Over the past few weekends, the League of Legends World Championships was conducted in Shanghai, China. This annual premier event is usually held in front of an immense crowd, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, the tournament had to follow strict health guidelines. Before the tournament was commenced, players from different regions were quarantined for 14-days, and all individuals were required to wear masks and were given temperature checks prior to their matches. No live crowds were allowed except for a small group during the final round.
Yet despite these setbacks, the 2020 World Championships has broken many viewership records with at least 5 matches surpassing 1 million viewers. While the pandemic has largely disrupted sports organizations like the NBA and MLB, esports has thrived due to its online accessibility. In 2018, the industry was worth $906 million, while in 2019 it was expected to reach 1.1 billion, and its reach will only continue to expand. Popular streaming services like Twitch.tv and YouTube allow millions of individuals to watch live gameplay in the comfort of their homes, and the internet remains as a refuge for these games and their now remote tournaments. The initial shutdown in professional sports leagues meant that there was more room for other broadcasting; instead of sports programs, esports was televised widely, growing their audiences further.
Many individuals have also turned to popular mobile and PC games for entertainment; games such as Among Us and the newly released Genshin Impact (my personal favorite) have captured millions of players, many who had never played video games in the past. The collaborative and co-op nature of these games makes them attractive to individuals who want to enjoy time with their friends while also maintaining social distances.
The future of esports remains a bright one; professional gaming and game broadcasting has only increased in prior years and will only grow from here. According to investor Michael Ball from Epyllion Industries, "the novel coronavirus will have permanently increased esports' overall economic and cultural trajectory. As a category, it has been popularized and legitimized in an unpredictable and profound way." As more investors, companies, and sponsors join the fray in this ever-growing market, esports will continue to thrive and cement itself as a powerful industry.
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Having watched the past three League of Legends World Championships, I can attest to its massive popularity and potential for further growth. I remember reading somewhere that the 2019 World Championship had higher viewership overall than that year's Super Bowl, with the sheer popularity of the game in China boosting it to over 100 million watchers. Even outside of China, League has become more popular than ever in regions such as Vietnam and Europe, and is gaining a foothold in Latin America and Japan. However, underneath the dazzling viewership numbers lie concerns about the sustainability of the scene, especially in North America, where various high-profile players' salaries are reportedly well over seven figures. With these extremely inflated salaries, the NA scene could soon see their bubble burst, which could then lead to a decline in League esports as a whole. Despite these worries, I still think that Riot Games, the creators of League, have done an amazing job in growing and promoting esports over the last ten years, and I believe that they will continue to do so in the future.
Being a fan of a few esports myself, I have had more time to watch and play several of them during the lockdowns. While lockdowns have inadvertently created a larger scene, the opposite could also be true; as they end, many people will most likely continue watching them, but many will also stop watching as they return to doing other things. As for the differences between sports and esports, it seems counter-intuitive that lockdowns would disrupt the direct viewership of sports; it's understandable that athletes may not play due to the risk of spreading the virus, but I would think that more people would have time and will to watch sports. I believe this difference could be attributed to something else, such as certain messaging brought on by certain sports leagues but is kept out of esports. It could also be that a crowd is a big part of sports and not esports or other differences that I have not thought of in the short timespan that I wrote this comment in.
Esports is definitely the future of the entertainment business. One of the things that I love about esports is that you can get into the exact experience of a professional quite easily. Im not saying you can play professionally, but its one could easily download whatever game they watch that pros play. That is what is so intriguing about esports. Quarantine has definitely boosted their view ship as you said. More than ever are people stuck to their phones playing video games and watching videos. It would be interesting if they can maintain that viewership even after quarantine. I think that esports needs to take advantage of the quarantine now and raise their prices a bit. In order to capitalize on this quarantine they need to realize that they are some peoples only form of entertainment and they should be able to mark up the price. If they wanted to just be nice and keep it at the same prices that would be fine too. One thing that I think would draw an even bigger crowd to esports is if they dropped their ticket prices drastically just to get more people to come.
I think it is really interesting how entertainment has evolved. The first televised sports event was in 1939, and was a huge success. It wasn't long that people looked at video games as only a form of entertainment, and boy were they wrong. As Lorenzo says, videogames and Esports have become the future of entertainment business. I remember my dad scrolling through ESPN and seeing overwatch and feeling confused.
With COVID happening, the spike in video games has been quite apparant seeing as everyone is locked at home, and what better hobby or addicition to pick up than video games? Video games is still new, and every year, new genres and new games come out that reel even more people to join. I think that we will transition well into a new era of "sports", we have already seen ideas of putting Esports into the olympics, and what a better time than now seeing as we are all quarantined anyway
The Aragon "Cloutlook" ironically wrote a satire article about how all sports were to continue as E-sports if distance learning were to continue in the fall but it seems that this has now become a reality. The popularization of such entertainment I believe is tangent with the natural projection of the current technological wave. With virtual reality, video games, and social media dominating modern culture, it's no surprise that events traditionally done in person are being digitized. I think having such e-sports is a good thing because it gives people a source of entertainment and comradery and I'm curious how such technology will change as COVID restrictions continue.
The success of E-sports during this pandemic is definitely a testament to how important technology and the internet will be in the future. While professional sports teams are suffering from being unable to play, the nature of Esports allows it to overcome the archaic obstacle of needing to be in the same place. I don't think it'll be long before colleges have E-sports teams, as it is a rapidly growing form of entertainment, and is arguable more "competitive" since one's skills or abilities are not dependent on biology. Beyond E-sports though, I can see computer literacy classes as being an absolutely necessary requirement for future generations, and could even be as normal as a PE class. Whatever the future may be, this pandemic is revealing the strengths and weaknesses of new and old forms of entertainment.
