The world of online gaming has become a massive and successful new business that millennials love. The creation of eSports has started to explode onto the scene on a worldwide scale. The popularity and revenue of eSports has grown so much that people are making it their permanent profession and they are making millions from it. I believe the popularity surrounding it is so robust because of the eSports community, the community is extremely diverse and reaches nearly every country in the world. Online gaming brings all backgrounds together to compete against one another.

The first eSports event took place at Stanford University on October 19, 1972. The competition was an online combat game called Spacewar and the winner was to receive a one year’s subscription of Rolling Stone magazine. Fast forward about 30 years and now you have leagues, scholarships, sponsorships, endorsements and etc. eSports has blown up at seemingly a blink of an eye. The 2000’s is when eSports really flew into fame. In 2006 FUN Technologies held an online gaming competition with 71 players and the grand prize was $1 million. These types of competitions were open to the public but unless you were showing up in person there was no real platform to view the event. That all changed in 2011 when a company by the name of Twitch was launched. Twitch is a video livestreaming service that focuses mainly on online gaming. With eSports already on the rise Twitched immediately expanded the market, they had close to 3.2 million unique visitors a month and that increased to 20 million in just 3 years. This much web traffic opened the door for multiple revenue streams which even includes donations. Twitch as a company saw the opportunities with how successful eSports was becoming so they created an affiliate program where gamers could gain an income through Twitch by livestreaming through them and give Twitch more publicity. Probably the most famous Twitch affiliate is Richard Blevins who goes by his gaming alias Ninja, he has over 12 million subscribers and brings in a monthly revenue strictly from Twitch of approximately $500,000. This type of profession and popularity of online gaming was nearly nonexistent two decades ago. The almost immediate stride to fame can be thanked the generation Z and millennials.

Generation Z and millennials formed a society that relies heavy on technology, efficiency, and speed. Online gaming gives you all three of those in one package, viewers can access Twitch from any mobile device and play any online game they want at any time. ESports is for everyone because of how easily accessible it is.

The revenue of eSports has shot up because everyone wants to be a part of what is new. Tech giants like Google and Amazon have their ties to Twitch as well because what appeals to millennials and gen Z is also what appeals to the economy. The numbers do not lie and with revenue over $1 billion that speaks for itself. Twitch a relatively new business they do not have much competition, but I believe competitors are on the way with how lucrative the market is. The lack of competition comes from how new the industry and market is. Who would’ve thought that livestreaming video games would one day be a billion dollar industry in itself. Then who would have thought that simply playing video games would be a professional sport that could bring an individual millions of dollars annually. I, myself, am an eSports member but I haven’t gained big enough of a following to provide in a steady income from it. The fact all you need is a gaming device and an internet connection to be part of the eSports world makes thing so simple.

So, what is next for Twitch and eSports? For Twitch, analyst believe that the company will eventually move to live television and movie streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Twitch has already expanded its industry of strictly streaming eSports to now talk shows, crafting, music festivals and etc. The future is bright for Twitch because of the already massive following the company has. Anything that they do I believe will eventually work out for them in the long run. For eSports I believe things are just getting started in the business. The future of eSports brings a lot of questions because of how big the business already is and how far they have already reached. The business of eSports is doing everything by the book they have created player unions, training programs and college programs. In conclusion I found that almost all experts and researchers believe that the future cannot be predict for an industry as such. I was left with this statement by David B. Hoppe regarding the future of eSports “in the words of ten-thousand local television news stories, the outcome remains to be seen.”