Esports is increasingly gaining great traction in these times. Boosted by a conspicuous lack of professional sporting events world over, stuck-at-home consumers have increasingly embraced the idea of following and watching other gamers play matches.
Video games that are the basis of official live events are still serving as digital battlegrounds. The professional esports league of video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) called ESL Pro League is currently organising games. The league has games played daily attracting a large viewership.
League of Legends has tournaments running across the globe, with games being moved fully online from a venue organized event. Similarly, events across several other game titles like Rocket League, Rainbow Six, Overwatch and DOTA2 are being held.
In response to the lack of traditional sporting events, clubs, organizers & sports federations are looking at ways to give fans a chance to engage with the sport. Last week, saw the launch of inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race, featuring 35 current and retired Nascar drivers which was the most viewed e-sports event in US television history.
English League Two football side Leyton Orient organized an eSports tournament, FIFA20 Ultimate QuaranTeam. Clubs like Manchester City, Ajax, Roma who have existing esports teams have pitted to play in the tournament consisting of 128 clubs. Similarly, the Bundesliga is organizing an online tournament called Bundesliga Home Challenge compromising clubs from the German Bundesliga club structure
We will continue to see several non-official virtual tournaments replacing traditional sporting events for football, motorsports, and other sports, whereas video game publishers will seek to capitalize on viewership by running their official tournaments during this period.
Data Sports Group has been offering live eSports data for several years tracking tournaments across all popular game titles. You can request free access to our eSports catalog for April 2020 by contacting our Sales Team.