The Global Phenomenon of Esports: How Competitive Gaming is Taking Over the World
Almost everybody participates in sports as a kid, whether it’s playing tee ball, little league baseball, or any number of youth rec league sports like basketball, soccer or flag football. Even if they don’t always participate in traditional sports, this next generation of kids is almost certain to partake in esports, which are quickly carving out a massive chunk of the entertainment world.
The esport moniker extends to any video game that is played on a competitive basis, no matter if it takes the form of a traditional sport — like Madden’s NFL simulations and FIFA soccer — or if it’s a game based outside the realm of reality, like League of Legends or Overwatch.
As video games become more and more ubiquitous to the lives of both youth and adults, you can bet that the market share for esports is going to continue to grow: especially as more and more people begin to classify them in the same breath as traditional forms of competition. Here’s everything you need to know about the booming industry.
Esports and Betting
Esports have garnered a level of respect over the past few years that they didn’t always hold. I don’t think it’s an accident that increased acceptance of the pastime — as people begin to view video game competitions as a sport in their own right, instead of somehow less than traditional athletic games — goes hand in hand with the explosion of sports betting across the United States.
As the sports betting market continues to grow, bookies have realized that it doesn’t really matter what sports they offer for people to bet on. Sure, more popular leagues like the NFL and NBA will draw more tickets than college volleyball does, but people are going to place bets on things regardless of popularity if they’re given the chance to do so.
Some of the best sports betting apps have realized that esports betting operates under the same circumstances. There may not be a whole lot of people watching professional Overwatch leagues right now, but that’s sure to change as people realize that they stand to win money if they familiarize themselves with the sport.
Betting on esports is still in its infancy, as the regulations for sports betting are left up to individual states to determine: it’ll progress on a case by case basis, rather than as the result of a federal decree. 16 states permit the pastime as of now, but that number is sure to grow in the coming years as the market shakes itself out. Traditional sports betting caught on slowly at first too, but as each successive state reported big returns following legalization, the movement picked up a little more steam.
A New Form of Competition For a New Generation
In our increasingly online world, video games are more popular than ever before by every metric, whether it’s the number of people who play them or the ways that people interact with the medium. One such example is platforms like Twitch, where gaming lovers can watch their favorite internet personalities play games in much the same way that one can watch a superstar quarterback every Sunday.
For example, fans of Twitch streamer KaiCenat have tuned in for a whopping 6.36 million hours since the start of November, the equivalent of more than 726 years. Hardly anyone had even heard of Twitch a decade ago. These days, it’s everywhere, and those numbers are only going to continue to grow as members of Generation Alpha continue to make their mark on media trends.
Fewer Limits
What excites me the most about the future of esports is the capacity for growth. The popularity of video games among the youth is one example, as is the fact that streamers aren’t bound by the same restrictions that other athletes are. NFL players are restricted to 17 regular season games a year because of the grueling effect that tackle football has on one’s body. A single Fortnite streamer can play dozens of matches every day. You don’t have to wait until Sunday to watch your favorite streamers take the virtual field. It doesn’t matter if you tune in at 8am or 8pm, there’s a good chance that online personalities like Ninja and KaiCenat will be online to greet you.
That means a massive potential for growth in the esports betting market too: with hundreds of popular streamers playing thousands of matches every day, there are more potential markets to make use of than sportsbooks know what to do with.
Like I said, esports are still in their relative infancy and occupy a massive share of the public eye in spite of that. The only direction to go from here is up, and I can’t wait to see how the pastime continues to grow in the coming years.