eSports, which officially means electronic sports, is now one of the hottest pop culture trends worldwide. It involves many players professionally competing against each other in video games instead of merely playing as a hobby.
Many eSports tournaments are held worldwide, and champions walk away with huge money prizes.
The industry generates close to £1 billion in revenue, and its popularity keeps growing because more viewers are watching the games being played on streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Below are the 5 most popular eSports Games of 2022.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, popularly known as CS: GO, is one of the most popular first-person shooter eSports games globally. It involves two teams consisting of five players, each competing against each other as terrorists and anti-terrorists.
A distinct feature of CS: GO is that players killed in action can only rejoin the game in a competition’s next round instead of returning immediately.
Players start with a pistol and earn more money to purchase upgraded gear as they progress.
Both teams are assigned two different missions: bomb defusing and hostage rescue. In the bomb-defusing scenario, the terrorist team must plant and guard a bomb at specific zones long enough for it to go off, while the counter-terrorist team must eliminate the terrorists or prevent the bomb’s detonation.
On the other hand, the hostage rescue scenario requires the counter-terrorist team to rescue at least one of two hostages held by the terrorist.
There are over 10,000 professional CS: GO players worldwide, and the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships (Majors) have been sponsored by the American game developer Valve since 2013.
League of Legends
League of Legends, abbreviated to LoL, is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) eSports game designed by Riot Games in 2009. It is a real-time strategy game that involves players competing against each other as part of two teams.
These players control role characters called “champions.” There are over 150 selectable champions to select from, each falling under one of the following roles: Jungler, Carry, Attack Damage Carry (ADC), Toplane, and Support.
These champions have four different abilities requiring different tactics. The team aims to triumph by attacking the opposite base, destroying their objectives, and penetrating deep enough to destroy their nexus.
There are about 7,130 professional LoL players worldwide. In addition, various domestic and international LoL tournaments are held worldwide. However, the best eSports players in the world compete at the grand international LOL World Championship for the prize of more than 2 million dollars annually.
Fortnite
Fortnite has fast joined the group of the most played and enjoyed survival and battle royale third-person shooter eSports games in existence. This sensational game was developed by Epic Games in 2017. Fortnite has three game modes: Battle Royale, Save the World, and Creative.
The Battle Royale is an exciting player-versus-player mode that you can enjoy for free with up to 100 players. The Battle Royale Competition takes place on a huge map, and the last survivor wins.
This eSports game is incredibly unique because players can build walls and other fortifications to stay alive instead of merely fighting with guns and other weapons.
The Fortnite World Cup is the game’s major eSports competition. Epic Games sponsors the tournament with over $100 million. The event has been held since its inauguration in 2019 that recorded the participation of over 40 million players.
The Fortnite World Cup uses the Battle Royale mode involving 100 players who aim to be the last man standing after avoiding attacks from other players and using resources to build fortresses. It also uses the Creative mode, where players can build distinct courses at their own pace.
More than 19,000 fans attended the first Fortnite World Cup Finals in person at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Additionally, concurrent viewership across Twitch and YouTube peaked at 2.3 million, making it the most-watched competitive gaming event of all time.
Dota 2
Dota 2 is quite similar to LoL because it plays on a MOBA map, involves two teams of five (Radiant and Dire), and has the same gameplay. Valve Corporation developed and released it in 2013, and it has better graphics and more tactical gameplay.
You can choose a hero from over 110 characters and five playable roles. Therefore, it is no surprise that this game has risen to become the most popular eSports game among the biggest players in the industry.
According to its official website, it had more than 7.7 million eSports players as of August 2020.
Additionally, the largest Dota 2 International tournament, simply known as The International, has been held annually worldwide since 2011. Twenty teams compete at the tournament based on results from the Dota Pro Circuit and regional playoffs.
The International’s prize pool is sourced through crowdfunding within the game. Also, a quarter of all revenue from this is used to directly fund the event. Finally, Dota 2 eSports bets are among the most common wagers made by eSports punters worldwide.
Overwatch
Overwatch is an entertaining first-person shooter and MOBA eSports game from Blizzard entertainment. You can select between several different characters, each having unique weapons and four different abilities designed for different roles.
Overwatch is not a mobile eSport, but it is compatible with the Nintendo Switch. It has unique features like a simple design, short-match duration, and nice gameplay speed, making it ideal for viewers.
Blizzard has developed official competitions like the Overwatch League for professional players of this game to compete and win attractive prizes.