Why does Esports continue to grow?
Esports are one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment and betting and even as a business, it is expected that this industry will grow 18% between 2019 and 2023. With an increase in the value of investments in advertising in Esports, investing in both the game and the back from the most successful brands and the most lucrative and dominant partnerships like the collaborations between Fortnite and DJ Marshmello, as well as the Stranger Things television series and the Star Wars franchise to give just 3 examples. Esports are clearly a huge business.
WHY DOES ESPORTS STILL GROW?
For several years, the media claimed that Esports had too many obstacles in its path. From the lengthy waiting time to create famous players to the limited and finite number of viewers and disputes over image rights to the eternal discussion that video games can be harmful, Esports achieve its success despite all this dubious scenario.
With people all “stuck” at home, Esports can finally emerge from the shadows to public attention on a huge global scale. With an explosion of profit from the Esports industry confirmed by the specialized press recently, sports betting has become a of the biggest profit focuses for Esports, with predictions of 13 billion dollars to be bet on Esports this year alone.
That number is a 134% increase over the 2016 period so far and that number is likely to increase dramatically again between 2019 and 2023. More and more families have a game console at home. With new console releases undoubtedly slightly delayed due to recent events around the world, Esports will in any case remain more resilient than many other industries even with this Coronavirus outbreak.
Online gaming is taking advantage of its “15 minutes of fame” and while servers still need to be maintained by many people around the world, the money coming into Esports from gamers, gamblers, sponsors and advertisers will increase dramatically in the coming months and even years.
Taking only on Xbox and Playstation as two companies with immense value in this business area.
Xbox’s progression to Xbox One did not affect consumer interest, on the contrary, it even increased it. The graphics on the Playstation 4 Pro and Xbox One are highly accurate, with players being able to see all the details of the grass that is spread across the map if they want to.
The last year was very important for the development of video games, both the new and the most common ones that we already loved and that grew exponentially in terms of popularity.
In just the past 12 months, games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2 and Fortnite have all had good years in terms of registering and partnering with brands or growing business volume, or both.
While Apex Legends appeared to be a threat to Fornite at some point – at least in the opinion of some – the popularity of the former did not affect the importance of the latter at all. Both games continue to acquire new players, while keeping their current players happy.
With the Fortnite World Cup taking place in the summer of 2020 (at least it seems), the event’s popularity will certainly strengthen Esports in general, as the live events are reorganized. Other games like League of Legends and Dota 2 will have events like The International possibly postponed due to recent events, but will survive any financial blow – they are bulletproof, unlike the characters in the games themselves.
With the most watched Esports event of all time being last year’s League of Legends world championship and rumors that the Fortnite world championship will expand this year with more tournaments than Solos and Duos offering prizes for the 1st place of 3 million dollars, what will happen in 2020 will certainly show us how much Esports are growing and how much money we can expect to be moved through bookmakers, all bookmakers that offer comprehensive markets for betting on Esports.
The next 12 months will prove how resilient Esports are in this area of business, which is sure to have a positive impact on the commercial appeal of online video games.
