Abstract
Research background: At the beginning of this century, the eSports industry was not yet a major player although it already existed as a niche of video and computer games. The importance and interest only began to increase with the rise of the internet and its infrastructure. Especially among the younger generation, eSports, today, has a significant meaning. Worldwide, professional players duel each other in countless tournaments online and offline and are enthusiastically celebrated by their millions of fans. Purpose of the article: The purpose of this paper is to analyze how eSports has developed in recent years since its first boom phase as well as to analyze its growth factors and how it has benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic compared to traditional competitive sports. Methods: The global eSports revenues and prize money values are analyzed. The first step is defining the eSports term. The second is looking at the development of eSports financials since its first boom and onward. The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts are then looked at. Finally, growth factors for the increasing numbers are analyzed. Findings & Value added: The findings show that eSports has gained significant importance in recent years. In particular, the strong increase in global eSports revenue and the associated increase in players’ prize money clearly show that eSports will continue to gain importance and economic strength in the future.
Highlights
Competition, as we know it traditionally, takes place between human players physically and analogously and is called competitive sport
We look at the COVID-19 pandemic since its occurrence and compare the eSports sector with traditional competitive sports to see how well they both have reacted to the crisis
7 Conclusion and discussion eSports has developed over the past decades with highs and lows until it developed a rather stable position in society
Summary
Competition, as we know it traditionally, takes place between human players physically and analogously and is called competitive sport. Depending on which sport is more or less popular in a country, this can be ball sports, martial arts, or motor sports These competitive sports are extremely popular and are a common way for people to spend their time. Suitable video and computer games, players compete against each other and duel in front of spectators in games such as League of Legends (LoL), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and Defence of the Ancients 2 (DotA 2) The fact that this is not a fad can be clearly seen in the increasing viewer and sales figures.[1,2] the gaming industry of today is already bigger than the music and movie industries combined.[3]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
