Global Popularity

E-sports has an approximate audience of 134 million people worldwide and generates revenue of about $612 million (U.S.), according to a report released in May by Superdata, a digital games analyst firm. In terms of global share, Asia leads the world with $374 million, North America follows with $143 million, Europe is valued at $73 million and the rest of the world combines for $24 million. Korea and China are the biggest markets, where huge stadiums are regularly filled to watch the big events. Most popular games and events “League of Legends,” “DotA 2,” “Counter-Strike: GO” and “Starcraft 2” are amongst the most popular competitive games played in tournaments. Other popular games include “Call of Duty,” “Smite” and a number of fighting games, including Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series. In its fifth year of existence, The International, a “DotA 2” tournament, is considered the biggest event in world with the 2015 event offering a prize pool of almost $18.5 million. YouTube Gaming versus Twitch.tv Another side of competitive gaming has been the rapid growth of people watching other people play. While competitions are part of this, there are also how-to or simply “let’s play” videos. The leading place online to watch people play is Twitch.tv, which was bought by Amazon in August 2014 for $970 million. That dedicated service is one of the reasons that Google launched YouTube Gaming in August 2015, in order to offer better tools to compete for gamers’ eyeballs.