In a world where gaming has evolved into a significant cultural and professional phenomenon, the history of e-sports development stands as a testament to its growing influence. E-sport is a range of team and individual competitions based on video games, encompassing various disciplines such as shooters, strategies, simulators, and more. Dozens of tournaments with multi-thousand-dollar prize pools are held worldwide. It’s essential for enthusiasts and participants alike to engage in responsible gaming to ensure a balanced approach to this rapidly expanding field. According to unofficial sources, in 2024, cybersport will become an Olympic sport, marking a new milestone in its history.
Where did it all start?
Contrary to popular belief that cybersports was born in 1997 with the game Quake, there is another point in the history of e-sports. In 1972, the first Spacewar tournament was held at Stanford University. Students and faculty competed for a year’s subscription to Rolling Stone magazine.
1981
This date is marked by the first mass cybersports tournament for the game Space Invaders. It was attended by more than 10 thousand residents of the United States. It is worth noting that the games used in the competition were rather primitive: somewhere, you had to shoot down more ships, somewhere, you had to stay “unshot” for as long as possible.
The emergence of Nintendo video game consoles
The history of the Japanese company Nintendo began in 1889. At first, it specialized in card and board games, then in the production of slot machines and electronic games. A new chapter of cybersports began in 1983 when the company released its first gaming console. It literally revolutionized the market of computer games now every child dreams of becoming a console owner.
The tournament boom of the ’80s
With the advent of powerful consoles, slot machines and primitive computers, many tournaments began to be held. The leaders, of course, were still the United States and Japan.
In 1989, GamePro magazine started to organize cybersports tournaments, and in 1990 Nintendo organized the World E-Sports Championship, where more than 10000$ and wide diagonal televisions were raffled off.
1990s : Internet gaming and the first shooters
In 1991, the Internet became publicly available. This was a huge impetus in the development of cybersports and computer games, new genres and thus tournaments began to appear.
1993 – the release of the game DOOM. It is considered to be the first cybersport game, where the competitive component appeared: players could organize duels.
1994 – the appearance of Warcraft, a game in which the developers created a fantasy world where players, with the help of strategic skills, could attack opponents, thereby developing their own skills.
The first professional e-sport league
It was founded in 1997. The purpose of this organization was to popularize computer sports and make it spectacular. The first game in which a tournament was held in this league was called Quake (released in 1996). Later there will be a shooter that will turn the idea of cybersports in general, namely Counter-strike(2000). The popularity of this game in the early noughties will cover tens of thousands of people.
Olympics in the world of e-sport
In 2000, the annual WCG computer sports championship began. This tournament includes both team and single disciplines. To get to the WCG anyone had to pass online qualification for the tournament in their country. At the competition were presented game-simulators (races), real-time strategies, shooters, multiplayer role-playing games. The prize fund of the annual tournament was about 300-500$ thousand.
In 2013-2018, tournaments of this series were not held due to funding and competition problems.
The biggest tournament in e-sport
The International game Dota 2 is considered to be the biggest tournament. It has been held since 2011. The prize fund of this tournament is formed thanks to the contributions of fans of the game, who, buying certain items in the game store, send a certain % to the organizers of the tournament. For example, in 2011 the fund was 1$ million and in 2019 it will be 34$ million.
