The esports industry is predicted to be worth around $1.5 billion by the year 2020 with players competing for prizes of up to a staggering $24 million – it is no surprise that so many avid gamers are looking to get started with esports. As a relatively new industry, it can also be confusing and daunting to get started. Essentially, esports involves professional competitive gaming where individuals and teams compete in leagues before competing in gigantic final competitions. As with regular gaming, there are many different types of games that you can compete in multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games being the most popular. Here is a guide to get you started.
Finding A Specialty
The first step will be to decide what type of esports you want to compete in. As mentioned, MOBA games like League of Legends and DOTA 2 are incredibly popular, but this also makes them extremely competitive. There are then first-person shooters (FPS), sports games like FIFA, strategy games, card games, etc.
Starting A Channel
One of the reasons that esports is such a successful and lucrative industry is through spectators watching on platforms like Twitch. This means that you need to get set up with a channel and to gain as many followers as possible to raise your profile.
One obvious way to do this is to develop your skills so that people will want to watch you perform, but you can also do it by creating a high-quality, entertaining and eye-catching stream. You can do this with Visuals by Impulse which will allow you to customise your channel and improve the production value. You then need to advertise yourself across social media and raise your profile as best you can.
Learning & Practice
You may think that you are a great gamer, but you will be amazed at just how high the standard of play is even in amateur competitions. This means that you need to spend time working on your abilities which you can do through studying tactics and techniques, practising and even attending training camps.
Competing
You will now be ready to start competing at an amateur level which is the first step to becoming a professional. There are always lots of amateur competitions happening around the world which you can compete in online, and there may also be tournaments in nearby internet and gaming clubs.
Obviously, in order to go pro you will need to start dominating these tournaments which can take a lot of time and practice. When you are ready, you can then start with small esport events with prize pools of a few thousand dollars. It is then a matter of working your way up to the tournaments with larger prize pools (there are usually qualifier stages for these competitions).
Earning money by playing video games for a living sounds like a dream, and it certainly can be a great way to make money, but you must be wary that it is incredibly competitive and a huge commitment to make. In addition to practising your craft and working your way through tournaments, it is also about growing your brand and making people aware of your abilities.
