Future of eSports

If you're reading this, chances are that you or someone you know enjoys playing video games in their spare time. After all, who doesn't enjoy eating mushrooms to grow bigger or gain an extra life, or flinging emotional distraught birds at asshole pigs, or "no-scoping" a noob in a public lobby? Video games have gotten big in recent times, creating its own subculture within the "nerd" or "geek" subculture. But for me, one of the most amazing things in the video game subculture that could possibly become a way of life is the competitive aspect of gaming--or eSports, as it is called.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, "Video games as a way of life? Get real!" And I can understand where the resistance is coming from. Who can imagine a lifestyle where all you have to do to earn a living is play video games? Well, I'm pretty sure when any of the major sports started out people probably thought the same thing--Basketball? Baseball? American Football? Back then, who could imagine that you can make money just throw a ball around? Yet the people that play these sports now get paid the big bucks to do just that. So why not try to apply this to eSports as well?

Before I continue, let me clarify what I mean by eSports. I do not mean to include some of the games I may have referenced in my beginning paragraph (Super Mario, Angry Birds). Though it is possible to make a living playing "casual games" through streaming their gameplay, I want to focus more on games that have a competitive aspect to them. These include games such as Counter Strike, League of Legends, Starcraft II, Street Fighter and Dota 2.

Just like in professional sports, these games have teams that enter into local and international tournaments that usually have a cash prize for the winners. Of course, these cash prizes may not be as big as perhaps the cash prize for Baseball or Basketball--but wait, is it possible that eSports is getting close? In this article from 2010, it states that the Lakers, the winners of the 2010 NBA Finals, earned "$2,125,137 in playoff bonus money." Perhaps the amount has grown since then, but compare that to The International 2011 1st place cash prize of $1,000,000, which went to Natus Vincere, one of the popular teams in the Dota 2 community. This year's The International saw that cash prize rise to $1,437,190, with second place earning $632,364.

"But what if you don't win any tournaments?" you may ask. Indeed, that cash prize is nothing if you don't have the skills to beat the best team in the world in any game. Which is why eSports is more than just playing in tournaments. In a recent Forbes article, the VP of eSports of Riot Games (developers of League of Legends) states in an interview that "one of [their] chief concerns this year was making sure that people could legitimately focus their career on League of Legends." He then goes on to say,

If you weren’t placed in the top three of those tournaments you were probably losing money overall on hotels, travel, etc. We don’t really think that’s fair and that’s why we have brought compensation into things.  But in reality that’s not their major source of income in most cases. 

It’s sponsorships, prize money, and streaming.  And more traditional sponsors are getting involved and that makes a big difference. 

 You can read more from the actual article here, but the point I'm trying to get across is that eSports is starting to get as big as professional sports. What we once thought as just "playing games" may eventually become a sustainable way of life for those skilled enough to make the cut.

And I can see that change in my own personal life. Not to say that I aim to give up my CS major just to play games for a living, but my cousins, friends, and I watch livestreams of eSports tournaments just like how people watch a baseball game on TV or the Superbowl. There are casters that discuss strategy and what each player did right and wrong. American Express just became an official eSports sponsor of League of Legends. And the fan base for eSports is probably just as wild as professional sports.

Yes, it will take time for eSports to catch up to professional sports, but I'm excited to see where it will go. To end this post, I leave you with a video that the Stevens eSports team put up on their facebook page.