The world of eSports has turned from a small enterprise into a massive industry in only a few years. Competitive gaming is considered a real sport today, with hundreds of millions of fans and dozens of organized gamer teams that earn lucrative prizes competing at large live events.
Competitive gaming is now often televised, while there’s a good chance that it will be included in the Olympics in the future. Although esports already has sparked curiosity around the world, experts predict that this trend will get even bigger in the upcoming years.
This newborn sport already has an audience of around 380 million people, but that number can easily extend to half a billion in the next couple of seasons.
When it comes to the revenue figures, they are continually growing with each passing year. Total esports revenue in 2018 was measured at $906 million, but the forecast states that it will get around $1.4 billion in 2021.
The prize pools at tournaments are getting larger as well. The total purse for a CPL Tour in 2005 was only a million dollars. Only 13 years later, the largest prize pool for an esports event was recorded at the Dota 2 tournament, coming in at just over $25.5 million.
It’s not all about the money, however. The world of esports is still looking to expand, and the organization leaders are pushing to include this new sport into the Olympics. The 2024 Paris Games are even considering to include esports as a showcase event, but we are still waiting to see if IOC will approve it.
Nevertheless, competitive gaming will be an official medal event at the 2022 Asian games, which is not surprising considering that a lot of players and fans come from this continent.
The future of esports is exciting. If you want to learn more about it, check out the infographic below made by NJ Games and see the numbers for yourself.
