How To Get Into eSports

It’s rapidly becoming as popular as some of the biggest sports in the world. eSports are the next big thing – but how do you watch them? How do you figure out who to support?

The truth is that there haven’t been many chances to get in on the ground floor of a new sport for a very long time. Our most popular physical pastimes – football, cricket, hockey and tennis – predate anybody living today.

You’re not going to inherit your dad’s Overwatch team, or start following your local DotA outfit.

So what’s the deal? How big are eSports and how are you going to decide who to follow?

Growing and Growing

Over the last few years, eSports have grown into a massive enterprise. There are millions of dollars across video games tournaments, and millions of people tuning in to watch. There’s so much to watch that it can be difficult to keep up. Websites – like GetEsports.net – have sprung up to keep track of everything, with information on scheduling, ratings and results.

But it wasn’t always this way. Go back a decade and the idea of eSports being bigger than some regular sports would be treated as a joke.

The reality is that in 2020 nearly 500m people watched something related to eSports – nearly 50 per cent of those were regular viewers. To put that into context, that puts it in the same sort of viewing figure as Baseball, Rugby or Golf.

It instantly takes a drop when you start comparing to globally popular sports, such as football, or to sports popular in well-populated countries, like cricket. eSports still have  a lot of growing to do until they reach the billions mark.

But the point is that it is becoming more and more likely that that day could one day come. Thanks to high action, high stakes gameplay and extremely talented players, this is quickly becoming a growth industry.

How to Get Into eSports

So how on earth do you start to get into eSports? Well, it’s easier than you might think.

Because unlike many other sports, there isn’t really a barrier of entry for getting into eSports. Tournaments are streamed. Players are often available to watch through social media platforms.

That’s the beauty of eSports – everything you need is just a few clicks away. Set yourself up on Twitch and see who happens to be interesting to you. You don’t need to watch hundreds of matches across hundreds of teams across the world to figure out who you like.

And while it might be that changes occur on that front in the coming decades, right now you’re practically getting in on the ground floor. The people you follow today could end up being the sporting heroes of tomorrow.

Spend a bit of time following players of your favorite games or, if you don’t have favorite games, spend some time learning about the advantages and disadvantages of each.

With a little bit of time and a little bit of research, you could soon be one of the biggest supporters in the most rapidly growing fanbase in the world.