Esports Meets Crypto: A New Playing Field

Esport is an electronic sport known as cybersport, a term used to refer to digital game competitions in which players battle each other in an individual or team format, often in competition.

What is esports?

Esports introduce a competitive aspect to the world of gaming. Esports gaming competitions involve players from all over the world, and the winners walk away with millions in prizes. The popularity of esports makes players attractive to valuable corporate sponsors: some tournaments regularly draw over a million spectators. Esports are competitive video games played in a strictly structured atmosphere. It can range from well-known multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) for teams, to single-player first-person shooters, battle royale survival games and virtual recreations of physical sports.

Esports and other events can attract audiences as large as those at most professional sporting events. In 2017, the League of Legends World Championship drew more than 80 million viewers, making it one of the most watched esports competitions of all time. ESPN and Disney XD announced in July that they had signed a multi-year contract to broadcast Overwatch, a brand new worldwide league with 12 clubs based on the popular first-person multiplayer game Overwatch.

PUBG, which is an esports multiplayer shooter game, held the event in 2021, where the winning Susquehanna Soniqs team walked away with a prize of $1,296,189. Such prizes are commonplace in the esports industry, as the total value of the industry will reach $1,084.1 million in 2021, a 50 percent increase over 2020.

Just like regular athletes, players in the esports industry can earn millions of dollars in prize money in online and offline tournaments, which are usually shared among players on winning teams. It follows that the best players in the world can easily earn a seven-figure sum in a year. Ticket sales for these competitions generate enormous revenues for both teams and tournament organizers.

Sponsorships, money for creating promotional videos on YouTube, and even signing contracts with gaming clubs are all opportunities for prominent players in the world of cybersports. Popular examples include Tyler Blevins, known as Ninja, a Fortnite prodigy who is estimated to earn about $500,000 a month. Another player, Saahil "Universe" Arora, earns six-figure sums in Dota 2 at every major competition. However, only a small percentage of players reach this level.

The world of cryptocurrencies has also seen a trend in cybersports games. Not long ago, CoinFund, a blockchain research and consulting company, invested $2.3 million in a cybersports startup.

As another example, cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase announced its partnership with Berlin International Gaming (BIG). This shows that crypto-experts see great potential in the cybersports sector and its transformation in the blockchain world. With the emergence of popular multiplayer games such as Axie Infinity (AXS), CryptoBlades (SKILL) and many others, it is only a matter of time before blockchain-based gaming events are held around the world.