E-Sports, Junior Varsity

E-sports have arrived. The scene of professional gaming has experienced such explosive growth over the past 18 months or so, it’s undeniable that gamers are ready and anxious for this new industry to flourish. While the concept of playing video games for a living is nothing new, the increasing opportunities to participate and compete for ever-increasing stakes are attracting more and more players to the tournament scene, which subsequently receiving larger and larger audiences.

Why the seemingly overnight explosion of interest? Since the first competitive video games in arcades, video games have been a natural fit for tournament style spectating and commentary. The trouble was most events have to be local, either organized within arcades or as auxiliary features to bigger events. Players and spectators all had to be in the same physical location. With the advent of the internet and quick adoption of online gaming, these conditions changed, enabling more tournaments to happen more often.

As the amount of online gamers began to increase, so did their bandwidth speeds. Traditionally limited to the programming offered by your cable/satellite provider, consumers now have an ever-increasing amount of alternative media options available online. Many tournament game matches (or “casts”, as they are often called by commentators) are available on video sharing sites such as YouTube. However, as with most any other sport, viewers tend to want their action live. Live steams of e-sports tournaments have been available more and more frequently over the past 12 months, and are quickly becoming standard fare for the industry. Social networking has enabled the posting a single link to reach thousands of people in seconds, allowing them to “tune-in” to the action as it happens.

Publishers have taken notice of the increasing demands for e-sports and pro gaming. Games are beginning to include “spectator” modes and other tools that aid in the analysis/commentating of matches in progress, as well as for recording matches to review later.

It is for these reasons I think that e-sports has achieved a new level of maturity, and I expect it to only continue to grow in popularity. If the past year is any indication of what is to come for the pro gaming scene, the next few years hold immense opportunity for both players and companies alike.”

By Robbie Wanamaker | Project Manager | Metaverse Mod Squad, Inc.