eSports has been around for a while now, but it didn’t really take off until the 2010s. Nowadays, eSports is a global phenomenon and is expected to become a multi-billion dollar industry in the coming years. This has us wondering about what the world of eSports will look like in the future. In this post we will look at some of the top predictions for the eSports industry in the coming years.
More people will pursue a career in eSports
Videogames are more popular than ever, and streaming on Twitch is a perfect way to earn money as a gamer online. These days young people are less interested in picking up a traditional sport and more interested in picking up the controller. In the last few years, competitive gaming has become a very lucrative career for young players, with many tournaments offering prize pools worth millions. As the industry continues to get bigger we can only expect more and more young people to pursue professional gaming careers.
eSports will overtake traditional sports
The eSports industry has exploded in popularity in the past decade and has grown into a billion-dollar industry, with some tournaments even rivaling that of traditional sporting events in terms of viewership. Competitive gaming is starting to get recognized as a real sport and eventually the term ‘eSports’ will go out of style. eSports tournaments have become so popular that many online bookmakers provide coverage and offer odds on major eSport events like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 tournaments.
The burgeoning eSports market is already disrupting the traditional sports industry. For instance, more people watched the League of Legends World Championship finals last year than the Superbowl. The League of Legends final attracted an audience of 99.6 million viewers online, whereas the Superbowl only had 98.2 million viewers on television. As the eSports industry continues to grow, more professional gamers are starting to get recognized as athletes. Take the famous Twitch streamer Ninja (Richard Blevins), for example, who appeared on the cover of ESPN magazine last year.
While eSports might lack the same level of physicality seen in ‘real’ sports, it certainly looks like a real sport. Professional gamers train with coaches for hours every day just like athletes, and major sports networks like ESPN are making a significant push into eSports and providing live coverage of eSports tournaments. While it might not ever replace traditional sports, eSports viewership is growing at an exponential rate and could soon overtake traditional sports.
5G will take eSports to the next level
5G is a popular buzzword in tech right now and is expected to bring many positive changes to the eSports industry in the coming years. The biggest advantage that 5G will bring is that it will fix connectivity and performance issues that can often disrupt online gaming experiences. The high-speed internet connection provided by 5G will allow for a more consistent and improved gaming experience at eSports events.
Tournaments will no longer only be limited to venues that provide fiber-optic broadband. This has the potential to revolutionize the eSports industry as 5G continues to roll out in the coming years. Since 5G networks don’t require any wires this also means that the overall capacity of participants at eSports tournaments will increase.
Olympic recognition
For many people involved in the industry, having eSports as an event at the Olympics is the next step in terms of getting competitive gaming recognized as an official sport. The International Olympics Committee (IOC), the governing body of the Olympics, has shown interest in including eSports as an event in the near future.
Next year Intel will be hosting an Olympics-sanctioned eSports tournament that will take place during the lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Viewership of the Olympics has been in decline in recent years, and it is thought that eSports could attract a younger audience to watch the games.
To sum up
The future of eSports looks bright. Competitive gaming is growing more popular every year, and the possibility of eSports becoming an Olympic sport in just a few years is very exciting for the future of eSports. Like all things though, this is subject to change, and the professional gaming landscape could transform into something entirely different than its current incarnation. But one thing is for sure, and that is eSports is here to stay.
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