YouTube’s head of gaming, Ryan 'Fwiz' Wyatt, made a predictive statement about the future of competitive gaming in an interview with OpTic CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez.


Fwiz discussed the growth rate of esports as compared to gaming overall, and felt that esports would eventually surpass viewership of traditional sports.

“I think over the next ten years, esports is gonna be massive,” he stated. “I think the next generation of kids are going to primarily watch esports over traditional sports.”


He felt that esports’ current growth, which is slim compared to gaming overall, would only last for the ‘short-term,’ and was interested in investing in it for the long-haul.

“I’m hopeful, and I’m big on esports long-term.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XLlFyjp0mg


However, Fwiz felt that esports had a few things to work on before it could reach the growth he predicted. He felt that esports could benefit from turning top players into celebrities, as well as making wide appeals to the general gaming audience.

“I think, in order for people to be really interested in tuning into the live broadcasts, the human-interest pieces - making celebrities out of esports - is a really big thing,” he stated. “...we basically need, like, ten more Ninjas.”


H3CZ agreed with this sentiment, citing the success of both Nadeshot and OpTic Gaming’s players after they began creating content outside of their esports careers.

Fwiz’s statements were part of the very first Eavesdrop Podcast, hosted by H3CZ. The podcast will also feature Treyarch’s David Vonderhaar in its second episode.