Electronic sports This article is about video game competitions. For de- the esports label.[4] In 2012, the most popular titles fea- pictions of traditional sports in video games, see sports tured in professional competition were real time strat- game. For games involving exercise, see exergaming. egy and multiplayer online battle arena games Dota 2, Electronic sports (also known as esports or competi- League of Legends, and StarCraft II.[5] Shooting games like Counter Strike and Call of Duty have enjoyed some success as esports, although their viewer numbers have remained below those of their competitors.[6] 1 Overview Geographically, esports competitions have their roots in developed countries. South Korea has the best es- tablished esports organizations, officially licensing pro- gamers since the year 2000.[7] Official recognition of es- ports competitions outside South Korea has come some- what slower. In 2013, Canadian League of Legends player Danny “Shiphtur” Le became the first pro-gamer to re- ceive a United States P-1A visa, a category designated for Players at the 2013 Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice, Poland “Internationally Recognized Athletes”.[8][9] Along with South Korea, most competitions take place in Europe, tive gaming) is a term for organized video game compe- North America, Australia and China. Despite its large titions, especially between professionals. The most com- video game market, esports in Japan is relatively un- mon video game genres associated with electronic sports derdeveloped, which has been attributed largely to its are real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter, and broad anti-gambling laws.[10] In 2014, the largest inde- multiplayer online battle arena. Tournaments such as pendent esports brand, ESL, partnered with the local es- the League of Legends World Championship, The In- ports brand Japan Competitive Gaming to try and grow ternational, the Evolution Championship Series, and the esports in the country.[11] Intel Extreme Masters provide both live broadcasts of the competition, and cash prizes to competitors. In 2013, it was estimated that approximately 71,500,000 people watched competitive gaming.[12] Demographi- Although esports have long been a part of video game cally, Major League Gaming has reported viewership that culture, competitions have seen a large surge in popu- is approximately 85% male and 15% female, with 60% larity in recent years. While competitions around 2000 of viewers between the ages of 18 and 34.[13] Related were largely between amateurs, the proliferation of pro- this appreciable male majority, female gamers within the fessional competitions and growing viewership now sup- industry are subject to significant sexism and negative ports a significant number of professional players and [14] [1] stereotypes. Despite this, some women within esports teams, and many video game developers now build fea- are hopeful about the general progress in overcoming tures into their games designed to facilitate such compe- these problems.[15][16] tition. Labelling video games as “sports” is somewhat contro- The increasing availability of online video streaming plat- versial. While some point to the growth in popularity forms, particularly Twitch, has become central to cur- [2] of esports as justification for designating some games as rent esports competitions. In 2014, sports broadcaster sports, others contend that video games will never reach ESPN broadcast the The International finals, marking the the status of “true sports”.[17] In a 2014 interview, when first time an esports event had been simultaneously broad- [3] asked about the recent buyout of popular game streaming cast on a mainstream channel. service Twitch, ESPN president John Skipper described Historically, fighting games and arcade fighters like esports as “not a sport - [they're] a competition.”[18] In Mortal Kombat, Tekken and Super Smash Bros. have been addition, many in the fighting games community main- popular in amateur tournaments, although the fighting tain a distinction between their competitive gaming com- game community has often distanced themselves from petitions and the more commercially connected esports 1 2 2 HISTORY competitions of other genres.[19] 2.2 Esports goes online (1990–1999) In the 1990s, many games benefited from increasing 2 History internet connectivity, especially PC games. For exam- ple, the 1988 game Netrek was an Internet game for up to 16 players, written almost entirely in cross-platform open 2.1 Early history (1972–1989) source software. Netrek was the third Internet game, the first Internet team game,[31] the first Internet game to use metaservers to locate open game servers, and the first to have persistent user information. In 1993 it was credited by Wired Magazine as “the first online sports game”.