It may come as a surprise to people outside of the sports and gaming communities, but the two industries might be in process of combining into a single entity. The process is already in motion. Esports is professional gaming taken to a level unseen at any earlier time in digital history. Players of all kinds of games compete against each other to take the games to previously unknown levels of perfection, and events surrounding games like Call of Duty and Smash Brothers make careers and draw the attention of thousands.
It’s easy to dismiss esports as a niche industry, but people in the know understand that this won’t be the case for long, if it’s even a true statement about the present state of gaming. Did you know that esports will be a medal event in the 2022 Olympics? Did you know that numerous sports teams, including the Yankees, and Rick Fox and Amit Raizada have acquired significant stakes in esports companies? This trend is not going to reverse anytime soon.
Though this new reality seems to surprise a lot of non-gamers, this meshing of the two industries didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it’s been decades in the making. Sports games go back to video games’ earliest consoles. In the 90’s, however, sports video games started to take on a sense of realism. These games might not look realistic by today’s standards, but popular games like NBA Jam copied players’ names and likenesses (when they could get the licensing rights).
It’s expensive to produce AAA sports video games, but many other aspects of the industry are more affordable to run than professional leagues are. For example, in esports players don’t break bones or tear hamstrings. Coaches don’t have to be paid. Broadcasting is much less of a hassle. Enormous stadiums don’t need to be maintained. It’s easy to see why sports franchises, if they can make a profit and expand their brands through gaming, would want to invest to get a big piece of the action.
There are always going to be distinct divisions between physical sports like basketball and digital sports games like Madden. But we can already see how aspects of these two distinct forms are going to start to blur together. Esport athletics is being recognized in some significant circles, and big money from the world of broadcast sporting events is being pumped into the industry. Don’t underestimate esports. They may be most closely associated with Call of Duty and Smash Brothers now, but before you know it they will start to become an essential part of the world sportsviewing experience.
