The eSports’ Phenomenon is on the Rise

eSports today is one of the  fastest-growing entertainment businesses, record numbers are calculated every year for several different games like League of Legends, dota2, and cs:go. The most watched event of 2015, for example, was the League of Legends world championship. It destroyed previous viewership in eSports by calculating 37 millions viewers in just one match. That is a higher number than the NBA Finals of the same year in one game. Viewers on site is still a work in progress, but year after year more viewers watch. At iem katowice of last year, 104,000 watched in person over 4 days, while the highest single day viewers is 26,000 at the NBA Finals.
Despite the high viewership numbers, some people still question the legitimacy/importance of eSports, so the Johnny Green decided to ask some Weedsport students: Are eSports sports?

David Coyle– It requires skill and coordination, and there is a lot of competition, so yes, but it doesn’t deserve to be at the X-games or anything.

John Wejko– I think they serve as a fun hobby, but are definitely not a sport.

Nathan Currier– To some degree, as eSports definitely require high dexterity and training.

Drake Butler– If it requires skill and practice, to me it’s a sport.

Sinclair Babb– No, it requires no physical activity.

Chris Chalker– There isn’t enough physical activity involved in it.

Corey Lane– Hell yeah, it takes a lot of skill and you train everyday. There are fans and sponsors just like every sport.

Money and eSports
Businesses are investing in pro gaming too, just the top two investors of 2015 made $182 million in their hopes for success. It’s not just the most sponsored teams that get the money either; the top champions in dota won $9 million off of one winning game. That inspires success and grows the amount of people working for that dream of being a pro player. Most eSport players stream on services like Twitch, where people watch them playing and can give them donations and give them ad revenue. Some of the top streamers make $14,000 a month just off streaming. The top Esport player, when it comes to money, is ppd of dota. In 2014, he made $2.6 million off of playing. This makes him a millionaire off of a video game.

eSports are a big topic today, as a growing franchise and you can definitely plan on them being around for a long time.