How Have Tournaments Evolved in eSports?

We have been captivated and entertained by video games since they first appeared on the screen. The idea of competitive gaming, in which players compete to find a winner and a loser, has endured throughout time as one aspect. The five-man competition for a Rolling Stone subscription has given way to tournaments with millions of dollars in rewards and an equal number of spectators. Here is a brief overview of eSports history's most important occasions and trends.

What is eSports?

The gaming sector has seen a rise in popularity in recent years. The number of spectators and professional gamers is continuously growing. Due to its rising popularity, professional players' individual or team competition in competitive gaming has evolved into an industry known as eSports.

ESports is typically characterized as the competitive play of video games in front of large crowds. These competitions draw a sizable live and online audience that watches and follows.

The First eSports Tournament

The first eSports competition took place at Stamford University in 1972, where students played the video game Spacewar. A one-year subscription to the Rolling Stones magazine served as the winner's grand prize.

Online Multiplayer Games

Early competitions were based solely on high scores, but multiplayer games matched players against one another in real-time. Then, in 1996, the first multiplayer online shooting game, the cult classic FPS titan Doom.

Video games like Halo and Call of Duty were among the most played games worldwide by the early 2000s, both for leisure and for competition.

A Major League Move

Major League Gaming (MLG) started holding tournaments for various game genres in 2002, and in 2006 they became the first video game league to be broadcast on television. Teams developed their fan bases while rivalries and plotlines developed.

The emergence of professional teams and athletes led to the normalization of full-time competitive gaming through corporate sponsorships and promotional alliances.

Streaming

The popularity of streaming fueled the expansion of eSports, giving viewers and fans more options and facilitating easier access. The growth of streaming has also led to the creation of competitions in various genres and the emergence of competitive micro-communities in gameplay that would otherwise have been ignored.

Developers Partner Up

Video game developers saw a sizable market to be harnessed when it came to creating their games, owing to the popularity of the Starcraft league and MLG's tournaments. Heavy hitters like Call of Duty and Halo started introducing particular competitive game types in their retail releases, along with leaderboards, ranked systems, and other features.

It increased the stakes for recreational players and provided streamers with a higher platform for competition.

Twitch Comes Out on the Top

Although MLG was the first to establish eSports Leagues, Twitch's launch in 2011 allowed the best players to turn the niche from a hobby to a profession. Players could create careers around simulcasting gameplay and establish themselves on the scene by organizing and running their tournaments and gameplay.

Recent Major Competitions

Electronic sports competitions, as we know them today, have only been around for a few decades, but their prize money is already on par with traditional sports. For instance, the Fortnite World Cup in 2019 broke records for the overall and per-player prize pools, with a $30 million total prize pool.
 

The gaming industry has changed over the last five to seven decades from being a social gathering in which groups of players competed in video games to being the eSports industry that we are familiar with today.

The exponential growth of eSports over the past 20 years is astounding and shows no sign of stalling. Organizations from all over the world are making investments in the potential sector of eSports. Esports is expected to continue growing in popularity due to the increase in viewers and popularity.