DOTA 2 General News

The idea that esports is going to be the next big thing in the spectator industry might still sound far-fetch, but it is already amassing huge number of viewership on a regular basis. Esports projects got huge room for growth, causing giant companies to invest on it – Amazon, Automobile brands such as Mercedez Benz, and even celebrities. Esports is even broader than we think and experts believe it will keep on growing. Despite the positive projection of the market, esports still faces a lot of challenges towards its prosperity.

Esports Pros & Contract Issues

Even in a multimillion-dollar industry, contracts and legal matters are still an issue. Being a professional player does not mean you simply compete and receive prize awards. They have to follow the policies under the organization they’re playing with. Organizations are necessary for providing boot camps and sponsorships. In most cases, the orgs are in-charge of the well-being of the athletes. However, esports has rooms for abusive treatment from some orgs towards its athletes.

Recently reported, Faze Clan, a huge organization is facing a lawsuit from former player due to what was called an “oppressive, onerous and one-sided” contract. Contracts and legal problems happening in esports is not foreign. Dramas over the matter appear in almost every esport game.

In 2017, Dota 2 team captain Puppey got involved in a drama with EternalEnvy due to money matters. This issue occured not due to violation of the contract, but instead the absence of one.

Esports Games & Their Lifetime

Esports is the professional competition of video games. And we know that not all video games last forever. Compared to sports, the success of esports relies on the popularity (and number of players) of the video game it represents. There’s only a handful of video games that are doing well in esports market in terms of viewership – League of Legends, Dota 2, CS: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Fortnite. However, when a game dies, so does its esports scene. An example is the recent cancellation of Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm esports.

Moreover, it is also difficult for foreign viewers to spectate a game if they don’t have the knowledge about it. You can’t expect someone who doesn’t play Dota 2 to understand what’s going on during team fights. Professional video gaming, compared to more traditional sports, is not viewer-friendly. This dilemma drives new spectators away to complicated games.

Some games, like Dota 2, are not rapidly growing. The only way to maintain high viewership on these games is to take care of the existing followers. For how long? Only time will tell. There are traditional sports have been around for decades and an esport which will last as long is yet to happen.

The Social Stigma

Yes, esports is noticeably growing. However, the social stigma towards gaming is still present. The last thing that comes to mind to people who picture athletes is someone sitting in front of the computer playing video games for hours. Professional video gamers are only successful because the people around them support their endeavor.

Social stigma associated with gaming can be broken thru several approaches – talk about it, embrace gaming as a part of your daily life, fight stereotypes, educate others, and even encourage others to play games. Investments and supports towards esports are only attainable when gaming is socially acceptable.

Esports revenue has been projected to grow by 26% in 2020 from $1.7 billion in 2017. Esports is now a multimillion-dollar business yet the foundations that are essential to its progress does not accommodate the fact it is continually growing and becoming more mainstream.