Why eSports are gaining millions of players every year
- Published
Jimbo at the Halo World Championship 2017 Qualifiers
ESports could be the only sports you don't need to leave your sofa to play.
And they're getting much bigger. Experts say by 2020 they'll be in the top five most popular sports, making an estimated 拢1bn worldwide.
"Every single year it's growing... It's crazy," says Halo player James Bradbrook.
Known to eSports fans as Jimbo, he makes his living from playing and streaming the first-person shooter game.
"I get roughly 拢500 a month through eSports, which isn't bad for playing a game," says the 21-year-old.
He plays in four or five major tournaments every year, alongside his three team mates.
"We usually get on [the game] around 6pm, and we basically play Halo for six hours a night, just practicing against other teams, going over strategies.
"Even after that, about 12 o'clock at night we actually stay up and watch the international teams play, to help fix our play style towards them.
"It's a good ten hours or so a day that we're practising."
This week he's flying to LA to compete in the most important competition of the year, the Halo World Championships.
There's a big prize fund to play for.
"LA is a $1m (around 拢800,000) tournament, so literally just for turning up for the thing we get $10,000 (拢8,000) between the four of us.
"Last year with my old team we attended it and got about $75,000 (拢60,000) split between us. I can still live on that now."
With major football clubs like Paris Saint-Germain forming their own eSports teams, there's going to be more money for professional players like James over the next few years.
"It's just so good for the scene. Clubs with that much of a following behind them... it's something you definitely want to get on with.
"That in the long run means I could be earning more money, I could be getting more publicity."
He says he can't predict the future of eSports, but it's going to be big.
"I remember hearing rumours eSports could be at the Olympics. If that could happen for my sport, that would just be insane."
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