Introduction: The Emergence of eSports

Abstract

The world of eSports or competitive gaming has grown exponentially in recent years; however, the industry itself is not as young as many believe. There are many similarities with traditional sports and media businesses, but there are many differences, too, in the eSports industry. With the absence of a standardized governance structure, eSports is predominantly self-organizing and mostly business-driven. Primarily due to the young audience, the global approach, and the digitized environment, the eSports industry does not follow traditional business rules. Consequently, an observation of the history from a business perspective and an in-depth analysis of the strategic management are necessary to categorize the eSports industry.