by Max Barry

Latest Forum Topics

Advertisement

1

DispatchMetaGameplay

by Escade. . 6 reads.

Gameplay Magazine - Arts & Culture - The Rise eSports and eGaming


Forum | LinkDiscord | Dispatch

~

Gameplay Magazine - Arts & Culture - The Rise of eSports and eGaming


Wondering about that purple llama pinata that pops up everywhere (as a plushie, phone case, etc). It's from Fortnite!

Most of us who play games have heard the inevitable, "Why are you wasting your time\life?" or "No one ever gained anything from playing games.." or some variation thereof. While we play games for many reasons (entertainment, escape, etc), society often thinks of gaming as a frivolous activity that doesn't teach a person anything or has no intrinsic value in itself (even though as an experience playing a game is much like reading a book). The rise of eSports (short for electronic sports) though has monetized gameplaying for the players in a way that intends to reward those elite players who spend time, effort (and sometimes money) to hone their skills to an art. The Solo winner of the Fortnite World Cup, a 16 year old from Pennslyvania, won $3 million. He spent an average of 6 hours a day (including school days) playing\practicing and it seems like his hard work paid off.

The Top 10 Prize Pools Per eSport Tournament Are

1) The 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals – $30.4 million
2) The International 8 (Dota 2) – $25.5 million
3) The 2018 League of Legends World Championship – $6.4 million
4) Fortnite Fall Skirmish Series – Clubs Standings – $4 million
5) The Dota 2 Asia Championship – $3 million
6) The Dota 2 Valve Majors – $3 million
7) The 2015 Smite World Championship – $2.6 million
8 ) The 2016 Halo World Championship – $2.5 million
9) The 2016 Call of Duty World League Championship – $2 million
10) The 2017 Mid-Season Invitational (League of Legends) – $1.7 million

LinkSource

If you've ever played a game you know it can be fun to watch another person play or in some cases might even hand over the hard parts for someone else to play for you. Many many livestreams exist where people watch other people play games. Therefore eSports, tournaments where people watch others play games competitively for prizes, doesn't come as a surprise.

In 2016, eSports generated about $492.7 million U.S. dollars in revenue and is expected to earn about $1.48 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. For those elite gamers who manage to make it to the top, there is a possibility for an impressive financial reward (comparatively the first esports reward for the game Quake resulted in the winner getting a Ferrari 328). Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, gave away $30 million to 100 competitors in this year's tournament. Of course, Fortnite also made $2.4 billion alone in 2018 and the game, just on the iOS platform (Apple), makes about $1.5 million a day. While the majority of the eSports games can be played without spending any money, players pay for custom content, expansions, skins, energy or powerups and an assortment of things that help boost, quicken or enhance their game experience. Game merchandise has made it to mainstream stores like Target and Walgreens (which both sell Fornite branded items like the purple llama pinata).


The movie Ready Player One, based on a book, explores a dystopian world where people play the virtual reality game OASIS to escape the drudgery of an overpopulated world. Players end up competing for ownership of the company itself in the game.

So what does the future look like for gamers? Will everything be gamified? Will colleges offer "gamer" or "eSports" scholarships? Will some people lament being born in the wrong era? The majority of us will probably still play games for entertainment and excitement first and foremost with the elite few being able to make the big bucks. Those of us who invest a lot of time in games might be told by others, "Why can't you make money while you waste your time like that Bugha boy!" And there's definitely going to be that one kid who tells their parent, "If you only let me play longer, we might be rich now!" :P

Imagine if there was a NationStates eSport tournament? Hypothetically, of course, if NS ever monetized in a way that was highly lucrative enough to support such tournaments. The drama and salt alone would be intense!

Escade

Edited:

RawReport