Esports is a thriving global industry and its gaining in popularity with each passing year. If present day projections for the future of Esports are proved correct in time, it’s poised to transcend all traditional sports and overtake the business of traditional sports from practically every aspect that matters such as viewership, participation and revenue. Hence, to say it’s a big deal is no understatement.
Steve Borenstein, Chairman of Activision Blizzard’s Esports Division and Former CEO of ESPN and NFL Network, recently echoed a similar sentiment. “I believe esports will rival the biggest traditional sports leagues in terms of future opportunities, and between advertising, ticket sales, licensing, sponsorships and merchandising, there are tremendous growth areas for this nascent industry.”
The sports betting industry too has seen large growth within its Esports segment in 2020 – a direct consequence of the global pandemic as gamblers were forced to shift from live sports to esports during widespread lockdowns that shuttered everything. And as that growth is showing no signs of slowing down a year later, even though normalcy is slowly returning as governments get a handle on the coronavirus pandemic in their respective regions, the demand for expanding and developing the best sports betting app experience continue to grow.
Smartphone technology has been one of the fundamental catalysing forces behind the exponential rise in online gambling – a fact that was never more so evident than it was in 2020 during the extraordinary global pandemic. The industry recorded one of its most significant spikes in recent memory.
Smartphone technology played an important role in helping populations around the world endure and withstand the consequences and disruption of the unprecedented public health crisis that tipped life as we knew it off of its axis. It underscored just how it has completely revolutionised the way we live, interact, socialise, conduct business and more. Basically, it has taken over every aspect of our daily lives and existence
How we would have survived without smartphone technology doesn’t bear thinking about…..
Esports has transformed online gaming into a spectator sport, simulating the experience of watching physical sport in online platform using video games instead. Unlike fans of physical sport, Esports fans can watch top video gamers play or, even, if they are so inclined, they too can participate in the virtual competition and play against other gamers. Additionally, the bonus for those gamers involved is the potential for remuneration in the form of prize money for the winners.
Esports tournaments are known for their extravagant, glitzy, venues packed to the rim with gamers and fans. Of course, those were cancelled last year – and they’re even up in the air for 2021 – when the global pandemic shuttered everything down. Nevertheless, Esports thrived across the board.
Gamers within the confines of homes around the world were able from the start of the pandemic until today to stream themselves playing video games and earn money or join competitions for bigger cash prizes.
Separately, online sportsbooks joined the fray with gusto too, expanding their offering of bespoke suite of esports. Thus, esports benefited from the most attention its ever known because it took centre stage during the pandemic in lieu of traditional sports and faced no competition for the attention of sports enthusiasts other than that which came from within the industry and those competing to offer esports action.
So, betting on esports replaced betting on traditional sports, filling a void for sports enthusiasts and bettors that were at a loss during the pandemic and looking for some sporting distraction. At the height of the pandemic, for instance NHL teams used esports to keep fans engaged, as did NFL and NBA teams and players as well.
Esports includes traditional sports-related games like NBA2K and FIFA, but it also includes games like League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Dota which are all the rage today.
No matter the video game all have one thing in common: they act as levellers amongst all kinds of players. It doesn’t matter if you’re tall or short, thin or sturdy, athletically inclined or have two left feet, fast or slow…. none of these physical characteristics matter.
Gamers don’t gain an advantage by having certain physical attributes nor are they at a disadvantage if they lack certain physical attributes that might otherwise preclude a player from participating in traditional sport. Hence, Esports is a leveller amongst games.
Moreover, this levelling effect extends to other areas that in traditional sports might be a barrier to participation such as gender, location and age. Anybody can play against another from anywhere around the world.
Esports allows social interactivity while playing which is another neat feature that draws fans in to interact with gamers and vice versa.
Simply put, there’s something for everyone in the world of Esports.
