ESports, short for electronic sports, are already popular in countries overseas and starting to take hold in regions within North America. In the past, eSports were existent but never quite as large as a regular sport in the United States. However, present day games have created a large enough competitive atmosphere which has made popularity grow exponentially.
ESports started in the early days of video gaming where the competitive aspect was to score more points than your opponent in a single or two player game. After games became increasingly more substantial, Major League Gaming, MLG for short, became an official league of competitive gaming as well other gaming leagues starting popping up around the world. Twin Galaxies, an online database of gaming world records, started keeping track exactly who was on top of the world in every game. When internet started becoming increasingly more popular, online gaming blossomed in the opportunity to become larger.
Online gaming led to the exponential growth of eSports in the world and now stacks up to the viewership of other sports in the United States. The NFL remains the most viewed competitive sporting league in the US but Riot Games MOBA League of Legends has started to challenge the viewership of other sports in the US. An estimated 24.6 million people gathered on their TV's to watch the BCS National Championship game in 2013 and a total 14.9 million for the World Series. However, in the same year 32 million watched the League of legends world championship. As of 2015 the world championship for League of Legends viewership reached a total of 36 million unique viewers over the duration of the finals and is projected to increase in the coming years. TV stations have started to recognize the popularity of eSports and some have taken on broadcasting the events. TBS has recently been filming Counter Strike:Global Offensive tournaments which has brought in an increase in viewership. Even sports journalism leader ESPN has started to embrace the new era of electronic sporting by covering events around the globe. With the trend receiving more and more positive reinforcement from fans around the world, eSports are only going to get additional presence in the entertainment industry.
Some sports journalists are not embracing the new era of competition and do not recognize them as an actual sports. They say that they require no physical activity and do not support the broadcasting of them. Nevertheless, eSports are expanding in this ever evolving world we are living in and are expecting a rise in popularity in the years to come.
