Hell has frozen over. According to an article written over at The Conversation, playing video games could soon earn you more money than being a pro athlete. Think about that for just a minute. It’s both insane and impressive that video games are climbing to the pinnacle of popularity this way. When I was a kid, mainstream video gaming used to be something you did at an arcade with friends.
We’d all meet up at the local arcade (for me it was Aladdin’s Castle) with a pocketful of quarters and play for hours. Sure, there was the Atari 2600 for home use but most of us hit the arcade. Video gaming was a social activity. One where you could be out of the house away from the stresses of home and experiencing some semblance of freedom. Then Nintendo came along and changed (at least for me) the whole video game experience.
While Nintendo kept some gamers at home, many still frequented the arcade due to the high price of consoles. But it didn’t take long for consoles to start dropping in price and for graphics and games to start getting better than anything found in an arcade. Soon Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox flooded the market and the arcade was pretty much doomed.
PC Gaming also started rising in popularity and now video games are more popular than ever. To the point that there are entire competitions devoted to playing video games. Of course, you can’t have a movement without a name and this movement is electronic sports (eSports).
In less than a decade, the realm of professional sport has been taken by storm by the rise of eSports (short for electronic sports). These video game events now compete with — and in some cases outperform — traditional sports leagues for live viewership and advertising dollars.
For the top eSports players, this means sponsorship contracts, endorsements, prize money and yes, global stardom.
This new world of video game competition draws spectators both live and online and they are eating it up. There is a whole roster of professional video game players who make their living doing what we did to escape reality, except they’re much better at it.
eSports mimic traditional sports leagues principles: Exciting content, likable stars, catchy team names, slow-motion highlights, intense competition and an uncertain outcome. These video games attract audiences as they are no longer simply designed to be played, but increasingly to be visually pleasing for audiences.
Age-wise, compared to traditional sports that struggle to diversify their audience demographics, eSports have successfully attracted younger viewers. The fanbase is pretty young, with 61 percent of fans falling in the 18-34 age range. Young men, in particular, are a desirable market for many advertisers.
There you have it kid’s, keep playing the hell out of those video games because you could make some serious money. Although, who knows how long this phenomenon will last so you better get in on the action quickly! Be sure to hit up the source link below to read the entire article from The Conversation.
What do you think of the rise of eSports and professional video gamers? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
[button link=”https://theconversation.com/video-gamers-may-soon-be-paid-more-than-top-pro-athletes-96497″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: The Conversation[/button]Last Updated on July 2, 2018.
