As esports go, Twitch streamed nearly every gaming tournament of 2015, including the record-breaking League of Legends World Championships, which raked in over 36 million viewers during the final match alone. Because of incredible statistics like this, ESPN, the previously mentioned worldwide leader in sports, has decided to put esports on your TV, and even start covering esports regularly on its website. Last year was the first instance of an esports tournament broadcasted live on ESPN, and without any advertising or marketing, ESPNs coverage of Blizzard’s Heroes of the Dorm averaged around 100,000 viewers. By Twitch standards, this is almost nothing, but it isn’t bad for esports’ first foray into live television in almost 10 years.
Thanks to this massive jump in visibility, gaming organizations like Complexity Gaming and Evil Geniuses, Cloud9, and many more have been able to carve out a living purely off of sponsorships and prize money. Now gamers around the world have the opportunity to pursue competitive gaming as a career. Growing up, it was my dream to viably play games competitively for a living, and it really touches a place in my heart to see players in today’s gaming world thriving off of esports alone.
The first worldwide esports sensation was Jonathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel. He was the first player to transcend the game and make a name for himself outside of competitions. His career earnings from tournaments totaled up to about $450,000, but aside from his tournament revenue, Wendel sold his Fatal1ty branded gaming accessories around the world, which increased both his profile and his pocketbook.
According to esportsEarnings.com, Peter ‘PPD’ Dager, a player on Evil Genius’ DOTA 2 roster, is currently the highest earner in esports history with over $2 million in earnings from tournaments alone. That doesn’t even include his yearly salary! Outside of the US, you have teams that are sponsored by massive corporations, like the Samsung Galaxy South Korean esports organization that fields both League of Legends and Starcraft 2 teams and the GE Tigers League of Legends team. Clearly, these massive corporate entities have realized that their dollars are being put to good use in gaming.
Not only has the esports explosion provided a living for the players, it has also opened up a new market for esports analysts, production teams, shoutcasters and personalities like Jaycie ‘Gillyweed’ Gluck, Anna Prosser Robinson, and many more. eSports isn’t just for the players anymore, it is for everyone who wants to be involved.
At this point, it is pretty clear that esports is here to stay, and it is important to remember that these impressive statistics and earnings are the result of only 3 years of real viability in the market. The future is very bright for young gamers out there. Colleges like Robert Morris University, UC Irvine, University of Kentucky Pineville, and many more now offer scholarships for esports athletes, and more are expected to join the crowd in the coming years.
The days of playing tournaments for $50 max prizes and basement esports are over. Now kids can look at their parents and say, “I want to play video games for a living,” and be able to back it up with hard numbers. We are all in a position to watch the growth of esports across the world. Now truly is the best time to be a gamer.
This post was originally written by Nick Caminita.
