The gaming industry never shy away from new trends and are early adopters of technologies. They were the first to adopt laser mouse with 1200 dpi when ordinary computer users were using roller ball mouse. Likewise, they were the first to use internet calling applications such as Skype and MSN Messengers to facilitate and coordinate games. Most gamers are Millennials aged between 21 and 35 (Newzoo, 2017) and the youthfulness of the demographics encourages technology adoption. The whirlpool of market forces enables gaming industry to branch into blockchains with the facing legacy and adoption issues in other sectors.

Most use cases of blockchain such smart contracts, host tournaments and easing the purchase of virtual assets accelerate the development of eSports ecosystems. Numerous companies are working on blockchain that tackles eSports betting, acquisitions and trading of in-game items. Beyond the gaming aspect, blockchains are also adapted to help amateur gamers, professional teams and league games owner to run better competitions, fan clubs and various club operations similar to those on the Soccer and Football arena such as the English premier league.

Tournaments are the lifelines of eSports enthusiasts. Several online gaming platforms incorporating blockchain are seeing the return on investments. FirstBlood is an eSports platform that decentralises tournament setup and game winnings distribution. This arrangement enables players to test their abilities and bet on games without the constraints of traditional money transfers, financial regulations and middleman complexities. Other eSports companies such as Gilgam.es and EloPlay have developed blockchain for tournaments as well.

Other eSports company such as DreamTeam enhances eSports through the creation of a recruitment and management platform for gaming teams. Blockchain-based smart contracts ensure transparency and safekeeping of contracts for all users without legal complexities. This enables the proliferation of local and small tournaments with secure payments all created using Smart contracts. When a team wins a prize, the reward transfers automatically to their bank account according to smart contracts.

Every aspect of eSports is ripe for revolutionary changes through the use of blockchains. With the youthful and technological savvy eSports’ audience, embracing blockchain is more manageable for the industry. This is only the beginning.