(Image credit: Riot/League of Legends)
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games.[1] Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although organized competitions have long been a part of video game culture, these were largely between amateurs until the late 2000s, when participation by professional gamers and spectatorship in these events through live streaming saw a large surge in popularity.[2][3] By the 2010s, esports was a significant factor in the video game industry, with many game developers actively designing and providing funding for tournaments and other events.
The most common video game genres associated with esports are multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), first-person shooter (FPS), fighting, card, battle royale and real-time strategy (RTS) games. Popular esports franchises include League of Legends, Dota, Counter-Strike, Valorant, Overwatch, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros. and StarCraft, among many others. Tournaments such as the League of Legends World Championship, Dota 2‘s International, the fighting game-specific Evolution Championship Series (EVO) and Intel Extreme Masters are among the most popular in esports. Many other competitions use a series of league play with sponsored teams, such as the Overwatch League. Although the legitimacy of esports as a true sporting competition remains in question, they have been featured alongside traditional sports in some multinational events in Asia, with the International Olympic Committee also having discussed their inclusion into future Olympic events.
By the late 2010s, it was estimated that the total audience of esports would grow to 454 million viewers, with revenue increasing to more than US$1 billion, with China accounting for 35% of the global esports revenue in 2020.[4][5] The increasing availability of online streaming media platforms, particularly YouTube and Twitch, have become central to the growth and promotion of esports competitions.[3] Despite viewership being approximately 85% male and 15% female, with a majority of viewers between the ages of 18 and 34, female gamers have also played professionally.[6][7][8] The popularity and recognition of esports first took place in Asia, seeing significant growth in China and South Korea, with the latter having licensed professional players since 2000. Despite its large video game industry, esports in Japan is relatively underdeveloped, with this being largely attributed to its broad anti-gambling laws which prohibit paid professional gaming tournaments.[9][10] Outside of Asia, esports are also popular in Europe and the Americas, with both regional and international events taking place in those regions
With more and more mainstream media covering the world of video games these days, you’ve no doubt heard at least heard the phrase. But, if you’re wondering exactly what is esports, we’ve got your back.
In essence, esports is the collective term used to describe competitive gaming at a professional level, with the top esports players often being the very best in the world at their respective game. Competitive gaming isn’t a new concept by any means, but the idea of having professional video game players who make a living through competing akin to traditional sports certainly is, at least in the western world. If you’re a complete beginner when it comes to the world of esports, we’re here to help and answer the question: What is esports?
In conjunction with this piece, make sure you check out all of the top esports games(opens in new tab) in 2020.
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What is esports?
Put simply, esports is competitive level gaming. It’s teams of people playing games against each other at a professional level, regularly winning huge sums of money as prizes. These esports players are contracted to play for a variety of different organisations, much like a football or basketball player would be. These teams practice and compete on their respective game just as a footballer or other sportsperson would too. Depending on the game they play – from shooters such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports(opens in new tab) and Call of Duty esports(opens in new tab) to the multitude of other genres like sports titles and battle royale games – there will be a number of tournaments and events each year with hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes up for grabs, sometimes even entering the millions.
Each competing esports organisation will often have a number of teams in their ranks across multiple games. One example is Fnatic(opens in new tab); founded in 2004, at the time of writing they have teams on 10 different games including Fortnite esports(opens in new tab), League of Legends esports(opens in new tab), and PUBG Mobile esports(opens in new tab). Other examples of top organisations include G2 esports(opens in new tab), Team SoloMid(opens in new tab), Team Liquid(opens in new tab), and so many more.
How does a game become an esport?
Any multiplayer game can become an esport, although almost all of the biggest games right now such as Dota 2 esports(opens in new tab) and Overwatch esports(opens in new tab) simply set out, first and foremost, to be entertaining to play. A competitive scene evolves over time, thanks to both game developer and community support.
There are two elements that play crucial roles in helping a game to succeed as an esport; enjoyability and balance. The first is simple because if a game isn’t fun to play, then it’s not going to be enjoyable to watch and players will lose interest quickly. On the other hand, balance is key because otherwise the game becomes uninteresting. For example, if one gun was outright better than all of the others in Counter-Strike, nobody would use anything else and each match would be incredibly repetitive. One example of an almost-perfect experience with regards to balance is Rocket League esports(opens in new tab). Everyone is on an identical playing field aside from the car, which has a negligible effect on gameplay anyway – it results in a high skill ceiling and the concept is accessible for newcomers, since it’s simply football with flying cars.