The biggest thing the pandemic shows for us is how everyone is able to adapt to different situations. Being a bigger fan of the Overwatch scene rather than League of Legends, this year has required the league to create new overlay and programs for online play, as well as splitting into 2 regions so 6 teams can play from Asia, the rest from North America. The pandemic has definitely caused a spike in viewership for this years' Grand Finals which were in Korea, and has most likely drawn in a bigger audience for the future as well.
I am completely shocked by the popularity of E-Sports. I am not much into video games, and so it is hard for me to understand the true scale of its popularity. It's not like physical sports that I can see on TV, or while walking past the park. Its a hidden community because everybody plays from their comfort of their bedroom. I am not as extreme as others to say that E-sports is "the future of the entertainment business" or that it could "be as normal as PE class," but I do believe it will continue to grow. This is especially true if tech continues to evolve and becomes more accessible to people at lower prices. The only thing I wonder is if this is a good or a bad thing. Do we really want to future of social interaction to be people hidden away at home on their gaming chairs, talking through a mic? Is that really what we want to become? It reminds me a lot about the movie Wall-E, where everybody is fat because they never leave their chair. Now with the pandemic, and with Zoom classes, this dystopia seems almost like our reality.
Digital entertainment platforms such as YouTube and Twitch are likely to become increasingly more relevant in the future. Given the current pandemic, many citizens remain in their homes more than getting entertainment from outside sources, and consequently, viewership for YouTube and Twitch as a whole has increased. As many forms of entertainment have moved to digital platforms, those that fail to be adapted are likely to be left behind during this process and become less relevant. Even amongst video games, there is still a major divide between those that work well and those that function poorly online. For instance, many fighting games have poor "netcode," code which allows a game to function online between players. This leads to a poor experience for players and ultimately harms the game's chances of continuing in an online environment. Many fighting games have poor netcode, and despite their popularity in an offline environment, they have failed to adapt to the demand for online play. However, despite the increasing popularity of such platforms at the current time, it is possible that as restrictions and fears surrounding COVID-19 clear up, these platforms may experience declines in viewership.
Even before the pandemic, e-sports were beginning to rise, but with everyone having to be in quarantine it has especially become more popular. It shows how people are trying to adapt to the situation at hand. With the growth or the internet, technology, and streaming services e-sports is bound to become maybe as big as actual sports. I, myself during quarantine have begun to watch streams as a form of entertainment during the pandemic and see it eventually going competitive. Some colleges have begun to have professional e-sports teams and are rapidly becoming more and more professional.
The popular streaming website, Twitch, has also begun streaming live sports. It is very interesting to see the progression of this new reality, where people can tune into live sports streams on Zoom or Twitch and experience a similar idea of what being in a sports stadium would feel like. And, referencing the e-sports rise, it is also nice to see an entirely new side of the Internet connecting with those who cannot watch real time sports at the moment. The introverts who play video games like Fortnite are receiving more exposure from those who are bored and stuck at home looking for a new hobby to try.
As an avid League of Legends fan, I can attest to its popularity surging in recent years. I'm even more so glad that the traction it holds hasn't wained throughout quarantine. The internet is quick to do away with the old and popularize the new, and with many new games coming out in such prime time to stay at home, the older generation games prove they aren't just a one-hit-wonder. I also feel like amidst unparalleled times with elections, BLM, and coronavirus, enjoying video games and watching streams is a nice tether to ground us back to earth. Riot Games has done a great job keeping up with current society, and Twitch streams have offered advertising and a platform for people to have fun and make revenue.
I was surprised when I found out that AOC had streamed herself playing Among Us to 400,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. With the pandemic ongoing, it certainly seems that more people and even those unexpected are turning towards video games for enjoyment from the comfort of their homes. The video game industry in general has largely consolidated itself as a successful one that will continue to thrive, but certain games will not be as successful as others, especially in the realm of competitive esports. An esport like Overwatch by Blizzard, for example, has lost a significant amount of viewers over time.
Link about AOC: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54630330
I was surprised when I found out that AOC had streamed herself playing Among Us to 400,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. With the pandemic ongoing, it certainly seems that more people and even those unexpected are turning towards video games for enjoyment from the comfort of their homes. The video game industry in general has largely consolidated itself as a successful one that will continue to thrive, but certain games will not be as successful as others, especially in the realm of competitive esports. An esport like Overwatch by Blizzard, for example, has lost a significant amount of viewers over time.
Link about AOC: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54630330
The League of Legends tournament has proven to most people that there can in fact be sporting events without interfering with COVID-19 prevention efforts, disproving a common argument against prolonging quarantine for the sake of America's favorite pastime. As demonstrated in this blog post and the attached articles, the managers of this tournament were able to prevent the spread of the disease through testing and quarantining the participants, and managed a wildly successful television turnout without the need for an extended in-person audience. It proves that we do not in fact need to sacrifice safety to cater to the needs of in-person sports and can find other methods of entertainment.
As for the rise of video games, it feels only natural for a largely independent hobby where one can interact with others while also preventing the spread of disease to become wildly popular over quarantine. I feel like it should be added that many dormant online gaming communities only recently started exploding with interest due to the coronavirus, such as the resurgence of Minecraft, which has let many streamers and influencers spike in popularity as well, as secondary forms of gaming entertainment.
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