Top 5 Esports Industry Trends that You Should Know In 2022

Though the year 2020 was definitely not the year for sports due to the covid restrictions and travel rules. A plethora of events were cancelled while esports is still trying to make grounds with the real world. Here is a list of events that got impacted due to the covid:

• East Coast Throwdown 2020
• Summer Game Fest
• Tokyo Game Show 2020
• Ubisoft Forward
• ESL One Birmingham
• Bandai Namco world tour events
• Fortnite World Cup 2020
• Dota 2 The International 2020
• PUBG 2020 Global Series
• Gamescom 2020
• Tekken 7 World Tour circuit
• The ESL One Los Angeles Major
• China’s League of Legends Pro League
• EVO 2020 Online
• Capcom Pro Tour 2020
• Arena of Valor World Cup 2020

While some of these events got postponed and other few never took place. Esports gave a lot of opportunity to the businesses that evolved with time and there are so many esports businesses that got flourished during the pandemic.

Now when things are actually shaping their way, here are the five esports trends you should follow in 2021:

1. Brand Investments

This is the beginning! As esports continues to grow, savvy players will maintain them as a brand thus giving more content to their consumers. Jerseys, shoes, and equipment, all must now be covered under the big brand names.

Traditional sports doesn’t have the scope for brand advertising but esports, it is covering it all. The esports audience is all crazy thus giving the brands an opportunity to drive sales and build customer loyalty. PepsiCo’s Brisk was among the first investors who sponsored the Rocket League Championship Series. Soon, renowned brands like Mastercard, Intel, Mercedes Benz, Puma, Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola and many others joined the race.

Brands are finding esports as an opportunity to attract a new audience. And sponsorships can be an ideal way to achieve that. Since people tend to switch to different brands so easily and quickly due to reliability and authentication, esports is providing these brands with an opportunity to create brand awareness among people from different geographies.

So, what are the brands that have recently invested in esports?

Puma has recently signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Gen.G Sports, a South Korean esports organization.

Louis Vuitton, a French luxury house has also announced its collaboration with Riot Games. LV will design virtual items for games like League of Legends which the players will buy with real money.

BMW has also made a monumental shift in its marketing budget for esports.

Looking at the data above, it’s pretty sure that the brands are investing in esports as they must have scrutinized the results.

2. Virtual Reality

The virtual world of esports is more attractive than the one in the real world. It brings more creative opportunities to the people who want to create jobs. And to ensure a better gaming experience, people are finding ways to leverage technology into esports. Earlier the objects can be moved with the click of a button, virtual reality has made it possible to experience it physically. This is the power of virtual reality that has not only made esports players move but also has given them new space to explore esports.

This physical to computer interaction has allowed players to stand up from their seats and enjoy the game along with actually experiencing the arena of the game. How exciting it is that even while sitting in your own room you can actually travel in the game, giving you an ultimate spectating experience.

Researchers have also found that virtual reality can bring back the actual stamina, strength and endurance in the players that were seen during physical sports such as baseball and boxing. Thus, helps in improving their mental and physical health as well. Bringing these traditional sporting activities into the scope of virtual reality will change the way people look at esports.

With this, esports enthusiasts are looking for ways such as AR or VR that can provide them with a thrilling user experience. Not just the user experience, VR can drive the advertising in esports smoothly thus giving opportunities to the marketers.

3. Esports Gambling V/s Sports Gambling

Esports is just not gonna be confined to the competitions, it is much more beyond that. Where people are exploring and experimenting with the other aspects of esports, gambling remains constant.

Of course, the sports betting industry is thriving hard to remain in the line but looking at the current scenario, esports gambling will soon take off the sports gambling world. Today, people can nearly bet on everything from politics to film stars and whatnot. Esports has already got a large audience and can’t escape the gambling game.

With the impact of COVID-19 on the sports gambling industry, researchers and experts have seen a sudden decline in sports gambling activities and the closing of traditional casinos. Though there are games and events that still hold bookmakers and punters, there has been a sudden increase in esports gambling.

Many sports betting software development companies have shafted to make esports betting software and products to remain competitive in the market. Startups and business firms are looking for platforms that are reliable and understand the need of esports consumers.

