Rebecca's Thoughts

originally from The Battle for Glory: esports, TV, and media I like (and don’t)

Despite large streaming numbers, and upwards of 10 million viewers, esports isn’t considered mainstream in the public’s zeitgeist. There is an obvious market for esports, gaming, and video games in general, yet the idea of esports is foreign to most and is deeply misunderstood by people. I think that this misunderstanding comes from a generation but also societal clichés and stereotypes. To provide some context, between 2020 and 2022 the market earned over 3 billion USD in revenue, and an international audience size of over 261 million people. Other things to consider when discussing esports are streaming services and the reach websites like Twitch and YouTube have in growing and maintaining the esports market. This year, the American esports market will make just over 14 million dollars alone in online streaming and an additional 67 million in streaming rights.    

To provide some background information on esports and how we got here, I think it’s important to understand that competitive and professional videogame playing isn’t anything new and has solid roots in the 1980s and the growth of arcade culture. Despite being still up in the air, the majority of people seem to agree that the ‘National Space Invaders Championships’ in 1980 was the first major esports competition. With around 10,000 people in attendance, this event proved competitive gaming was a big deal and more than just a hobby. Another competitive tournament even earlier was in 1975 and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University hosted an ‘Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics’ which saw about 24 participants. A handful of prizes were given out at the tournament including first place winning a year-long subscription to Rolling Stone Magazine. 

People have been competing against each other in both official and unofficial capacities since video games broke into popular culture. People have been playing video games even longer as Pong was introduced in the 1970s and less technological games like pinball were widely popularized in the 1930s. Although 1930s pinball wizards were not playing for million-dollar cash prizes, the competitive nature of ‘electronic games’ is engrained in the cultures that surround them. These games are inherently primed for competition and the idea of playing in a tournament, organized challenge, or trying to beat the high score isn’t too outlandish. Throw in a cash (or a car) prize and you’ve got the starter pack for professional gaming. 

There is a lot more nuance when it comes to the history of esports that is frankly outside the scope of what I want to talk about. There are some important things to note however, and I’ll do my best to summarize it without missing too much.¹ During the 1990s more video games were released and technology was developed in such a way they were more widely available and accessible to the masses. This decade also saw the introduction of long-living franchises like “Super Street Fighter II” and the first “Doom” game both franchises with large impacts on popular culture and the video gaming industry. With more variety available to people there was essentially a game for everyone this widened the types of people who got into video games and opened them to new demographics.  

In 1997 The Professional Gamers League (PGL) ran its first tournament for the real-time strategy game “Starcraft.” Sponsored by Microsoft, the founders of the league raised over $1.2mil USD in sponsorship money. This was huge at the time and set the stage for the payouts and prizes that we see today. This tournament also set forth the standard for what tournaments look like today and what can be expected from them.  

In 1999 “Counter-Strike” was released and turned major heads within the gaming community. A large-scale multi-player game was now available, thanks to “Counter-Strike,” where people could play and compete against others around the world. Before this people typically played in teams against computers. A team of five would be playing against a computer controlling five characters. This led to predictability and made the games less fun. “Counter-Strike” allowed for more opportunities when it came to competition, making matches more competitive and spontaneous. “Counter-Strike” also led the way for other “massively online battle arena” or MOBA games like “League of Legends” and “Dota 2” to come out to similar success. According to British Esports, there are over 40 esports titles that are competed regularly. Esports is a multi-billion-dollar industry that, to people not in the know, is invisible. 

When it comes to Asia, these computer-based games were central to participation in esports, and their success is largely due to the prevalence of computer cafes and general access to things like the internet. China is now the largest esports market in the world, and that is largely attributed to its attitudes towards the players and the sport as a whole. With the facilitation of training centers and esports academies, China is one of the only countries to formally recognize esports players as a legitimate profession and actively works to create and grow their position within the sector. Developing the best talent in the world when it comes to video game players. A similar mindset is also seen in countries like South Korea where thousands of young Koreans compete to break into the professional esports community. According to the South Korean Education Ministry, E-sports is now the fifth-most popular future job among South Korean students, after athletes, doctors, teachers, and digital content creators. ² 

1. If you are dying for more information about the history of esports here are some of my recommendations for supplementary materials:  
   Good Luck Have Fun by Roland Li is a great book that dives into the origins of professional esports and how it got to where it is today. The book was published in 2016 so its not the most up-to-date source but it does provide some great insights into esports and the cultures that surrounds it.  
   Red Bull also has some documentaries following their sponsored talent that are also great at telling the stories of the people behind the computers and who are actually playing these games.  
   Breaking Point is also a great documentary that follows Team Liquid’s “League of Legends” a rough season. It shows how ego can get in the way of teamwork and winning. It also looks at the inner workings of modern esports teams and how they are formed.  ↩︎
2. There is a lot of interesting things happening in these countries pertaining to video games and how they are regulated and delt with in society. I think that these issues, policies, and ideas would contribute to an interesting paper and is something I’d like to look into for a future post. In the meantime, here are some articles that kind of sum up the situation and could provide further context for those interested in falling down a rabbit hole.  
   China’s Video Gamming Ban: CNN, The China Project, Washington Post  
   Chinese Licencing: Reuters  
   Internet/Net Cafes in China: Wired 
   Why Korean Athletes Dominate in esports: Wired 
   Korea’s Gamming Ban: Reuters 
   Video games in Korean Society: NPR, PC Bangs 
   Video Game Industry in Korea  ↩︎