Competitive gaming is by no means a new phenomenon, but only in recent years has its potential been so widely recognized. Thanks to bigger prize pools and improvements to streaming, the scene is continuing to grow. With those larger audiences comes expanded levels of interest from investors--and among those taking a close look are individuals from a place you might not expect: traditional sports.

In the latest episode of GameSpot Chronicle, which you can watch above, we chat with a variety of individuals who believe in the potential future of competitive gaming. That includes Sebastian Park, the vice president of esports for Clutch Gaming and the NBA's Houston Rockets, who thinks it can become a top three sport in the world.

We also spoke with Rick Fox, the former Los Angeles Lakers player and current owner of esports team Echo Fox, and Kirk Lacob, assistant general manager of the Golden State Warriors, an NBA team that's invested heavily in esports. Along with Park, they talk in the video about the continuing investments that are being made to help competitive gaming reach its potential, both in terms of increasing production values and improving things better for players.

"Esports is 24/7, 365 days," Fox said. "And we're building an industry and building on an industry foundation that's been laid long before I showed up. But what I'm hoping to do is add value to this community of esports by delivering on the same passion, the same energy--and there are no off-days."

We've previously looked at how the esports scene has changed fans' lives; for even more, check out our Chronicle episodes charting the path from streamer to star and examining the effect of gaming on the brain.