Could Esports be as popular as sports?

[Poppincaps]

As a whole? Yes. Although I don't think any one game will be as popular as any one of the main popular sports (football, American football, basketball, hockey, etc.) because the #1 game in any particular genre changes constantly and with each change new people enter the scene and older fans exit. If you look at FPSes for instance, it was CoD for a long time, then Overwatch for a few years, and now Fortnite. Now, of course, Overwatch and CoD are still popular but my point is that there are too many games that are similar that are fighting for viewership. You don't really have that in sports and hell, sometimes different sports that people are interested in aren't even in season when others are.

So do I think a Fortnite tournament will ever get the viewership of the Super Bowl or World Cup? No. Do I think the viewership of the first person shooter genre in general might? Maybe.

[Tech614]

Thing is you have to be a gamer to be interested in esports.

That already puts a glass ceiling on the viewer base. While there are a lot of gamers, people of every hobby known to man like athletic sports. Kids in most of the world grow up playing football from young ages, kids in america start playing american football and/or basketball and baseball from young ages etc... Some of these kids will grow up to be gamers, some won't.

There is just a far wider mass appeal.

Esports as a whole could be comparable to the Olympics and actually pull off an Olympic style event with major success if they wanted. But it would take all the games to get there, just like the Olympics takes a big group of more niche sports working together to get there. No single esport by itself could stand toe to toe with FIFA/PL/NFL/NBA, just like bob sledding can't by itself.

[gobio]

Thing is you have to be a gamer to be interested in esports.

That already puts a glass ceiling on the viewer base. While there are a lot of gamers, people of every hobby known to man like athletic sports. Kids in most of the world grow up playing football from young ages, kids in america start playing american football and/or basketball and baseball from young ages etc... Some of these kids will grow up to be gamers, some won't.

There is just a far wider mass appeal.

Esports as a whole could be comparable to the Olympics and actually pull off an Olympic style event with major success if they wanted. But it would take all the games to get there, just like the Olympics takes a big group of more niche sports working together to get there. No single esport by itself could stand toe to toe with FIFA/PL/NFL/NBA, just like bob sledding can't by itself.

This is not true.
Evident presented : ME.

I suck at FPS, I only play the very very old school DOOM in which you don't even aim vertically. YET, I watch cs:go. Can't wait until this weekend's FACE It LONDON MAJOR (despite face it totally sucks)
I played DOTA, the blizzard mod versions, yet I follow multiple seasons of LOL, including LCK LCS (EU and NA), mid season invitation and world.

I am pretty sure I am not alone. Most game I play these days are mobile games after I quit BFA, so I am still a gamer now, or everyone is a gamer?

[Yriel]

You mean just like how football is very complicated if you don't know the rules?

Anyone watching football gets a basic understanding what is happening. Some special rules like offsides may be obscure but don't influence the basic experience and there are not many such rules. Most sports are pretty basic.
You have a ball and try to shoot it in the opponents goal. Try to describe LoL like that.

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This is not true.
Evident presented : ME.

I suck at FPS, I only play the very very old school DOOM in which you don't even aim vertically. YET, I watch cs:go. Can't wait until this weekend's FACE It LONDON MAJOR (despite face it totally sucks)
I played DOTA, the blizzard mod versions, yet I follow multiple seasons of LOL, including LCK LCS (EU and NA), mid season invitation and world.

I am pretty sure I am not alone. Most game I play these days are mobile games after I quit BFA, so I am still a gamer now, or everyone is a gamer?

You played FPS, you played mobas, why wouldn't you be a gamer?

[Tekkommo]

No.

/10 char.

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This is not true.
Evident presented : ME.

I suck at FPS, I only play the very very old school DOOM in which you don't even aim vertically. YET, I watch cs:go. Can't wait until this weekend's FACE It LONDON MAJOR (despite face it totally sucks)
I played DOTA, the blizzard mod versions, yet I follow multiple seasons of LOL, including LCK LCS (EU and NA), mid season invitation and world.

I am pretty sure I am not alone. Most game I play these days are mobile games after I quit BFA, so I am still a gamer now, or everyone is a gamer?

So in short, you're a gamer...

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Thing is you have to be a gamer to be interested in esports.

