How Esports Benefited from Quarantine

Finally getting the recognition it needed

How Esports Benefited from Quarantine

Conner Moll, Contributor

With Covid 19 starting to be contained with vaccines, sports are starting again with the NFL season and the NHL pre-season underway. 

But there was one sport that never ended: esports. It is online and one thing that has actually benefited from quarantine. 

Not only were they affected economically but they also just got more people to watch, play, and advertise it. It showed people that even video games can be just as competitive and skillful as actual sports.

In an interview with CBS News, CEO of Enthusiast Gaming Adrian Montgomery said, “As people have been forced indoors, usage has skyrocketed.” People found out that video games could be a big distraction and a good way to pass the time during quarantine.

In 2020 the video game industry was worth over $90 billion which is more than the box office and the music industry. The majority of this revenue came from the Asian-Pacific region.

World Economic Forum

With so many people starting to get interested in video games, they also started to find esports. Even channels like ESPN started to show it. 

Steve Moll, a big sports fan and season ticket holder for the Wild and Vikings said “ESPN gave me a chance to learn more about esports”. 

Twitch has said that their revenue from viewership has doubled since the start of the pandemic. Nicholas Hoang, the founder of the Totino-Grace gaming team, said “Chess used to be a physical sport but with it starting to be popular on Twitch during quarantine, now it’s an e-sport.” 

 

Video games were getting so popular that actual sports were turning into esports. 

Companies weren’t the only things benefiting but leagues started to benefit too. For example, the Minnesota Varsity League which is an esports league for high schools started to get new teams wanting to join. 

Hoang said, “The league we joined last year said that their percentage of people joining went up by 200%.” 

Before quarantine, esports was still a thing. It was like all other actual sports where you could go to venues and watch. You could hear the roar of the crowd after a big play just like at NFL and NHL games. 

Senet Cloud

When quarantine hit even esports was missing the crowd factor. It went completely online it was different because there wasn’t a huge reaction after a big play. 

Sports fans had nothing during quarantine. And even when they did, it just didn’t feel the same. 

Steve Moll said “It wasn’t the same. They had fake noise. It just didn’t feel real.”

At least esports fans always had something to watch. Preston Ross, an esports player, said, “I was just happy that we still had something. Even though I miss going to events and hearing the fans.” 

Compared to sports, esports benefited a lot because of quarantine. It finally is getting due recognition. Esports is now just as big as other sports and will maybe even turn into a regular watched sport.