Esports are also popular in Europe and the Americas, which host regional and international events. By the 2010s, esports was a major part of the video game industry, with many game developers designing for and funding for tournaments and other events.Įsports first became popular in East Asia, particularly in China and South Korea (which first licensed professional players in 2000) but less so in Japan, whose broad anti-gambling laws prohibit professional gaming tournaments. Multiplayer competitions were long a part of video game culture, but were largely between amateurs until the late 2000s, when the advent of online streaming media platforms, particularly YouTube and Twitch, enabled a surge in participation by professional gamers and spectators. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Players competing in a League of Legends tournamentĮsports ( / ˈ iː s p ɔːr t s/ ⓘ), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games.
For multiplayer games in general, see Multiplayer video game. For simulated sports in video games, see Sports game. This article is about video game competitions.