How to start watching esports
There’s no catch-all solution to tune in to esports events, but the overwhelming majority will be streamed on Twitch(opens in new tab). To find the specific events taking place, the website Esports Calendar(opens in new tab) is a handy resource that lists most events happening for the bigger games in the esports industry. Pretty much every single esports event will be streamed live, whether it’s the biggest annual competition or a regional qualifier for a league.
Most streams can be accessed via the “watch” button on the right-hand side of each listed event, but the calendar only has the top games. For other titles, simply google the game name followed by “esports”, and you’ll be led to the right place. Some major games not covered by Esports Calendar include fighting games like Street Fighter esports(opens in new tab) and Tekken esports(opens in new tab), along with Apex Legends esports(opens in new tab), PUBG esports(opens in new tab), Rocket League esports(opens in new tab), Rainbow Six Siege esports(opens in new tab), and FIFA 20 esports(opens in new tab).
How to start competing in esports
Most games will have ranked modes and playlists you can jump into via the game itself. You’ll be matchmade with others online and often – but not always – this mode will have slightly different rules than the standard game, with some restrictions or timer differences. Largely though, it’ll be the game you’re familiar with.
If you’ve reached the stage where you’re frequently winning in ranked play, there’s a good chance you’re ready to make the step up. This is where each game varies, because games that have first-party esports support from the developer themselves will have an easy method to compete, like Fortnite’s in-game tournament system.
Other titles such as Call of Duty and Rocket League will rely on third-party platforms like Gamebattles(opens in new tab), ESL(opens in new tab), or FACEIT(opens in new tab) to provide esports services. All three work in similar ways, by providing leagues and tournaments for players to compete in. There are some nuances in how each one operates, but the gist of it is you can link your online ID, whether it’s PSN, Xbox Live, or one of the many PC services. From there, you can register for leagues and search for a competitive match. Don’t worry about feeling like it’s a big commitment; free-to-enter leagues will usually work on a “play when you want” basis, rather than having scheduled match-ups. There’s often cash rewards on offer and if your end goal is to compete at LAN events in person, you need to prove yourself in these online matches first.
From there, once you’ve either proven yourself as a solo player or got a team together, you’ll be able to play in open qualifiers – which will have scheduled match times and are more organised – to see if you can make it as a full-blown pro. Usually, these will also be online, but again, every game is different and sometimes there’ll be local events like Call of Duty’s City Circuit which allows anyone to represent the various franchised teams. It can’t be stressed enough however that the specifics for each game will be different, so make sure you do your research. If you’re skilled enough and perform when it matters, there’s a chance you’ll be signed to an organisation, at which point the sky’s the limit!
History
Early history (1972–1989)
Attendees of the 1981 Space Invaders Championships attempt to set the highest score
The earliest known video game competition took place on 19 October 1972 at Stanford University for the game Spacewar. Stanford students were invited to an “Intergalactic spacewar olympics” whose grand prize was a year’s subscription for Rolling Stone, with Bruce Baumgart winning the five-man-free-for-all tournament and Tovar and Robert E. Maas winning the team competition.[11]
Contemporary esports has roots in competitive face-to-face arcade video game competitions. A forerunner of esports was held by Sega in 1974, the All Japan TV Game Championships, a nationwide arcade video game tournament in Japan.[12][13][14] The tournament was intended by Sega to promote the play and sales of video games in the country. There were local tournaments held in 300 locations across Japan, and then sixteen finalists from across the country competed in the final elimination rounds at Tokyo‘s Hotel Pacific. Prizes awarded included television sets (color and black-and-white), cassette tape recorders and transistor radios. According to Sega, the tournament “proved to be the biggest event ever” in the arcade game industry, and was attended by members from leading Japanese newspapers and leisure industry companies.[12] Sega stressed “the importance of such tournaments to foster better business relationships between the maker-location-customer and create an atmosphere of competition on TV amusement games”.[13][12] In 1977, Gremlin Industries (a year before being acquired by Sega) held a marketing stunt to promote their early arcade snake game Hustle in the United States, involving the “Gremlin Girls” who were a duo of professional female arcade players called Sabrina Osment and Lynn Reid.[15][16] The pair travelled across 19 American cities, where players could challenge them in best-of-three matches for a chance to win money. The duo were challenged by a total of 1,300 players, only about seven of whom managed to beat them.[16]
