History of Esports
The history of esports shows how competitive gaming has grown from small arcade competitions into a global industry. From early video game tournaments to modern professional leagues and live streams, esports has developed alongside advances in technology and online gaming. This topic explores key moments that helped shape esports into what it is today.
Origins of Esports
The origins of esports can be traced to four key points:
- First Video Games – Early video games were simple and score-based, encouraging players to beat each other’s high scores.
- Game Arcades – Players gathered in arcades to watch others compete, helping create early gaming audiences.
- 2 Player Games – Multiplayer games allowed players to compete directly against each other.
- Competitive Games – As games evolved, organised competitions began to form, leading to tournaments and prizes.
Esports Milestones
1972 – First tournament held at Stanford University.
This Spacewar! competition was the first time players competed in a video game for a prize.
1980 – Atari Sponsor Space Invaders Championship.
With over 10,000 players, this was the first ever sponsored Esports event.
1982 – Starcade was first broadcast.
Contestants played against one another on arcade games. This highlighted competitive gaming to a wider TV audience.
1990 – First Nintendo World Championships
Nintendo became the first gaming company to host a large, organised championship, bringing competitive gaming to a global audience.
1998 – Starcraft was released
Starcraft popularised Esports in South Korea. This lead to the Korean Esports association being formed and Esports regulated.
2011 – Launch of twitch.tv
Justint.tv spun off its gaming content as Twitch TV meaning gameplay content was easily accessible to viewers.
2014 – Amazon buys Twitch
Amazon buys Twitch for $970 million shows that big companies want to be part of Esports.
2016 – World Esports Association Formed
The World Esports Association was created to help professionalise esports by setting rules and standards, giving competitions and teams more structure worldwide.
2017 – $24.7 million prize pool for DOTA 2
This huge prize pool was funded by Valve and attracted players and spectators. It also brought huge publicity to Esports.
2019 – Prize money exceeds $200 million
These prizes were spread across a variety of games, which brought huge interest to Esports, encouraging more players to start playing and spectators to watch.
2019 – 1.2 billion hours watched
The top 5 esports titles had over 1.2 billion hours watched on Twitch, showing that Esports was still growing and was bigger than ever.
2023 – Esports as a subject
Esports is now a topic that can be studied at high schools in Scotland with further links into College and University.
The future of esports looks bigger than ever, with growing audiences, larger tournaments, and new opportunities across gaming and education. Colleges and universities across Scotland are now offering esports courses, showing that competitive gaming is becoming a recognised and valued pathway for learning and careers.