The world of eSports is now slowly growing into being as popular as its offline physical counterpart. From its early 70s version to its current version, the industry has witnessed a lot of changes, be it in the types of games played or the players who play the game as well. While early versions of eSports tournaments had non-LAN based arcade games such as space invaders, these days most tournaments either use LAN or the Internet like CSGO or LoL. Even the age and type of players have changed over the years. While the eSports players back in the days were mostly young men, these days we see more women and teenagers step into the industry.

Ever since its inception, the industry has kept growing with the computing industry. Recent events such as a proposal to include eSports in the Olympics is just another step towards the growth of eSports and it being recognized as a legit sport worldwide. Yes, you read that right.  We might as well see eSports as a part of the 2020 Olympics.

In another part of the world (Las Vegas to be exact), a casino has even started down the path of turning itself into the eSports hub in Vegas where us “geeks” can chill and compete in our favorite games and what not! The Downtown Grand Las Vegas has taken out its slot machines and blackjack tables from its high limit room, replacing them with comfy chairs, gaming consoles, big screens, and high end gaming PCs! They have already held a few tournaments of their own and are planning quite a few in the future too. If Las Vegas does turn into a future eSports hotspot, Downtown Grand wants to play a big part of that success.

These days, even the prize money offered in an eSports tournaments is enormous compared to what it used to be. With prize pools going into the millions, these days almost all major eSports tournaments offer a prize pool of over 10 million US Dollars. This will only keep rising and has already made a good share in the total prizes given to all kind of sports. In all games having prizes in the millions, Dota 2 comes first followed by League of Legends, and then by Starcraft 2. This just goes to show that eSports has the potential to become a very good profession and can be considered a sport as well.

The technology used in eSports has also changed drastically over the years. While eSports was mostly played with PCs only, now a console gaming is also growing in popularity. With the wide popularity and availability of touch screens, certain developers have even adopted that technology into their games, such as Vainglory or Clash of Clans. More companies these days are trying to shift games into this technology which will make them accessible to players of all age groups which may include kids because even kids these days have at least one tablet or a smartphone. Alongside this, major development in the field of AR has also helped eSports greatly. Using Augmented Reality to design games will provide the gamers with an all new experience in the game and make it even more real to them. The after effect of AR in eSports can only be seen in the coming, not so far away, future.

The spectator experience too has changed drastically after major developments in the electronic industry. With the advancements made with the internet, streaming of the eSports tournaments has also become possible. Major streaming websites include Twitch, Azubu etc, and now even YouTube has started to dip its nose into the same. This might even be furthered with the help of AR developments. AR may even allow spectators to walk in game and see the games in a different perspective. It’s possibilities are just limitless and yet to be tapped into.