Over the past decade, esports has seen tremendous growth to go from something relatively niche to something that attracts audiences in the hundreds of millions for its big events – this is in part due to changing attitudes towards gaming as a whole with an older demographic becoming interest in gaming options including this resource for online casinos as the biggest market for this audience, but also shows a shift away from just an interest in traditional sporting too as virtual options have started to gain traction – but where has the big draw for esports come from, and is the growth being seen sustainable? 

Fantastic production on a free service – Much of the success of esports can be attributed to the streaming services its represented on including YouTube and Twitch, as both services offer live viewing of games and events for free there’s no additional subscription cost like is often found through traditional sporting options, coupled with production quality from the likes of Riot Games having increased drastically over this period of time too, it has helped to provide a fantastic viewing experience at no cost at all. It doesn’t seem like this will change any time in the future either and will long be a feature that can’t be rivalled in other sporting events. 

(Image from esports-news.co.uk)

Crossover between the two markets – With celebrity and team endorsements and investments becoming more common in esports too, it creates a crossover between the two markets too – large organizations in football, basketball, and other sports have over the years invested in their own esports teams which brings some attention to them, but by also having celebrities directly endorse or invest into esports it has had just as big an impact too – the most notable are names like Drake and Post Malone who have both had a sizeable stake in different esports, and brings attention to an audience that may not have otherwise paid notice. 

Changing attitudes and changing audiences – As noted at the start, audiences for gaming have been changing quite quickly in a relatively short amount of time – much of this comes from mobile gaming and its accessibility, but also as gamers from the late 80s and 90s are now adults who have kept the habit, with their children also finding the passion too. With an estimated 3.1 billion global gamers and still growing, much of the world is now invested in the growing space, and the esports titles that come with it too.

There’s still a lot of opportunity to grow in markets that are underrepresented or to a demographic that are yet to make the switch, but with the promise that esports may eventually be represented at events such as the Olympics, there’s a bright future for the future of esports as a whole yet.

Paul Petersen