[32] Large esports tournaments in the 1990s include the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, which toured across the United States, and held its finals at Universal Studios Hol- lywood in California. Nintendo held a 2nd World Cham- pionships in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System called the Nintendo PowerFest '94. There were 132 finalists that played in the finals in San Diego, CA. Mike Iarossi took home 1st prize. Blockbuster Video also ran their own World Game Championships in the early Attendees of the 1981 Space Invaders Championship attempt to 1990s, co-hosted by GamePro magazine. Citizens from set the highest score. the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Aus- tralia, and Chile were eligible to compete. Games from The earliest known video game competition took place the 1994 championships included NBA Jam and Virtua [33] on October 19, 1972, at Stanford University for the game Racing. Spacewar, where students were invited to an “Intergalac- Television shows featuring esports during this period in- tic spacewar olympics” whose grand prize was a year’s cluded the British shows GamesMaster and Bad Influence! subscription for Rolling Stone.[20] The Space Invaders the Australian gameshow A*mazing, which would show Championship held by Atari in 1980 was the earliest two children competing in various Nintendo games in or- large scale video game competition, attracting more than der to win points. 10,000 participants across the United States, establishing competitive gaming as a mainstream hobby.[21] In the summer of 1981, Walter Day founded a high 2.3 Rise of global tournaments (2000 on- score record keeping organization called Twin Galax- wards) ies.[22] The organization went on to help promote video games and publicize its records through publications such as the Guinness Book of World Records, and in 1983 it created the U.S. National Video Game Team. The team was involved in competitions, such as running the Video Game Masters Tournament for Guinness World Records[23][24] and sponsoring the North American Video Game Challenge tournament.[25] During the 1970s and 1980s, electronic sports players and tournaments begun being featured in popular news- papers and magazines including Life and Time.[26] One of the most well known classic arcade game players is Billy Mitchell, for his listing as holding the records for Esports tournament prize amounts, 1998–2014.[34] high scores in six games including Pac-Man and Donkey Kong in the 1985 issue of the Guinness Book of World Recently, esports has gone through tremendous growth, Records.[27] Televised esports events aired during this pe- incurring a large increase in both viewership and prize riod included the American show Starcade which ran be- money.[35][36] Although large tournaments were founded tween 1982 and 1984 airing a total of 133 episodes, on before the 21st century, the number and scope of tour- which contestants would attempt to beat each other’s high naments has increased significantly, going from about 10 scores on an arcade game.[28] A video game tournament tournaments in 2000 to about 260 in 2010.[2] Many of was included as part of TV show That’s Incredible!,[29] the largest tournaments today were founded during this and tournaments were also featured as part of the plot of period, including the World Cyber Games, the Intel Ex- various films, including 1982’s Tron.[30] treme Masters, and Major League Gaming. The prolifer- 3 ation of tournaments included experimentation with com- out Staples Center.[49] Its successor, the 2014 League of petitions outside traditional esports genres. For example, Legends World Championship in Seoul, South Korea had the September 2006 FUN Technologies Worldwide We- over 40,000 fans in attendance and featured musical tal- bgames Championship featured 71 contestants compet- ent, and opening and closing ceremonies in addition to ing in casual games for a $1 million grand prize.[37] the competition.[50] This period was also the peak of televised esports. Televi- sion coverage was best established in South Korea, with competitions featuring StarCraft and Warcraft III regu- 3 Titles larly televised by dedicated 24-hour cable TV game chan- nels Ongamenet and MBCGame.[38] Elsewhere, esports Main article: Electronic sports titles by genre television coverage was sporadic. The German GIGA Television covered esports until its shutdown in 2009. A number of games support professional competition. The UK satellite television channel XLEAGUE.TV The tournaments which emerged in the mid 1990s co- broadcast esports competitions from 2007 to 2009. The incided with the popularity of fighting games and first- online esports only channel ESL TV[39] briefly attempted person shooters, genres which still maintain a devoted a paid television model re-branded GIGA II from June fan base. In the 2000s, real-time strategy games be- 2006 to autumn 2007. The French channel Game One came overwhelmingly popular in South Korean inter- broadcast e-sport matches in a show called “Arena On- net cafés, with crucial influence on the development of line” for the Xfire Trophy.[40] The United States channel esports worldwide. By 2010, multiplayer online battle ESPN hosted Madden NFL competitions in a show called arena games had become very popular as esports.