Over the past 10 years esports has managed to become a global phenomenon with millions of fans around the world, multi-million dollar prize pools, stadium tournaments and a great influence on other areas of activity. The cybersports industry has spawned many memes, stories, new superstars that are popular among young people, and has also influenced people’s opinion of professional eSports and competitive gameplay in general.
Cybersport has become part of the cultural identity of many countries. From national teams to teams with specific regional affiliations, esports builds community and brings players closer to common interests. For many virtual sports fans, it has become the norm to bet on esports betting sites. Due to its media nature, esports is increasingly becoming part of the general information discourse.
In this article you will learn about how esports culture has evolved, the globalization of esports, aspects of the esports economy and industry, and the future prospects for esports culture.
Evolution of E-Sports Culture
On its way esports has traveled a long way from local tournaments, computer clubs and basements to world-famous stadiums with multi-million dollar prize money. Along with this, esports culture has evolved and the public’s perception of esports has changed.
At first, gamers and young people who were into competitive gaming were treated as a marginalized group who were wasting their time sitting behind computers and consoles. But when the first earnings came in, attitudes began to change. Over the years, eѕports culture has turned into a separate industry with its own favorites, underdogs, rules and peculiarities. It is also important to keep track of current esports events to stay up to date with all the latest news. It is now a separate sport that requires honing certain skills.
Globalization of E-Sports Events
Ever since the birth of esports, people all over the world have been competing against each other in various games. First it was arcade machines and later disciplines such as Starcraft, Warcraft 3 and Counter-Strike 1.6. At the beginning, esports events were localized and it was rare to see teams from other regions, given either the complete absence of prizes or their purely symbolic amounts.
But with time the situation changed, new sponsors came into the industry, first of all computer components vendors and bookmakers, and with them the prize money grew. It became more and more interesting and accessible for the organizers to invite teams from other regions. The point of no return was The International 2011, the first Dota 2 World Championship where Valve awarded $1,600,000 in prize money. This is a cosmic sum by the standards of those times, when a $100,000 prize pool already seemed like something gigantic. The Ukrainian team Natus Vincere earned a then-record $1,000,000 for winning the competition.
Nowadays esports events are held all over the world, including very exotic places. Teams and organizations can safely change their home regions, sign both mono-ethnic line-ups of players and international mixes. At this point esports has truly become a global phenomenon.
Among the important tournament series are The International for Dota 2, Worlds for League of Legends, VALORANT Champions for VALORANT, as well as BLAST and ESL tournaments in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. All these tournaments have prize money exceeding $1,000,000 and gather tens of thousands of fans in stadiums and hundreds of thousands of spectators in front of their monitors and TV screens.
E-Sports Economy and Industry
Cybersports generates money, sometimes a lot of it. There are several components to the economic aspect of e-sports culture. These include sponsorship, advertising and merch. The former is still dominated by vendors of computer components and accessories, as well as bookmakers. Although sometimes there are exotics. For example, CS:GO tournaments are often sponsored by the US Armed Forces as a way of attracting young people to join the army.
Advertising obviously depends on the popularity and reach of the team and the organization as a whole, but it is also a significant source of income, allowing you to pay salaries to players and staff. All more or less large teams produce their own merch, which is actively bought up by fans to demonstrate their adherence to this or that esports tag.
All of this has created a huge number of different professions and jobs within the esports industry. You can work as an analyst, psychologist and journalist as well as a cameraman, broadcast director and designer. In the future, the skills you learn can help you develop your career in other areas.
Future Prospects of E-Sports Culture
Cybersports culture is already at a global level, so the obvious way forward is for it to interact and interact with traditional sports and outside activities. Echoes of this can already be seen at various show matches, where famous footballers and other athletes play shoulder-to-shoulder with top eSportsmen.
For example, Oleksandr Zinchenko, a football player of Arsenal football club, recently announced the creation of his own esports team Passion UA. Such interaction contributes to the arrival of a new audience in esports, as well as its popularization among different age and social groups.
Conclusion
Cybersports culture has gone through a long way of development and reached the global level. Along with this, tournaments have also evolved from localized tournaments to world championships with huge prize money. With the growth of eSports culture in the industry there was a need for many professions and specialties, which stimulated the emergence of the eSports labor market. Further development of esports will lead to an increasing affirmation of the star status for prominent and successful esportsmen, as well as popularization of esports culture in the environment of traditional sports and the general information field.
