During the Halo World Championships, which took place on March 20th in the afternoon between professional teams CLG and Team Allegiance, Xbox Head Executive Phil Spencer had a lot to say about the growing future of eSports.
For a long time now, most misconceptions surrounding gaming and eSports is that of laziness. It’s been commonly put out there that playing video games can be “addicting” or a major waste of time. The majority of views have changed as games have come into their own as a media, as an art, and most recently, as a sport.
When asked about the eSport scene, Phil Spencer had this to say:
I think for the industry, eSports is going to be as big as regular sports. You look at the number of people who play games, you look at the different platforms people are playing on, you look at the money that’s pouring in, the broadcasts. …It’s so accessible–anybody can play a game. I think there’s no cap to what eSports can become.
eSports is quickly becoming a fiscally lucrative industry, with a major fan base. Stadiums and online venues such as Twitch and live Youtube feeds overflow with spectators to watch Starcraft II matches, for instance.
Or in this case Halo.
Spencer went on to speculate that the fanfare of eSports could soon rise up to meet that of the NFL or maybe even Major League Baseball. It is even predicted that by the year of 2018, eSports will rake in $1.9 billion in annual revenue.
Whether or not eSports will eclipse what’s known as “regular sports,” or simply turn the concept on its head, we can all look forward to what eSports games, venues, and developers have in store for everyone on the horizon.