During the past few decades, the dream world has experienced a substantial paradigm shift. It wasn’t long ago that our fantasy was to follow the path of scientific, biological and managerial accomplishments in order to claim our professional status in the society. Gradually, with the growth in sports revenue, the previous professional charms were substituted and we faced a major boost in the production of athletes. Currently, in such economy-driven world, ‘eSports’ is climbing the corporate ladder with a colossal pace. The category is offering a bright future for the young generation and we can have a glimpse of its massive scale through the achievements of a teenager from a third-world country who surpassed the million dollar mark and embarked his name in the Guinness book of world records.
Unification of the brilliance & impact:
During the time when an American professional eSports company ‘Evil Geniuses (EG)’ was assembling a Dota2 (Defense of the Ancients 2) team to hook at one of the biggest rewards in the gaming industry, a 15 years (born 1999) old boy named ‘Sumail Hassan’ was following his routine life as a commoner in the suburbs of an over-populated city (Karachi, Pakistan). Despite having a talented hand and mind for Dota2, the teenager could never make an impactful career on any national/international level due to lack of exposure.
That year (2014) EG could only make it to the 3rd place in "The International 2014" and secured a prize of around $1 million (1m) out of the available grand total of 10m. In a quest to find the appropriate member for the team, who could bring them the long-awaited title, EG reached the doorsteps of this brilliant gamer ‘Sumail’. The details of the offered package are unknown however, soon after Sumail was part of the EG’s assembled team.
After some warm-up matches at continental levels, EG was ready to land the punch in the grander gaming arena. Owing to the remarkable skills of Sumail and the overall improved team chemistry, EG managed to win the title at "The International 2015" and cashed-in the largest ever eSports pool of $6.6 million and is still one of the top scorers in the eSports industry.
Sumail received a whopping $1.6m share at the age of 16 and found his place in the Guinness world records as the youngest millionaire in the eSports history.
He started playing Dota at the age of 7 and according to him professional eSports is not for noobs, one better be a pro or quit playing. He selected the harder life for himself which is evident from his tedious 13 hours practice shift each day that brought him numerous awards. And, if you are curious about the characters from Dota on which he spent most of his time, then let me present you the ‘"Faerie Dragon (left-side image)" and "Storm Spirit". This means that most of his picks are from the ‘intelligence’ corner of the game instead of the other two (Agility and Strength). This required a strong early game and reflects the key position of the teenage star in the team.
Next generation of youngsters:
Currently, there are far many youngsters who are following his footsteps and in given time we shall observe a considerable number of teenagers who would soon touch millionaire or even billionaire marks. Some considerable names to keep under observation are:
Age 17: Anathan Pham from Australia, earned $571,442.40
Age 16: Ludwig Wåhlberg from Sweden, earned $248,161
Age 15: Lee, Seung Hyun from S. Korea, earned $122,712.93
Age 13: Kyle Jackson from England, 500,000/month
eSports Market Size & Expectations:
In continuation to the discussion about eSports market and revenue, a rough estimation of current stats and distribution show a constant increase of $200m/year and 80% of which comes from sponsorship and marketing. The stats and the growth-rate is surely delivering a shining and motivating scenario especially, to the blockchain/dapp developers who are re-focusing most of their energy to facilitate these platforms for sustaining a high-scale system. The detailed discussion, aspects and estimations for the optimum fusion of eSports with blockchain have already been brilliantly presented by Mr. Boesing, who is working at the front-lines of the technology to make it happen.
But, the main question that remains is “what size of piece we are expecting from the gaming budget, would it be redirected towards blockchain or it would simply enhance the overall revenue of the eSports industry?” Whatever the case may be, i am positive that blockchain would deliver a substantial impact on the eSports industry. Also, Scorum has just launched the marketing/advertisement sector, so i hope it would attract more eSports writers and organizations as well in order to grab the attention of the ad market in that category. If you are interested in reading some more writings on eSports, I would recommend you to check some cool articles by @Sammosk and @bayareasportsfan.
In a nut shell, being an eSports fan, stronger market for me means more fun and more excitement, so we should never forget this entertaining aspect of the industry. Lastly, I would like to present my favorite character from the Dota series which I had mostly selected in my about 4 years of DOTA career. please meet: ‘Rogue Knighttttt (Img S.)’. This vicious and handsome character is from the home of ‘Strengths’ and I can still recall his beautiful AOE (area of effect) stun. After which, if you had managed to save some mana you could launch his Ulti (ultimate ability) to unleash an unstoppable and amazingly rapid monster, who would put the enemies to dust within the blink of an eye.
That is all for today..
Don’t forget to share your thoughts about the future of eSports & blockchain fusion.
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