Video Game as a Sport Essay

A video game is like any other sport as it involves physical activities and skills where individuals or teams compete against each other. Although video gaming is not much popular as athletics, it has significant similarities with other professional sports like basketball, athletics, and football. Electronic sports like video games have teams, sponsors, star players and millions of followers like other sports. Players in the fields set aside time to train on specific skills, practice with their teams, and sacrifice every waking opportunity to display their passions. Many professional players make a living through playing video games as it involves competing for money and other prizes and in return, they gain fame and respect in their societies. The findings of Carter's research study is that the salaries of top 100 video players range from $115000 to $506000 depending on player experience, with the average being $218000 (72). The explosive growth in passion in video games have made big-spending sponsors like Coca-Cola, Audi, Arby's, PepsiCo, and Gillette invest in electronic sports with hopes of making substantial profits through advertisements and celebrity endorsements. According to Redmond, the global gaming market intelligence, and electronic sports economy was expected to grow to $696 million 41% in 2007 and $1.49 billion by 2020 with the audience estimated to be 385 million people (18). Sponsorship revenue was expected to be $266 million in 2017, and spending on the sports hit $155 million (19). This paper discusses reasons why many sponsors and professional players believe that video games can become a new and favorite sport.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Despite many people seeing video game as a local and unpopular sport, professional players and sponsors see more significant opportunities and globalization of video games. Many technologically-savvy players and electronic sporting companies view video gaming as an irresistible worldwide phenomenon in the coming decade. Electronic sporting started in Korea in the late 1990s, and since then it has spread all over the world. According to Lewis and Bradshaw (10), Asia is currently a leading video game market with a revenue turnover of over $321 million followed by North America with revenues of over $100 million. The sport is popularizing day by day as teams from Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, USA, Brazil, and France compete against each other. The existences of modern streamlining platforms like mobile smartphones and televisions have enabled viewers to easily play and watch video games from any location in the world. Through the advent of the internet connectivity, video gaming will be a household sport in future considering that many people around the globe spend at least 79 million hours each month watching different sports online (Lewis and Bradshaw 12). The rising demand for extra sporting activities has motivated professional video game players to venture and train towards attaining success in the unique and fat rising video games.

Unlike other professional sports which demand that athletes specialize in particular fields, video gaming is still an open undertaking with players switching from one game to the other with ease. Professional multiplayer online games played professionally include the League of Legends, Call of Duty, Global Offensive, Dota 2, and First-Person Shooter (Perron and Schroter 42). Not all games are similarly lucrative since tournaments vary with particular games hence attracting varying levels of audience and prizes. For instance in 2015 players competing at BlizzCon world championship got a prize pool of $250,000 while the prize tags in Dota 2 competition was $18 million. Therefore professional players can choose the type of game to compete in depending on personal talents, skills and knowledge and the zeal to win the prize pool it offers. The prizes available for grabs during video game competitions motivate more players to participate hence increasing the popularity of the sport.

There is global growth in electronic sports because of the predicted 70% increase in revenues by 20130. The sports market is expected to reach $1.5 billion in 2020 from $696 million in 2017 with viewership estimated to increase to 385 million. In their research, Crawford and Gosling stated that the sponsorship revenue is estimated to grow to $455 million by 2020 and branding revenues also expected to be $399 million. The sport, therefore, encourages many sponsors like Coca-Cola, YouTube, Microsoft and Red Bull to invest in video games by organizing of tournaments, and teams. The competitiveness of the sport will increase the audience hence creating a prime opportunity for the companies to cash in from advertisements. For instance, due to the popularity of video games, Disney is forming a TV series based on Virtual Reality targeting teenagers by creating a real feeling of watching an actual event in the form of a video game. Other sponsors like Red Bull are entering the electronic sports industry as financial investors evident from the 2016 franchise in which they allocated every participating team a sum of $20 million (Lewis and Bradshaw 13). Players in the first seven selected teams from Miami, London, NewYork City and Boston in the league earned at least $50,000 salary yearly. Besides, players get housing, health, and training allowance together with retirement benefits. The investment confirms the popularity of the sport from the sponsor's perspective.