Plenty of gamers like me who have little interest in esports. I certainly like that it's a thing and hope it grows, but i find them boring to watch, I'd rather be playing.

[Soulwind]

Eventually, probably. Once the current generations are the oldest there will be noone with the current views on what is worthy of becoming a real sport.

[Naiattavain]

esports players are people who use AI and various hacks, cheat exploits, anything that gives them a competitive edge towards their opponents. esports is a fraud. racketeering shady business dealing. esports is not to be trusted such as a real world sport. esports is full of shit.

[Deleted]

You have a ball and try to shoot it in the opponents goal. Try to describe LoL like that.

you have heroes and try to destroy the opponents core.

[Deleted]

Thing is you have to be a gamer to be interested in esports.

That already puts a glass ceiling on the viewer base. While there are a lot of gamers, people of every hobby known to man like athletic sports. Kids in most of the world grow up playing football from young ages, kids in america start playing american football and/or basketball and baseball from young ages etc... Some of these kids will grow up to be gamers, some won't.

There is just a far wider mass appeal.

Esports as a whole could be comparable to the Olympics and actually pull off an Olympic style event with major success if they wanted. But it would take all the games to get there, just like the Olympics takes a big group of more niche sports working together to get there. No single esport by itself could stand toe to toe with FIFA/PL/NFL/NBA, just like bob sledding can't by itself.

I personally watch both football(not american obviously) and some esports. My wife only watches esports with me and she is pretty much as far from a gamer as you can get.

I'm not saying this is the precedense everywhere but i honestly think that people who has never played or watched football and the same with games and esport would rather watch esports. Its much more viewer friendly(unless its wow pvp ofc, that thing is an abomination that needs to die)

[Tech614]

I personally watch both football(not american obviously) and some esports. My wife only watches esports with me and she is pretty much as far from a gamer as you can get.

I'm not saying this is the precedense everywhere but i honestly think that people who has never played or watched football and the same with games and esport would rather watch esports. Its much more viewer friendly(unless its wow pvp ofc, that thing is an abomination that needs to die)

How the hell is an esport more viewer friendly then football?

Are you out of your mind? Sure some casual football viewer that never played it might not understand the in depth strategies going on but they understand ball go's into goal and team scores.

The only "esport" even close to as simple as that to understand, are sports games(lol) and fighting games. Neither of which are even close to being top dogs in the esport realm. Please tell me how some non gamer who never played Overwatch or LoL is supposed to understand wtf is going on in those events. You don't need to be a pro, but you need to have played them at a very basic level or you are lost.

[Deleted]

How the hell is an esport more viewer friendly then football?

Are you out of your mind? Sure some casual football viewer that never played it might not understand the in depth strategies going on but they understand ball go's into goal and team scores.

The only "esport" even close to as simple as that to understand, are sports games(lol) and fighting games. Neither of which are even close to being top dogs in the esport realm. Please tell me how some non gamer who never played Overwatch or LoL is supposed to understand wtf is going on in those events. You don't need to be a pro, but you need to have played them at a very basic level or you are lost.

Because football has very few actual highpoints. So unless you really go in depth with players/strategies the average football game ends 1-0. Meaning basicly 1 highpoint plus another if a player gets thrown off and such. Where as esports like league for example(just picking a random one here) are full of highpoints and the game itself is constantly trying to make itself more viewer friendly. Its literally build to be watched.

As for not understanding whats going on its not much different. My wife quickly picked up on what a kill is, destroying important objectives on the map and such. REally only took her one game to get the most essential parts down. I'd say shooters areproperly even easier to get into(even though i personally dont enjoy watching that kind of esport much).

[Tech614]

As for not understanding whats going on its not much different. My wife quickly picked up on what a kill is, destroying important objectives on the map and such. REally only took her one game to get the most essential parts down. I'd say shooters areproperly even easier to get into(even though i personally dont enjoy watching that kind of esport much).

Sorry but this sounds like the devil's advocate take "my wife totally isn't a gamer but loves and understands esports" take.

If esports had a market with non gamers then twitter wouldn't erupt into a shit show any time they are on espn and twitch would have far more viewers then it currently does for all the hours of free entertainment you can get there if you like watching games. As it is almost every esports event draws less views then events you have to pay to watch for the most part. Hell, lets look at UFC and boxing PPVs. A good UFC card will draw 500,000 buys at like $70 a pop. A boxing card with Mayweather on it can do 2 mil at an even higher price. Only the biggest majors are getting 500k+ views on Twitch and that shit is free and doesn't cost a dime.

