Video Games and E-Sports

In principle, all video games with a multiplayer mode are included in e-sports, but some genres and flagship titles are the most practiced in reality. Here are the most prominent titles:

 

  • Starcraft 2

StarCraft II is the successor to Blizzard’s successful StarCraft Brood War RTS. The enthusiasm around the title carried it as THE real-time strategy reference game—SC II of a vast scene in Europe, THE USA, and South Korea.

  • Hearthstone

Hearthstone is a game that honors the Warcraft license. Well done, offering a game system that is both simple and rich. The game is interesting and balanced in the long run, although it is unfortunate that players who do not get their hands on the wallet must limit themselves to specific strategies that do not require rare cards.

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a great FPS PC show that takes us to 1968 and allows us to experience, through flashbacks, the wanderings of an American soldier in the middle of the Cold War. From Vietnam to Russia to Cuba, the game follows combat situations and offers a staging modeled on that of the great Hollywood war films. The game also features a full multiplayer mode, Zombies mode, and many bonuses to unlock.

  • FIFA 13

FIFA 13 is a football simulation on PC. In this opus, we find a realism still optimized in terms of the physics of the ball, collisions, the intelligence of the players, and the way to execute technical gestures. Game modes such as Career Mode have been enriched.

  • ShootMania Storm;

Nadeo’s ultra-dynamic French shooter is very promising. Still, in beta, the title is already popular since Shootmania tournaments are already organized. Easy to access and ultra-dynamic, the latest addition to Ubisoft’s eSports division may well take over from fun shoot games.

  • Counter-Strike

A faithful reconstruction of Counter-Strike 1.6 with improved graphics, CS: GO is out this year and claims to restore its credentials to Valve’s aging title. CS has a very long history in terms of eSports and has long played the place of first shooting game with Quake before the latter gives up the weapons.

  • Dota 2;

The Warcraft III mod, developed by IceFrog, has defined a new style of competitive games. The trendy genre of the last three years caught Valve’s attention, who saw potential in IceFrog’s work. The company that spawned Half-Life and Steam reproduced the title identically, taking less risk than games like Heroes of Newerth, which have been declining recently.

  • League of Legends

Only LoL, more attractive to the general public, is a severe competitor to DotA 2. Extremely popular, especially in China, the remixed Dota clone of Riot Games works thundery among casual gamers and top gamers. LoL’s success with the general public is absolutely incredible.

 

In South Korea, video game tournaments are televised, and players (called gosu, meaning “chefs” in Korean dialect) are stars.

E-Sports: Professional Tournaments and Winnings

The first tournaments began in 1997 by creating the Cyberathlete Professional League and the first competition from the game Quake. The most widely recognized professional tournaments are those of the Cyberathlete Professional League, the World Cyber Games, and the Electronic Sports World Cup.

In the mid-2000s, the endowments of the largest international e-sports competitions amounted to several million dollars. A record was reached in 2015 at The International competition dedicated to the Dota 2 game offering more than $18.4 million in winnings, including more than $6.6 million for the winning team.

The State of e-Sports Today

The e-sports industry has been growing rapidly in the past decade, with numerous tournaments and events bringing in millions of viewers. With the rise of technology, game creation, various competitions, streaming services, and e-sport betting, the industry is at an all-time high.

Similar to the top ten online casinos and betting platforms, e-sports has provided players from all over the world the chance to make it on the big stage and compete for huge prize pools. There are certain video games that have elevated the industry, gained followers, and filled out arenas for the biggest tournaments.

The Biggest and Most Popular e-Sport Tournaments in 2023

There are hundreds of tournaments and events hosted throughout the year where different organizations, teams, and players go up against each other in different video games. As we’ve already mentioned, some of the more popular video games that have either stuck over the years or entered the e-sports scene recently include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, FIFA, League of Legends, Fortnite, and more.

Out of all the video games played professionally today, Dota 2 has been constantly on the top regarding viewers and prize pools. Ever since the first Dota 2 International held in Cologne, Germany, in 2011, the prize pool has been the biggest every single year.

The last Dota 2 International held in Singapore in 2022 gave the first-place team $8.1 million, which wasn’t the biggest prize pool in Dota 2 tournament history. Back in 2021, Team Spirit, which won the whole tournament, took home a whopping $18.2 million.

Fortnite, which is a battle-royal game released back in 2017, is another big video game that hosts a massive tournament each year. In 2019, two years after its release, Fortnite hosted the Fortnite World Cup for solos and duos, with a prize pool of $15 million for each bracket. The winner of the solo bracket and the two winners of the duo bracket took home $3 million dollars.

Last but not least, League of Legends, the fierce competitor of Dota 2, also hosts a World Championship each year. While in 2022, the prize pool was around $2.3 million, at its peak back in 2018, the League of Legends World Cup had a prize pool of over $6.5 million, with Invictus Gaming winning the whole tournament and taking home $2.4 million.

Professional Video Gaming as a Career by uwex.us