The ability of video games to provide a platform for advertisements due to the massive audience it attracts is the core reason many sponsors consider it a prime sport in future. Coca-Cola is one of the companies that reaped heavily from advertising its brands through the electronic sports industry. By sponsoring teams and competitions, its various beverages products are prevalent in various markets worldwide due to sports celebrity endorsements (Carter 60). Coke has excellent chances of reaching its consumers uniquely since they spend much time in electronic sports an emerging sports genre. Through this, they can innovate their communication in marketing and incorporate their brands in a friendly to sustain its dominance in the beverage industry. The company sponsored various competitions like Coca-Cola Ongamenet Star League in South Korea in 2001 making it a global brand with enhanced effectiveness and efficiency in business following its contribution in sporting events enjoyed by a large number of customers (Edge 3). Due to the internationalization of video gaming, companies are motivated to invest in the industry to market their global brand considering that there is a massive explosion in its visibility. Unlike traditional games like basketball and American Football, electronic sports can reach diverse areas around the world within a short time and lesser cost. The ability to reach a vast consumers base is a crucial need towards business growth as it maximizes profits within a short period. Considering the impact of video games, Coke released a new brand of soda during the League of Legends world championship with the marketing positioning of quenching the players' thirst and supplying the energy necessary to stay focused. PepsiCo also partnered with Doritos and Call of Duty Black Ops to sponsor the sport at the expense of marketing its products through ads.

Video gaming is attracting the interest of customary sports stars that are now shifting their focus to the new sport due to its rising popularity. There is an increasing trend in the investment in electronic sports. For example, an NBA champion Rick Fox and ex-player for the Celtics and Lakers bought the video game Team Gravity in 2015. Rodgers Saffold who was an offensive lineman in Los Angeles Rams is the owner of Rise Nation Electronic Sports Nation (Crawford and Gosling 9). The two began by first streaming their former gameplays on the internet after which they were encouraged by individuals to create their teams. They started playing with their names which later provided them basic graphics designs for their logos. The team was selected to participate in the Call of Duty World Championships where they emerged victorious encouraging more traditional stars to develop their video games thus marketing the sport. Prominent people associated with electronic sports include business moguls in Russia, China, and America. The interest of influential people in the society in video games boosted the popularity around the globe.

Like traditional sports, video games are constantly evolving, with any slight changes made to the play rules resulting in significant changes in the sport. According to Perron and Schroter, slight variances raises major concerns as players will need to upgrade their technological skills to compete favorably with others (37). As game producers introduce new rules and game techniques, it creates a level playing field for periodic players and amateurs. The sport's ability to adapt and accommodate new games makes their player struggle to become adept, unlike traditional sports such as basketball and football where one team with a small number of star players dominate for several years. The reason is that electronic sports are competitive, fast and unpredictable thus becoming a thrilling experience for both the viewers and players (Redmond 15). Due to this, many professional players, sponsors, and spectators get interested hence popularizing the sport.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the video game is a favorite sport as perceived by players, sponsors, and spectators around the globe. The high number of competitors, high revenue turnover per month and the rising number of viewers confirms its popularity. The promising development of video games attracts various investors willing to support the development of the sport and in turn gain from the high revenue turnover and the ability to reach higher populations through advertisements. Availability of new technologies and presence of smartphones has made sponsors, and professional players recognize the essence of video games in the future. High revenues generated from the sport, rapid economic growth in the industry and the increasing number of the audience make sponsors, and professional players believe that the sport will be prevalent in future. The sports industry is rapidly evolving, and many traditional games might become obsolete as the advent of technology promises opportunities for competing online and thus positioning video games as a potentially lucrative business venture for investment. Electronic sports played a vital role in the marketing of company products like Coca-Cola. Video gaming is spreading to various countries around the world, and it will soon rival other sports in popularity. The entry of tycoons in developed nations and sports stars confirms that video gaming popularity is rising and lucrative business.

Works Cited

Carter, David. "Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment." Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2010. 55-78.

Crawford, Garry, and Victoria K. Gosling. "More Than a Game: Sports-Themed Video Games and Player Narratives." Sociology of Sports Journal (2009): 3-15.

Edge, Nathan. "Evolution of the Gaming Experience: Live Video Streaming and the Emergence of a New Web Community." Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications (2013): 2-5.

Lewis, Leo, and Tim Bradshaw. "Esports: Is the gaming business ready to come of age?" Financial Times (2017): 10-15.

Perron, Bernard and Felix Schroter. "Video games and the mind : essays on cognition, affect and emotion." North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. 30-56.

Redmond, Jason. "...