If you think that you’re good enough at playing a particular computer game, you can consider becoming a professional eSports player. This new “sport” has become so popular that you can even check odds on eSports on a lot of betting websites. The cash prizes reach thousands, if not millions of dollars for popular games, but be wary, because the competition is mighty strong there days.
What Are eSports?
Esports are a form of competition that are organized on a professional level that include playing various computer games, both PC and console ones. Most games on these competitions are multiplayer, which means that they have an option of allowing two or more participants to compete against each other at the same time. There are also similar single-player competitions or charity-based events where players are trying to beat each other’s high scores or complete a certain game in the least amount of time (speedrunning).
When in comes to eSports, it all started to reach big proportions several years ago when online streaming became a thing. This allowed some of the world’s best gamers to show their skills to the world with many people tuning in to watch it live. This massive audience became a monetary opportunity, so online streams quickly turned into big hall and stadium events where various game championships would take place and attract thousands of visitors and fans.
Apart from championships that are either organized annually or several times a year, there are also professional eSports leagues. Here, you can see gaming teams playing against each other in a regular season and battling to take the best place on the standings table. The best of them go through to the playoffs and knockout rounds, with the final being the crown of the competition. This approach is similar in comparison to some popular sports in the United States, like the NBA or NFL.
Which eSports Games Are Played The Most?
There is a myriad of games that you can find on eSports competitions. When it comes to genres, the most common types of games played are real-time strategies, first-person shooters, combat games, and multiplayer online battle arenas. Individually, the League of Legends World Championship is by far the biggest eSports event in the world today. It’s been growing every year since it premiered in 2011, and the last one held featured 24 different teams. In 2016, the best team consisting of 7 players won a staggering $2,7 million.
Other popular tournaments include The International which hosts Dota 2 competition, Evolution Championship Series that is exclusive to fighting games, and IEM (Intel Extreme Masters) that organizes several game competitions in their venue. Other noteworthy titles that are often played at these competitions are Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, StarCraft II, Overwatch, Smite, etc.
Esports At The Olympics
Although it may sound far fetched, eSports are actually being considered as a discipline at the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games. The event will be held in Paris and the negotiations are still taking place on whether the sport will be introduced. Although Olympics are a big question mark for eSports, they will already be a medal event in 2022 Asian Games, so it doesn’t seem that unrealic that we see this new sport at the Olympics in the future.