March 17, 2023

Esports Development Trends in 2023: More Lan Tournaments and the Market Growth

Esports has long ceased to be a niche hobby for geeks sitting up nights in computer clubs with chips, beer, or sugary sodas. It is now a huge industry that has become mainstream and is comfortably ahead of some traditional sports, as the schedule of CS GO matches on EGamersWorld clearly shows. Today we take a look at the trends in esports in 2023.

What do the statistics say?

According to statistics, in 2022 the esports market will reach $1.41 billion and in 2023 it is expected to grow to $1.63 billion. The trend looks positive. So by 2027, cybersports will reach the $2.98 billion mark. This is influenced by both the popularization of esports, which has already become part of pop culture, and the increase in the number of sponsors in the market.

eSports teams are increasingly collaborating with famous streamers and other famous personalities. For example, FaZe Clan’s collaboration with rapper Snoop Dogg, although this deal was deemed a failure, is a pretty striking example. It is also increasingly common to see the emergence of sponsors not directly related to video games and esports. Previously, sponsors of eSports events were predominantly manufacturers of gaming peripherals and computer components. Now it’s car brands, care products, and even the army, and many other atypicals for the early esports industry. Incidentally, the US Air Force has partnered with ESL to run a number of tournaments in 2020.

CS:GO as an indicator of steady growth and development

An indicator is CS:GO, the shooter discipline from Valve. The developers have always been famous for their peculiar approach to the development of cyber sports in the discipline. In fact, Gabe Newell set his brainchild free, watching from the sidelines and organizing two Major tournaments a year with the help of third-party tournament operators. The rest of CS:GO eSports is developing autonomously with the help of companies such as BLAST, ESL, PGL, and others.

A challenging year was 2020, which marked the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then CS:GO, as well as other disciplines, went almost entirely online. But since 2021, humanity has learned to live with the pandemic, and live CS:GO has returned to the stadiums. LAN events are getting bigger and bigger, and the overall prize money that teams can win in CS:GO matches is gradually increasing.

An important component has been the full formation of youth squads by eSports organizations. Virtually every major CS:GO team has its own roster of young players. There are also special tournaments for them, such as the WePlay Academy League series. This helps foster young talents for the purpose of further transfers or promotion to the main roster.

Also worth noting is the flourishing of the women’s CS:GO scene. It has always existed, but it has received a boost recently. More tournaments and more prizes for these line-ups started to appear. And the best female squad, according to HLTV Award Show 2022, was Nigma Galaxy Female.

Conclusion

The esports market continues to move on. There is no doubt about its growth. Taking CS:GO as an example, a stable approach towards one’s own discipline as well as a clear tournament system and high attractiveness for sponsors is the key to the successful development of eSports in any gaming discipline. Of course, some games fade over time and lose their relevance or even disappear from the market altogether, but along with that come new games that take their place.

About the author 

Kyrie Mattos


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