One trend I have been watching (somewhat) closely over the past 6-12 months has been the meteoric rise of e-sports onto the main-stage. While I am certainly no expert on the industry, nor am I an avid e-sports gamer myself, I am a big believer in the long term success of the genre.
Just yesterday, the world’s biggest Twitch streamer, Ninja, hosted a Fortnite game with Drake and other big-time celebrities.
.@Ninja (the biggest streamer on Twitch) is currently playing Fortnite with @Drake with 300K+ viewers.
Video games ARE pop culture now…https://t.co/pojPaJzHlQ
— Blake Robbins (@blakeir) March 15, 2018
600K+ concurrent viewers tuned into watch these people play. I think this is a historic moment for several reasons:
1 – It is validation that anyone can play e-sports and it is most certainly not just for “nerds.” Fortnite, in particular, is a computer/xbox game that has gone incredibly viral over the past few months around colleges and high schools around the country (and greater world). It has been amazing to see my friends get addicted to this game quickly – and more than that, people actually enjoy watching the game nearly as much as they do playing it!
2 – It is further proof that there is a “big-time” stage and audience demand for entertainment and professional gaming. If you are still in the boat of “this is not a real sport,” I will bet that you soon will have to change your mind. Might as well pull of the band-aid and jump ships quickly because there is clearly a tidal wave approaching.
I am interested in better understanding how the gaming economy evolves from this point forward. Particularly, what segments of the gaming environment must be better built out?
I am super long on Fortnite as a franchise…as they make their shift to mobile…it will be interesting to see how they are able to expand their reach.