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Esports, also known as electronic sports, e-sports, or eSports, is competitive tournament-level video gaming. Similar to physical sports, E-Sports has professional teams and players, competing for a prize pool and has recently been acknowledged as a professional sport.

History

1970 - 1980

Bruce Baumgart, on October 19, 1972, winner of the first eSport tournament.

During the early 1970s, early gaming consoles were very simple being limited to early computers with graphics displaying nothing but dots and lines. Nevertheless this step in video gaming was a huge innovation and would soon take its first step to be known to the general public. The first official video game competition on record happened at Stanford University on October 19, 1972[1]. The event invited players to compete in a game called Spacewar, a space combat game that was first developed in 1962. Students gathered to compete against each other in this revolutionary game, with the top prize of a one year’s subscription of Rolling Stone magazine going to winner Bruce Baumgart.

The National Space Invaders Championship held by Atari in 1980.

With technology further advancing, video games began to start getting more accessible to the average consumer. Later in the late 70s, the Atari 2600 video game console was released offering a home console that allowed people to play video games at the comfort of there own home only requiring a TV for the console to be plugged into. Cartridges, which are physical storage devices that hold a games memory and data, offered a variety of games including the popular Space Invaders. The game itself was simple in concept with players shooting pixelated aliens in order to get points and attain a high score. This popular game would eventually lead to video game competitions hitting the mainstream when Atari held the Space Invaders Championship in 1980[2]. The event attracted over 10,000 players and helped bring video games out of the shadows as a niche product and firmly into the public’s eye.

With arcades booming in the 1980s with popular games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and the aforementioned Space Invaders being played and high scores being broken everyday, an official record system was needed to keep a track of the nationwide accomplishments. This lead to the creation of the organization Twin Galaxies. Created by Walter Day, this organization helped promote video games and kept record high scores, some even appearing in the Guinness World Records. Among the many people who held high scores, popular video gamer and perhaps one of the first Esports athletes, Billy Mitchell, became well known in the 1980’s for his mastery of various arcade games and world records in arcade cabinet games.

During this period, popular newspapers and magazines started to write about this new trendy phenomenon. With this fast growing craze, TV shows broadcasted events where participants would try to beat the highest scores of an arcade game. The best-known of these shows is Starcade with a total of 133 episodes.At the end of the 1980s more than 10,000 players across the United States, are playing competitive gaming as a mainstream hobby.


1990s

Nintendo console tournament in 1994.

In 1991, Street Fighter II was released and popularized the concept of PvP games (Player versus Player). Street Fighter II was a combat video game where two players could play against each other through avatars and fight. Being a skill-based competitive game, Street Fighter II paved the way for legitimate competitive game play as now gaming could now be faced in a player 1 versus player 2 setting (akin to a traditional sport like tennis) instead of many players just aiming for a high score.

In 1994, popular video game company Nintendo hosted multiple Nintendo console tournaments throughout the United States testing gamers on different sections of there own video games from Super Mario Bros to the popular puzzle game Tetris. With over 130 finalists, Nintendo's tournaments were an iconic step in the Esports industry.

In 1997, popular video game tournament EVO or Evolution Championship Series was founded by Tom Cannon, also known for his work on the popular fighting game website Shoryuken.com where he hosted a 40-man Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2, (both aforementioned PvP fighting games) tournament in 1996 in Sunnyvale, California. This major tournament would continue to present day where competitors from around the world ranging from Japan, Korea, Pakistan and many more would come to compete in Los Angeles now hosting the event at popular stadium venue Staples Center.

Dennis "Thresh" Fong and his winning prize Ferrari.

With computers becoming more advance, people were able to play competitive games with each other through the internet with the help of dial-up connections. Among these games were popular first person shooters such as Counter Strike and the important video game Quake. In 1997, a Quake competitive Esport event would be held in May 1997 called Red Annihilation that was one of the first nationwide video game competition held in the United States. 16 players were flown to Atlanta, Georgia for the concluding phase of the tournament, where they competed inside the World Congress Center in a gaming arena built on the floor of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). In the final match of the tournament, Dennis "Thresh" Fong defeated Tom "Entropy" Kimzey of Impulse 9 on the map Castle of the Damned [3]. For winning the event, Fong was awarded John D. Carmack's, creator of the game, 1987 Ferrari 328 GTS cabriolet as the grand prize[4].


