Do you know that it’s now been 48 years since the first ever esports tournament took place?
Esports is currently among the most rapidly developing and advancing sectors in the world.
Esports is an umbrella term for dozens of different games played at the highest level, competitively for cash prizes. Games like FIFA, Call of Duty, Fortnite and CS:GO are amongst the most widely followed esports tournaments in the world. So much so that numerous betting sites have begun providing CSGO markets. Many of these establishments give esports the recognition they deserve and with sites offering CSGO jackpot crash, roulette and much more – there’s something for all players to enjoy.
Back in 2020, a lot of amazing milestones were reached by esports, as Arslan Siddique, also known as Arslan “Ash set the record of the first EVO title victory by a player from Pakistan and he also became the pioneer gamer in the history of the world to ever win both the EVO and the Japanese edition of the EVO in one year. The best thing among all these records is that he did all these in his first attempt. Also, last year, a boy of 16 years turned a multi-millionaire in esports. He is named Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, and he won the Fortnite World Cup.
If this is not enough wonder for you, you need to read the other five amazing esports facts and get fascinated.
- The Record Of The Biggest Prize Pool In Esports Is Held By The International Of 2019
The annual tournament from Valve named The International delivered the biggest prize pool that any professional esports tournament has ever given in the professional Dota 2 games. The prize pool was US$34.3 million, maintaining the tradition of the game since its arrival. It is good to note that this came through crowd funding by the players and fans of the game.
The winners went home with US$16 million, which amounts to US$3.1 million for each team member. For further clarification, that is even more than the prize money of US$3 million that Novak Djokovic got from winning Wimbledon.
- The First Esports Tournament Happened In 1972
It was arguably in October 1972 that esports was born, when the Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics was hosted by Stanford University for the game Spacewar on the PDP-1 computer. In the tournament, there were three different categories, namely, the single competition, the team competition and the free for all. With Stanford students taking part in the competition, the free for all championship title and the top prize was won by Bruce Baumgart. The prize included a one year subscription to the Rolling Stone magazine.
- The League of Legends World Championship of 2019 Had More Viewers than the Super Bowl of the Same Year
In 2019, the grand finals of the League of Legends World Championship were watched by more than 100 million viewers. The tournament saw G2 Esports defeated by FunPlus Phoenix, as they won their first world title. Meanwhile the 2020 version of the NFL Super Bowl was watched by 98.8 million. In the event, the San Francisco 49ers were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs.
- Daigo “The Beast” Umehara Has Two Guinness World Records, Five Published Books and the Star of His Manga
He is considered by many enthusiasts as the GOAT of fighting games. He has been in the game for 25 years, and has two Guinness World Records and six EVO titles. He shares one of the records, the ‘Most Viewed Fighting Video Game’ with Justin Wong, and that happened in their Street Fighter III 3rd Strike in the 2004 edition of EVO, also known as EVO Moment 37. The next record is for the most consecutive tournament wins, which is 15 at the moment.
He has written and published five books too, and is even the star of his own manga, with the title “Umehara FIGHTING GAMERS!” which involves a drama depicting him taking part in the Street Fighter Arcade series as a young man.
- A Professional Counter Strike Exists With the Members All Over 60
They are named the Silver Snipers, and they have shown the world that gaming does not belong to a particular age, race or gender.
This counter strike team is made up of players between 64 and 76 years old. This is made up of people from Sweden, and they have won the Seniors World Cup, defeating Germany, USA and Finland in the process. The silver snipers involve;
Inger”Trigger Finger” Grotteblad, 67
Baltasar “El Niño” Aguirre, 65
Wanja “Knitting Knight” Godänge, 64
Abbe “BirDie” Drakborg, 76
Öivind “Windy” Toverud, 76
From them, according to BirDie, their big goal is to let people understand that gaming is for all, and that if they can do it, every other person can.