In a trending phenomenon that has left many people baffled, global esports is gaining a new level of legitimacy at a fast pace.
Video game software and hardware are both major industries, with an absolutely massive global audience. An estimated 2.2 billion – of 3.65 billion Internet users – are part of the gamer market.
What’s expected in the next few years? Esports revenue will grow from $655 million in 2017 up to $2.96 billion by 2022, according to a recent report from Goldman Sachs.
Naturally, growing pains will hit esports after such massive expansion. For example, the game industry must be fully committed to long-term development of their professional leagues. As recently noted, a FIFA esports league designed for eleven-a-side play on each team currently struggles without stronger backing from EA.
Here is an infographic shared by Visual Capitalist in late May:
