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Although eSports are not a new phenomenon, their popularity has surged in recent years. Competitive gaming has seen a drastic increase in players, tournaments, and prize money over the past few years (e-Sports Earnings, 2017) (Figures 1, 2, and 3). In terms of total revenue, eSports generated $325 million in 2015, a figure projected to increase to over $1 billion by 2019 (Newzoo, 2016). This is staggering, given that many consider the beginning of eSports to have occurred in 1997 at the Red Annihilation tournament for Quake (id Software LLC, 1996), with just over 2000 participants. ESports initially focused on first-person shooters (FPS), sports games, and arcade games, but quickly adopted other genres, notably real-time-strategy (RTS) with the release of StarCraft: Brood War (Saffire Corporation & Blizzard Entertainment Inc, 1998). The nature of competitive games released in the late 1990s and 2000s allowed for fast-paced and compelling gameplay attracting both players and observers (Nagpa, 2015).
Figure 1. Total prize money (in dollars) by year
Figure 2. Total number of tournaments by year
Figure 3. Total number of active professional players by year
While there have been some issues in terms of socially legitimizing eSports (such as public perception and the differentiation between eSports and traditional sports) (Skubida, 2016), it is important to understand that despite the differences in play spaces and levels of physical exertion, both forms of competition have many common elements. On some level, the eSport industry takes many cues from traditional sport industries, including professional team structures and sponsorship deals (Schmidt & Shreffler, 2015). Commonalities between spectators and followers of sports and eSports exist as well, as Schmidt and Shreffler sought to identify motivations for eSport consumption using an existing analysis on traditional sports fanship (Trail & James, 2001) as part of their theoretical basis. In contrast to some of those motivations that are similar to those of traditional sport consumption (such as competition, game participation and attendance (Lee & Schoenstedt, 2011)), studies have identified additional predictors of eSport consumption frequency, including escapism and learning about the game being played (Hamari & Sjöblom, 2017). As the eSports industry continued to evolve, prominent teams and players garnered fans and followers, analogous to traditional sports. Simultaneously, as live streaming video became popular, it provided a platform for fans loyal to specific games, teams, or players to access and spectate professional games all across the world. To this end, both experts and casual players are able to regularly broadcast their gameplay to a wide audience online (Witkowski, Hutchins, & Carter, 2013).