Esports in 2016: the round-up

Esports is an ever growing field, already being worth a huge amount of money and only looking to get more valuable in 2017, and 2016 has had no shortage of reasons to get on the esports train. There has been excitement, lots of shocks, and entertainment in all kinds of games, so we at Gamereactor have summarised the esports year to get you in the mood for 2017.

League of Legends is arguably the biggest esport out there, and back in October SK Telecom T1 won the World Championship Series yet again, one of the biggest tournaments in the League of Legends scene. Although this was no surprise given their dominance of the field, winning championship after championship previously, their victory over Samsung Galaxy still gave a lot of excitement and anticipation over what they can do in 2017, heightened all the more by recent roster changes. Can we see SK Telecom T1 stay as good as they are?

There's no doubt that League of Legends will retain its popularity and success into 2017, however, as back in September developer Riot Games revealed that player numbers had surpassed 100 million, or, in other words, the equivalent of 1.35% of the population of the planet. The huge player base is matched by those who watch tournaments and matches online, as streaming is equally popular, with tournaments like the LCS and the All-Star tournament grabbing thousands of viewers.

With this growth of popularity for tournaments also comes an increase in money, however, it was with Dota 2 that the world record for largest final prize for an esports tournament was set. Yes, at The International this year the prize pool was a staggering $20 million US dollars, with Wings Gaming taking home nine million of that. Both of these figures set world records for largest prize pool and largest final prize respectively, and shows that money is certainly a big thing in esports these days.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has also continued to be a major esports title this year, with a whole host of tournaments being held, however, it is the upcoming Eleague Major in January that is getting people excited, as tournaments like IEM Oakland have served as a taster of the action we're expecting to see when a million US dollars are at stake in January. Now all the qualifiers are decided, all we have to do is play the waiting game.

2016 also saw the emergence of a new kid on the block for esports - Overwatch. Blizzard's latest shooter hit the scene guns blazing, becoming the most popular game in Korea's PC Bangs for a while, garnering a huge following, and teams have rushed to sign a roster for Overwatch, something that is all the more impressive considering it hasn't even been out for a full year. Along with this there have been tournaments like the Overwatch World Cup to push its status as a spectator esport too, and there's even an Overwatch League next year to get mouths watering.

Blizzard hasn't dropped the ball elsewhere though, as games like Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, and World of Warcraft still have thriving esports scenes, epitomised by BlizzCon, which hosted a variety of competitive matches and tournaments, one of the highlights being Pavel "Pavel" Beltukov's victory at the Hearthstone World Championship.

2016 was also a year where professional sports teams started to make major moves into esports, and FIFA 16/17 were popular titles to invest in, with Paris Saint-Germain FC, AS Monaco, Dynamo Kiev, and many more signing pro players. That's not limited to football teams, though, nor is it limited to football games, as IFK Helsinki back in November launched an Overwatch team, and US basketball team Philadelphia 76ers acquired Team Dignitas, so it seems more and more teams are seeing the potential for esports in the future.

More and more developers and fans are also seeing this potential as well, increasing their efforts to grow their titles as esports. Gears of War 4, for example, has launched a Pro Circuit, Street Fighter V's Capcom Pro Tour is gathering speed, and even Splatoon is starting to rear its head in the odd tournament, so hopefully next year we can see even more games being played competitively.

So it seems there's no stopping esports right now - whether you look at viewership, player numbers, or money involved, it's all looking good. With more and more people taking it seriously, too (Finland have this year officially recognised esports as a sport, for example), who knows what we'll see in 2017? One thing we do know, though, is that we're certainly looking forward to it.