The History and Evolution of Esports

Although esports might seem like a fairly new phenomenon, competitive gaming has been around in some form or another since the very first video games appeared in the 1950s.

Things later picked up steam in the 1970s with the advent of arcade gaming, although these tournaments involved little more than two players competing against each other or multiple individuals attempting to land the highest score. In fact, it would take several decades for esports to finally become the multi-billion dollar enterprise it is today.

First Esports Competitions 

Although people were playing against each other as early as the 1960s, the first actual video game competition didn’t arrive until 1972. Competition was limited to a single title, Spacewar, a combat game that had already been around for a decade. Admittedly, this event was small in scale. True esports competition only entered the mainstream in 1980, when video game giant Atari organized the Space Invaders Championships. This inaugural event attracted upwards of 10,000 players, demonstrating a keen appetite for competitive gaming.

That same year, an organization called Twin Galaxies was created. Long before the age of social media and instantaneous file sharing, Twin Galaxies was created to keep track and archive gaming records from across the globe. Now, video game enthusiasts could compete with fellow players at a distance, while record-breaking attempts were also starting to gain the attention of the world media.

Video Game Recession 

As the appetite for video games continued to grow, developers went into overdrive to produce new titles for the growing market. However, trouble hit thanks to market saturation, with supply quickly outweighing actual demand. Many developers were also releasing subpar titles, with little focus on quality. The result was a substantial dip in sales in key markets like North America during the mid-1980s.

The video game market would survive this blip, however, thanks in large part to the advent of console gaming. Nintendo was arguably the real savior of the sector, with the NES console providing consumers with affordable gaming hardware and equally affordable titles. Sega and Sony would subsequently join the console market, with subsequent advancements in CD-ROM and 3D graphics technology resulting in a real leap forward for home gaming.

The console wars of the 1990s not only cemented the accessibility of gaming to the masses, it also saw the advent of competitive gaming. Nintendo organized its first large-scale esports even in 1990, with the Nintendo World Championships touring throughout the United States. It would later revive the competition in 1994 when promoting the release of the SNES console.

A New Era 

It was only in the late 1990s that esports tournaments as we know them today finally arrived on the scene. First-person shooter titles like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D had proved massively popular with audiences, but it was Quake from ID Software that was ripe for multiplayer participation. Quake not only made full use of internet connectivity, it also required players to put in the hours when it came to mastering game-play.

In 1997, Quake’s developer organized Red Annihilation, an event that brought together more than 2,000 online entrants to face off against other Quake players from across the globe. Once this number had been narrowed down to just 16 competitors, a live final event was scheduled for the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta. For the first time ever, esports had both a live crowd of spectators and substantial press coverage.

Becoming a Global Phenomenon 

With high-speed internet access becoming commonplace by the 2000s, esports was finally accessible to the masses. Not only were more people actively participating in online esports tournaments, there was a considerable surge in audience engagement. Televised coverage has proved especial popular in certain countries like South Korea, although attempts to launch dedicated channels in other regions proved difficult.

However, online streams provided an affordable alternative for esports broadcasting, while also granting organizers far more creative freedom when it came to programming. In 2012, around 700 esports tournaments were held, compared to only 161 a few years earlier. Competitive gaming also became far more lucrative than ever before, with annual prize money averaging upwards of 10 million dollars.

What Lies Ahead? 

Nowadays, game developers are actively considering esports when producing new titles. Call of Duty and Overwatch are just two of the titles that operate a league system, providing competing teams with significant revenue streams.

It is also easier than ever for audiences to remain engaged with the latest esports developments, with platforms like 1337 Pro providing fans with up-the-minute news, match updates and score statistics. It also seems likely that esports will finally merge with conventional competitive sporting tournaments, with the very first Olympic Virtual Series just a taste of things to come.