Could Fighting Games Push eSports Into A New Era?

There was a time when online video console gaming was a new area of the industry. In the late 2000s and the early 2010s, Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA were going head to head in their quest to dominate the world of online soccer gaming. Call of Duty was streets ahead of the likes of CS2 (Counter-Strike) in terms of FPS popularity, and many of the games that are currently at the top of the eSports world hadn’t even been designed yet.

As somebody who was around for the birth of online video console gaming, there were still plenty of hurdles to overcome. Internet connections lagged significantly, especially during periods of high demand, such as between 6 and 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

The advances in technology were still remarkable, and for those who grew up in a world of console gaming, where the concept of connecting to the internet was simply not feasible, it was a revelation. It was as if a 2D world had been thrust into a vibrant 3D world, with a raft of new possibilities.

A Changing Dynamic In The Early 2010s 

Around the same time as the explosive growth of online console gaming, online betting companies started to flex their muscles; they had already established themselves as the new sheriff in town, the world over. Instead of punters having to take a trip to a physical shop to place their bets, they could do it much more easily online, and millions of people had shifted their preferences to smartphones by the time the 2010s unfolded.

Professional video gaming and eSports were still finding their footing, but the early signs were showing that a huge market was unfolding. Within the space of a few years, tournaments and games were selling out stadiums across multiple continents, with millions of people tuning into streaming sites like Twitch and YouTube to watch the tournaments live.

Such was the size of this market that the emergence of betting markets soon became one of the main burgeoning subdivisions of this new industry. Examining how an eSports betting site operates in the modern market reveals dozens of professional video gaming tournaments to bet on. eSports has been a leading force in introducing innovative payment options, such as cryptocurrency, which is becoming a broader trend rippling through the gambling market.

The Achilles Heel Of Fighting Games

Although fighting games like Tekken and Mortal Kombat were not part of this initial buzz, millions of people still flocked to these games to play against friends and other combat gaming fans online. The success of Tekken 8, along with its constant updates to characters and new additions, is helping to sustain the buzz.

It’s the dynamics of fighting games that can pose the biggest challenge for eSports providers. It’s often multiplayer games that attract the most attention in the world of professional video gaming, and that’s because they bring an interlinked competitive edge, team players, and many different variables. Another vital element is the size of the audience.

Bigger audiences mean bigger advertising budgets and bigger prize pools. They become more lucrative, and although games like Tekken are synonymous with gaming culture, particularly in Japan, at the moment, they do not have the global audience or appeal to warrant the same prize pools, and do not have the same audiences.

Dota 2, for instance, consistently has prize pools that exceed $50 million. Until fighting games can tap into a market that has anywhere near the same size and potential, it’s going to be a big gap to bridge - and it’s not likely going to get any closer anytime soon.

Harnessing The Tech

As the eSports betting markets and the rise of games like Counter-Strike and Valorant have shown, there’s still potential for innovative ideas and new technology to cause disruption and challenge the status quo. Virtual Reality (VR) gaming has been a key talking point for some of the biggest names in tech since the start of this century.

Meta has poured enormous resources into the development of VR, and while they now seem to be distracted in their push toward AI, the work they have done over the years has meant that VR headsets have become cheaper. More gaming companies are working towards integrating it. If VR can become a part of fighting games, and some of the innovators in the world of AI can use it as a sandbox to develop their ideas, then there’s some room for growth.

The question remains, though, how big is the market for fighting eSports? Plenty of people enjoy this genre; I’m one of them. However, when it comes to sitting down and playing in an online tournament, it’s team games or longer-form solo games, such as NBA 2K or EA Sports FC, that get my pick. Times and trends can change quickly in gaming, and while it’s unlikely that fighting games will push eSports into a new era, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing that has happened, either.