forward to recent times and playing video games has become a sport, and not just any sport, one of the biggest and top revenue earning sports activities in the world, Esports. While before the idea of professionally playing video games for a living felt more like an opium dream than anything else, nowadays, being a professional Esports athlete, as well as being able to bet on Esports matches, tournaments and leagues are a thing.
With the Esports industry giving other more traditional sporting organizations a run for their money when it comes to exposure and popularity, how did Esports in reality come to change the landscape of the sporting industry in general?
Finding and Exploiting an Untapped Market
It’s no secret for anybody that in order to be a professional sports athlete there are certain rules, specifications and expectations both physical and professional that are expected to be met in order to succeed. While traditional sports usually look for certain prototypes of athletes, Esports have come into the world to become the sporting option for those who don’t really fit into traditional sports. This has allowed the up and coming professional competitive video gaming industry to be able to basically create and run their own market with an ever growing fan base and constant revenue streams that have been on a constant growth spurt ever since making their debut.
The key in Esports’ popularity is the relationship and reach that they have been able to construct with their ever growing international fan bases. While kids before would dream about becoming professional athletes, now they’re dreaming about becoming professional video gamers. All over the world, playing video games has gone from being a simple leisurely activity to actually becoming a career path. Given the constant development of new technologies, video gaming fans are able to always stay on top of the latest gaming trends, something that with traditional sporting options is not as simple to do.
Gaining Ground On Traditional Sports
While at its humble beginnings, the Esports industry was one that lurked in the shadows of other traditional sports who had bigger and better marketing, publicity and outreach strategies, nowadays, it’s those traditional sports who are looking at Esports from the back. Just like with traditional sports, cities are now looking into building professional Esports arenas, as well as the discipline even being considered as an option to be taken into account as a new sport for future Olympic Games.
The ever-growing popularity of Esports, its athletes and above all its activities like matches, leagues and tournaments have helped the video gaming industry take over the sports entertainment scene and establish themselves above most other traditional sports options. It is estimated that in the near future, the Esports industry will take over other traditional sports like hockey, car racing and other traditional options both in popularity as well as marketability and total value. While competing against the likes of soccer, football and basketball might still be a long shot, this industry has all the tools necessary, including video gaming competitions based on said sports to take over and rule as the top option in the sports entertainment world.
Esports Will Only Continue To Grow
Thanks to the continuous advances in the technological world as well as the ever rising popularity spike of video gaming there is no real time line for when the Esports industry could start suffering from a stoppage in its growth and expansion. More and more fans of all ages, but especially teenagers and young adults are jumping into the Esports bandwagon on a daily basis, making the industry continue to grow on a constant and very positive path.
Revenue streams coming from marketing deals as well as sponsorships, streaming platforms and tournaments will continue to grow as well, only helping to strengthen the grip of the Esports industry over the sporting world more and more as time goes by. To those people who ever thought that playing video games professionally for a living was nothing more than pipe dreams, well, it’s never too late to pick up a controller and get to gaming.
