1. Highs and Lows of modern esports

2. roadmap
Origins
Early History
Modern Milestones ($)
Modern Issues

3. Origin story Desire for competition, not for traditional sport
Less like modern sports, more like modern “challenges”
1972 - Stanford “Spacewar!”
1980 – Space Invaders Competition by Atari
1988 – Netrek: The first online sports game

4. Major early developments
Quake
1998 – Starcraft
1999 – Super Smash Bros.
Counterstrike

5. Games Games GAmes Multiplayer online battle arena Others Dota / Dota 2
League of Legends
Smite
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of Newerth
Vainglory
Clash Royale
Others
EndGods
Guild Wars 2
Gears of War
War Thunder
World of Tanks
World of Warcraft
Hearthstone
Pokémon
Tetris
Fighting games
Street Fighter
Super Smash Bros.
Marvel vs. Capcom
Tekken
Killer Instinct
First-person shooters
Quake
Counter-Strike series
Call of Duty series
Unreal Tournament
Halo series
Painkiller
Battlefield series
CrossFire
Overwatch
Team Fortress 2
Rainbow Six: Siege
Alliance of Valiant Arms
Special Force II
Real-time strategy
StarCraft: Brood War
Warcraft III
StarCraft II
Sports games
FIFA series
Madden
NBA 2K
Rocket League
Real Subspace Hockey League
Racing
Trackmania
iRacing
Project CARS

6. Modern western Milestones
DreamHack
International LAN tournament
League of Legends World Championships
Developer controlled events
League of Legends Championship Series (LCS)
Developer controlled leagues with set number of teams and weekly games
Late 2000s/Early 2010s – Esport teams begin presenting viable business models
2011 – Team SoloMid moves League of Legends roster into gaming house
2011 – The International
$1.6 million prize pool

8. Sponsors Sponsors Sponsors
Food/Beverage
Taco Bell
Buffalo Wild Wings
Carl’s Jr.
Slim Jim
Mountain Dew
Reese’s Puffs
Arby’s
Pizza Hut
Snickers
Hot Pockets
Domino’s Pizza
Bud Light
Coca-Cola
Soylent
Quest Nutrition
Media
MGM
20th Century Fox
Legendary
Universal
Sony Pictures
Tech/Communications
Vodafone
AT&T
Xfinity
Bell
Dolby
T-Mobile
Hisense
Sennheiser
Orange
Honor
Energy
Gazprom
Red Bull
Financial
Gemini Trust
Visa
St. George
Transportation
Ford
Hyundai
Audi
Nissan
Uber
Other
Turtle Wax
Michelin
Gillette
Geico
Mobil
Axe
Credit Karma
Weedmaps
Adidas

9. Problems… Match Fixing Cheating Player Abuse
2015/2016 – Korean Starcraft II
Cheating rings, brokers, financial backers etc.
Up to two year long jail terms and civil suits followed
2015 – North Amercian Counterstrike: Global Offensive
Tens of thousands worth of in game cosmetic items
Indefinite ban of 7 pro players in competitive play
Cheating
2012 – League of Legends Season 2 World Championships screen looking
2014 – French Counterstrike: Global Offensive Cheating Members
Pros of the highest level detected and banned by in game anti-cheat
2015/2016 – Substance Abuse in Multiple Games
Player Abuse
2015 – European League of Legends Player Abuse
Ongoing – Korean Teams, Multiple Games

11. The scene today
20 Million Buy-In

12. The scene today
$10 - $13 Million Buy-In
Players Association