The medial excitement surrounding electronic sports, the
competition between human players in computer games, has not only
been continuing for some time now, but is also steadily taking off
for its next flight to new heights. The economic indicators are at
times climbing so rapidly that even the last esports sceptics are
slowly thinking about whether this topic is really just a temporary
hype or whether esports is a permanent factor and a new value
chain.
The worldwide growth rate of the esports since 2015 is around
36%1 per year. Global sales increased from 308
million euros in 2015 to the forecast of 1.4 billion euros for
2020. Already 32%2 of Germans have watched an
esports match – compared to only 12%3 in
2015. By 2022, the number of people who occasionally follow an
Esport match is expected to rise to 347 million4. In
2018, Esports tournaments collected approximately 50 million euros
in entry fees and payed out 140 million euros in prize money to the
athletes.5
