Computer games are mesmerizing. They give us a new way to get entertained. Game competitions are not a new thing. Many arcade centres held competitions as early as the 1980s. The internet, however, gave us a new way to play, and it also gave rise to eSports. Today, we will take you down the memory lane and talk about how eSports evolved over time.
The First eSports
If you want to dig through history, you will find out that the first eSports competitions happened in 1972. In October of that year, students competed in a game called Spacewar at Stamford University. The prize was a year of subscription to the Rolling Stones magazine.
In 1980, the first video game competition occurred, and the game was Space Invaders. The game had 10,000 participants. From there, several companies released new games where the aim was to get a high score.
The 1990s Era
This era gave birth to the internet. It allowed gamers to get connected. At that time, you could download and install games where there were chatrooms. You could meet new people and challenge them.
It was during this time that Nintendo began sponsoring video game sports. Such events were highly anticipated, and the winners were declared World Champion.
By 1997, one game that had gained notoriety was Quake. One tournament that was most anticipated was the Red Annihilation. It drew more than 2,000 participants. Today, it is widely accepted that this was the first real and official eSports tournament.
It was also in the 1990s when Counter-Strike was released. Today, it is one of the most massive game tournaments in the world, and you can even bet real money on your favourite teams and players on betting sites. This betting is called CSGO betting.
It was also during this era when people were crazed about strategy games, and Starcraft was the dominant game to play. In this game, winning depended on how you build your army. It was the strategy that mattered, not how fast your reflexes were.
Starcraft has grown so big today that after the release of its second version, it has spouted one of the most prestigious competitions—the Global Starcraft 2 League or GSL. It has more than 50 million viewers worldwide. On Twitch, it has more than 17.5 million viewers.
The 2000s Era
From the year 2000 to 2009, we saw that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism gave birth to the Korean e-Sports Association. Its main goal was to promote eSports. After the foundation of the organization, several tournaments were put in place, such as Intel Extreme Masters and Major League Gaming. What happened during this period was that eSports became televised. Some examples of these are Championship Gaming Series and League TV.
The 2010s Era
It was in 2011 that a gaming platform for steaming called Twitch took the world by storm. It is pretty much the YouTube of gaming. On Twitch, gamers can play and let their viewers see them play. Twitch is a subscription-based platform, and the gamers can monetize their audiences. It is also Twitch that started to regularly live-stream gaming competitions. It was Twitch that really brought eSports to the masses.
The Future of eSports
The first eSports Arena was launched in 2015. It is in California. As an arena, it is a real stadium where fans can gather and see what is happening on the players’ screen on large screens. It is like watching basketball, but instead of the players running, you see their screens.
The eSports facility is dedicated. What this means is that it will not be used for other games but eSports only. In 2018, another eSports arena opened in Las Vegas, and it is called the Luxor Las Vegas.
Even if there is a pandemic, eSports is going to thrive. The only dependency it has is the internet. Fans from all over the world can still support it despite not being able to go out. That is the beauty of eSports—all they have to do is to broadcast it in a channel and charge people a fee.
eSports has evolved in the last 30 years. It has grown mainstream now, and there is no shortage of platforms where you can watch your favourite gamers play. eSports is now treated in the same capacity as physical sports. Today, you can go to online casinos and place bets, like what you could do on the Vulkan eSports betting site.
Just make sure that when you bet, try to understand the odds first. The best thing you should do is to follow one eSport at a time, especially if you are new to this. Find out who the best players are, and what is the likelihood of a team to win.