Although esports betting products are far less developed as compared to traditional sports betting, bookmakers are exploring the world of esports and comparing it with the complexity to that of esports. According to Narus Advisors and Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, most famous esports titles can be a bit confusing to the esports gamblers to understand. On the other hand, “the big three”, CS: GO, League of Legends, and Dota 2 collectively reports 85% of the esports betting trend. Other esports that are famous in esports gambling include starcraft-2, Call of Duty and many others.

Betting on esports is entirely a new concept for beginners. The transformation of betting through a digital world where no physical attraction will occur would have its own repercussions. But looking forward in the coming years, more online esports betting communities will be created and esports gambling may take the shape of sports gambling surpassing it.

4. Everyone will be entertained

Esports has the power to take in hand the rising enthusiasm of the audience. Esports is not only about the professionals who win millions of dollars in a competition but even to the amateurs who are taking a dive in this lustrous world of esports. And so is the strong passion of the esports viewers who take regular follow-ups on matches and events thus contributing to the viewership.

From amateurs to professionals, gamblers, viewers, esports is going to entertain all the lives. The growing mobile community of esports players has also crossed the records. Mobile esports have also become primarily an important part of esports.

A study shows that around 70–80 % of viewership of esports is coming from men, and there is still scope for women to enter the ever-growing industry. The esports community will grow this year at a rapid rate. The growing number of online esports enthusiasts and players worldwide will definitely exceed the past numbers in the coming years. With in-game live chat options, brand influencers, forums, and many other options will lead gamers to join more and more discussions leading to a larger group of community members.

Various social media platforms and forums such as Reddit are creating user-engaging content to connect players from across the world. These communities will pave the way for new gaming experiences making esports more interactive and appealing to esports players and enthusiasts.

According to Echarts, Arena of Valor is the most famous esports game on mobile played worldwide in the year 2019 followed by PUBG Mobile. The advancement in mobile technology will lead to more esports enthusiasts. Newzoo reports that Mobile esports generated 50 million live viewership hours from Sept to Nov 2019 — around ten times more than the same period in 2018.

5. Expansion of the network

The growth of esports will also result in the expansion of the network. Increasing viewership will be one o

f the leading factors to drive revenue growth. It comprises both occasional viewers and regular viewers.

In 2018, there were 200 million frequent viewers and 165 esports enthusiasts who dedicatedly watched their favourite esports. According to Statista, by 2023, there are 300 million frequent viewers who are expected to watch esports worldwide.

Newzoo has also given data around the esports viewership that predicts the annual growth rate will go up by 14% by the end of 2021. Additionally, they predicted that there will be 307 million occasional viewers while 250 million esports enthusiasts summing the total to 557 million viewers by the end of the same year.

So, data from the biggest two data firms from the niche has already given an idea about the tremendous growth in viewership of esports worldwide. And there is no doubt that looking at the current situation, it is anyhow going to take a pause.

Esports viewership is directly related to the awareness of it. More and more people are learning about esports. The journey from a few thousand to a few million was not rough as esports spread widely like fire in the forest.

The numbers continue to grow and by 2019 approximately 1.5 billion people were already acquainted with esports. And this was possible because of the live streaming platforms that performed esports industry analysis at the very initial stage and had started to broadcast live events and matches of esports.

Earlier there were not many facilities to the esports communities to stream their favourite esports due to data speed and other circumstances. But with the advancement in technology, it made possible for them to invite people from different geographies to enjoy watching their favourite esports.

According to Streamlabs, Twitch and Youtube together have over 1.13 million active users. So, these numbers are enough to say that the esports has already crossed big numbers in creating user-engaging content with lots of activities on the streaming platforms and the numbers will grow more and more.

Twitch has recently launched a dedicated directory for esports enthusiasts.

These insights will surely help companies and startups to think in the right direction looking at the current esports market growth & trend in the esports industry. Some of these trends are definitely going to manifest and some may take more time to develop as a whole. But overall, each of it will be playing a role in bringing up esports to a new level. Advertisers who are still planning can definitely take advantage of this opportunity, as there are so many brands who have already made up their minds to sponsor different esports events.

After analyzing the esports markets and trends, it is sure that esports is surely not stopping in the coming years. Investors can reap a lot of benefits in the fast-growing landscape of esports. So, this is really gonna be the year of a lot of opportunities for the ones who are planning to invest in esports.