Due to its increasing popularity, some of the world's biggest companies saw an opportunity to advertise their products. Besides the gaming/tech giants, there are even several automotive brands that started to sponsor various events. That's why, according to Betenemy, the eSport industry is set to reach US$1.6 billion in revenue as soon as 2023.
What's the situation now?
Truth be told, 2020 was not a good year for most businesses around the world. Some people thought that the pandemic wouldn't harm the eSports industry, but this wasn't the case.
Even though this section is doing significantly better than others, the revenue for 2020 is US$950 million, which means it's around US$7 million less than in 2019. The reason behind this difference is in the postponed tournaments, especially in Dota 2. Since this is the eSport with the largest prize pools, even the slightest changes have a negative effect on the industry.
Which are the tournaments that will help this industry surpass the billion-dollar mark?
Every leading eSports title has numerous events. Most of them are regional and have a decent reward, but there is at least one major tournament that brings together the best teams in the world.
There is one game that stands out when it comes down to tournaments, and that's Dota 2. The International (which is Dota 2's "world cup") is an event where the best teams in the world compete for a prize, which in 2019 reached the jaw-dropping amount of more than US$34 million.
Although The International 10 (TI 10) was postponed for 2021, it still managed to accumulate more than US$40 million, making it the biggest eSports tournament in terms of prize pool ever. Needless to say, TI 10 will bring massive attention to the eSports scene and will help this industry grow even more.
Apart from Dota 2, Fortnite and League of Legends also have pretty impressive events with prize pools that reach millions of dollars. There are many more games that will be classified as eSports soon, some of which will probably become even more popular than the current ones.
Source: GMB / Websa EOOD
