What are Esports

Esports or “e-sports” is a relatively new sector in the global industry. It has its roots in the early 1970s, when the first computer games tournament was held in the USA, with the prize being an annual subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. But they essentially evolved in the first decade of the 2000s, based on the rapid expansion of the Internet and instant access to it. Games that were played on a small scale by a few unexpectedly became massive global successes involving millions of people every day.
Around 60% are between the ages of 18 and 34, while almost 10% of Esports fans are over 45 years old.
The numbers in the Esports championship space are staggering:

• $475 million was the 2013 turnover for WARGAMING LLC, creator of the successful Word of Tanks, holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest number of players connected to a game at the same time (150,000)
• 71,500,000 viewers watched Esports matches , in 2013 and this was apparently the beginning of a new era.
• 10,931,103 dollars was the total prize money for “The International”, the final stage of the DOTA2 World Championship, for 2014
• $150,000,000-plus was distributed to players in total in 2018, and the year ended with total revenue of $865 million.
• NewZoo 2019 Global Esports Market Report.
• The global turnover of the games industry far exceeds that of film and music combined. In 2020, online purchases alone exceeded $180 billion.
• Based on expert reports, in 2022 Esports revenues exceeded $1.5 billion while the audience exceeded 532 people and in 2023 revenues reached $200 billion.

Every day, thousands of gamers play with the goal of reaching the top. Rules, regulations, ethics, make up a safe framework for fair play and the proper functioning of the games and events.
Every game has its own rules set by its creator and they concern the correct use and safeguarding of copyrights, how the game is played, what is allowed and what is not, how to manage winning and losing, how to deal with disputes – objections – violations.
Similarly, competitions are governed by regulations concerning the conduct of matches, the conditions of participation, anti-doping, the attitude of players and how to deal with misconduct.
The chapter “conduct” is given great emphasis as it concerns the ethics of Esports with the basic principles of fair play, professionalism, respect and transparency.
Compliance with the aforementioned promotes the healthy competitiveness and development of the eSports industry.

In our country Esports made their presence evident in 2010 mainly with the game Lol. At the same time, websites such as Twitch.tv were created, which provide live broadcasting (online streaming). Thus, giving the opportunity to anyone interested to watch from his computer the game he is interested in and to participate, the “electronic sports” keeps steadily rising now in Greece, gaining more and more fans.
The entry and the rise of Esports in our country is perfectly understandable, if we compare it with the 100 years ago entry of football and its current development!