The golden age of arcade video games was heralded by Taito‘s Space Invaders in 1978, which popularized the use of a persistent high score for all players. Several video games in the next several years followed suit, adding other means of tracking high scores such with high score tables that included the players’ initials in games like Asteroids in 1979. High score-chasing became a popular activity and a means of competition.[17] The Space Invaders Championship held by Atari in 1980 was the earliest large scale video game competition, attracting more than 10,000 participants across the United States, establishing competitive gaming as a mainstream hobby.[18] It was won by Rebecca Heineman.[19] Walter Day, owner of an arcade in Iowa, had taken it upon himself to travel across the United States to record the high scores on various games in 1980, and on his return, founded Twin Galaxies, a high score record-keeping organization.[20] The organization went on to help promote video games and publicize its records through publications such as the Guinness Book of World Records, and in 1983 it created the U.S. National Video Game Team. The team was involved in competitions, such as running the Video Game Masters Tournament for Guinness World Records[21][22] and sponsoring the North American Video Game Challenge tournament.[23] A multicity tour in 1983, the “Electronic Circus”, was used to feature these players in live challenges before audiences, and draw more people to video games.[17] These video game players and tournaments were featured in well-circulated newspapers and popular magazines including Life and Time and became minor celebrities at the time, such as Billy Mitchell.[24][25] Besides establishing the competitive nature of games, these types of promotional events all formed the nature of the marketing and promotion that formed the basis of modern esports.[17]
In 1984, Konami and Centuri jointly held an international Track & Field arcade game competition that drew more than a million players from across Japan and North America. Play Meter in 1984 called it “the coin-op event of the year” and an “event on a scale never before achieved in the industry”.[26] As of 2016, it holds the record for the largest organized video game competition of all time, according to Guinness World Records.[27]
Televised esports events aired during this period included the American show Starcade which ran from 1982 to 1984 airing a total of 133 episodes, on which contestants would attempt to beat each other’s high scores on an arcade game.[28] A video game tournament was included as part of TV show That’s Incredible!,[29] and tournaments were also featured as part of the plot of various films, including 1982’s Tron.[30] In the UK, the BBC game show First Class included competitive video game rounds featuring the contemporary arcade games, such as Hyper Sports, 720° and Paperboy.[31][32] In the United States, the Amusement Players Association held its first U.S. National Video Game Team competition in January 1987, where Vs. Super Mario Bros. was popular among competitive arcade players.[33]
The 1988 game Netrek was an Internet game for up to 16 players, written almost entirely in cross-platform open-source software. Netrek was the third Internet game, the first Internet game to use metaservers to locate open game servers, and the first to have persistent user information. In 1993 it was credited by Wired Magazine as “the first online sports game”.[34]
Growth and online video games (1990–1999)
The fighting game Street Fighter II (1991) popularized the concept of direct, tournament-level competition between two players.[35] Previously, video games most often relied on high scores to determine the best player, but this changed with Street Fighter II, where players would instead challenge each other directly, “face-to-face,” to determine the best player,[35] paving the way for the competitive multiplayer and deathmatch modes found in modern action games.[36] The popularity of fighting games such as Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom in the 1990s led to the foundation of the international Evolution Championship Series (EVO) esports tournament in 1996.
Large esports tournaments in the 1990s include the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, which toured across the United States, and held its finals at Universal Studios Hollywood in California. Nintendo held a 2nd World Championships in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System called the Nintendo PowerFest ’94. There were 132 finalists that played in the finals in San Diego, California. Mike Iarossi took home 1st prize. Blockbuster Video also ran their own World Game Championships in the early 1990s, co-hosted by GamePro magazine. Citizens from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Chile were eligible to compete. Games from the 1994 championships included NBA Jam and Virtua Racing.[37]
Television shows featuring esports during this period included the British shows GamesMaster and Bad Influence! the Australian game show A*mazing, where in one round contestants competed in a video game face off, and the Canadian game show Video & Arcade Top 10.
In the 1990s, many games benefited from increasing internet connectivity, especially PC games. Inspired by the fighting games Street Fighter II, Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, id Software‘s John Romero established competitive multiplayer in online games with Doom‘s deathmatch mode in 1993.[38] Tournaments established in the late 1990s include the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), QuakeCon, and the Professional Gamers League. PC games played at the CPL included the Counter-Strike series, Quake series, StarCraft, and Warcraft.
Global tournaments (2000–present)
The League of Legends World Championship is an annual League of Legends tournament that rotates its venues around the world.
