Do you know what eSports are? We tell you in great detail

The videogame industry is already positioned above the film or music industries globally, bringing together millions of players daily from different parts of the world. Whether to play, stream live, or watch the reactions of other players on YouTube or services like Twitch and Mixer, the massiveness is indisputable. And among the phenomena that it managed to achieve during this time, eSports (or electronic sports) were already fully established. But many may not know what this phenomenon is and that is why we will explain, exactly what eSports are.

Professional players of titles such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch compete with each other traveling the world, present themselves to a large crowd and even fill stadiums while leaving everything to be number one, while recent Battle Royale such like Fornite, PUBG and Apex Legends are trying to enter the scene too.

The largest studios and publishers already present their own tournaments, as it is in the case of Blizzard and its wide range of competitive titles, and there are a number of established teams bringing together players from all over the world. But for those who are not yet fully familiar or want to know about it, here we collect the necessary details to get to know the most important eSports Tournaments.

What are eSports and how did they arise?

ESports or electronic sports have become increasingly known since before 2000, but not to fall into a chronology through time, we will find ourselves around 2015: time in which the multiplayer competitive scenarios of  League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Dota 2 were unstoppable.

If we go back a little, 2011 saw the birth of The International, the largest Dota 2 championship in the world organized by Valve. Today it is one of the biggest prizes it contains, and as recent as last year, they managed to reach a total prize of $ 25 million.

How did they become a phenomenon?

There are several issues to consider when talking about the success of eSports. In the first place it is an easy accessibility for those players who want to venture into their favorite video games in a professional manner. It requires practice and dedication, but like any other sport, anyone with sufficient capacity to do so can one day be seen forming a team and starting to participate in local tournaments, in order to move on to the regional ones and have the chance to compete in events even bigger.

The growth of streaming platforms such as Twitch, Mixer and YouTube also took an almost leading role in this growth. Anyone in the world with an internet connection is able to see their favorite teams competing in video games that are totally different from each other, learning more about which characters they are playing with most in each season (related to when talking about “Goal” in games like Overwatch, depending on changes or balances that they constantly make) and being in contact with professionals.

What is the most played today?

As we mentioned, the phenomenon of the Battle Royale was unexpected for most, but the reality is that they are here to stay. At the beginning PUBG was the sensation, but Fortnite managed to become the title per header in this new genre that is in a constant evolution, however the latter had several problems to start his own eSports league due to the nature of the game.

What will the future hold?

In addition to the constant growth, there are many government talks about whether eSports should be considered as legal sports by each country, in order to offer benefits and rights to players as professional athletes in each region. Even one of the most recent discussions was whether they should be part of the Olympic Games in the near future.