Esports is one of the fastest-growing industries within the overarching gaming space. With many organizations and investors chipping in and seeing the value, both in marketing and viewership, esports is a fountain of profit and content waiting to be nurtured.
For current fans of esports, trivia about competitive Farming Simulator or the fighting game community might seem mundane and overplayed. Newer fans, however, might find some fun facts about the industry rather refreshing to hear. Whether that's Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok's birthday or the largest prize pool in history, these esports facts might help you in your next outing at trivia night.
Updated February 3, 2023 by Jesus Morales: The esports scene doesn't look like it's going away any time soon. Streamed events and global championships are still taking place even now. With the growing popularity of the esports gaming space, we've updated this list to include more facts about the field.
13 Many Popular Streamers Got Their Start In Esports
You may know some of your favorite streamer personalities from their endless reaction clips or even their live hijinks, but some of them were once striving to be the best in their respective competitive games.
Streamers like Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek and Félix "xQc" Lengyel, first rose to popularity from their high level play in Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch, respectively. Even some of the most popular faces in gaming, like Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, was previously known for his professional stints in many Halo games.
12 South Korea Is The Home Of Esports
South Korea is widely known as the Mecca of esports. Due to many established laws, especially since the inception of the Korea Esports Association, South Korea was able to cement esports as a viable career path to their many athletes, whilst providing the country with extra revenue from tourism and event planning.
Thanks to the help of popular esports titles like the highly acclaimed 1998 expansion StarCraft: Brood War and colossal arenas to house live events, such as the Busan Esports Arena, South Korea is a force to be reckoned with in the field of Esports.
11 Organizations Have Teams Across Multiple Games
For a die-hard fan, it may be hard to follow professional sports teams like the Los Angeles Lakers outside of basketball. Esports fan experience is much more satisfying than traditional sports due to many organizations expanding their brand onto different games.
Notable organizations, such as Cloud9, 100 Thieves, and Team Solomid, have expanded beyond the usual in League of Legends and Counter Strike, into many recently popular games like Apex Legends and Rainbow Six Siege, making it easy to show your passion for any of these prestigious organizations in gaming with your favorite jersey.
10 There Is A Lot Of Financial Interest In Esports
There's a running joke, mainly from older folk, about how kids nowadays don't do anything productive and waste their time on video games. In reality, those kids are practicing to compete in a billion-dollar industry.
With its growing popularity, sponsors have flocked towards esports as an untapped avenue for advertising. As of 2022, the esports market was valued at just over $1.3 billion according to Statista. With more ways to consume esports content and game developers opting for franchise ecosystems for their esports leagues, there is no doubt that this number will continue to climb.
9 Esports Players Are Athletes
While it may be an argument for years to come, U.S. legislation recognizes professional esports players as athletes. This often accounts for the visa issues players constantly have when traveling to and from the U.S. for tournaments or events. For the longest time travel was very difficult —with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating it — especially for players without financial support from a sponsor or organization.
Huge invitation-based tournaments and competitions going global have meant that player travel has become more essential to the growth of healthy competition.
8 Any Game Can Have A Competitive Scene With Enough Players
Some traditional esports titles include games requiring extreme hand-eye coordination, such as Counter Strike or League Of Legends. Others require lightning-fast reflexes and the ability to read opponent patterns, like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Sometimes they might even require time and resource management, as in StarCraft.
Competitive players love to find a challenge in anything. Games like Farming Simulator, or even the acclaimed JRPG Catherine, can show that when enough people have the drive to be the very best, any game can become an esport.
7 Dota 2 Is Responsible For Eight Of The Top Ten Biggest Payouts
Largely helped by sales of their digital Battle Pass during The International, Dota 2 consistently has the biggest prize pools in esports tournaments. Valve also works with organizations such as ESL to put on high-viewership events.
In 2021, teams participating in The International shared a prize pool of over $40 million. That's more than double all the aggregated payouts from the League of Legends World Championship between 2016-2018.
6 There Are Many World Records In Esports.
Guinness World Records has done its bit to show love to the world of esports. From Team Liquid's record of the highest-earning esports team to Daigo "The Beast" Umehara holding records for the highest score in Ultra Street Fighter 4 and most viewed fighting videogame, there is a myriad of accolades listed on the Guinness World Records website.
With how legitimate Guinness is as an organization for recognizing these amazing feats within their niches, it draws more attention to the world of esports from the public eye.
5 The Longest Losing Streak In Esports Is 42 Games
When playing games, whether it's sports or video games, everyone can relate to the fact that losing can really affect your morale. Whether you lose a couple of games of chess or your baseball team did not make it to playoffs, losing hurts.
For the Shanghai Dragons in the Overwatch League, losing almost became a way of life. During the inaugural season of the long-awaited franchised league, the only Chinese team at the time went on to lose 40 straight games in the 2018 regular season. Luckily for them, they were able to nab their first win in their third match of the 2019 season.
4 You'll Find Esports In Both Big Arenas And Grassroots Venues
Just like traditional sports and the many smaller leagues below majors, esports thrives and cultivates talent through smaller grassroots events. That extends from circuits like the Overwatch Collegiate League to many FGC events, such as Combo Breaker and Frosty Faustings.
Esports fans tend to rally together as communities to show support for the game they love. These smaller events, while not having a large viewership like major events, still provide quality content for fans to enjoy.
3 Esports Can Be For All Ages
In most traditional sports like basketball, teams usually look for players in a specific age bracket. Whether they can be more moldable and lack bad habits or even just for longevity, there are many reasons why these teams would prefer a younger crowd.
In esports, as long as you can keep your thumbs on the sticks, you can succeed. Players to have made a name in esports range from the four-year-old Halo prodigy Victor "Lil Poison" De Leon III to all-senior Counter-Strike team the Silver Snipers — whose youngest player is a sprightly 68 years old.
2 Esports Has Been Around For Over Fifty Years
When you hear the term 'esports' it sounds like a word coined very recently. However, the first esports tournament was held back in 1972, when players met up at Stanford University to play Spacewar! for a year's subscription to Rolling Stone.
While the prize might not seem as glamorous by today's standards, the tournament set a precedent for being able to win prizes by playing games. It also created a new outlet for players to find competition in something they were already playing as a hobby.
1 You Can Go To University For Esports
With multiple roles available within the industry, esports might seem like a lot of moving pieces with no base knowledge — at least to begin with. Being a newer industry, esports doesn't have decades of previous mistakes to learn from as established leagues and brands already have, such as the NFL and NBA.
Thankfully, some universities now offer full curriculums to young students wanting to learn the ins and outs of the industry. Whether event management or the business side of esports, there are many universities now that can kickstart your career in the field.