Cybersports vs. Traditional Sports: Who Would Win the Future
Over recent years, the cybersports industry has experienced exponential growth globally and has transformed this competitive gaming into a widely recognized sport. The popularity of the cybersports industry is driven by the advancement in gaming technology, series of intense competitive matches, the expansion of online streaming platforms, as well as a global community of fans.
On the other hand, traditional sports have been in the know for centuries passed down from one generation onto the next. It is identified as a core of the human culture that fuels cultural identity, social interaction, and physical fitness.
With the advent of technology and the ever growing cybersports industry, the questions asked often by experts are: Which will dominate the future? cybersports or traditional sports?
This article on our Melbet-afro.com site attempts to answer a highly debatable topic.
History of cybersports and traditional sports
Cybersports
The roots of cybersports can be traced back to 1972 when home consoles became popular. The first nationwide Space Invaders competition in 1980 had 10,000 participants. After a couple of months, gamers still competed in the inaugural Donkey Kong tournament.
The early 90’s brought about popular tournaments such as the Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat,GoldenEye and first-person shooters. This shooter game paved the way for the Starcraft, Warcraft, Overwatch, Call of Duty and Halo series. In 1998, the legendary Starcraft 2 tournament on PC had over 50 million online viewers.
Cybersports began to gain serious drive in the 2000s. Tournament hosts such as the World Cyber Games, the Electronic Sports World Cup, and Major League Gaming started to go mainstream. Today, MLG is considered as one of the world’s most reputable hosts in the industry.
In 2006, the first televised Esports event took place, it was known as Halo 2 on the USA Network. Broadcasting Esports became a successful feat that was fueled by Twitch. This helped players to actively engage with their audiences.
In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch and this made League of Legends become one of the most popular Esports games ever in the history of cybersports. League of Legends had its first World Championship in 2011 and in 2013, the event sold out the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Traditional Sports
Traditional sports have been in existence for centuries and played by people around the world before the modernization of sports took place. According to researchers, several traditional sports have faded away as a result of the imposition of the Western sports during the colonial era.
During the colonial era there was a huge resistance against Western sports and this led to the creation of standardized competitions for lots of traditional Asian games.
Towards the end of the 18th Century, Pierre de Coubertin founded the Olympic Games on the basis of All Games, All Nations which has continued to foster cultural values and identities worldwide till date.
The popularity and demographics of cybersports and traditional sports
Cybersports
The cybersports industry is a fast growing cultural phenomenon that has emanated from a newer generation's love for video games and watching great tournaments online. Between 2017 -2022 alone, the size of the industry doubled to nearly $240 billion as a result of the online mobile games played by billions on a daily basis.
The video gaming industry also saw a huge growth in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where people were forced to stay home. The only thing they could do was to leverage connected technology to access entertainment and to socialize regardless of their region or location. Today, the cybersports industry has a huge fan base of over 200 million across the globe.
Traditional Sports
Fans of different demographics - ages and backgrounds have always found unity and happiness in the shared experience of watching and engaging in athletic events on the field, court, or pitch.
The most popular traditional sport in the world is football with an estimated fan base of over 3.5 billion plus active players in nearly every part of the world. It is followed by cricket which has a fan base of over 2.5 billion. Other popular traditional sports include basketball, tennis, volleyball, table tennis, baseball, golf basketball, and American Football.
Economic impact of cybersports and traditional sports
Cybersports
Cybersports organisations generate revenue from commercial partnerships. The brands that they partner with will in turn get various activations such as jersey spots and tailored advertising campaigns. Some prominent brand deals to look out for in 2024 are Team Vitality renewing its partnerships with JBL Quantum, and GG.
The introduction of cybersports has not changed the face of gaming but has also impacted the mainstream culture. Pro gamers are now recognized as athletes, and have easily attained celebrity status while earning big through sponsorships, endorsements, and tournament winnings. Big corporations have also invested in the industry. This has in no small way contributed to its rapid growth and its increased economic significance worldwide.
Traditional Sports
Every traditional sport has a strategic structure that allows sports organisations, teams, or athletes to create income from different sources such as merchandising, ticket sales, media rights, sponsorship and many more.
Traditional sports do not only bring excitement to enthusiasts but also generate a series of economic opportunities for businesses that cut across various sectors. These businesses include infrastructure, tourism, media and merchandising. Therefore, the impact of traditional sports is a very strong catalyst for the economic growth of the country hosting the event.
Traditional sports have created career opportunities for athletes, coaches, fitness coaches, and more globally. And the great part is that they are paid per hour, especially in the United States.
Conclusion: Tough to call an actual winner
The future of traditional sports seems bleak as experts have opined that there might be a decline in youth participation in physical sports owing to the competitive digital activities in the entertainment world.
However, we believe that it is possible for both traditional sports and cybersports games to coexist, especially as traditional sports have also adopted the use of technology such as VAR, fitness tracking and more.
Traditional sports and cybersports have their pros and cons that would make it difficult for one to completely overshadow the other. However, cybersports is currently at a slight advantage due to the continued technological advancement we continue to see from time to time.