That's how far behind esports are from just combat sports which are much smaller in impact then the team leagues.

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Fighting games in comparison are a lot harder to appreciate if you don't at least delve into the mechanics a little bit.

Fighting games are easy as hell to understand if you have any understanding of real combat sports. Spacing, aggressiveness and punishes are not something unique to video game fighting. You understand this right?

You might not understand the inputs to a specific combo, but it's really easy for anyone to see when someone blocks/dodges an un safe move and then punishes their opponent for it. This literally happens in real fights mate...

Oh and a common person is far more likely to understand physical combat strategy then they are military strategy if you want to go there.

[Deleted]

Sorry but this sounds like the devil's advocate take "my wife totally isn't a gamer but loves and understands esports" take.

If esports had a market with non gamers then twitter wouldn't erupt into a shit show any time they are on espn and twitch would have far more viewers then it currently does for all the hours of free entertainment you can get there if you like watching games. As it is almost every esports event draws less views then events you have to pay to watch for the most part. Hell, lets look at UFC and boxing PPVs. A good UFC card will draw 500,000 buys at like $70 a pop. A boxing card with Mayweather on it can do 2 mil at an even higher price. Only the biggest majors are getting 500k+ views on Twitch and that shit is free and doesn't cost a dime.

That's how far behind esports are from just combat sports which are much smaller in impact then the team leagues.

She doesnt love esport at all. But its the only thing she would ever watch with me freely. Esports is a new thing and its still tied to gaming nerds. THats its stigmata and it will take at least a genmeration or two before thats out of the picture.

Esport is new. You can be a negative nancy all you want but its by far the fastest growing viewer sport ever.

[Tech614]

She doesnt love esport at all. But its the only thing she would ever watch with me freely. Esports is a new thing and its still tied to gaming nerds. THats its stigmata and it will take at least a genmeration or two before thats out of the picture.

Esport is new. You can be a negative nancy all you want but its by far the fastest growing viewer sport ever.

Esports are not new. Unless your definition of "new" is like 2+ decades lmao.

UFC is actually the fastest growing viewer sport ever. It's on the decline now but it's growth trajectory from the 90s to the 00s literally destroys esports in that regard...

[Ealyssa]

Do you think Esports will ever become as popular as football, basketball or baseball? Will the finals of say, an Overwatch tournament be viewed by as many people as the Super Bowl?

LoL is allready more popular than most pro sport...

[Araya]

With the exception of Soccer and Cricket I would say its already bigger then traditional sports

[Roquefort]

Highly unlikely. The games will change too often, whereas traditional sports do not. E-sports rank up there with things like billiards and poker tournaments, and folks who argue that they actually qualify as a sport are silly.

E-sports are sports in the sense that they are a friendly competition. No one is claiming that they are an athletic competition. Trying to say that e-sports aren't a sport because they aren't athletic misunderstands the meaning of the word sport.

[Deleted]

Esports are not new. Unless your definition of "new" is like 2+ decades lmao.

UFC is actually the fastest growing viewer sport ever. It's on the decline now but it's growth trajectory from the 90s to the 00s literally destroys esports in that regard...

You are delusional. Like for real. No point arguing with you

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Highly unlikely. The games will change too often, whereas traditional sports do not. E-sports rank up there with things like billiards and poker tournaments, and folks who argue that they actually qualify as a sport are silly.

Sport means competition. Doesnt have to be any form of athletics involved. Frankly its embarrassing you dont know that. Makes you sound very uninformed

[melodramocracy]

E-sports are sports in the sense that they are a friendly competition. No one is claiming that they are an athletic competition. Trying to say that e-sports aren't a sport because they aren't athletic misunderstands the meaning of the word sport.

Not really. There are sports, and there are competitions / games. Either can be played at a high level, but one is not like the other.

[Deleted]

Not really. There are sports, and there are competitions / games. Either can be played at a high level, but one is not like the other.

Dude. Stop it. Sports literally means competition.

Where do you think the saying "being a good sport" comes from? You think its something people say to someone who is playing well? No.