Hi everybody,
Today I would like to briefly write about electronic sports and how it has evolved and continues to do so. While there are many amazing games out there that are highly competitive, I will mainly talk about Dota 2 because that is the game I have been focusing on for the past 6 months. Video games have always been my passion since my childhood and now I am proud to see how the gaming industry has grown tremendously and competition has reached a respectable level.
"Although organized online and offline competitions have long been a part of video game culture, these were largely between amateurs until the late 2000s when participation by professional gamers and spectatorship in these events saw a large surge in popularity. Many game developers now actively design toward a professional eSport subculture" (Source Credit). Viewers have increased from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people spectating and the prize pools range in the millions
Professional Gamers
According to ESPN the top 10 most competitive games in 2016 were;
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
- League of Legends (Riot Games)
- Dota 2 (Valve)
- Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Street Fighter V (Capcom)
- Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo)
- Call of Duty (Activision)
- Hearthstone (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Nintendo)
- StarCraft II (Blizzard Entertainment)
"It may sound too good to be true, but people actually play video games for a living. And they make a killing. E-Sports Earnings has ranked the 100 players with the highest overall earnings from competitive gaming" (Source Credit). A lot of these gamers win from prize pools, sponsorships and they receive income from streaming their practices.
Dota 2
Dota 2 is a free to play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game which was originally created by a community as a mod for Warcraft III. Dota 2 is played between two teams of five players. It is a strategy game with currently 112 heroes to be selected from and each one of them is extremely unique. I am not going in to detail about how the game is played because there is a lot to explain and you can easily find information online about the game. (Source Credit)
Dota 2 Tournaments
Here is a video that shows a glimpse of how seriously this is being taken. This video shows an international tournament where the prize pool was over 20 million dollars. I will briefly go over some of the major tournaments that Dota 2 has hosted. I don't want to get in too much detail because there are many other smaller tournaments that are being hosted and I am trying to make this article brief and easy to digest while you read.
The Internationals
Dota 2 has had many tournaments throughout the years and will continue to have even more in the future. The biggest one is called the Internationals which has grown bigger in prize pools every year. The current 2017 International tournament that is being hosted in Seattle on August 7-12 at the Keyarena with a capacity of 17,459 people has a $23,878,471 USD prize pool and is estimated to have over 20 million viewers (Source Credit).
The Kiev Major 2017
Another major tournament that has been hosted in Kiev, Ukraine from April 27th to 30th had a prize pool of $3,000,000 USD. (Source Credit)
Boston Major 2016
This tournament was hosted at the Wang Theater in Boston, Massachusetts, USA in December 3-10 2016 with a prize pool of $3,000,000 USD. (Source Credit)
And many more...
There are many other tournaments apart from these majors that have been taking place and will continue to take place. Dota 2 is constantly growing in spectators and the game itself is continuously evolving.
References
- Dota2.com
- espn.com
- businessinsider.com
- www.esportsearnings.com/players
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESports
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dota_2
- hongkiat.com
- tes.com
- twitter.com/dota2
- www.yahoo.com/news
- commons.wikimedia.org
- dota2.gamepedia.com
- dota2.gamepedia.com/Boston_Major_2016
Thank you for taking the time to check out my content!
Best regards,
Wow... This is awesome... I'm a gamer so i understand the benefits that comes with it. Now, as an esport gamer in my locality, i have seen the esports with great prize to be won for all competing participant and participants are fluctuating getting involved all day. Now looking at the numbers involved in the Dota 2 international tournament that is being hosted in Seattle on August 7-12 at the Keyarena with a capacity of 17,459 people has a $23,878,471 USD prize pool and is estimated to have over 20 million viewers (Source Credit). Which is an ongoing tournament, any one will want to get involved weather it's for the fun or for the earnings... Can you see that love for passion being rewarded? This game is huge, the numbers are insane to be in prize tags and 20million viewers... This is a serious business for sports lovers not just esports lovers alone... This is my opinion though; the esport and gaming industry will grow and grow and grow and this is because the world as a global community have made it possible for anyone to tap in irrespective of your locality... I once have this game developer which I was to be his apprentice in developing video and mobile games but never had to make it last as we lost contacts from each other so the best I can do is to tap in for fun, freedom and earnings... Thanks for the great post @Generation
I know right :)Thank you for taking the time to read my post and thank you for the work you put on commenting. Dota 2 is on fire right now! And the gaming industry never goes through recession because no matter how poor people are they still support their favorite games (:
Nice to see some gaming content on Steemit !
For me the problem with these esports games is they they usually require quite some commitment to get into and that they are highly addictive once you are into them. I'm a more casual Overwatch player myself, but still feel the need to get better all the time as in the core it rather complex and very competitive once you climb the ladder.
Agreed, I think there is a bigger chance for me to become an astronaut than to be a successful professional gamer :D
@generation
Great writeup!
Keep sharing great content.
THanks!!
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nice article @generation!
Thank you mate!