Arcade games are now mostly considered to be games of skill, but it wasn’t always as straightforward as they have been classed as games of chance in the past.
Any game of chance that requires a player to spend money in order to attempt to win a prize, most times a lot more money, would fall under gambling in most countries and would have to be regulated. With the emergence of esports, video games are now categorized as skill-based given the many competitions, and leagues, as well as the money being paid put to the best players around the world.
One isn’t consistently lucky at anything, video games are no different. No matter how far they date back, you’re going to be considered an expert if you hardly lose. While most people wouldn’t have imagined this as recently as 10 years ago, gaming is now an occupation; and quite a lucrative one at that. Even older-style games like arcade titles provide an avenue to make money.
Technology has made it so that gamification has crept into a vast number of areas, including gambling. Things like leaderboards, trophies, badges, and other visible accomplishments you would see on a gambling app or website are all part of gamification. Esports is already crossing gaming boundaries and there’s no telling where it could go next. Many of the biggest sports teams in the world have gaming divisions, while collaborations have proven to be wildly successful. That was made evident when Esports Rising hosted a crossover event with the MLB in Kansas last month.
Residents could reap significant rewards via the use of a Kansas sports betting promo code on esports and other sporting events in the state and outside. With gamification playing its part and continuing to grow, while gambling companies are still realizing the value as many of them offer odds on gaming events now, it has kept up its attraction among fans. While the value of the esports market is difficult to put into numbers, it is expected to hit $5.74 billion by 2030 given the worldwide exposure, especially during the pandemic years.
“The pandemic definitely brought esports much more mainstream,” Nielsen Sports’ head of strategy and consulting, international, Phelan Hill noted in a piece from Sportspromedia.com earlier this year.
“All of a sudden you had acknowledgment of esports on main broadcasters. It was on the BBC and Sky [in the UK]. It certainly brought it to the forefront. “Because you’re starting from a slightly lower base, you saw massive rises in growth commercially. So, theoretically, at that point, there was real buoyancy. Fast forward to now, in some ways I don’t think things have progressed on.”
The esports model still relies on sponsorship to remain profitable, which could be a problem as brands are becoming more cautious. “Some brands realize they’re now not getting that return,” Hill explains. “It’s becoming a lot more competitive for sponsorship dollars,” he adds. “Ultimately, people are questioning a little bit the numbers which came out [during Covid].”
Hill also points out that brands looking to reach a younger demographic could do so via cheaper means such as TikTok and other social media platforms. He’s also claiming that investors who were quick to get in on the esports scene are now becoming a bit more miserly. Venture capital firms were among the first to get in on the game as the growth metrics were attractive. However, things haven’t quite panned out as expected on the sponsorship front.
“The first is there continue to be tonnes of misconceptions about esports and gaming flying around,” he says. “That it’s bad for society, that it’s antisocial, that it’s only for kids. The second issue is macroeconomic circumstances. You’ve got rising interest rates, inflation, supply chain pressure, and the cost of living crisis. All of these have come together at the same time. We’ve also got investment capital [being] more hesitant than it was in the past because of that.
That isn’t to say esports is dying. It’s here to stay. Who knows? One day, there might not be such dependence on sponsorships anymore, though brands will continue to attach their names to players, teams, and leagues. That’s just how things work.
