What is esports? Esports is a digitized variant of regular competitive sports, each esports game title being its respective sport. Just as we see “ball-game” sports such as football, basketball, and baseball, we also see unique variants of esports with each game title that has a scene for competition, typically known as “esports titles.” For example, games like League of Legends (LoL), VALORANT, or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) are each games with different rulesets and playing fields. Just as you would see each sport have another ball with unique rulesets, you would see in a similar fashion for each esports game title. The main focus of this article is to cover what esports has to offer to the entertainment industry, as well as its financial potential, using the aforementioned esports titles.
Esports is a virtual world filled with untapped potential. The first game to be considered an esport was created by computer scientist Steve Russel, alongside some colleagues like Martin Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1962. The game was called “Spacewar!”. With a 1-on-1 battle system, this unintentionally created its very own competitive scene. About ten years later, Stanford University hosted the world’s first-ever esports tournament. Twenty-four players converged on this day to compete against one another in “Spacewar!” This event marks the beginning of the history of esports.
Fast-forward about sixty years later. Esports is on a steady path to greater success, but even the current version of esports is just beginning to scratch the surface of what it has to offer in the near and far future. Games like LoL (released 2009), CS:GO (released 2012), and VALORANT (released 2020) have had great success both in terms of financial flourishment and viewership count. Even upon release, each of these game titles has reached an international audience, and doing so has also created international tournaments.
Each esports title varies when naming these tournaments, but they all share the same goal in mind. The goal to see which esports team is the best in the world. Within 1-2 years after release, each of these titles became big enough to hold an international tournament for a sweet cash prize pool. LoL’s first world event had a prize pool of $99,500 in 2011, just short of a $100k pool. CS:GO’s first international event had a total prize pool of $250,000 in 2013. While VALORANT may be a brand-new title, it has already gained the attention of millions. They held their first international champions event in 2021 with a prize pool of $1,000,000.
Let’s take a closer look at 2021, an incredible year for esports viewership, if not one of the best years for the esports industry. Starting with the newest of the bunch, VALORANT has had an amazing start as far as viewership and prize money go for their first international event. The VALORANT Champions 2021 tournament peaked at 1,089,068 concurrent viewers. CS:GO, the next biggest title, peaked at 2,748,434 viewers during the 2021 PGL Major with a prize pool of $2,000,000. Lastly, League of Legends, currently the most popular esports title and one of the most popular video games in the world. The LoL World Championship 2021 had peaked at 4,018,728 concurrent viewers with a $2,225,000 prize pool. LoL and CS:GO’s first-ever international cash pools pale compared to today’s standards.
With these statistics in mind, it is safe to draw a relative conclusion that as viewership of these events goes up, the prize pool money also goes up from these events. Not to mention, each player is signed via paid contract by official esports organizations, which earns them a salary just for representing their organization. Depending on how successful the organization is, as well as which game title, the average salary can range anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000 per year. Yearly salary increases even higher if the player or organization is of high notoriety.
It’s a fair argument to say there’s a lot of cash flow stemming from esports, and this article has only covered three out of the many major esports titles currently out. The esports industry is a rapidly growing phenomenon and will continue to grow as each year passes, both in entertainment value and financial status. While esports cannot replace regular physical sports, it is the future of sports as the world sees it today.
References:
Larch, F. (2022, August 19). History of eSports: How it all began. ISPO.Com. Retrieved August 20, 2022, from https://www.ispo.com/en/markets/history-esports-how-it-all-began
Esports Charts. (2021). Esports Tournaments – Statistics and Analytics | Esports Charts. Retrieved August 20, 2022, from https://escharts.com/tournaments/
Todorov, S. (2022, March 27). How Much Do Esports Players Make. Esports Grizzly. Retrieved August 22, 2022, from https://www.esportsgrizzly.com/blog/how-much-do-esports-players-make/