2000s

A live Starcraft tournament hosted in 2000s.

As the technology advanced, the capabilities of the Internet reaching into video games was an essential benefit to the industry not only domestically but also internationally. With the popular Real-Time strategy game StarCraft making waves in the United States it would soon become a popular cultural icon to South Korea. With the mass building of broadband internet networks following the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the high unemployment rate at the time causing many people to look for things to do while out of work, internet cafés/LAN gaming centers, also known as a PC bangs, became extremely popular as a side hobby for Korean citizens with StarCraft being the game of choice. The game was such a hit phenomenon that media companies such as On-media and MBC Plus Media launched their own television channels and leagues to broadcast StarCraft competitions to millions of televisions and hosted finals in front of tens of thousands of fans. In the early 2000s professional StarCraft teams in South Korea were attracting sponsorships from the likes of Samsung, along with telecommunications giants like SK Telecom [5].

With this popularity, the Korean e-Sports Association, an arm of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, was founded in 2000 to promote and regulate Esports in the country. Thanks to developments in South Korea, the first World Cyber Games (WCG) were held here in Seoul in 2000. In 2003 the first "Electronic Sports World Cup" (ESWC) was played in Poitiers, France. The so-called "Grand Final" of this tournament was played this summer in Paris. While the initial focus was on PC games, console titles were gradually added to the competition canon.

In the US, console gaming was becoming increasingly more popular with Microsoft Xbox title Halo becoming one of gaming most pinnacle titles with its ground breaking multiplayer as well as streamlining online multiplayer to the average consumer. From this, Major League Gaming otherwise known as MLG was founded in 2002 by "Sundance" DiGiovanni and Mike Sespo hosting Halo tournaments as well as streaming them on television and online for all internet viewers to see. Their first tournament was a Halo: CE tournament in New York in 2004 and by 2006, their fanbase and revenue had grown exponentially eventually leading them to host National Championship events with prize pools in six-digits [6].

The "CPL World Tour" (Cyberathlete Professional League) was the first eSports event in 2005 to be endowed with one million dollars.The entire series took place in ten cities around the world and ended with a finale in New York, broadcast live by MTV. The winner of the tour was the Dutchman "Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager", who had earned a prize money of over 150,000 US dollars - while the winner of the final was the American "Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel" who took the grand prize of $250,000 [7].


2010 - Present

At this time video games and Esports tournaments are at an all time high. In 2010, Nintendo hosted the iconic Wii Games Summer 2010, with over 400,000 participants. Nintendo then went on to host an invitational for Super Smash Bros to an Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2014. In 2015, the first dedicated U.S E-Sports Arena was created in California.

Dota 2 The International Tournament.

Today, E-Sports encompasses the competitiveness of physical sports with the same feelings rooting for your team and the adrenaline of playing professionally and on the big screen. Popular games such as League of Legends and Dota 2 host year long tournaments in big venues and arenas for thousands to view live. World tournaments live attendance easily reach in the thousands with the League of Legends World tournament finals having a total of 20,000 people watching live with other 2.9 million people streaming and watching it online[8]. Popular blizzard game Overwatch is another video game with a large Esports following where an organization of the league, Philadelphia Fusion, will open the first US arena built for esports in 2021 [9].

The rapid growth of Esports can be attributed to streaming. The popularity and emergence of online streaming services have helped the growth of esports in this period, and are the most common method of watching tournaments. Twitch, an online streaming platform launched in 2011, routinely streams popular esports competitions. In 2013, viewers of the platform watched 12 billion minutes of video on the service, with the two most popular Twitch broadcasters being League of Legends and Dota 2. During one day of The International, Twitch recorded 4.5 million unique views, with each viewer watching for an average of two hours.

Genres

As with sports, there are many different video games that are played competitively. Below are examples of popular ones.

Fighting games

A fighting game is a genre of video games where a player uses a character to battle against another character controlled by either another player or the game's artificial intelligence. Characters in fighting games usually have their own unique skills and specials that are activated through rapid sequences of button inputs on a controller, keyboard, or joystick. Popular Esports games in this genre are Street Fighter, Tekken, Dragon Ball Z Fighter and Super Smash Bros.

See also Fighting game

MOBA

MOBA also known as the multiplayer online battle arena is a type of game in which a player controls a single character in one of two teams. The sole objective of the game is to destroy the other team's main structure/building with the help of AI (artificial intelligence) controlled units that periodically spawn and marches forward along a set path. Popular Esports games in this genre are Heroes of the Storm, Dota 2 and League of Legends.

