Esports – otherwise known as competitive video gaming, has a long and illustrious history little known to outsiders. In truth, as long as there have been video games, there have been organized grassroots competitions around their skillful play, whether it’s Pong or early arcade classics like Pac Man.
First Wave (1990s)
Though esports was well established during the 1980s, it remained very niche and poorly organized. The outset of the 1990s would be the crossover point where larger-scale, and indeed international competitions, would begin to be held – such as the 1990 Nintendo World Championships. New games increasingly offer better spectacle and higher skill ceilings for players to exploit, with early fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II highly esteemed (and still played at the highest levels today).
Second Wave (2000s Korea)
In the 2000s, East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea invested heavily in computing technology, with public internet cafes and high speed internet becoming far more integral to daily life than it would be for several years in the West.
And it was from this culture – in South Korea specifically, that the term esports would arise to describe the competitive play taking place in its cafes and online rooms on popular RTS titles like StarCraft.
Esports Boom (2020)
For decades, esports has remained at roughly the same level of popularity – particularly in the west, but the 2010s saw a gradual erosion of this status quo. Several factors are thought to have contributed to this decade giving rise, at its end, to what is now known as the esports boom. The lower cost of quality gaming computers, the more widespread adoption of high speed internet, and the greater visibility of competitive gaming thanks to the platforming of top players on YouTube and Twitch are all key factors.
Whatever the core reason, by the year 2020, esports began to cross over into a modern phenomenon that far outstripped any height of popularity it had yet enjoyed over its long history. With record breaking prize pools for competitions, high value sponsorships with brands like Nike and Adidas for top gamers, and new large capacity esports stadiums being built from Texas to Scotland and India.
Modern Competition and Shifting Definition
In the wake of Esports’ popular resurgence in the 2020s, the very definition of competitive gaming has begun to reconfigure itself around today’s ever more connected world. With the rise of streaming platforms such as Twitch, the lines that once cleared demarcated esports from other pursuits have begun to break down – buoyed no less from the fact that leading esports athletes themselves have begun to crossplay conventional esports titles with those once considered on the fringes of the scene.
Among these, arguably none has done a better jump of bridging the gap than the popular card game poker. For over 2 decades, online poker has enjoyed a preeminent position as one of the world’s leading online competitive pursuits. In light of this, it is perhaps not surprising that there would come to be a growing community of players and spectators that regularly tune in to catch bouts from teams competing in the likes of League of Legends, and the World Series of Poker with certain leading squads even actively fielding mixed teams across these pursuits.
The greater accessibility and levelling now common in the esports scene has increasingly translated to such mind-sports, with the likes of the PokerStars Power Path offering ambitious and skilled players the chance to seek qualification in top flight online and international poker matches through PokerStars platform. Likewise, Chess – chiefly through the popular portal Chess.com, has begun to open its doors to players with high ELO rankings to compete in even more public events, riding the wave of openness the esports boom has brought before it.
The Future
Where all this will lead is difficult to say at this stage. While some suggest that the esports boom has begun to reside, what we’re likely seeing is a levelling off and a return to realistic market levels after bullish investment. There’s no denying that today esports is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and one that a new generation of gamers will be eager to test their mettle in through popular arenas, be it Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 2, VALORANT, or tomorrow’s esports hits.