Electronic sports, or eSports, have been revolutionizing the gaming industry in recent years. eSports essentially allude to organized competitive video gaming events. Although this concept has been around since 1970, it wasn’t until recently that esports gained prominence in the global gaming space.
Esports has been evolving constantly, changing the gaming industry while at it. The major driving forces behind the growth of esports include technological innovations and increased awareness.
While video games might have started with a handful of friends trying to have a night out, the end product is a multi-billion industry. The esports sector is a multi-billion industry by itself.
Think of its big esports events, unrivaled sponsorship and marketing potential, and real-time online gaming experiences across the world. Surprisingly, one can even place bets in esports events at real money casinos.
That said, this article seeks to show how esports has revolutionized the gaming world.
Focus on Competitive Yet Collaborative Gameplay
Esports has established a pivotal ground for itself in the gaming industry by simultaneously unveiling and rewarding both competitive and collaborative gameplay. Conventionally, video games were only known to be competitive but those days are long gone.
The concept of having players work together as a team to defeat an opposing team in video games can be traced back to the days of Halo and Counter-Strike. However, the blend of combat and teamwork has only received detailed focus and the biggest push with the advent of professional esports.
Now that the trajectory and momentum have been set, we are going to witness more video games that attempt to strike the balance between competition and collaboration. Sporting video games will soon have an easy transition, especially when depicting team sports like basketball and football where competition and camaraderie are celebrated arm-in-arm.
Developers might even take it a notch higher. We are already seeing a rise in multiplayer gameplays attached to single-player adventures such as Uncharted 4. This suggests that the multiplayer element will take up more resources and attention.
A single-player mode will only serve as an introduction to the game’s universe and lore, while a multiplayer mode will take you to where the game’s true adventures rest.
The Spawning of More eSports
According to a recent announcement by Blizzard, over 25 million people play Overwatch, which is a team-based shooter game. This announcement caught the attention of the global gaming industry. That number is so huge for any game developer to ignore.
How did a game that was released just a few years ago gain so many active players? Well, the fact that it is team-based explains it all.
Developers are now increasing their resources and efforts to lure in esports and competitive games, thanks to the humongous user bases for the League of Legends and Overwatch.
As some of the industry giant companies invest top dollar in esports, other developers are already getting their big guns ready for the esports scene. There are ongoing efforts between the NBA and 2K Games to release a basketball esports league.
For evidence of the growing competition among developers and gaming suppliers, you do not have to go past the current competition between Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) titles such as Smite, League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, and Dota 2. This is already a huge competitive field, but that does not discourage startup game developers.
If anything, the growing industry has inspired developers to want a piece of the pie. After all, gaming is an industry that thrives off competition.
More Frequent Updates to Games
A majority of esports games receive frequent balance patches every two to three weeks. This is done to update the titles by incorporating new content and tweaking the existing content to render the gameplay fairer and to keep every character a viable option.
The frequent patches suggest that esports games are living and breathing developments. They also serve to highlight the growing collaboration between developers and gamers through feedback collection and implementation.
The updates also serve to grow the title’s publicity since social media and YouTube reviewers will comment accordingly when their favorite characters are either nerfed or buffed.
As such, we can expect to see more frequent video game balance patches, even in titles where patches are least expected. While they might not always come two to three weeks, game developers are taking notice of the novel ability to change the game on-the-fly to address unpopular scenes and glitches in their games.
It is not surprising that narrative-driven video games such as Final Fantasy XV are now getting balance patches. Square Enix confirmed that it will be decreasing the difficulty of the title’s much-maligned Chapter 13 by simply granting characters additional powers.
Internet content delivery services have made these balance patches possible but their application in esports games has greatly popularized them and brought them to the attention of developers and gamers.
The Twitch Era | Mobile and Cloud Gaming
Twitch is considered the number one platform for video game streaming globally, particularly for esports. It has played a critical role in revolutionizing the gaming world by changing how gamers access and consume gaming titles.
Professional esports athletes on Twitch command huge advertising fees and salaries – and most are barely in their twenties.
The recent explosion of the esports sector can be attributed to the vital role that Twitch serves in the sector. The platform has managed to bring esports to an entirely new audience. It is also known to offer personalized views from the world’s top gamers giving insights into how to become better at gaming.
That, when merged with the big events and competitions hosted on the platform, has helped grow esports into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Seeing the success that esports has achieved with streaming platforms, game developers are now drawing agreements with leading streamers like Twitch and Roblox to extend their market reach.
eSports offers both gamers and viewers the ideal way to relish digital gaming as a form of entertainment. Platforms like Twitch offer a bridge between sports and tech, eliminating middlemen, and hence fewer distractions.
Conclusion
eSports is a thriving industry and it’s here to stay. Taking notice of this fact, game developers are working towards producing more collaborative and competitive games to meet their growing demand. Gaming companies are also adopting novel technological innovations set to enhance the overall gaming experience.
