“What is eSports?”
This is a question that I’ve had to answer more times than I can count. Simply put, it’s competitive video games. Where eSports differs from “real” sports is a tricky answer, though. Competitive video games have existed since the early 1970s, and over time, some major contenders have emerged in the space.
Let’s dive in!
What is eSports? | The Competitive Sport Turning Heads
Major eSports
While eSports has been around for quite a while, there are several that have truly withstood the test of time. Those that have continually been the largest have been “League of Legends,” “Dota 2” and “Counter-Strike”.
“League of Legends” | Riot Games
“League of Legends” (LoL) is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game where each team is composed of five “champions,” which are all characters with unique abilities. Each team is responsible for guarding their “Nexus.” Destroying the opposing team’s Nexus is how the game is won.
LoL (commonly referred to simply as “League” by the community) has been around since 2009. It has had a large eSports presence since 2011, with its inaugural tournament being the Season 1 World Championship. In the first five years of the eSport, it rivaled only “Dota” in terms of the prize pool, with nearly $30,000,000 in prizes since its launch.
T1 holds the title of top team in the game, having won the last two world championships and five in total (three under the original team name of SK Telecom 1). Gen.G (formerly Samsung White and Samsung Galaxy) is the only other team that has won multiple championships.
The most recent “League” world championship had 147,000 in attendance and a prize pool of $2.25 million. This game is seemingly going nowhere and projects to continue to be one of the largest eSports moving forward.
“Dota 2” | Valve Software
Similarly to “League of Legends,” “Dota 2” is another MOBA that shares many similarities to LoL. “Dota 2” specifically became available to the public at Gamescom in 2011 as a closed beta. Its main attraction, “The International,” was initially held in 2011, with it becoming the official championship in 2013.
Where The International differs from other major eSports championships is that the prize pool is crowd-funded through in-game purchases. This crowdfunding has allowed this tournament to have one of, if not the largest, prize pools we’ve ever seen. The 2021 iteration of the tournament had a total prize pool of over $40 million. This number has dipped in recent years, but many still consider it one of the gold standards of eSports. Many pros in other tournaments have asked for similar crowdfunding for more competitions.
The best “Dota 2” teams are currently Team Falcons, Team Liquid and Tundra Esports.
“Counter-Strike” | Valve, Multiple Developers
“Counter-Strike” (CS) is considered by many to be the original eSport, released in 2000 as a modification to First-Person Shooter (FPS) “Half-Life” (1998). The franchise has since taken on many iterations, all of which have had a large eSports scene. From “Counter-Strike 1.6” in 2000 to “Counter-Strike 2” in 2023, each game has been a mainstay and is consistently among the most played FPS games. Even with other games, such as “Valorant,” coming onto the stage (which boasts similar gameplay mechanics with the addition of abilities for each character), “CS” is still one of the largest eSports in the world.
The best teams historically have been Astralis, Fnatic, Natus Vincere and Ninjas in Pyjamas, each with either two or more major championships or multiple top-two finishes at majors. The most recent winner was Natus Vincere (also known as NaVi), who won the 2024 Major Championship, taking home $500,000.
Mid-Tier eSports
This is where my favorite games, such as “Apex Legends” and “Call of Duty,” reside. I’m also using this tier to discuss newer, albeit larger, games such as “Valorant” or “Fortnite.” While this level can include your favorite games, it will also be the home to games you’ve probably never heard of or even mobile games.
The expansion of eSports has been one to watch and to continue to monitor. With the advent of sports betting taking over as a popular hobby, we’ve seen that expand into the eSports realm as well. That sounds like something you may want to check back in on and keep an eye out for, if you catch my drift!
Thanks for reading my blog on “What is eSports.” Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter/X @Parry_FF for more sports & entertainment content, and check out our entertainment betting show, “Popcorn & Root Beer,” on our YouTube channel!
