This year’s Commonwealth Games will have a new sport called eSport. It will be the first-year professional gamers will join the event in a pilot competition. This pilot is testing the water for the official inclusion of the modality by 2026 but how is it going to work?
Joining the Games
For now, the eSports category won’t be a medal category but it will change in 2026, should the trial go as planned. Three games are expected to be part of the new category, but only DOTA 2 has been confirmed so far. eSports competitions are getting bigger and more professional every year.
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So, bringing eSports to the Commonwealth Games is part of a marketing strategy to bring wider audiences to the competition. It is not going to be the only sports competition including an eSports category, though. The Asian Games has also confirmed the inclusion of League of Legends, Dota 2, and EA Sports FIFA. The Commonwealth Games will take place in Birmingham, from July 28 to August 8.
Pentakill
The Global Esports Federation has a lot to be proud of. Last December, Singapore hosted the first Global Esports Games, with a worldwide audience of over 500 million. These competitions involve so many viewers, competitors and sponsors that are becoming hard to ignore. After joining the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, the Olympic Games now seem viable.
Where fans and players gather
The sky-rocketing rise in popularity of esports has a lot to do with how it is been broadcast online. The platform Twitch concentrates thousands of influencers live-streaming all sorts of games.
Last year, it counted 2.8 million concurrent viewers and over 7 million active streamers. Themes range from the latest LoL items to finding the best slot machine tips to win big. The platform has been pretty much doubling its viewership year by year. Now, it has over 26 million active users daily.
Such a marketing opportunity didn’t pass unnoticed by advertising companies. That’s why this kind of competition is getting more viewership, higher prizes, and better coverage every year. There’s no doubt that Twitch.tv had a deep influence on the gaming world, and it has also become an indissociable part of it.
The Killjoys
Games like League of Legends or Counter-Strike have legions of fans. While many of them are casual players, others are there professionally. It is the organised niche of competitive gaming that is called esports. With thousands of followers, famous players live-stream their games and use their fan base to push for changes.
Something similar has happened with Fortnite. Developers have changed the game’s mechanics to suit esports players. Such changes left casual players frustrated with what many would see as “needless complications.”
Esports fans are not more than 5% of the gaming community, yet they are louder than anybody else. Still, it is a very engaged community, and since esports competitions are all the craze now, esports fans usually get to say the final word.
Anyway, the game has fallen in the number of global searches in the past year. Perhaps uncoincidentally, the decline came after it entered the esports scene.
Gamers and Gamers
Casual and professional gamers have different relationships with gaming. While gamers invest time and money in gear and training, casual players just play to kill time. It could be after work while commuting or during weekends. The fact is that casual gamers will hardly bother to pay for an app, let alone special gear. Also, the gameplay must be simple enough; otherwise, the casual gamer will probably quit.
Professional gamers spend most of their days playing and honing their skills. Professional playing can also involve some relatively expensive equipment. The list includes special PC parts, a proper chair, and the best internet in the market.
Realistic mechanics tend to make games much more complex. Yet, they also create more opportunities for individual talent. Straightforward games don’t leave much space for competition. Indeed, there’s no complicated gameplay that can’t be mastered after practising for hours on end. It’s a time and dedication the amateur player will never have.
Endgame
Esports seem to be walking irrevocably towards official recognition in international sports competitions. Thanks to Twitch, TV and YouTube, there’s also a clear upward trend in the volume of content about any given game online, thanks to Twitch.tv and YouTube. So, if games are getting more complicated, it is much easier to get informed about the best tricks today than it was some good 15 years ago.
Anyway, the esports community is big enough to be invited into the Commonwealth Games to increase its viewership. This profitable niche keeps attracting more game studios to the mix every year, making it a very competitive market. Who’s to win this competition? Both casual and professional gamers.
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