Esports have been experiencing an overwhelming rate of growth in the last decade. Starting as a mainstream phenomenon in South Korea, esports are starting to follow a similar path in other developed countries. Here are a few reasons that suggest why esports have the potential to outgrow conventional sports.

Personal experience

Esport athletes can broadcast their skills from home. All that is required is a relatively up-to-date computer. Do you ever see football players broadcast their practice on a routine basis? Of course not. It would require an extensive camera crew to cover his/her progress as thoroughly as a simple OBS/Xsplit stream would (or a GoPro— which is a much worse perspective than a POV of a video game can offer [screen shaking etc.])

Safety

The possible injuries that can occur from esports are few. Although plenty of injuries that you can catch from out-of-game scenarios could render players obsolete, they are still fewer than for most other conventional sports (e.g. you could lose your legs but still be active in esports). After all, many of today’s best esport athletes started playing video games because an injury made them unable to compete at their sport of choice. Therefore esports can be practiced by a larger population than conventional sports and so should have a larger potential viewing audience. This makes them marketable to a larger group of people, leading to larger revenue allowing a positive investment growth cycle to take place.

Physical requirement

Video games are not as tiresome as conventional sports. Players are not weighed down by physical exhaustion. Esport athletes can play/practice longer than their analog counterparts, leading to longer hours of exposure. Longer practicing hours also lead to a higher skill ceiling that increase the skill gap between professional and casual players. Because esports are not as tiring as conventional sports, more money can be made from the entertainment value that arises from a higher skill ceiling coupled with longer overall hours of professional player exposure.

Availability

People use PCs to do work and communicate with their loved ones. The same machines can be used to play video games. People don’t necessarily have the needed equipment for conventional sports at home. On the other hand, most families (in technology driven societies) have a PC sitting around that can run at least a few competitive video games.

Cost

Cost/Quality ratio of in-game recordings (for television or other mainstream media platforms) is more efficient. Remote controlled cameras and camera men are not needed in as many situations. This makes media ventures worthwhile, because costs can be concentrated on important factors instead of being bogged down by high-speed cameras and similar expenses. Also, not all tournaments have to take place in a physical location. Online tournaments cut travel and venue expenses that can otherwise be channeled into production quality.

Larger set of possible games

The number of possible esports games is limited only by our imagination. Even with our current VR technology we can simulate (imperfectly) almost all of our physical sports. Any game you can think of could be implemented into a video game, especially with future technologies. For example, a game of soccer could be played by 22 people connected to a server with Oculus Rifts (the imperfection would be the lack of tactile feedback). One wonders if regular soccer would be worth playing if a digital alternative with fireballs and modified gravity existed. This is not worth considering for now, as the current interface between people and computers cannot convey a sufficient level of information. However, it gives an idea of the potential residing in esports and may well be a relevant question in the future.

Problem?

There really is one domain of sports which seems untouchable by esports: cardiovascular requirement. Video games, as we know them today do not require physical stamina or strong muscles. This is an attribute of game-competition which many cultures would not want to sacrifice. It may be that esports and regular sports will always have their separate places. Imagine, though, we managed to tap into the chemical structure of our brain and create a matrix-like experience in which we chemically supplement exercise for our test-tube bodies. Esports would certainly be prevalent in such a world (although it may not be a pretty one). Even if you do not want to go through such lengths of imagination, it is still easy to picture a game of sport which uses some virtual integration to enhance the player’s experience.

It is extremely hard to answer this question and certainly leads to baseless speculation. Either way, these are some strong reasons for believing that esports have unmatched potential in the competitive entertainment realm.