Reading Time: 3 minutes

e-sports

In Canada, around 30 million people regularly play video games and eSports has long been more than just a nice way to pass the time – being for some time now a global sensation.

We’ve taken a closer look at the latest eSport trends and what to watch out for in 2022. This way you’ll be able to be ahead of the game and enjoy the latest trends such as mobile casino online or multi-million eSport tournaments – without losing even one second of it!

eSport is Booming

eSport stands for electronic sport and refers to regulated competition between individual players or entire teams. The competition is played on a PC or console, in sports or action/strategy games.

For some years now, professional “gaming” has been gaining more and more followers. It’s not possible to say exactly how many there are; for Canada, the figures range from 1.5 million to more than 4.5 million organized eSport players, depending on the source.

Surveys indicate that younger men in particular are enthusiastic about the digital showdown. In many places, fans form clubs to play popular eSports such as the soccer simulation FIFA together.

Some tournaments offer millions of US dollars as prize money. Popular competitions take place in large halls, are broadcast by streaming services and attract large audiences. For example, 50+ million viewers watched the 2021 League of Legends final.

How the Upcoming Year is Looking so Far

Although eSport has went through some significant changes and improvements over the last years, one must also consider the huge impact and collateral damage that the Coronavirus has brought to the eSport community.

Over the last couple of years, it’s true that eSport was one of the only remaining sports that didn’t have to close its doors – with tournaments even generating some hefty prize money and viewership. However, reality is starting to lurk in, and 2022 has some important steps to take care of, before turning into perhaps one of the biggest sports worldwide.

More Fans, Less Money

This is not due to viewer interest. In times when schools, clubs and cinemas were closed and many leisure activities could only take place under restrictions, many young people used YouTube, Facebook or Twitch to watch the pros play.

But viewers around 40 also bridged the football-free time to watch titles they already knew from their youth, such as the evergreen Counter-Strike, which still attracts large crowds of viewers today.

Although these new players have all shown interesting in new and old titles, one aspect of this COVID-19 collateral damage was the money involved in professional eSport. The most recognized tournaments and athletes are facing an important economic blow for this upcoming year, which can mean less new games and lower prize pools.

Equality in Popular Sports is Lacking

Many soccer clubs have now set up their own eSports teams due to popular eSport games such as FIFA. But these are mostly employed by commercial subsidiaries of the soccer clubs – as if a concert happened to be held in a soccer stadium.

However, eSports enthusiasts want full equality so that normal sports clubs can offer eSports teams to their youth members without running the risk of losing their fiscally important non-profit status.

Long story short, the eSport community will try to diversify their membership in 2022, thus bringing in new teams to make up for the gap that was noticeable until now.

What Will the Future Bring?

Besides some backlash, right now, all signs point to growth in the eSports sector. Both the number of players and viewers continue to rise every year. In Canada, eSports are more popular than ever before – especially when it comes to online betting.

Whether eSports will really overtake traditional sports in Canada like ice hockey or basketball is still up in the air. At the moment, the number of gamers interested in eSport competitions worldwide is still significantly smaller than the number of soccer fans. Even though millions of Canadians regularly play video games, only a few prefer to watch others play.

However, this situation can suddenly change in 2022. Therefore, it’s not impossible that eSport will become 2022’s biggest trend in itself and followed by a large part of the population at some point in the next few months.


This content is a joint venture between our publication and our partner. We do not endorse any product or service in the article.