Competitive gaming, or e-sports, is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. With huge events and tournaments that are watched by millions of passionate fans, many people are beginning to question whether playing video games can be considered a real sport. Even though e-sports may not be as physically demanding as traditional sports like football and basketball, if one truly pays attention to the teams and players, they are putting in just as much effort to practice and have the same grind or mindset as players in sports such as football. So that begs the question, will esports tournaments become the next highly lucrative sport to grace our televisions?
Only a couple of months ago, Epic Games hosted the first ever “Fortnite World Cup.” Being a big fan of the game myself, I tuned in to watch the solos competition on Saturday, and the duos competition on Sunday . 19,000 people attended the iconic Arthur-Ashe Stadium to watch the event in person, with nearly 3 million watching online on platforms such as Youtube, Twitch, and Twitter. One could scoff at this idea, but at the same time, one has to look at the prizes offered and the setup for the tournament. The top prize was 3,000,000 and the prize for last place was still a cool 50k. The tournament was also hosted at a big stadium and also commentated on, much like any other sports event. Since the world cup, Epic Games has also hosted a massive season-long online tournament for all regions, and weekly solo cash cups which people can compete in for prizes ranging from $200 to $10,000, which, when added up is more than what many sports competitions might hand out in the span of a year.on TV on channels such as ESPN and Fox Sports.
