Are you a gaming enthusiast? Do you play online video games? e-sports has gained a lot of popularity in recent times. However, e-sports is an older concept that has come into the limelight now because of various popular online games launching in recent times like Fortnite, PUBG, Call of Duty (COD), etc. These online games have revolutionized the field of e-sports. A lot of people are showing more and more interest in e-sports. People often get confused between gaming and e-sports. Both gaming and e-sports are different concepts. Gaming is normally done for fun and enjoyment with your friends or alone, whereas, e-sports requires dedication, hard work, and commitment towards the game. In gaming, there is no need to continuously play and practice the game. But if you are in e-sports you have to give a lot of time to a game and master the skills that are needed for any specific game. E-sports is not as easy as it may seem because you have to give a lot of time to the game on a daily basis and also you can participate in online video game tournaments.
There are so many tournaments of online games like the Overwatch world cup, Call of the Duty league championship, League of Legends, Fortnite world cup, DOTA, etc. All these tournaments have a very high prize pool. These tournaments are live-streamed on YouTube and a lot of people watch these live streams. The League of Legends Worlds 2019 got peak viewers of 3.98 million and around 137 million hours of total watch time, which is pretty immense. The total prize pool of this tournament was around 2.2 million dollars. Apart from League of Legends, there are various other online games that have a huge amount of prize money and a lot of viewership. Some of the tournaments that have huge viewership and prize money in the previous year are The International 9 2019, The 2016 Halo World Championship, Call of Duty Mobile World Championship Tournament, etc. All of these tournaments were a big success among the gamer and viewers.
Why are video game competitions popular?
Online gaming is a big industry with numerous games and a lot of people are involved in it that includes viewers, gamers, or e-sports professionals. There are a lot of video game competitions in the field of esports. There are first-person shooter games like Counterstrike, Call of duty, etc. If you like sports games then there are games like FIFA, NBA, etc. There are also a lot of battle royale games like Fortnite, League of Legends, etc. Hence, there are a lot of options in video game competitions that you can enjoy. The scenario of online games is not new but it is getting more attention now because of all these new games and competitions that have such big prize money.
Gaming has always been a popular concept for the young generation. Now, with the sudden growth of e-sports, it has become a lot more popular then it was ever before. The quality and the graphics have improved a lot and this can be an important factor behind the gaming scenario getting more popularity among youngsters. Apart from this, one of the major factors behind such immense popularity among the youth is that there are a lot of new and different types of online games that are coming in the market. So, they have a lot of options and they can play so many games. Because of the immense growth of e-sports, there are a lot of companies that are investing their money in it. There are so many big companies that are hiring line-ups for competitive e-sports games. The players are also getting huge recognition and popularity and there are so many attractive cash prizes.
Popular online video game tournaments
There are so many competitions of online games that are played throughout the year. Here, we have mentioned some of the most popular online video game tournaments.
League of Legends – Team based strategy game
It is one of the most popular games worldwide and it hosts a huge tournament. A lot of players stream this game on Twitch, which is a streaming platform. To enter in the tournament is also extremely difficult and hard. You have to work your way through the regional competitions and perform consistently in order to get the invite for the final world championship and play for huge prize pool. The league of legends world championship 2019 was held in Paris, France and the prize money of that event was $2.2 million. The winner of that event was China’s FunPlus Phoenix who defeated the G2 Esports of Spain. Along with the money they also took home a 70 pound trophy. The game has become a huge success and gained immense popularity. The league of legends world championship 2020 will be held in Shanghai, China and it will start from 25th September. It will be live broadcasted on Twitch. There are 24 teams that are invited from all over the world.
Call of Duty Championship
This tournament is organized by Activision Publishing and it is held annually. First, there are qualifier rounds that you have to play and secure points in order to qualify for the final championship. There are 16 teams that get qualified for the finals and they battle it out for the total prize pool of $2 million. Call of Duty Championship 2019 was held during August in Los Angeles. The whole event was live-streamed on Twitch and YouTube. Call of duty world championship 2019 was won by the American team eUnited. The call of duty league championship 2020 just got finished in August and it was won by Dallas Empire. The event was held online because of Covid-19. The total prize pool for 2020 was $4.6 million. The schedule for the 2021 event is not yet announced.
Fortnite World Cup – Annual Esports competition
One of the most popular and biggest e-sport events of 2019 was the Fortnite world cup. It was a three-day event in New York from 26th to 28th July and the prize pool of this event was $100 million. In order to participate in the Fortnite world cup, you have to compete and progress to the champion league in Arena mode. This will then allow players to unlock the Fortnite World cup online open tournament. Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf who was just 16 years of age won the Fortnite world cup in the year 2019. The event was live-streamed on the official YouTube and Twitch channel of this game. The Fortnite world cup 2019 was a huge success and that is why people were eagerly waiting for Fortnite world cup 2020 but Epic Games have said that they have officially canceled the event. During COVID-19 all major events were held online but there are issues with cross-regional online competition in Fortnite and that is why the whole event was canceled. It is a huge blow for the game as well as its players and viewers.
The International – Dota 2
It is Dota 2’s flagship annual championship that took place from 20-25th August 2019 in Mercedes Benz Arena, Shanghai, China. It was one of the biggest events of 2019 and had the prize pool of $34.3 million. The event was won by OG e-sports that successfully defended their title. There was a total of 18 teams that took part in that tournament. 12 teams had a direct invitation, whereas, other 6 teams came from winning their regional qualifiers. The whole event was live-streamed on Twitch and Steam TV and you can also view it on Dota TV in-game. For now, the officials have delayed the International and there is no further announcement regarding the schedule yet. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, it looks highly unlikely that an event will happen in 2020.
PUBG Global Championship
PUBG was launched in the year 2017 and it became an instant hit. The PUBG global championship was held in Los Angeles and the prize pool was $2 million. Various qualifiers were played in different regions and out of those qualifiers a total of 32 teams were selected for the PUBG global championship. After that, there were group stages, elimination stages, and semi-finals. 16 teams were qualified for the grand finals and a total of 12 matches were played in the finals. Gen G e-sports, which is a Korean team won the PUBG global championship 2019. The whole event was live-streamed on Twitch and YouTube. PUBG mobile tournaments have also gained immense popularity. There are a lot of official PUBG mobile tournaments throughout the year and those tournaments have a pretty good prize pool.
Overwatch League
It is one of the biggest Overwatch tournament that is organized by Blizzard Entertainment. A total of 20 teams from three continents compete to book a spot in the Grand finals and become the world champion. The total prize pool for this tournament is $1.7 million. The Vancouver Titans defeated New York Excelsior 4-3 to book their place in the Grand finals where they faced San Francisco Shock. The San Francisco shock defeated The Vancouver Titans 4-0 and won their first OWL championship. The OWL Grand finals 2020 will be held on 8-10th October and will be live-streamed on their official YouTube channel.
These are some of the most popular online video game tournaments that are held every year. Apart from these games, there is numerous other video games competition with a decent prize pool. All these tournaments and video game competitions have played a major role in the growth of E-sports.