Esports In 2023: Is Competitive Gaming Still a Serious Business?

The pandemic years weren’t especially great for many of us, however, one industry found itself riding the wave of a little-known something we like to call ‘success’: competitive video gaming, also known as ‘Esports’. With all of us stuck indoors, often with far too much time on our hands, the world of video games exploded in popularity with more interest, players and eyeballs on it thanks to their established presence on online streaming platforms such as Twitch.

It was touted as the next big breakthrough in the entertainment business but, where are we now that the world is back to normal in 2023? Join us at Daily Game as we uncover whether Esports is still big business!

Filling The Void

For many of us, the pandemic saw our first jumps into the world of online gaming. With the real-world sports calendar being decimated by disruptions, the world’s biggest players took to streaming as a way of passing the time and interacting with their fans. Basketball, Formula 1 and soccer stars all became regular faces on Twitch, and even organisations such as the Premier League were forced to embrace this new way of hosting competitive tournaments.

1) $40 million remains the largest team prize pool history for Dota 2’s The International, whilst the $15.2 million for the Fortnite Solos event at the Fortnite World Cup remains the largest individual prize purse.

And, not only did viewers jump up into the world of Esports, but so did all of their matchday traditions. For example, Esports gambling at sites like Unikrn became considerably more popular as high-profile streamers and players signed up for various events and competitions.

Nothing New

Of course, for established Esports fans, this was already something they had been accustomed to for several years. For instance, in 2018, YouTube had 1.13 million active streamers, whilst Twitch claimed over 4.32 million active quarterly streamers. The industry was already a multi-million dollar business, according to Newzoo, there was a 12.3% increase in viewership between 2018-19, with the company now putting the total number of Esports enthusiasts across the world at 474 million.

One of the biggest reasons behind this continuing surge in Esports fans is the increasing demand in markets previously untapped. The likes of Brazil and India have become big customers in the mobile streaming market, whilst interest in Esports has also continued to grow in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Pacific Asia. Video games and Esports are expected to continue growing at 6% between 2020 and 2025.

So, whilst the industry was already on the rise, the pandemic certainly hastened its arrival into people’s awareness for it.

Not All Smooth Sailing?

According to Statista, the global Esports market revenue worldwide hit $1.38B in 2022. It is expected to rise to $1.87B in 2025.

Despite that, some commentators have been eager to point out that the competitive gaming world might not be on the rise as fast as some would have assumed. Because we have nothing to compare it against in the history of entertainment, some critics have labelled all these projections as being on the lofty side, which, in turn, has led to any small dip experienced by the industry being overly critiqued.

And the last few months have certainly brought reason to raise a few eyebrows, with several high-profile crypto-based controversies casting a murky spotlight on the industry. Interestingly enough, this does seem to have triggered a shift in our businesses investing their capital across the Esports industry:

1) According to Invest Game, the value per deal between 2021-22 has been growing (up 16%), while the number of deals has shrunk (down 31%). What this indicates is that more investors are becoming wary about who they partner with, but sinking more into those they trust.

Here To Stay

Overall, every industry goes through peaks and troughs over a few years. Esports is no exception to that rule. After the pandemic brought competitive video games to mainstream channels and into the homes of many of us for the first time, many naysayers of the industry expected 2022 and 2023 to be a ‘correcting’ phase where Esports fell back in line behind more traditional forms of entertainment.

But, whilst there have been a few noticeable controversies and a couple of high-profile breakups and dissolutions, it’s clear that Esports and how its viewers digest it are genuinely here to stay.

From Red Bull to Crocs, high-profile sponsorships continue to provide the big success headlines, however, as it has always been, it is the hundreds of millions of enthusiasts around the world that are continuing to sink their hours into their chosen titles that will ensure Esports retains its spot as one of the most exciting growing sectors across 2023 and beyond.