E-Sports: The wave of the future?

E-sports is an electronic sport which is one of the fastest growing sports at the moment. It includes hundreds of different games, ranging from shooting games to sports games. The first E-sports tournament was in October of 1980 at Stanford, the game was Spacewars on the Magnavox. Unlike in 1980 we have online games such as PUBG (PlayerUnknown BattleGrounds), Fortnite, NBA2k, Madden, Call of Duty, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Battlefield and many more. In 1990, online games started to get big. Internet connectivity was growing in size around the world and the technology was getting better and stronger. Netrek was the third online game, but it was the main game to blow up.    

Like most games, NBA 2K19 has a pro league. It is one of the most popular pro league games. By the end of the year some players may earn up to a million dollars for these tournaments. But the pro league season is fairly new this year as the highest player currently is getting almost 100,000 dollars. Last year in NBA 2K18 the top earner got nearly a million dollars for strictly pro leagues and tournaments. There are also some youtubers that play 2K and make money because they are very popular even though they don’t play in the pro leagues.

Fortnite, a cartoon video game, is a worldwide sensation; becoming one of the most popular video games of all time. It is a 100 player battle royal game that is very well known throughout the world. It has player bases ranging all across the globe, and a very popular competitive E-Sports scene. A lot of competitive players from other games, especially other battle royals, came over to play fortnite. It is the most up and coming game both professionally and casually, making it the most rewarding game to start playing. Tournaments for fortnite, hosted by the creators Epic Games, reward teams with upwards of million dollars in a prize pool.

E sports can earn a person up to 12,500 at a minimum for a 28 match season. There was a man named Kuro Takhasomi  who got paid 2,831,000 just for playing a video game called DOTA 2. There is multiple people who have won over a million dollars. Prize money is sure to increase as the years go by and the sport becomes even more popular.

A major debate today is whether or not E-Sports is considered an actual sport or not. Some say that since the teams and league consist of players participating on a team and in a competitive environment, that it should be considered a sport. There has been a push to get E-Sports credited as an official high school sanctioned sport. It also shows up on ESPN occasionally. The other side of the argument says that since there is no physical activity involved, outside of good hand-eye coordination, it shouldn’t be considered a sport. The debate is sure to continue for years as these competitions continue to grow. 

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