To say that eSports is emerging in main stream media is really an understatement. eSports are quickly materializing in places that seemed unlikely several years ago. For instance, a televised eSports competition show will soon be airing on TBS. Although not many specifics are known at this time except that Valve has already agreed to feature Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on the weekly series. This is a huge leap for eSports, especially considering that some big-names in television are investing in the regular eSports feature. Additionally, the popular fantasy sports website, DraftKings, is now branching into eSports, beginning with one of the most popular eSports of today, League of Legends and their website’s language hints at branching into other eSports games soon. Big names like TBS, who are known for covering Major League Baseball and DraftKings, a huge contender in sports fantasy teams, demonstrate how far eSports has come in North America.

For me growing up when eSports wasn’t even a term yet, it is super fascinating to look back at the humble beginning of eSports as it is known today and solidify video game competitions presence in mainstream media. For instance, Valve’s Counter-Strike was one of the first big eSports to impact the scene. Many of the competitions were European-based but played online as global competitions, with some of the earliest competitions pre-dating Major League Gaming (MLG) and when Electronic Sports League (ESL) was materializing. As years passed by, competitions for Counter-Strike began to be more common, and prize-pools became increasingly larger. Counter-Strike is just one example in eSport’s history of a game that has achieved the status of a sport.  Looking back, I largely associate MLG as the first big push of regulating video game competitions and promoting video games as a sport in North America. MLG was founded in 2002 and is the longest running eSports league in North America. MLG has invested in a large spectrum of video game competitions and has promoted eSports for over a decade. This organization was a huge leap in eSports—there had not been a major organization that had attempted to organize this quickly emerging world. In fact, there had been dozens of tournaments but these were largely organized by dedicated fans of the games and occasionally by the games’ developers or sponsors. Prior to MLG there was ESL; however, the Cologne, Germany based gaming league was largely involved in Europe. I believe it is highly likely that MLG was influenced by the success of ESL in Europe.

One game that has been involved with MLG and has hugely shaped eSports in North America is Bungie’s Halo. Halo, like Counter-Strike, is a first-person shooter that has acquired huge names like GameStop and Microsoft to sponsor their competitions and tournaments. One of the first big tournaments for Halo: Combat Evolved occurred roughly a year after the game’s release date. The early Halo tournament is known as the AGP GameStop Winter 2002 Halo Championship. The total prize pool for AGP was $4,400 USD, which was huge for eSports in 2002. In fact, just having a renowned company like GameStop sponsor the event was a huge leap in eSports. What now may seem like minor advents in eSports were remarkable changes for eSports and was the start of putting electronics in the sports world.

Of course, tournaments and sponsorships can only go so far in advancing the reputation of eSports. For me a large part of what is allowing eSports to become a mainstream sport has been eSports gaining momentum online with the advent of streaming tournaments. I honestly believe eSports would not have had such rapid growth in recognition if it was not for YouTube. When YouTube emerged in 2005, the website was one of the first major places that allowed users of the internet to add user based content without the need for sponsorship or funding. Gamers could share matches, tournaments and other videos in a way that they never had before. It seems all too obvious that eSports competitors would quickly latch on to YouTube. Competitors wanted to demonstrate their prowess to others and the skills they had worked so hard to achieve; YouTube was one of the easiest ways to do this, especially for lesser known eSports that didn’t have huge sponsors at this time. YouTube served as a precursor to MLG.tv or Azubu.tv, both now well known for streaming eSports.

Around this time, eSports had also received a significant boost in media coverage. In 2006 the network USA began featuring MLG Pro Circuit weekly. However, this boost was short lived and what has really propelled eSports to the status is had today is Twitch.tv. The site was launched in the midst of eSports hype. At this point there were hundreds of video game tournaments occurring every year with big cash payouts. Players like Joseph “Merk” Deluca were earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from games like Call of Duty. Having competitors win big bucks obviously attracted attention. To me though what is more important is the attention that eSports was attracting on places like Twitch.

Twitch, I believe, has really paved the way for unifying people who would not have known about the competitive world of gaming. Before Twitch, it was unheard of for networks like USA, TBS, or even ESPN to further generate buzz for eSports and attract the attention of mainstream media and viewers. With big money going into eSports the competitions will continue to attract attention but what is interesting to think about is how eSports will eventually branch further into the mainstream.

This year the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), the people in charge of certifying Olympic sports, partnered with the International eSports Federation (IeSF). Their partnership hopes to help promote interest in eSports by attracting the attention of mainstream followers of sports, and in turn engage the interest in more traditional sports with followers of eSports. The partnership with the IAAF is hugely important in gaining momentum for eSports to be considered a mainstream sport.

It’s easy to get lost in the money and big companies behind eSports today, with eSports like League of Legends and DoTA 2 drawing in some of the largest cash prizes and online viewers. However, for me what is more interesting is looking at how eSports has arrived at where it is today. Seemingly soon, eSports will branch into the dominate sports market but it is hard to say what will allow eSports to branch into the mainstream. There are so many factors involved in shaping eSports, but I am excited to see where eSports will be in the next few years; Especially when considering how rapid the attention and growth of the eSports market has been in the last decade or so.