Hi Quartz members!
A new kind of athlete
This week, we’re going to delve into the world of esports, aka “watching other people play video games.” If you think of if that way, it can be easy to dismiss, but there’s another way to think about esports—as a multi-billion-dollar industry with fans in the hundreds of millions and teams competing across the globe.
The rise of esports has attracted the attention—and dollars—of some of the most established players in the sports industry, including ESPN, Real Madrid, and owners of NFL teams. They sense what insiders already know—an entire generation is being raised with a different idea of what competition is, and it’s finding it in places online that don’t require the infrastructure or gatekeeping associated with legacy broadcasters and cable networks.
This new sports fan, the esports fan, can go on sites like Twitch and YouTube and get regular, unmediated access to his or her favorite players. It’s a direct and intimate relationship, a far cry from the Olympian personas developed over the years by traditional sports leagues. Esports is far more relatable, which may be why the industry is growing so fast: Young people are going online to watch other young people go online and play young people in online games.
To understand this world, we have a comprehensive and insightful state of play memo from esports expert Luke Winkie. In it, you’ll learn about the origins of esports, how its leagues have evolved, the key organizations that are attracting significant amounts of sponsor money, and the individual players who have become superstars on their own terms. We also have an eye-opening timeline of esports, tracing its origins back to early arcade-game competitions and a short-lived video game show hosted by a pre-Jeopardy Alex Trebek.
As the week progresses, we’ll add to our coverage of esports with a Q&A, a series of charts displaying the growth of the industry, a look at how competitions are staged, a close-up examination of how esports and traditional sports are finding some common ground, and a lot more. If you want to understand where sports, entertainment, and pop culture are headed, esports is the trifecta.
Let’s keep learning. Send questions, comments, and power-ups to members@qz.com.
Here’s to a rewarding day,
Sam Grobart
membership editor