eSports is to be confused with simulated sports in video games, see sports game, or with games involving exercise, see exergaming.
Most commonly, eSports take the form of organized multiplayer video game competitions between professional players. The most popular video game genres in the eSports arena currently are real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter (FPS), and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA).
Tournaments such as The International, the League of Legends World Championship, the Battle.net World Championship Series, the Evolution Championship Series, the Intel Extreme Masters, and the Smite World Championship provide live broadcasts of the during game-play, and big prize money and even salaries to top players.
eSports tournaments are almost always physical events in which occur in front of a live audience. For well established games, total prize money can amount to millions of U.S. dollars a year.
As of 10 September 2016, Dota 2 has awarded approximately US$86 million in prize money within 632 registered tournaments, with 23 players winning over $1 million.
League of Legends awarded approximately $30 million within 1749 registered tournaments, but in addition to the prize money, Riot Games provides salaries for players within their League of Legends Championship Series.
League of Legends Championship Series and League of Legends Champions Korea offer guaranteed salaries for top players.
In 2015 it was estimated by SuperData Research that the global eSports industry generated revenue of around US$748.8 million that year. Asia is the leading eSports market with over $321 million in revenue, North America is around $224 million, and Europe has $172 million and the rest of the world for about $29 million.
Global eSports revenue is estimated to reach $1.9 billion by 2018.
eSports is becoming more and more popular. It to be expected due the gaming industries incredible growth. Popular websites like eSports-Generation.com allow spectators to bet on eSport events from around the world.
