What would you think if we told you that there are currently people who earn up to more than a million dollars a year for playing video games? Surely you have regretted stopping playing with your consoles or maybe you think it’s crazy right?
But, the truth is, if you are familiar with the world of gamers and eSports, this will not surprise you at all, since this new form of mass entertainment has increased in popularity and is currently one of the most promising spaces.
eSports, including eSports betting picks, have caught our attention because these events have gained incredible profits and popularity, even surpassing audiences of television networks and finals of recognized sporting events such as those of the NBA. A great opportunity to advertise your brand and find out about new trends. Interested? Read on to learn more about it.
What are eSports?
eSports or electronic sports, are large video game competitions in which multiple players participate around the world, both online and in person. They generally incorporate the following genres: first-person shooter, such as Counter-Strike or Call of Duty; real-time strategy, like StarCraft; multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA), such as League of Legends or Dota2; and fight, like Street Fighter.
Some of the most famous tournaments are The International, organized by the video game Dota2, the League of Legends World Championship, the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) and the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO).
Not every video game has enough characteristics to enter the eSports category. For this, you must allow online competition among many players and be competitive; all must have equal conditions (the famous “pay to win” or Pay 2 Win should not exist), so the skills of the competitors are what will really determine the victory; and, in general, they must have regulated leagues, often created by sponsors or companies.
Is this new about eSports?
Although the first video game competitions date back to 1972, it was not until the 2000s that eSports as we know them began to emerge. They began to gain great popularity in the world, all thanks to the optimization of graphics and development of video games, as well as the rise of the Internet and social networks, which have played a crucial role in being considered a phenomenon that moves the masses.
The first country to take this eSports quite seriously was South Korea, which has been called the “cradle of eSports”, since thanks to the StarCraft video game, popularized in that region since its launch in 1998, the fever was spreading. In fact, it was one of the first countries to treat its players as athletes and its companies were the first to invest in the business, not for nothing some of the best teams and professional gamers in the world are originally from that country.
The impressive figures of eSports
According to SuperData, the popular web portal that offers statistics and data related to the video game ecosystem, in 2017 earnings of about 1.5 billion dollars were reported for eSports, with a growth forecast of 26% for 2020. Advertisers have given so much importance to the sector, that their contributions represent 85% of the world market, with an upward trend in the trust of organizations or companies that are not directly related to video games (such as Mercedes-Benz), which means that these events represent a great marketing or advertising opportunity.
For its part, Newzoo, another company that provides intelligence and specialized eSports data, announced that the industry grew to more than 905 million dollars in 2018, which represents an increase of 38% compared to the figure of the year 2017, which according to Newzoo was located at 696 million dollars. A volume of growth that in the future will surely surpass many traditional sports.
Most of the profits were generated directly from sponsorships and advertising and indirectly from media rights and content licenses through investments from endemic and non-endemic brands. And it is that, at present, companies as recognized as Coca-Cola, Facebook, McDonald’s, Adidas, Amazon, Redbull, Vodafone, Audi, BMW, Movistar, Orange, Intel, among many others, are investing in eSports through leagues , organization of tournaments, championships, etc., and that’s not to mention the great teams of all kinds of sports.