The growth of esports in South Korea is thought to have been influenced by the mass building of broadband Internet networks following the 1997 Asian financial crisis.[39] It is also thought that the high unemployment rate at the time caused many people to look for things to do while out of work.[40] Instrumental to this growth of esports in South Korea was the prevalence of the Komany-style internet café/LAN gaming center, known as a PC bang. The Korean e-Sports Association, an arm of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, was founded in 2000 to promote and regulate esports in the country.[41] Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Park Jie-won coined the term “Esports” at the founding ceremony of the 21st Century Professional Game Association (currently Korean e-Sports Association) in 2000.[42]
“Evo Moment 37“, also known as the “Daigo Parry”, refers to a portion of a Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike semi-final match held at Evolution Championship Series 2004 (Evo 2004) between Daigo Umehara (playing Ken Masters) and Justin Wong (playing Chun-Li). During this match, Umehara made an unexpected comeback by parrying 15 consecutive hits of Wong’s “Super Art” move while having only one pixel of vitality. Umehara subsequently won the match. “Evo Moment #37” is frequently described as the most iconic and memorable moment in the history of competitive video gaming. Being at one point the most-watched competitive gaming moment of all time, it has been compared to sports moments such as Babe Ruth’s called shot and the Miracle on Ice.[43]
In April 2006 the G7 teams federation were formed by seven prominent Counter-Strike teams. The goal of the organization was to increase stability in the esports world, particularly in standardizing player transfers and working with leagues and organizations. The founding members were 4Kings, Fnatic, Made in Brazil, Mousesports, NiP, SK-Gaming, Team 3D.[44] The organization only lasted until 2009 before dissolving.[45]
The 2000s was a popular time for televised esports. Television coverage was best established in South Korea, with StarCraft and Warcraft III competitions regularly televised by dedicated 24-hour cable TV game channels Ongamenet and MBCGame.[46] Elsewhere, esports television coverage was sporadic. The German GIGA Television covered esports until its shutdown in 2009. The United Kingdom satellite television channel XLEAGUE.TV broadcast esports competitions from 2007 to 2009. The online esports only channel ESL TV[47] briefly attempted a paid television model renamed GIGA II from June 2006 to autumn 2007. The French channel Game One broadcast esports matches in a show called Arena Online for the Xfire Trophy.[48] The United States channel ESPN hosted Madden NFL competitions in a show called Madden Nation from 2005 to 2008.[49] DirecTV broadcast the Championship Gaming Series tournament for two seasons in 2007 and 2008.[46] CBS aired prerecorded footage of the 2007 World Series of Video Games tournament that was held in Louisville, Kentucky.[50] The G4 television channel originally covered video games exclusively, but broadened its scope to cover technology and men’s lifestyle, though has now shutdown.[46]
During the 2010s, esports grew tremendously, incurring a large increase in both viewership and prize money.[51][52] Although large tournaments were founded before the 21st century, the number and scope of tournaments has increased significantly, going from about 10 tournaments in 2000 to about 260 in 2010.[3] Many successful tournaments were founded during this period, including the World Cyber Games, the Intel Extreme Masters, and Major League Gaming. The proliferation of tournaments included experimentation with competitions outside traditional esports genres. For example, the September 2006 FUN Technologies Worldwide Webgames Championship featured 71 contestants competing in casual games for a $1 million grand prize.[53]
The popularity and emergence of online streaming services have helped the growth of esports in this period, and are the most common method of watching tournaments. Twitch, an online streaming platform launched in 2011, routinely streams popular esports competitions. In 2013, viewers of the platform watched 12 billion minutes of video on the service, with the two most popular Twitch broadcasters being League of Legends and Dota 2.[54] During one day of The International, Twitch recorded 4.5 million unique views, with each viewer watching for an average of two hours.[3]
The modern esports boom has also seen a rise in video games companies embracing the esports potential of their products. After many years of ignoring and at times suppressing the esports scene, Nintendo hosted Wii Games Summer 2010. Spanning over a month, the tournament had over 400,000 participants, making it the largest and most expansive tournament in the company’s history. In 2014 Nintendo hosted an invitational Super Smash Bros. for Wii U competitive tournament at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) press conference that was streamed online on Twitch.[55] Halo developers 343 Industries announced in 2014 plans to revive Halo as an esport with the creation of the Halo Championship Series and a prize pool of US$50,000.[56] Both Blizzard Entertainment and Riot Games have their own collegiate outreach programs with their North American Collegiate Championship.[57][58] Since 2013 universities and colleges in the United States such as Robert Morris University Illinois and the University of Pikeville have recognized esports players as varsity level athletes and offer athletic scholarships.[59] In 2017, Tespa, Blizzard Entertainment’s collegiate esports division, unveiled its new initiative to provide scholarships and prizes for collegiate esports clubs competing in its tournaments worth US$1 million.[60] Colleges have begun granting scholarships to students who qualify to play esports professionally for the school. Colleges such as Columbia College, Robert Morris University, and Indiana Institute of Technology have taken part in this.[61] In 2018, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology began a tuition scholarship program for esports players.[62]
In 2014, the largest independent esports league, Electronic Sports League, partnered with the local brand Japan Competitive Gaming to try and grow esports in the country.
