You would never guess which is the newest spectator sport, which draws huge crowds as well as a lot of money from various sponsors! It’s something called esports and it basically represents professional games.
It seems that games are no longer limited to just individual players, each of whom plays a game from the solitude of their bedroom, forming teams that meet exclusively online. The virtual world now has viewers!
The gaming industry is huge (and growing). But only once you compare the game industry to the music and film industry, do you realize how big it really is. Right now, the games industry has higher revenues than the music industry, and it is close only second to the movie industry. From this point of view, it may not be so strange that professional video games try to enter the sports arena of the big league spectators.
Professional video game competitions are known as electronic sports. These game tournaments easily sell large stadiums and, like any major league spectator sport, draw a large home crowd.
The money, of course, follows. Recently, at a game tournament hosted by game developer Valve Corporation, and won by Chinese players, more than ten million in prizes were awarded. And the place was full of people: there were more than ten thousand spectators! In response, the advertising giants are lining up as sponsors.
It may sound strange, but there are millions to be won in these game tournaments! The best players make a six- or seven-figure income. Like, say, the best soccer players, the best players can also attract a fervent following. Young players now dream of fame and fortune!
Yes, there really are professional players, and they are treated just like any other professional athlete! The US State Department is now granting visas to professional players, and universities have only just started awarding athletic scholarships to players. Even Ivy League colleges have intercollegiate games.
The gaming craze has seen its biggest deal with Amazon’s acquisition of a live streaming gaming platform, Twitch, for nearly a billion. Is this a budding bubble? Who knows! Meanwhile, Twitch will continue to serve as a platform where tens of millions of people watch billions of games each month. One thing is for sure: the global video game phenomenon is now a live sporting event not to be missed! Against all odds, the games have become a spectator sport.