October 28, 2013
Throughout the years, there have been many arguments about whether or not gaming is a sport or if it could be called professional. As the years go by, gaming has taken a big leap from years ago. Nowadays, gaming is considered a professional sport or even a job where they use their winnings to feed their families or getting the resources need to put food on the tables. A few years back, you would think that someone who plays video games for a living could not make 900,000 dollars. In the year, 2013, professional players can make up to 900,000 a year. One of the professional players in the League of Legends scene makes about 950,000 dollars of winnings, merchandise sellings, streaming, salaries as well as personal sponsors. The major League of Legends tournament a few months ago had a prize pool of 2 million dollars.A few months back, the U.S government declared that gaming is a professional sport, they even gave visas to players from different regions so traveling to play in tournaments would be easier to get to. I think that this is a pretty big step in the gaming scene because even the government is saying that it is.
League of Legends is not the only game that can be considered a job, there are many other games that could be played as a job. Call of Duty and Starcraft 2 are just some of the other games that are popular where you can make money from. I think that gaming as a sport will start rising in popularity, many people enjoy playing these games and people are willing to spectate the game as well, just like in a hockey game or basketball game, there are fans cheering for the team that they want to win, there are even tournaments where you can win trophies and I think that competitive gaming will someday be on par with the other sports.
-Kevin
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