For any gamers out there who are ashamed to be watching eSports instead of real sports, you may not have to feel so bad anymore!
According to a report done by Super Data, over 71 million people watched eSports last year. That’s double the amount in 2012! Not only that, but as more people watch eSports, the prize money increases. Over the last four years, it is reported that the prize money has increased by 350%.
Currently, the prize pools for games are incredibly high. The top three prize pools are in the millions. The International 2013: Dota 2 offered $2,874,381; League of Legends Season 3 World Championship offered $2,050,000; and the Call of Duty Championship 2013 (Black Ops II) offered $1,000,000. In other words, it was a good year to be a professional gamer!
Amazingly, the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship had 32 million viewers. That’s more than the MLB World Series viewership and the NCAA Basketball Final Four viewership COMBINED! Competitive gaming is on the rise worldwide, and it looks like there is no stopping it. It has gotten so big that the U.S. has even started grating eSports athletes professional athlete visas. In Korea, more than half of the population plays online games. In a way, that’s an almost insane number to think about.
But, there’s no arguing with the facts – competitive gaming is the future. Gamer or not, in the coming years it will be hard to not see matches on TV or online. As a gamer, I think it’s amazing that video games and gamers are getting so popular. As a person, it is a little frightening to see the world get so wrapped up in something that, according to some people, promotes unhealthy habits and limits physical activity.
What do you think? Are you happy to see eSports gather so much popularity? Or is it disheartening? Will it continue to grow, or will it eventually die down? Let us know below!