MAGroberts Javelin | Seite 15

eSports truly took off. Perhaps, the game that truly propelled eSports into the limelight on the world stage is the incredibly popular game League of Legends, developed by Riot Games. Since its humble beginnings in 2009, it has grown to have a playerbase of roughly 67 million people. The grand prize for the team that comes first is a whole $1 million. This game has become so popular that the USA recognizes it as a sport, and can give out Visas to professional gamers of League of Legends.

League of Legends helped shape eSports into what it is today. Even ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports, broadcasted the World Championships on ESPN3. This is a huge step in making eSports a more prevalent hobby. This opens doors to the video game industry, with big time companies being able to see how popular the games are, and how many viewers would watch (which is approximately 27 million people). “Every major event, publisher, developer and media outlet in the gaming industry had a presence on Twitch, and streaming became an ever-present piece of the gaming experience. And it’s only going to get bigger." But don’t take my word for it. Watch some eSports matches, and feel the hype and excitement of the crowd for yourself.

THE EVOLUTION of E-sports

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After another world championship was dominated by the Asian teams, or to be exact the Korean teams, a quote from an eSports journalist described just how dominant Koreans have become: “That’s the dream, one day we’ll all be average Koreans.” One of the reasons for this is the vastly superior infrastructure of the Asian teams. But what will the Western (North America and Europe) eSports scene need to catch up in infrastructure alone? There are 5 major things that are needed: sponsorships, mainstream coverage, better amateur scene, better support staff and time. For this article the main examples I’ll be using are from the competitive game League of Legends (LoL).

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Josh Tan