The rise of E-sports
During the most serious days of quarantine, many people needed ways to pass the time.
Video games were a common answer to people’s boredom… and the industry boomed.
According to esportsearnings.com, the industry as a whole made a projected $179.7 billion in 2020, more than film and sports combined. The reason for this is clear: the coronavirus. Pandemic aside, gaming’s boom is impressive, so let’s take a look at some of the specifics.
Microsoft and Sony’s announcements of new consoles took the market by storm, with all systems were sold out in the holiday season. Nintendo saw similar success during this time with “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” selling 26 million copies.
With gaming’s explosion, pro-play viewership also took off.
As an example, the League of Legends world championship reached 139 million viewing hours, with a peak of 3.8 million viewers. Thousands of tournaments are held yearly, games such as League of Legends, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and Fortnite, and they all had prize awards of over $80 million. Dota 2 had the most prize money with $220 million.
While people are slowly leaving their homes again for the outside world, these games don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
Viewership continues to rise and the money awarded is reaching amounts that could soon propel the E-sports industry onto the same level as regular sports. Speaking of mainstream sports, the NBA now backs its own NBA2k League, with NBA franchises having their own video game teams.
The key is maintaining a high-player count, which is something Fortnite excels at. It reached a peak of 12.3 million in one day in 2020. League of Legends has been maintaining eight million players daily through the past year.
These games are continuing to rake in mind-boggling amounts in revenue. These numbers are projected to continue even with the pandemic slowly weakening, so it is fair to say that the gaming industry is just getting started.
