As the growth of online and virtual entertainment continues in a post covid world, many people are wondering what the best new online gaming experiences are.
Online Streaming Around the World
Online streaming around the world has changed dramatically. Movie studios like Paramount Pictures quickly jumped onto the subscription-based streaming bandwagon by offering some of their most popular television shows and movies directly through an individual streaming service. It seems like almost every company today is now offering a streaming service, including ESPN. ESPN is one of a handful of subscription-based services that are offering viewing access to online games and online Esports competitions. Fans of online gaming experiences can stream content directly from their phone, keeping tabs on who their competitors are on the international stage or simply watching competitors.
Online Games Around the World
Today it seems like online opportunities are growing every time you blink, and this is almost true. There are online gaming opportunities around the world from established and popular manufacturers of games. In fact, instead of offering individual games for computers or individual games for a specific type of console, companies are now offering subscriptions so that players can gain access to a much wider array of online games but instead of having to pay hundreds of dollars for each game, they pay a marginal fraction of this every month. The more avid a player is, the more this subscription will be worth it, of course it does take away from people who want to purchase the game once and then own it forever.
ESports Gaming Around the World
Esports gaming has grown around the world, particularly in countries like Korea and Japan. Esports in Japan, for example, has become a very competitive gaming market at a national level. It has grown 90% in the last year and continues to grow. Fans attend esport events and invest a great deal of time and money cheering on their favorite players or participating in the competition's. This growth has been so expansive that the government has announced it is soon to collaborate with other gaming companies so that they can promote these types of events regularly throughout Japan.
Some of most popular games for esports include:
- Heroes of the Storm
- Rocket League
- Overwatch
- StarCraft II
- CounterStrike
- Dota 2
- Starcraft: Brood War
- League of Legends
- Hearthstone
Opportunities for Improvement
The growth of online games around the world and of Esports gaming around the world is most evident when you look at the way in which governments are getting involved in the sports, companies are investing and promoting with advertisements for sport tournaments or other online gaming tournaments, and television stations are streaming it for people to watch. Not only are sports channels offering streaming for online gaming experiences and esport tournaments, but governments across Asia are promoting their events internationally, offering substantial cash prizes for those who win different competitions, and supporting the creation of Esports teams and individual players who are making up words of $30,000 individually thanks to these esport competitions.
Esports have become so popular in places like Japan that entire gyms are being opened in places like Tokyo dedicated exclusively to Esports. Players can book sessions for 3 hours at a time where they can play different games online. As individuals get closer to game time, they can book multiple sessions at these public gyms where they get access to high-quality computers first with great speakers, reliable headsets, and fast speeds, things they might not necessarily have at home. What's more, governments like Japan are investing support, time, and money in the industry of coaching we're successful Esports players can coach other people interested in some of these top new online gaming experiences. And if they aren't confident with their skills they can get help from professional gamers who serve as coaches. This type of growth has already been seen in countries like South Korea and Singapore and represents over a billion dollars in revenue around the world.
Overall, there are many great new online gaming experiences for people who have been actively engaged in the world of gaming for years or people who are just now getting started because of covid isolation. Around the world there are many countries increasing the number of competitions they provide, offering international access internationally to different competitions, and increasing the reward structure for those players and teams who compete on an international or national level.