Esports has grown exponentially in recent years, expanding into a major industry that shows no signs of slowing momentum.
Indeed, the esports ecosystem is on pace this year to surpass $1 billion in revenue for the first time.
Yet, even as esports is coming into its own, not everyone understands exactly what it is and why it matters.
TechNewsWorld spoke with several esports aficionados to hear what they had to say about the evolution of esports, what’s driving its popularity, and what to expect from this burgeoning industry going forward.
“The growth of video gaming itself is well-documented, to the point that I would say that gaming is no longer a subculture — gaming is culture,” Luke Cotton, COO Code Red Esports, an esports agency in London, told TechNewsWorld.
“People love to compete and to watch competition, so the growth of esports is natural. Young people are growing up with the internet, with games, with esports, and with YouTube and Twitch being their primary forms of entertainment where they are consuming gaming and esports content,” he noted.
“Every year, the esports audience increases, as young people growing up don’t know a world different from this one.”
Fueled by Current Events
At a time when people are turning to a variety of alternative digital arenas for entertainment, esports has emerged as the activity of this era.
“Esports just makes sense,” Andy Miller, CEO of NRG, professional gaming and entertainment company in Los Angeles, told TechNewsWorld. “One in three people on the planet play games every week, [so] of course they want to see the best in the world play the games they play and love.”
“The average age of the NRG fan is 25,” he continued. “They have grown up playing and watching others play games, and this has chipped away at traditional media consumption.”
Restrictions caused by the pandemic, as well, have helped to fuel an industry that had already been taking off.
“The global esports and games streaming business has indeed grown exponentially the last few years, but [it] spiked significantly last year due to stay-at-home restrictions,” Aaron Speach, CEO and founder of Esports Technologies, explained to TechNewsWorld.
His company is a provider of esports product, platform and marketing solutions that is developing wagering products for esports fans and bettors.
“People were looking for a community and a way to connect with others during that time, and the online nature of esports contributed to this perfect storm of events that helped boost its popularity,” Speach noted.
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