After the most successful year in its history, we analyse how viewership, the games and much more will grow over the next 12 months
The year 2015 was another phenomenal one for eSports – the latest step towards worldwide recognition and even greater acclaim.
It was the most successful year in eSports history, especially as the ever-expanding Dota 2 tournament The International (created by publishers and Steam owners Valve) posted a staggering $18m in prize money.
Viewers and popularity exploded as well, with over 334 million people watching the League of Legends Worlds (or World Championships) and Amazon’s billion dollar Twitch buyout paying dividends, as the platform went from strength to strength.
There were also thousands who wanted to bet on their favourite players and matches, more 46,000 times in fact.
So, what can we expect in 2016?
Viewership competition
While a large number of the major League of Legends tournaments are streamed on their official website, there have been very few challengers to the popularity of eSports streaming behemoth, Twitch.
There is a good chance this will all change.
Before Amazon went ahead and bought Twitch, YouTube also made a concerted attempt to buy them. Proving unsuccessful, a new tactic has emerged.
Since YouTube were one of the first platforms to popularise the video game play-throughs knows as ‘Let’s Plays’, they launched a rival service to Twitch known as YouTube Gaming.
YouTube Gaming is designed to be a separate ‘game only’ space, complete with individual iOS Android apps where they have encouraged their most popular game streamers to reach their potential.
Currently, the 10 most popular YouTube gaming channels have more than 2.2 billion monthly video views combined, while Twitch gets 120 million monthly viewers, so there’s a vast market waiting to expand even further.
Plus, with so many more options to watch eSports across loads of devices, there is even more opportunity for in-play eSports betting too.
In the interests of fairness, there is a smaller player taking on the big boys in the game streaming field – a service called Azubu. They have had a good deal of success in Korea – as well as Germany and Brazil – and have an eye on trying to expand into the UK and Europe.
With a good-looking user interface and news feed/social media functionality, it is definitely one to keep an eye on.
And to those saying they can’t compete, well Twitch started as a small company too, right? It’s about originality and innovation, not just money.
Gaming Advances
Speaking of innovation, there’s a ton of new developments in 2016 for the eSports games themselves and by far the largest change is to the hugely popular Counter Strike: Global Offensive scene.
Until now, developers Valve have stuck to major tournament events with decent prize pots scattered throughout the year. Well no longer.
Introducing the brand new ELeague, in partnership with American cable giant, Turner.
The new format will see the creation of two seasons in 2016, each divided into 10 weeks and featuring the top teams. Not only will there be a reported $1.2m on offer in prize money, but the action will be broadcasted on Turner’s TBS network as well as online – and they have pledged to step up production values and quality to be on the same level as the NBA and NFL thanks to the use of Turner Studios in Atlanta.
What’s more, we will also have all the latest odds and offers on the whole thing.
Could we be seeing the biggest breakthrough mainstream moment for the eSports scene? If BBC3 broadcasting the League of Legends World Championships was a milestone, this could be the whole mile.
Just in America, the current eSports audience is roughly 32 million views – with predictions of 50 million by 2017. Now seems the perfect time to get on board.
Elsewhere, the other major games are shaking up their formats a little, too. League of Legends has decided to revamp their format for the Summer Split, meaning the best-of-one format will be no more, instead becoming a best-of-two in Europe and a best-of-three for North America.
While this will mainly affect the Champion Series, we’ll have to wait and see how it works in practice, as some people may dislike how the regions are newly split.
However, it looks as though it will make the level of competition closer, which can only be a good thing.
Meanwhile, Blizzard are ramping up their moves in the eSports market. Hearthstone is their most popular offering, and they’re increasing the prize money on offer for their World Championships at Blizzcon 2016 to $1m, which should attract an even bigger talent pool.
Their other title – Heroes of the Storm – may only be a year old, but they are already accelerating the tournament entries for it.
In 2016, there will be three major championships, with a $500,000 prize pool for each – plus the Global Championship Circuit. Not bad for a game still in its infancy.
And if you want infancy, we have got a brand new eSport coming to town from Blizzard. It is called Overwatch, and if you’re an eSports fan you’ve almost certainly heard of it.
A team based FPS, it has caused a storm online as reviewers have gotten a taste of the game on closed beta and given it rave reviews.
With Blizzard’s track record and backing, will it be a hit next year? We’ll see. But people in the know are tipping the Hero FPS to be the next massive eSport genre.
As Overwatch grows, it is going to be one of our favourite offerings, with special markets and exclusive specials for the ‘next big thing’.
Longshots
Everyone is always looking for the next big thing in eSports.
Samsung’s Gear VR headset was finally released two weeks ago, with Occulus, Playstation VR and HTC’s Vive among other competitors releasing next year.
So the question begins, is 2016 the year of Virtual Reality in eSports?
The simple answer is that no-one knows. The technology is leaping forward at an incredible rate, but hasn’t been field tested in any great scope yet.
Occulus’ chief technology officer John Carmack recently spoke of his desire to create ‘virtual reality stadiums’, where players can watch their favourite eSports tournaments from the comfort of their own homes.
It is a great idea, but remains a long way off at the moment.
What seems closer is that ESL – the biggest eSports brand – partnered with Jaunt VR to record the recent IEM tournament in 360 degree video for VR testing. They estimate they will be able to capture most major tournaments within 12-18 months.
VR is coming, of that there is no doubt. In terms of being a full scale eSports experience? Perhaps that’ll be in the 2017 preview.
With more tournaments, new games and bigger prize pools, comes even more opportunities to bet.
And Betway will be there every step of the way, offering you the best odds and specials around so you can really get stuck into all your favourite eSports.
