Thriving and vibing: Esports flourish

On March 11, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, and suddenly, nothing was the same. Masks became mandatory, social distancing was enforced and stepping outside felt like a last resort. While most aspects of daily life suffered, a select few thrived.

Of these rare quarantine successes, one of the most prominent was esports. As the worlds of business, education and even traditional sports struggled to stay afloat, the lockdown forced people to turn toward technology and the internet more than ever, which put esports in a prime position for growth.

Consumer spending on video games, gaming hardware, software and accessories reached a record high of $10 billion in March, according to SuperData, a Nielsen company that has analyzed the gaming industry since 2009.

Estimates from Newzoo, a gaming industry analytics firm, put the esports industry at just over $950 million in global revenue by the end of 2020. Newzoo approximated that about 61% of earned revenue came from sponsorships, 17% from media rights, 11% from publisher fees, 6% from ticket and merchandise sales, and the remaining 5% from digital content and streaming.

Spin the wheel forward five years, and a lot more has changed.

The world has gradually returned to normalcy, technology has evolved, and several new esports titles have emerged.

Where do the numbers lie now?

The global esports market is projected to be valued at $3.4 billion by the end of 2025, which is approximately a 21% increase from the previous year and a whopping 258% increase from 2020, according to Statista, a German online platform that specializes in data gathering and visualization.

Statista expects revenue from the esports betting market alone to hit the $2.8 billion mark at the end of the year, nearly three times the $1 billion amount totaled five years ago.

Obviously, this type of growth is largely thanks to a significant increase in audience size. Statista estimates that 2025 will see an increase to 318 million esports enthusiasts (regular viewers) compared to 215 million in 2020.

Jason Lake, the founder and CEO of Complexity Gaming — the sister esports team of the Dallas Cowboys — predicted this explosion years ago when the pandemic was still in its early stages.

“We’re going to continue to see this growth in player base and viewership that (has) been growing exponentially over the past decade,” Lake told TheWrap in April of 2020. “Ironically, this crazy quarantine we’ve been stuck in has exposed games to entire demographics that might not have picked them up — they run out of Netflix or Hulu shows and want to know what else they can do.”

Beyond the numbers

The numbers are nice to look at, but they’re not the only aspect of the industry that has evolved over the past few years. Newer titles like Valorant, which ranks in the top five most viewed esports games this year, along with League of Legends and Counter-Strike, have skyrocketed in the esports world in recent years.

Mobile gaming has also seen a huge surge in popularity as of late, as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang sits at the top of that same list. The mobile esports scene is much more accessible and affordable than the alternatives, which means that competitive players are no longer confined to traditional gaming platforms.

This year also has a strong chance of being the right time for college esports programs to take the next step forward. The industry is noticing increased investment at the collegiate level, and some of the bigger esports brands are even offering college scholarships to top players.

Connor Rawls, a research specialist from ASU’s School of Arts Media and Engineering who runs the Esports Lounge at Arizona State, has high hopes for ASU’s esports program in 2025.

The increased support that the industry has received at the college level doesn’t surprise senior Phaelen Bride, the event coordinator at ASU’s Esports Lounge. She thinks that investing in esports would be a smart move for any university.

“It’s only going to get more popular, and it brings in a lot of money,” Bride said. “Investing would be beneficial to any college that’s interested, and this would definitely be the best time to do it.”

Technology five years later

By this point, it’s clear that the entire landscape of the esports industry has changed within the last five years, and technology has been no exception.

Gamers are now offered high-powered hardware and peripherals that allow for faster response times than ever before and seamless gameplay. Available software and game development continue to improve each year, and now 5G technology boasts a more reliable connection along with lower latency.

Blockchain technology is also rising in relevance, introducing alternative models for competitive gaming that focus more on economic participation and player ownership. When incorporated into the world of gaming, Web3 technology has shifted more attention toward play-to-earn tournament structures that include cryptocurrency rewards, as well as NFT-based character ownership and trading systems.

Virtual reality also seems to have its own future in esports. VR headsets and sensors allow the player to move, engage and think tactically in the third dimension. This introduces a new type of immersion that was previously thought unattainable.

Special Olympics Arizona has its own esports program that is currently testing a virtual cycling prototype, which translates real-world movement into a virtual character that can compete in races with others around the world. Jameson Gorman, Special Olympics Arizona’s unified esports consultant, believes that VR is the future of the industry.

“I think that VR in the world of esports will become the norm as technology advances and at-home VR becomes more affordable to the average consumer,” Gorman said. “I have already dabbled with VR, and it was breathtaking having that form of technology.

“In my ideal world, VR would look a lot like it does in the movie Ready Player One. People can use their VR headsets for any type of game, with the inclusion of a pass-through mode that allows for seamless viewing between the game and what’s in front of you.”