To sign up for our daily email newsletter, CLICK HERE
The past couple of years have become the period of flourishing of eSports. The rapid development of e-competitions and their growing popularity are largely explained by the development of high-speed internet technologies. But is everything that simple?
The number of eSports viewers is expected to reach 646 million by the following year. That’s an immense number of fans, and no other traditional kind of sport can compete here. Judging by the number of people interested in eSports, it becomes clear that the Internet technology progress can’t be the only thing affecting the popularity of eSports. So what has actually made eSports so popular? Let’s figure it out.
1) Easy to Access
Accessibility to eSports has become one of the major contributing factors to its popularity. Video games can be accessed from any gaming console, computer, or smartphone. Besides, this doesn’t require a lot of money. Most games are available for download free of charge, or their price is small enough to be affordable for everyone.
Aside from the financial benefits, eSports don’t set any restrictions on the time to play. You can play at any convenient time, day or night. You’ll always have a partner to play even if they live on the other side of the planet.
2) eSports Are for Everyone
Unlike traditional sports, which require a sportsman to have a certain physical shape, eSports can be played by anyone regardless of their physical abilities. All that matters is their gaming skills.
The fans and the gamers comprise people of all age groups. Why? Because eSports set no limits – they give freedom.
3) eSports Have a Variety of Disciplines
eSports combine in themselves a whole range of eSports disciplines. These are different categories of games, which set different tasks for the players and require a different set of abilities and skills. You can choose any type of e-games you like to master your skills and become a world-known athlete. The most popular eSports disciplines include:
- Dota 2 is a super popular product of the Valve developers’ team, which is based on the Warcraft game.
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or CS: GO is a truly legendary shooter game that continues to attract gamers with its simplicity and excitement.
- League of Legends is another MOBA game that grew super popular among gamers and fans.
4) eSports Tournaments offer Millions of Dollars Prize Pools
While requiring insignificant investments compared to regular kinds of sports, eSports have become not only a kind of entertainment but also a source of stable income for the athletes and a chance to win big by participating in various eSports tournaments.
Every tournament is devoted to a specific eSports discipline. Their prize pools can reach huge sums, even if the tournaments don’t have official sponsors. The prize pool record, as of now, belongs to The International (Dota 2) tournament, which had a prize pool exceeding 40 million U.S. dollars.
5) eSports Get Significant Sponsorship Investments
Like regular sports attract million-dollar contracts, the same is happening with eSports. It’s been some years already that the sponsorship investments in the sphere became equal to or even bigger than those in traditional kinds of sports.
Big sponsors now own eSports teams, similar to what is happening in football and other regular kinds of sports. The gamers are involved in social media promo and marketing campaigns, and their teams’ logos are placed on merchandise products. Like with any other popular event, media rights for broadcasting tournaments and other big eSports events are contracted and sold.
All these make a stream of revenue flow into the hands of sponsors and athletes.
6) eSports Players Make Big Money
Another reason why eSports became so popular is that practically any skilled e-games player has a chance to become a member of a professional eSports team. It’s a Cinderella-like story for gamers because regardless of their initial background, they can start earning huge money.
Under different estimates, the salary of a professional gamer may range from $12 000 to $60 000 per year. The sums differ much depending on the team they belong to, the video games they play, and their professional level.
Aside from the salary, the athletes also get bonuses for winning the tournaments. Depending on the type of tournament they participate in, the bonus sum may reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. To check if this is true, you may look up for the earnings of the best eSports players on https://getesports.net/en/.
7) eSports Are Extremely Social Activities
One of the core reasons online gaming has become so popular is that it is an extremely social activity. People from around the globe meet, make friends, help and support each other within their gaming space. Never seeing each other before and with little-to-no chance to meet in the future, gamers find real friends in each other.
Also, by participating in eSports teams, gamers develop their communication skills and learn to interact with others, which lets these people grow socially.
