I love video games. I've played COD competitively and I play video games almost everyday but I would much rather watch sports than watch a video game tourny any day of the week. Have you thought about how many die hard sports fans play video games. It's probably alot.
It'd be very niche. Would work in tech-centric and youth-centric cities like Austin, San Fran, a lot of the West Coast. But I severely doubt it will be taken seriously. Video games are still very GEEKY. Until video gaming loses that stigma it will never get that respect that sports does.
Yes! I think its possible way in the future thou when virtual reality becomes a reality and there is a bigger risqué towards losing.... You know... Like Tron... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0MP_G6arpVI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I think it is just start to shift, remember the current 20-30 year old are the first video game generation. It is like you would watch NFL but you would also watch NBA. Who says you cannot watch sports and also watch some video game tournaments. If you have enough viewers, the money will come, and things could start to change. Just think about how NBA started way back during prehistoric period.
I bet mathletes thought the same thing, just like chess masters too. Here's the problem with your theory: Could it get popular? Yes. More popular than Physical sports? NO. People have been attracted to physical sports since the dawn of society. The Roman Coliseum is a testament to that. Another thing to consider as well, Athletes are for the most part GOOD looking people. Easy on the eye and are like Gods among mortal men. COD players are pale fat and not good looking for the most part (or at least they make themself sound like over XBL)
I can't speak for the conditions of other pro circuits, but League of Legends is growing exponentially by the year. Their latest tournament in November had 32 million viewers, with a 8.5 million people watching the stream at the same time. The subreddit has constant news of people who are convincing their local Buffalo Wild Wings to air the big tournaments/weekly games that are placed. http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/ne...ial/one-world-championship-32-million-viewers Those who aren't familiar with this aren't going to take it seriously. Just like people outside of the Rockets fan-base doubt we'll make it to the Finals this year. You have to be apart of it to truly see the immense growth of E-sports. Those who doubt the coming expansion are going to be in a rude awakening. As for the title....I don't think they'll be as famous as sport pros anytime soon. The NBA/NFL/MLB have had decades of display to allow society to accept it. A kid who goes up to his parents idolizing a sports star is only OK because parents have grown to accept it as a norm. Give E-sports another few decades of this success/growth, and you'll have a "Yes" as your answer.
Math and Chess are totally different. The average person have no idea what a math wiz or a chess pro does, how can you enjoy something you have no comprehension of. Video game is totally differently. I remember way way back when I was in college, you used to have many casual people just watch good players in video game arcade play street fighter and other games. Those player might have no clue how to play the game, but they can enjoy watching a good match. Are there good looking athletes, absolutely, but there are also tons of ugly athletes. There are good looking gamers and ugly looking ones as well.
I think it probably will. Perhaps not to the extent where each player is making tens of millions. But esports tend to be set up around teams. And teams are already taking away money in the millions range. Most everything from both sides in this thread has been speculation. But here are some facts. 1) the league of legends season championship last season posted a prize pool of $2.05 million. 2) 35 million viewers tuned in to watch the finals. 3) some of the top gamers already make well into the 100-200k per year range through tournament wins, streaming as revenue, and "pro player" status salary. 4) top streamers can push upward of 100k-500k viewers on an average night. Someone also mentioned the argument that pro athletes are genetically gifted and people want to see that. It would make intuitive sense that something that an average joe can take part in and through grinding and hard work become amazing at (like video games) will eventually have a very high demand simply because you don't have to be 6'4 (something you can't control) and genetically predisposed to succeed. And the trends with esports seem to indicate that. Also, Daryl Morey is on record saying that eventually esports will be on the same level as traditional sports. So. I actually hope it doesn't happen. Because video games seriously promote laziness. But it is very likely conceivable that it does.
I wouldn't mind watching a GTA tournament. See who could could wreak the most havoc for the longest time on 6 stars before getting killed.
Video games has and will continue to develop a strong following, but I don't think it'll ever have the widespread appeal of sports, in North America at least. I don't think the casual gamer and non-gamer will have any interest in watching a gaming tournament on tv or online; and there are a lot of those people out there. And consider that quite a few casual fans will go to a sports game or watch it on tv. League of Legends may have had 32 million viewers around the world watch, but that is paltry compared to the 100+million viewers watching the Super Bowl (90% of which come from the US). And personally, I like playing games and sports, but I'd only watch one of those. Watching people play a game on a screen just isn't that exciting and is somewhat hard to follow. Definitely not as engaging as watching a sporting event. But who knows, things may change over time.
Here is the truth--this could only happen if video games become 100x cooler and more immersive. Even then I would not expect average joe's to garner any attention. It is possible that professional athletes could play virtual sports of sorts in the future.
EXTREMELY relevant http://www.cracked.com/article_18763_5-insane-true-facts-about-starcraft-professional-sport.html
The problem with e-sports is that they don't last. You have some games being popular for a couple of years and people get lost or move on to other games, players and fans. A god at 1 game can be just average at another. It's like Jordan quits basketball and plays baseball, only it happens to every game, every player all the time in e-sports.