See also MOBA

First Person Shooter

First person shooter games are games that revolve around wielding a weapon and eliminating other players through a first person perspective. Popular Esports games in this genre are Counter-Strike, Halo, Overwatch, and PUBG.

See also First Person Shooter


Tournaments

Two players competing in preliminaries of the fighting game tournament EVO as a huge crowd watches.

EVO

EVO, or the Evolution Championship Series, is the biggest fighting game competition of the year and usually takes place in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay venue. Fighting game competitors from around the world fly in to compete in this 3 day event. Games have changed in the 23 years since the tournament's inception in 1996 but some games have stuck around more than others, such as games from the Street Fighter Series, King Of Fighters, Super Smash Bros, Marvel Vs. Capcom, and Tekken. The tournament is also streamed online every year for viewers around the world. As with any esport, there have also been some superstars who consistently taken top 8 finishes, and even titles. Justin Wong for example has taken home 9 titles in his years active, in games like Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. [10] See EVO



Worlds 2019 Artwork

League of Legends

The League of Legends tournament series is a worldwide circuit where regions of North America, South Korea, Europe, China and Wildcard regions all play there respective competitive circuits to compete and rank to finally meet at the World's international stage where the best teams play against each other.



See Competitive LoL



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Dota

The Dota tournament series is a worldwide circuit where regions of North America, Europe, China and Wildcard regions all play there respective competitive circuits to compete and rank to finally meet at the Dota The International tournament where the best teams play against each other.



Overwatch

See Overwatch league

Tournament Organizers

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ESL

ESL, formerly Electronic Sports League, is a production company and eSports tournament organizer. Founded in 2000, ESL is the oldest and largest eSports organizer that remains in operation. ESL is based in Cologne, Germany, and they boast 11 offices and TV studios around the world. [11]

ESL hosts tournaments for a wide range of games including Battlefield 4, Dota 2, Halo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Mortal Combat, SMITE, Starcraft II, World of Tanks, Rainbow Six Siege, and most commonly Counter-Strike Global Offensive.

ESL One Cologne 2019: A stadium packed with people

Types of Competitions

  • ESL Play: Online daily tournaments that are both open (anyone can enter) and closed (required to have qualified), winners compete for cash prizes.
  • ESL Pro Leagues: These are major league online tournaments typically for CS:GO. They feature prize pools over one million dollars and run in both North America and Europe. In 2020, they attempted to experiment with an offline studio approach however this was railroaded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • ESL One: These are major production events that attract live audiences of over 10,000. They occur annually in Katowice, Cologne, New York, and in 2020 the first time in Rio. These tournaments all feature CS:GO, however, some also feature games such as Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter.
  • Intel Extreme Masters: IEM is a series of international eSport events sponsored by Intel in collaboration with ESL who sanctions and produces the events. They feature games such as CS:GO, Dota 2, Quake Live, League of Legends, and Hearthstone. They have been hosted globally including Katowice, Dubai, Chengdu, Hanover, and Los Angeles. Having started in 2007, it is the longest-running eSports tournament series. [12]



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Dreamhack

Dreamhack, a Swedish production company, is the self-described "world's largest digital festival". [13] They hold tournaments and LAN parties globally, typically in Europe and North America. They are unique as Dreamhack events are not only eSports tournaments, but also an event for everyone to enjoy. They typically also host LAN parties that are open for anyone to bring their own gaming equipment and play together, and Expos about the future of gaming.

Dreamhack Summer 2013: World's Largest LAN Party

A Dreamhack event typically consists of the following components:

  • Festival
  • Gaming competition
  • Digital Arts Competiton
  • Live Concerts
  • Expo
  • Cosplay competition
  • Meet and greet Streamers

Prize Winnings

Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf celebrates winning the Fortnite World Cup at Arthur Ashe Stadium on July 28, 2019 in New York City and his prize of $3 million.

As Esports grows, so does the industry, the community, and the tournaments. Since the world of Esports is dominated by team-based games, prize pools are huge and grow year to year. Because E-Sports tournaments are focused on team and skill-based games, dominant figures in the tournament scene are League of Legends, Dota 2, Fortnite, Counter-Strike Global Offensive, Overwatch, and PUBG.

