You wake up every morning, before dusk, having just had the same dream that you find yourself submerged in every time you fall asleep. In this dream you are running, not from anything or anyone, but towards something; A finish line.
You are sprinting, moving so fast that the crowd sees but a streak of blue in front of their very eyes. Flashbulbs go off as you head into that fateful final stretch, crossing the finish line. The audience roars with excitement, screaming in perfect harmony. You did it, you are officially a competing member of US Olympic Track & Field team.
The time has come for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. You will be representing the United States of America in a series of competitive games that have taken place since 776 BC.
The opening ceremony begins and you enter the stadium, a moment you’ve trained for your entire career. The sights, the smells, the sounds, it’s breathtaking and overwhelming in the best way.
Later that night, at a restaurant in the Olympic Village, one of your fellow teammates, whom you haven’t met yet, introduces themselves to you.
“Hello, my name is Derek. What’s yours?”
“Hey! I’m Sasha! Wonderful to meet you! What event are you competing in?”
“Ah, eSports! Been waiting for this day for a long time!”
“I’m sorry, did you say eSports? I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m not familiar”
“Oh, no trouble at all. I am an Olympic Video Gamer!”
“(mumbles) You’ve got to be kidding me…”
“I beg your pardon?”
“That’s awesome! Good luck!”
Entertaining as this imaginary exchange may seem, this just became a potential reality. Competitive video gaming, more commonly referred to as eSports, is gaining tread in the global arena at NASCAR-like speeds.
Just this last Sunday, September 30, 2018, at the Asian Games, a sort of miniature Olympics for a dozen or so countries from around Asia, competitive eSports were held as an exhibition event.
ESPN reporter Jonathan Selvaraj, who attended the games hosted in Jakarta, Indonesia, had this to say following his visit to the eSports exhibition:
“eSports isn’t sport as you know it. If muscular six-foot-five Sun Yang is the star of the Chinese swim squad, pudgy five foot Uzi Jian Zi Houw is the star center of the Chinese Leave of legends roster…His bespectacled compatriots were dressed in oversized t-shirts, acne, and boyish wavy hair, seeming to have wandered out of a Harry Potter lookalike convention”
Selvaraj goes on to explain that the purpose of this demonstration sport was to pitch eSports to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 2022 Olympic Games as a “full medal sport.”
With the advent of regulated league structures for various video games, eSports have gone from a piece of viral phenomena to a catalyst for major industry growth. Business analysts are now studying the economics of mass spectator eSports, celebrities, entrepreneurs and professional athletes, and countless others cannot stop talking about eSports.
“This is changing the landscape for media companies and how people are participating in sports.”
– Tim Seymour, co-founder and managing partner at Triogem Asset Management
In late July 2018, New York’s Barclays Center hosted the “OverWatch” League’s Grand Finals and the event sold out. ‘“Overwatch” was developed by Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (ATVI), and has a market cap of over $55 billion. The Walt Disney Company (DIS) broadcast the games on ESPN.
The hype around eSports is absolutely astounding, I have no problem admitting this fact.
According to a 2018 eSports report by Newzoo, a market research firm, about 2.3 billion gamers worldwide will spend nearly $137.9 billion on games this year. Somewhere in the world, a former executive at Toys-R-Us is crying and eating their weight in cheesy poofs.
“Overwatch” is not the only game garnering attention. Perhaps the most popular game in the world right now is Epic Games’ “Fortnite Battle Royale.” Since its inception last year, according to data from market research firm SuperData, Fornite has made over $1 billion from in-game revenue. You can download and play the game for free, but players can purchase ‘skins’ and other accessories to customize their avatars. Fortnite is everywhere. People of all demographics and walks of life are playing. Everyone from NBA players to corporate CEOs to the Marks, Nicks, Susans, and Lindsays of the virtual world, more than 40 million people per month are playing.
The craziest thing about Fortnite is not the number of players it attracts; it’s the number of viewers…
Just during the month of May 2018, players logged over 574 million hours watching other players. If you ask a Fortnite regular who their favorite player is, I will put money on the fact that they will say the name, “Ninja.”
Richard Tyler Blevins, whose gamer tag is Ninja, reportedly has 10 million followers on Twitch, the popular video game streaming site owned by Amazon, Inc. (AMZN) and makes a reported $500,000 a month in endorsements. Ninja regularly competed in streamed events and has played alongside celebrities like Drake, Marshmello, Travis Scott, and others.
This kid is making millions of dollars a year, and getting endorsements to competitively play video games. If this isn’t a sign that eSports are being taken seriously, I am not sure what else will convince you.
Closing Thoughts
I am not saying that I think eSports should not be receiving accolades and public attention. I think the spirit of healthy competition, in whatever form it manifests, is important for the cognitive development of all people, no matter the age. I am not sure how I feel about the potential for eSports becoming an official Olympic event, but it might just be due to my stubborn understanding of what it means to be an athlete.
