Report: >70M people watch esports worldwide, with LoL generating $624M and Dota 2 generating ~$80M - Polidicks

iirc being good at eSports i.e. StarCraft 2, LoL can earns you an university degree in Korea.

I hate the term "eSports" just throwing that out there

[QUOTE=supernoob96;44439234]There's a stupidly large amount of FPS' out there...and they all need to die because an FPS is a cancer on the gaming community. RANT ASIDE I digress to say that other than that, it's mostly MOBA's and RTS' that dominate the eSports community. This includes games such as SCII, which is my personal favorite.[/QUOTE] Fuck you. Shooters like Quake made the gaming industry.

[QUOTE=CanadianBill;44439739]I hate the term "eSports" just throwing that out there[/QUOTE] why?

Is the Halo pro scene still a thing? I can't think I've heard much about it since the days of halo 3.

[QUOTE=DarkZero135;44437808]halo and quake are pretty dead as esports sadly, but csgo is keepin the fps genre alive in the esports scene[/QUOTE] CSGO had a really high viewer count for katowice. I'd check but I'm on my phone. It's becoming a lot more popular to watch. [editline]3rd April 2014[/editline] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ip3jXty.jpg[/IMG] Numbers grew dramatically.

[QUOTE=Makol;44437284]What games are played in eSports besides Dota 2 and LoL? I haven't payed too much attantion to the whole eSports thing.[/QUOTE] As others have mentioned the other big ones are, Starcraft 2, CS:GO, CoD (ghost i believe), Quake (still happens from time to time), and Super Smash Brothers Melee/Brawl There are also some up and coming games such as Blizzards Hearthstone and SMITE

TF2 also has a decently large competitive scene. Just recently they hosted a 36 hour livestream for charity and raised over 100,000$ for One Step Camp.

And then there's counter-strike which has been going on for 14 years+ now and is still amazingly popular

[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;44439136]The most popular eSports games are still too technical and complex for mainstream audiences, which is why you're not going to see eSporst on ESPN any time soon.[/QUOTE] I hope seeing it underground forever.

If you guys haven't seen the "Free To Play" movie yet I recommend everyone to watch it, it summaries this thread discussion pretty well. eSports will only grow from this day, western countries are still a little bit behind in this but I'm confident that it will equalize in the near future.

The only esport I gripe about is CoD. I'm fine with the game, it's just that it's more solo oriented and offers minimal teamwork aside from like standing on domination points for 5s. I watched a bit of CODChamps and it seemed like all of the teams just contract teens who have a high KDR and contribute kills more than anything

[QUOTE=GameDev;44440538]The only esport I gripe about is CoD. I'm fine with the game, it's just that it's more solo oriented and offers minimal teamwork aside from like standing on domination points for 5s. I watched a bit of CODChamps and it seemed like all of the teams just contract teens who have a high KDR and contribute kills more than anything[/QUOTE] Activision is just desperately trying to get into the scene and is throwing money at kids.

[QUOTE=GameDev;44440538]The only esport I gripe about is CoD. I'm fine with the game, it's just that it's more solo oriented and offers minimal teamwork aside from like standing on domination points for 5s. I watched a bit of CODChamps and it seemed like all of the teams just contract teens who have a high KDR and contribute kills more than anything[/QUOTE] CoD has a near nonexistant presence in the competitive/eSports scene, it only even has a one at all duebto how big the series is, it's hard to not have one when you're that big. But if Halo's scene died, so will CoD's.

hopefully Hearthstone will join the ranks of eSports soon already quite popular on Twitch

[QUOTE=NotMeh;44441668]hopefully Hearthstone will join the ranks of eSports soon already quite popular on Twitch[/QUOTE] hearthstone is a dumbed down mtg.

[QUOTE=BeardyDuck;44444020]hearthstone is a dumbed down mtg.[/QUOTE] call of duty is a dumbed down shooter yet it gets views

[QUOTE=ashxu;44445982]call of duty is a dumbed down shooter yet it gets views[/QUOTE] cod also has years and years of history backing it, hearthstone is still in beta im pretty sure

[QUOTE=Keychain;44437420]Being good at Starcraft 2 in Korea is like being good at football. All the girls want you.[/QUOTE] I was born into the wrong country.

I recently got into watching competitive Counter-Strike, and it really is pretty awesome. It does baffle me that competitive CoD can actually get more attention at times though.

I have no aspirations to become a "pro" gamer, but I love watching e-sports and I'm glad it's booming like this. Don't get me wrong I love televised athletics, but I guess I can relate to e-sports better since I actually play, rather than watching football (soccer) and trying to analyze if a player is making skillful moves or not.

[QUOTE=ashxu;44445982]call of duty is a dumbed down shooter yet it gets views[/QUOTE] "it gets views" is not really a good argument in favor of something.

[QUOTE=Spacewolf;44450404]"it gets views" is not really a good argument in favor of something.[/QUOTE]people want to see something so investors are more interested in throwing money at them you can have the most hardcore and competitive game but if it doesn't get much attention besides it's hardcore fanbase then it's not worth much

I don't think eSports will ever be on the same level of normal sports because its still niche as hell That said, eSports are very likely to grow into being an alternative spectator sport that people enjoy watching. Its basically competitive chess, but not nearly as boring to watch, hence why its growing in popularity. Keep in mind that even considering the success of esports now, they still don't hold a candle to the viewership and money something like x-games or WWE make. That's where esports should aspire to hit and likely will hit soon - niche market sub-sports. We are never going to see "the superbowl of esports" that literally matches the superbowl in veiwership/interest/money/etc, but I think its very likely that it'll start getting to the point where you could by esport toys in the toy section of the store (just like you can for WWE or x-game stuff), where we might see coke being branded with esports stuff for a month, and where its veiwership rivals/matches niche sports like x-games.

I don't really care for Esports to be honest, as the requirements for the "optimal" competitive metagame that the games form usually just bores me the fuck out of my seat when I try to play it.

[QUOTE=Spacewolf;44450404]"it gets views" is not really a good argument in favor of something.[/QUOTE] hearthstone is casually accessible, but at the highest level of play is quite challenging, especially accounting for rng elements however, it was never supposed to become an esport, and the developers don't really intend to pander to that audience right now. it's just something in addition to it being a fun card game. i think that's nice you can call it a dumbed down mtg, but hearthstone is an example of the ideal f2p game, and thus, it finds a large viewership. it's no surprise that companies want to sponsor it as an esport because it will draw in revenue and promote brand growth within their industry -- it's a mutually beneficial arrangement i'm also a legend tier player in hearthstone so i can speak to the difficulty of the game at a high level (of course it's not a starcraft level of intensity, it's more mental math and game knowledge)