League of Legends

One of the frontier MOBA E-Sports games, League of Legends holds one of the fastest, greatest, and most popular tournaments also known as Worlds. Started in 2011, League of Legends Worlds tournament happens annually, with a prize pool and a one of a kind trophy every year.

  • In 2011, League had a $100,000 prize pool with 1.6 million online viewers and 210,000 in-person viewers.
  • In 2012, League had a $1,400,000 prize pool with over 8 million online viewers and 1 million in-person viewers.
  • In 2013, League had a $1,400,000 prize pool with 32 million online viewers and 8.5 million in-person viewers.
  • In 2014, League had a $1,400,000 prize pool with 27 million online viewers and 11 million in-person viewers.
  • In 2015, League had a $1,400,000 prize pool with 36 million online viewers and 14 million in-person viewers.
  • In 2016, League had a $6,700,000 prize pool with 43 million online viewers and 14.7 in-person viewers.
  • In 2017, League had a $5,000,000 prize pool with 60 million online viewers.
  • In 2018, League had a $7,000,000 prize pool with 99.6 online viewers.
  • In 2019, League has a growing prize pool of $2,200,000.
DOTA 2

A contender for one of the most popular MOBA type games, DOTA 2 boasts incredible prize pools and a wide audience.

  • In 2011, Dota had a prize pool of $1,600,000.
  • In 2012, Dota had a prize pool of $1,600,000.
  • In 2013, Dota had a prize pool of $2,874,380.
  • In 2014, Dota had a prize pool of $10,923,977.
  • In 2015, Dota had a prize pool of $18,429,613.
  • In 2016, Dota had a prize pool of $20,770,460.
  • In 2017, Dota had a prize pool of $24,787,916.
  • In 2018, Dota had a prize pool of $25,532,177.
  • In 2019, Dota had a prize pool of $34,330,068.
Fortnite

Fortnite is the fastest growing game, picking up immense speed in its viral capabilities as an FPS- shooter with a unique ability to build structures. In 2019, Fortnite hosted the World Cup, with $100,000,000 as the entire prize pool. Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf winner won $3 million on Sunday in New York after taking the top prize in a tournament for the popular online video game Fortnite [14].

Video games considered as sports debate

The debate of whether Esports can be considered a real sport has been a long discussion of debate among people from analysts to industry leaders. Early on, many people scoffed at the idea of playing video games professionally as a "sport". ESPN president John Skipper says "It’s not a sport — it’s a competition. Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition. Mostly, I’m interested in doing real sports."[15] However Esports has been gaining massive traction, as the industry is roughly worth $140 billion dollars as of 2018.[16]

Although many may not view video games as worthy of being competitive, many professionals have to play and train for hours. Reaction time, hand-eye coordination, game knowledge, and team communications are all skills that are mandatory for professionals. As the Esports industry grows, it's public recognition and jobs and opportunities grow along with it. With 83% of teenage girls and 95% of teenage boys playing video games regularly, the Esports industry is not slowing down at all.[17] As Esports has grown, so has the number of companies that back up the industry, such as Nissan, Nike, Puma, Red Bull, and more.

Milestones

  • In 2003, China was the first country to officially recognize E-Sports as an official sport.
  • In 2007, the Asian Indoor Games was the first multi-sport competition that included E-Sports as an official event alongside other traditional sports events.
  • In 2013, a professional Canadian video games player named Danny Le aka Shiphtur was the first to receive an American P-1A visa, a visa designed for "Internationally Recognized Athletes".
  • In 2014, Turkey's Ministry of Youth and Sports started giving out E-Sports Player licenses to players that were certified as professional players.
  • In 2016, France's government began to introduce E-Sports recognition and regulation programs.
  • In 2017, The Philippines started issuing athletic licenses to Filipino E-Sports players belonging to professional teams.
  • In 2017, the International Olympic Committee held a summit which acknowledged the growing popularity of E-Sports, concluding that "Competitive E-Sports could be considered as a sporting activity, and the players involved prepare and train with an intensity which may be comparable to athletes in traditional sports.[18]
  • In 2019, China officially recognized E-Sports players' professions as official, as well as gaming operators such as team managers.
  • In 2019, the Southeast Asian Games will include six medal events for E-Sports.
  • In 2022, E-Sports will be an official medal event at the 2022 Asian Games.


References