Today, eSports is a large-scale developed industry, although the history of eSports began in the 80s. Nowadays, the idea remains the same. All Vulkan Bet eSports games and tournaments are about opportunities, which is why they are gaining popularity more than sports matches.
How cybersports caught the spotlight
In 2011, MOBAs started to become global hits thanks to The International 2010, which had a prize pool of $1.6 million. Valve Corporation played an important role in this process.
In 2010, it released a beta version of Dota 2, for which it hired the original designers of Defense of the Ancients and launched a separate game.
The same happened earlier with Counter-Strike, a first-person shooter that has retained its relevance in the eSports scene thanks to the numerous updates that developers have implemented without losing sight of the game’s goals.
Real-time games such as StarCraft 2, which had its own ranking system, were also at the top of the lists and required almost the same skills:
- ability to perform many actions per minute;
- good understanding of the map;
- control over your own units.
As a result, the attention of professional gamers was divided between MOBA and RTS games – that’s why these categories became so successful. After this success, a hitherto unknown company called Riot Games released one of the biggest live esports betting games to date: League of Legends. With low system requirements, League of Legends changed eSports forever, making it what it is today.
Gaming goes to a new level with Twitch
The opportunity to reach a wider audience came in the form of a site that later became an authority in the field of live broadcasts, Twitch.tv. Twitch was introduced in 2011, and immediately hit the ratings.
Since then, the platform has made direct payments to streamers possible, and this is how this activity became a serious profession. Twitch went to the masses. Esports became much more widespread, as it was now possible to play games and watch them on one device – a smartphone, whose technology and accessibility helped to reach a much larger audience.
Thanks to the incredible popularity of League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike, among other games, as well as the partners they chose to host major tournaments, the streaming industry began to expand. Revenues were high and the number of people watching and playing games skyrocketed.
Impressive prize pools
Tournaments with prize pools of over $100,000 became commonplace and even the norm. The end of the decade was remembered for several outstanding tournaments, including The International Dota 2 Championships 2019 and League of Legends World Championship 2018.
The International 2019 in Dota 2 is the tournament with the highest prize pool to date. Professional participating teams received a total of more than $30 million in prize money.
Besides, gamers are interested in many disciplines. Many fans watch and play games from fighting games to sports simulators and communicate with each other.