It seems the only sport growing faster than pickleball these days is esports. According to a report released by Cognitive Market Research, the esports market is projected to hit more than $4 billion by 2030. This report reflects global trends, and CMR’s new data indicates that the current acceleration of the esports industry is unlikely to slow any time soon, with projections suggesting a global increase in market share by 600% by 2030. 

Major acquisitions in the esports industry have occurred in the last year alone. According to CMR, January saw Swedish esports company Modern Times Group sell for a billion dollars, and in February Generation Esports partnered with Nintendo to introduce Nintendo games into a middle-grade esports league. 

Primary findings of the study concluded that increased smartphone access and smartphone capability, as well as increased Internet connectivity across the world, are contributing to the increasing popularity of esports. This is consistent with findings indicating a high percentage of gamers who engage with esports on their phones, whether through streaming or simply viewing. “In terms of device type,” CMR noted, “smartphone segment is set to generate highest revenue in year 2022 with a market share of 41.2% and it is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period.”

One unique finding is that cloud services are a driving force behind the increased popularity of esports. As Internet streaming capabilities become faster and computer hardware becomes better, streaming games is sure to become essential to the player experience. 

“Cloud gaming trend is rising dramatically. The high demand for cloud gaming is due to its high speed that players are looking for, along with high-end technology. Various giant players are partnering with each other to launch new services that promise impressive speeds. This also allows users to spend less money on upgrades to their devices to stay up to date and they can directly do it from remote server.” – Electronic Esports Market Report (2023)

CMR also predicts potential problems that may occur as esports become more popular in the future, and the increased visibility of the phenomenon leaves the industry vulnerable to risk. One concern regarding the future of Internet-connected gaming is cybersecurity, a concern that may have proved correct when less than a week ago a man was arrested for leaking top-secret military information on a gaming Discord server.