by eSports have rapidly grown in popularity since the early 2000s. What was once a simple pastime for gaming enthusiasts has become a fully-fledged industry with millions of fans worldwide, even rivalling SBOBET and other online betting platforms. Statista projects that eSports will have more than 577 million viewers by 2024, which is why we expect several eSports games to succeed this year.
Can eSports creators push the views to 500 million and beyond? Here are the titles to watch.
Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 is the popular sequel to Overwatch, a 2016 team-based multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) game by Blizzard Entertainment. This developer initially announced Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon in 2019, but they purposely did not give a definitive release date. However, players from the Overwatch League can expect an “early bird” version of the game sometime in 2022, and everyone is excited to see what it has to offer.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
CS:GO is a multiplayer FPS game that was released in 2012. It quickly gained popularity among eSports enthusiasts, catapulting Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve to fame as the game’s developers. The game exhibits the signs of becoming even more popular in 2022, as players and fans increase daily online.
According to the CS:GO website, the game boasts more than 20 million players worldwide. It also supports major platforms, including:
- Mac
- Windows
- Xbox 360
- PlayStation 3
Valve is a leading American game developer and now sponsors the main annual CS:GO tournament: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships. This tournament is the professionally recognized CS:GO competition and remains incredibly popular.
League of Legends (LoL)
League of Legends is a classic multiplayer online battle arena developed and published by Riot Games in 2009. It is one of the most viewed eSports in the industry, with their Worlds finals hitting 2.2 million at peak viewing. There are no signs of the figures dropping in 2022, either.
According to a Bwin infographic on eSports, there are 12 tier-one professional League of Legends
leagues. The hype also includes a $2 million prize fund for the successful participants of these upcoming Worlds finals!
Dota 2
The final game to watch this year is Dota 2, another popular multiplayer online battle arena game developed and published by Valve. It boasts over 7.7 million dedicated players worldwide, and you can play on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. Dota 2 features two teams, each with five players striving to destroy the enemy’s core, the Ancient.
As the game begins, each player has a chance to choose their preferred character from a variety of options, known as Heroes. The International Dota 2 international tournament is the game’s major annual competition.
Final Thoughts
eSports’ popularity has burgeoned in recent years, with many titles now boasting millions of fans across the globe. Overwatch 2 is yet to be released, but industry experts predict that it will be a huge hit as it floods the market in 2022. The other contenders are CS:GO, Dota 2, and LoL, which have remained on top over the years but show no signs of slowing down.
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