Esports: The history of the emergence and development of the gaming industry

Esports, or professional video game competitions, is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. But when did this history begin? The emergence of esports is not linked to any one moment, it is an evolutionary process that has gone through several stages of development. In this article, we will explore when and how esports emerged, which games became its foundation, and how it transformed into a multi-billion dollar industry.

**First Steps: 1970s-1980s**
Esports as a phenomenon emerged in the 1970s, although at that time it had neither an official name nor mass popularity. One of the first documented video game tournaments was the Spacewar! championship in 1972 at Stanford University. The prize for the victory was an annual subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. Although this tournament was more of an experiment, it laid the groundwork for future video game competitions.

The 1980s saw a boom in arcade games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders. It was during this time that the first mass tournaments began to emerge. In 1981, Atari organized a championship for the game Space Invaders, which attracted over 10,000 players. This event can be considered one of the first steps towards popularizing esports on a mass scale.

**Development of Esports in the 1990s**
Esports made a real breakthrough in the 1990s with the development of computer games and access to the internet. This period can be called the golden age of esports, as it was then that games were introduced that laid the foundations for modern esports disciplines.

One of the first such games was Quake, released in 1996. In 1997, the first major tournament called Red Annihilation took place, where the winner received a Ferrari car. This tournament is considered the first real esports event, attracting a huge number of spectators and participants.

Another significant game of the 1990s was StarCraft, released by Blizzard in 1998. StarCraft became especially popular in South Korea, where esports began to develop at an incredible pace. Soon, the country saw the emergence of the first professional esports leagues, and esports itself became part of the culture. South Korea remains a leader in the development of this industry to this day.

**Esports in the 2000s: Industry Establishment**
In the 2000s, esports evolved into a full-fledged industry. Games like Counter-Strike, Warcraft III, and Dota became the main disciplines at global tournaments. Online platforms also began to develop actively, allowing tournaments and competitions to be held on a global scale.

In 2000, the World Cyber Games (WCG) was created — one of the first international esports organizations that organized championships worldwide. During this period, the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) and Major League Gaming (MLG) emerged, two other major organizations that promoted esports on the international stage.

**Modern Esports: 2010s and Beyond**
The 2010s were a time of rapid growth for esports. The emergence of games like League of Legends, Dota 2, and Fortnite attracted millions of players and viewers worldwide. Tournament prize pools began to reach tens of millions of dollars, and the largest esports competitions started to gather massive audiences both online and in stadiums.

A prominent example is The International series for Dota 2. The annual prize pool constantly breaks records. In 2021, it exceeded 40 million dollars, making it the largest in esports history.

Today, esports is officially recognized in several countries, and there is discussion about the possibility of its inclusion in the Olympic Games in the future.

In conclusion, Esports emerged in the 1970s, but its rapid development began in the 1990s and 2000s. Today, it is a global industry with multi-million dollar prize pools, a massive audience, and official recognition in many countries. Thanks to the increasing popularity of video games, esports continues to evolve, and its future looks more than bright.