Let’s Talk About eSports Today.

I like eSports games as they are exciting. Watching them improves my mood and enhances my motivation. 

In addition, eSport games contribute to business and the economy. For example, significant gamers earn millions of dollars, bringing money to their countries. They inspire me to learn more about these games.

Electronic Sports (eSports) is essentially a competitive gaming branch. I would like to give a quick historical background for those who are not familiar with them. 

eSports has a long history. Interestingly, the first-ever eSports tournament was held by the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University in 1972 on October 19th.

Twenty-four players met on this day to compete in “Spacewar” At the time, whoever placed first won a one-year subscription to “Rolling Stone” magazine.

Although at the time, the people allowed to compete were limited to universities and other similar institutes.

In the early 90s, Nintendo recognized the potential of the competitive gaming scene. So they organized the “Nintendo World Championships.”

There were three categories/games to compete in. These games included; Super Mario Bros, Rad Racer, and Tetris. The winners of these three competitions received golden Nintendo modules.

Later in the 90s, it became clear that the future of competitive gaming would be on PCs. As PCs became easily obtainable in the household, gaming on PCs also caught on.

In the mid-90s, the first large LAN gaming parties started, and smaller-scale LAN parties became increasingly popular.

From these LAN parties emerged gaming clans that would strive for competitive play. These clans competed against each other in larger and larger tournaments.

Towards the end of the 90s, the first eSports leagues were founded. One of these included the “Electronic Sports League” (ESL), which emerged from the “German Clan League” (DeCL) and from “ClanBase.”

In the early 90s and early 2000s, Germany organized the “Gamers Gathering” in Duisburg. More than 1600 European players gathered to compete in various games.

Also, in the early 2000s, South Korea hopped on the eSports bandwagon and was professionalized by founding “The Korean e-Sports Association” (KeSPA).

From the beginning, KeSPA focused on the possibilities of marketing eSports on TV. Counter-Strike (CS) was one of the games that kickstarted the mainstream eSports division.

CS was released in 1999, resulting from a small team of students. The gameplay includes a counter-terror unit team going against a terrorist squad.

The primary game mode was a defuse-the-bomb type mode. The terrorists would plant the bomb, and the counter-terrorists would aim to defuse it in an FPS (First Person Shooter) game style.

CS was one of the most popular eSports games for over ten years, eventually being replaced by CSGO (Counter-Strike Global Offensive) in 2012.

In the present day, eSports are bigger and more popular than ever. They include competitions in both LAN and online settings.

Currently, some of the most popular eSports games include League of Legends, CSGO, Valorant, Rocket League, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Dota 2, and Super Smash Bros.

Unlike earlier eSports events, present-day eSports prize pools consist of massive cash prizes. Some specific eSports tournaments can potentially offer prize pools above the millions.

Here’s a list of some of the largest prize pools in eSports history. I compile the stories as a hobby. If you want to learn more about them, you can find more information about each prize detail by writing the names of the competitions in your search engine.

• The Dota 2 Asia Championship — $3 Million
• The Overwatch League 2019 — $3.5 Million
• The Fortnite Fall Skirmish — $4 Million
• The PUBG Global Championship — $4.4 Million
• The 2020 Call of Duty League Championship — $4.6 Million
• The 2018 League of Legends World Championship — $6.4 Million
• The PUBG Global Invitational 2021 — $7.1 Million
• The 2021 Honour of Kings World Champion Cup — $7.7 Million
• The 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals — $30.4 Million
• The International 10 (Dota 2) — $40 Million

As you can see, simply playing your favorite games well enough can earn you some serious cash.

I believe many people don’t realize how far professional gaming has come. Many people can rely on gaming as a full-time job, similar to professional athletes who do the same.

I don’t believe I can ever become as good as some of these professionals. Although I often enjoy watching some of these eSports broadcasts on Twitch.

Some of my favorite eSports games to watch include Rocket League, Valorant, and CSGO

In conclusion, eSports has clearly come a long way since 1972. Not only has it become insanely more popular, but it has also become a lot more accessible.

Not to mention the insane prize pools that are available.

I thoroughly enjoy eSports tournaments and probably will for a while.

Tell me which eSports game is your favorite to watch.

Thank you for reading my story. I wish you a prosperous life.

The original version of this story was published on another platform.

About the Author

I write articles in my field covering gaming, filmmaking, media, technology, and design. You can subscribe to my account to get notifications when I post on Medium and Vocal Media. I support Illumination Integrated Publications as an editor and moderate the Slack Workspace, where you can share your Vocal Stories with thousands of members free of charge. I own and manage two publications, one for gaming and one for YouTube. You may join via my referral link if you are new to Medium. You can also join Vocal Media to share your inspiring stories. I look forward to reading your posts on both platform.