In the past decade or so we have seen an unprecedented rise in interest when it comes to online gaming and tournaments. Just a few years back it would have been unimaginable for someone to be making millions of dollars simply by playing an online computer game. As Esports draws more and more worldwide interest, sponsors pour more and more money into the industry spending millions of dollars on Esports events. If you want to start your ESporting journey you should start by getting the right equipment. You can get top-of-the-range gaming monitors on cliffyB.com.
So, to get a deeper understanding of Esports and Gaming here are six things that you need to know:
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Unlike traditional video gaming where gamers play against the computer, in Esports, gamers compete with other gamers and teams in professional gaming tournaments. These tournaments can range from small-scale local tournaments to global tournaments with millions of dollars in prize money and massive audiences.
Much like other pro sports gamers have their own sponsors, coaches, practice sessions, and teams. Gone are the days when gaming was looked at as a waste of time, modern ESports gamers spend hundreds of hours practicing with their coaches and teams and make hundreds of thousands of dollars by participating in different tournaments.
Pro players play tons of different games ranging from multiplayer online battle arena games, and first-person shooter games to real-time strategy games. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena is one of the most popular Esports genres as far as award money and viewership is concerned, however, first-person shooter games are the most popular amongst gamers. Some of the most popular games today include FIFA, League of Legends, Fortnite, StarCraft, Overwatch, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, Street Fighter, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Call of Duty.
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People often don’t realize how big the ESports industry is. With millions of global viewers, many sponsors pour money into major ESports tournaments. In 2020, 800 million hours of esports were streamed on Twitch which goes to show how big of an audience this industry has. With many sponsors and gaming companies jumping in, it is expected that by the end of 2021 the total global Esports revenue will jump to well over 3.5 billion dollars. In 2017 the total ESports prize money was $112 million which almost doubled in 2019 to over $210 million.
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Fortnite and DOTA are two of the most popular games in the ESports world and draw millions of viewers from around the world to their championship events. In 2019 the prize money for these games surpassed the prize money for Wimbledon with total prize cash of 30 million each for Fortnite and DOTA
The first place prize clocked at 3 million whereas runner-up prizes were as high as $50,000. One of the biggest reasons behind these multi-million dollar awards is crowdsourcing, major sponsors, and massive gaming companies.
The global DOTA championship tournament was canceled in 2020 due to covid 19, however, in 2021 the tournament will be held in October in Bucharest, Romania and the prize pool is going to be over $40 million.
Some of the most popular ESports events include League of Legends World Championship, Fortnite World Cup, Intel Extreme Master, Overwatch World Cup, Evolution Championship, Call of Duty League, Free Fire World Series, HALO world championship, and Hearthstone World Championship.
League of Legends world championship and Fortnite world cup take the lead when it comes to viewership and prize money. In 2019 the league of legends world championship had over 100 million viewers with 21.8 million average minute audiences and had a prize pool of $34.33 million. Whereas the Fortnite world cup had a $30 million prize pool.
Given how much practice, hard work, commitment, and teamwork ESports take esports players are now legally recognized as professional atheists in the United States. Plus some of the top-ranked players are making more money than many traditional athletes which is why they are granted this elite status. Being recognized as a pro athlete also brings different privileges including taxation and visa privileges.
ESports are highly competitive and to become one of the top-ranked players you require extreme hard work, practice, and commitment. In the near future, it is expected that Esport will surpass many traditional sports in revenue and viewership because it resonates with the younger generation way more than football, soccer, or basketball ever will.
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