ESports have exploded in popularity over the last few years: let’s find out what factors determined their growth in this dedicated article
The history of eSports, or electronic sports where you compete online and offline through video games, has roots that date back to the dawn of arcade video games in the 70s and 80s, when players competed to get the highest score in games like Space Invaders or Pac-Man, but it is a market that has only gained significant notoriety and popularity in recent decades.
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The growth of eSports has been fueled by a combination of technological, cultural, economic and organizational factors that have transformed competitive gaming from a niche pastime to a form of mass entertainment, with matches broadcast in real time by streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouTube Gaming.
Esports is a rapidly growing industry, with a complex economics that includes revenue from sponsorships, broadcast rights, advertising, event ticket sales, merchandising and more. At the end of 2022, a value of 47 million euros was estimated for the Italian market alone, with more than half a billion players worldwide.
One of the elements that has contributed most to the spread of this phenomenon is the diversity of games and all the possibilities that are created with it. There is a wide range of games that are played competitively in eSports, including real-time strategy (RTS) games like StarCraft II and Dota 2, first-person shooters (FPS) like Call of Duty, and team-based shooters like Overwatch , fighting games like Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros, and sports games like FIFA and NBA 2K, all organized into real leagues and federations.
Today, eSports is not just a form of entertainment for gamers, but has become a mainstream form of entertainment with millions of viewers around the world. Large competitions, such as the League of Legends World Championship, attract millions of spectators online and in arenas, and offer sizable cash prizes for the best players.
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