Esports is one of the most popular items to watch in this day and age. Competitive gaming is now a regular offering during practically each week of the year, so much so that there are even dedicated betting websites and odds providers such as the ones given by BetOnline. The growing popularity of these events keeps helping the industry prepare and conduct even more of these amazing tournaments.
So many of these Esports are tailor made to be extremely appealing to viewers, and this is due to several factors that make these games quite entertaining to watch. Obviously, taste plays an incredible role in Esport view base, as you generally will like the game which you are watching. That said, the level of hype that some games may bring to the table can bring in audiences from other games and keep them hooked, and perhaps even convert them to start playing that game in particular.
Watching certain games or tournaments at the highest level can create fans of anyone. Taking Counter Strike Global Offensive as a personal example, the game is not something I enjoyed a lot playing, as a Call of Duty player myself, but watching top teams playing each other in events such as ESL or BLAST Premier or even Dreamhack is an amazing treat, so much so I ended up looking forward for the next events featuring the same teams. With a bit of knowledge of what is going on and how the Search and Destroy game mode works from Call of Duty 4, one can really immerse themselves into the action happening on screen and understand just how important each play actually is and marvel at the reaction time and quick thinking skills that these players possess.
Fighting Games also make up for tremendous Esport events, and the EVO Series in the US, which has been recently acquired by PlayStation highlighting the scale of production of these events, is one prime example of excellence in the genre. Simply checking out the numbers on Twitch.tv for current live viewers gives an idea of the hype levels of the game. Being a massive Tekken fan myself, I was overjoyed to see that the last offline EVO event in 2019 had a record 280,000 live viewers by Grand Finals time, all fruit of the unbelievable action which was taking place on screen. This is due to the talent from all around the world competing in this event, with representatives from Korea, the United States and even a Pakistani who is currently re-writing history in fighting games by putting a whole nation on the map himself. Arslan Ash in fact, ever since his rise to stardom in early 2019, has been showing the world what the Pakistani scene is like, and many people have traveled over to train with these players, with great praise for the scene and for the reception they had.
Sports games also share an important piece of the virtual cake which makes Esports viewer numbers. Games such as NBA 2K or Rocket League have regular championships that gather quite a great following, with the Rocket League events even being broadcast on regular television for important events, making a great step forward for Esports as a whole. The king of Sports Esports however is FIFA, and EA keep making sure that their title keeps the crown year after year by hosting massive tournaments on quite a regular basis, with amazing prize pools for each of these tournaments, which also then culminate in a World Series Finals and a eClub World Cup, and both of these awards the most in-form FIFA player the chance to practically earn a living from playing FIFA.
The production values that EA put into its FIFA tournaments is something of an example to Esports everywhere, as apart from the great action being put on by the players, there is a lot of background content to boost the event. Apart from the casters and the hosts, there are panels made up of analysts who have devoted countless hours to FIFA over the years and can thus explain the flow of the game and why one player is winning against another, similar to a real football half time analysis show, if you will.
Esports has now become a reality in the world we live in, and this is amazing news for us gamers who are always on the lookout for the opportunity to make a living by playing or working with games. It is surely achievable now, and with the correct mindset and tools, it is something to work for.
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