How Much Money Has Esports Made?

Esports has made a lot of money for the industry and players. But how much money has esports made?

The History of Esports

The origins of esports

The term “esports” covers competitive video gaming in a number of genres. While gaming has always been a part of competitive sports, esports only emerged as its own industry in the early 21st century.

The first esports tournament took place in October 1972 at Stanford University. The game was Spacewar, and the prize was a year’s subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. While there have been other tournaments since then, it wasn’t until the late 1990s that esports started to become more mainstream.

One of the earliest and most popular esports games was Quake, a first-person shooter released in 1996. The game had a large following online, and players began organizing their own tournaments. One of the most popular Quake tournaments was Red Annihilation, which attracted more than 2,000 players from all over the world.

While Quake was one of the earliest esport games, it was not the first. That honor goes to Space Invaders, which held its first tournament in 1980. However, it wasn’t until the release of Street Fighter II in 1991 that competitive gaming really started to take off. The game became hugely popular in arcades across Japan and eventually made its way to the US, where it sparked a wave of interest in competitive gaming.

In the early days of esports, most tournaments were organized by game developers or publishers. However, as the industry grew, independent tournament organizers began to emerge. One of the most important early tournament organizers was Major League Gaming (MLG), which was founded in 2002. MLG helped turn esports into a professional industry by holding regular events and providing an online platform for gamers to compete against each other.

MLG’s success led to the emergence of other tournament organizers such as Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) and Dreamhack. These organizations helped turn gaming into a global phenomenon with tournaments being held all over the world. Today, there are dozens of different tournament organizers each with their own circuits and events.

While most people associate esports with PC games, console games such as Halo and Gears of War also have a strong competitive scene. In fact, Halo 3 is often credited with helping propel console esports into the mainstream thanks to its popularity on MLG’s circuit.

Console games are typically played on dedicated servers controlled by the tournament organizer while PC games are played on public servers chosen by the players themselves

The first esports tournaments

The earliest recorded esports tournament took place in October 1972 at Stanford University. “The Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics” was a contest between two players of the game Spacewar, with the winner taking home a year’s subscription to Rolling Stone magazine.

Since then, esports tournaments have proliferated worldwide. Early events were organized by game developers and companies that published games, such as Nintendo’s World Championships, which first took place in 1990. The rise of the Internet made it easier for players to connect and compete with each other online, and tournaments started to beorganized by third-party organizations and communities.

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the growth of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games such as Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients (DotA), and real-time strategy (RTS) games such as StarCraft II. These games were well suited to tournament play, with their focus on strategic decision-making and team tactics. Tournaments for these games began to attract large audiences, both online and offline.

One of the most important developments in the early history of esports was the formation of professional leagues. These allowed players to compete full-time, instead of just in their spare time. The first professional league was Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), founded in 1997. The CPL held its first tournament in June 1997, with a prize pool of $15,000.

Other professional leagues followed suit, including Major League Gaming (MLG) in 2002 and Electronic Sports League (ESL) in 2000. These leagues helped legitimize esports as a competitive sport, with many players now earning a living from playing video games professionally.

How Much Money Has Esports Made?

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The prize money for esports tournaments

$1,655,721,828.00 has been awarded to teams in 5,064 tournaments as of March 2019. The highest single prize was $25,532,177.00 in the 2017 Dota 2 International.

The revenue from esports events

The revenue from esports events reached $655 million in 2019, up 27% from the previous year, according to data provided by industry-tracking firm Newzoo. The number of people attending esports events also grew to 467 million in 2019, up 8.2% from 2018.

The global esports economy is expected to grow to $1.1 billion in 2020, according to Newzoo. By 2022, the industry is expected to be worth $1.8 billion.

The majority of the revenue generated by esports comes from sponsorships and media rights deals. Brands are eager to associate themselves with the young, engaged and male-skewing audience that esports boasts. And as the industry has matured, it has become more attractive to traditional media companies looking for new properties to invest in.

The revenue from esports sponsorships

Revenue from esports sponsorships totaled $694 million in 2017, up from $388 million the previous year, according to a report from research firm Newzoo. The majority of that came from North America, which generated $251 million, followed by China with $164 million.

The top 10 sponsorships accounted for nearly 60% of all revenue in 2017, led by Intel with $44 million, followed by Nissan with $34 million.

The Future of Esports

Esports has been around for a while, but it has only recently begun to gain mainstream attention. And with good reason! Esports is a multi-million dollar industry that is only continuing to grow. But how much money has esports actually made?

The growth of esports

The global esports market is expected to grow from $1.1 billion in 2019 to $1.8 billion by 2022, according to business intelligence firm Newzoo. By comparison, the NFL generated $15 billion in revenue last year.

With that level of growth, it’s no surprise that some traditional sports teams and organizations have taken notice of esports. NBA teams have launched their own esports leagues, while colleges have begun offering esports scholarships.

And it’s not just the organizations that are cashing in on the growth of esports. Players are seeing a more significant payday as well. The average salary for an esports player is now $60,000 per year, up from $36,000 in 2017, according to a report from research firm SuperData.

The prize pools for major tournaments have also grown significantly in recent years. The largest prize pool ever for an esports tournament was last year’s Dota 2 International, which had a total prize pool of more than $34 million. By comparison, the Masters golf Tournament had a prize pool of just over $11 million this year.

With so much money pouring into the industry, it’s no surprise that some people are wondering how long the esports boom will last. But with more and more people watching and playing competitive video games, it seems like the sky is the limit for how big esports can get.

The potential for esports

In 2014, the global esports economy was valued at just over $194 million. In 2015, that number nearly doubled to $370 million. And by 2017, esports is expected to be a billion-dollar industry.

With those kinds of numbers, it’s no wonder that traditional sports teams and organizations are taking notice of esports. In fact, some of the biggest names in sports have already made their presence felt in the esports world. NBA team owners Rick Fox and Mark Cuban have invested in esports organizations, as have a number of NFL and NHL teams.

And it’s not just team owners who are investing in esports. Media companies like ESPN and Turner Broadcasting have also gotten involved, broadcasting esport events on their networks. ESPN has even launched an entire website devoted to esports coverage.

Clearly, there is a lot of money to be made in esports. But how much money exactly? And where is all that money coming from? Let’s take a closer look at the economics of esports.