Introduction
Electronic sports, or esports, are a rapidly growing billion-dollar industry and an international phenomenon with millions of fans. It describes organized and competitive video gaming, allowing competitors from varying esports teams and leagues to face off with professionals in the same familiar games. These tournaments have not only provided a million-dollar-making avenue but also instilled in the community a sense of financial commitment designed to better others’ lives.
The revenue within the esports ecosystem currently stands at $1.8 billion, and it is projected to hit $2.89 billion by 2025. A recent analysis of esports tournaments revealed that there will be about 46 million esports viewers in the United States by 2023. Globally, esports has over 380 million viewers with over 165 million esports fans.
How do esports take part in charity worldwide?
There are many ways esports can take part in volunteering and charity, and one avenue is the annual World Esports Days. World Esports Day is a worldwide celebration of competitive gaming that aims to raise awareness of esports and its activities. The community, including esports bookmakers, has recognized the importance of supporting various humanitarian interventions.
Also, esports bookmakers have been making donations for different humanitarian interventions. The British eSports Association, a non-profit organization that promotes esports, teamed up with Special Effect and Percent in 2020 to create awareness, run streams, and raise money that would be donated to Special Effect, a charity organization that ensures inclusion in the lives of people with physical disabilities. The special effect would help people with disabilities play video games by utilizing cutting-edge technology.
Correlations between regular sports and esports charity
Regular sports embark on charity interventions the same way esports professionals, including partners (https://tips.gg/), actively engage and donate to charities. The motivations for raising funds for charity and streamlining the donation process for donors and organizations may be the same, but with different approaches. Regular sports have people sign up for charity sports events, and those who are directly affected by the charity’s cause may also sign up. Regular sports are part of education because of their close link to education. The purpose of esports is to raise funds for charity. The potential of either of the sports to make an enormous impact is substantial. This will depend on the number of sporting events and the frequency of occurrences.
Examples of charity in esports
The purpose of raising funds for charity has never wavered among the esports community. As you can see from the examples below, teams and professionals in esports have done a lot of great things.
The Four Millionaires and Paul event had four streamers collecting money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They sold T-shirts to raise $280,000 for the hospital.
Gamers Without Borders brought together esports teams and athletes in head-to-head matches to support worldwide vaccine distribution. The contest had one winner who went home with a share of the $10 million charity prize fund. Winners could select a charity to support.
Freerice is one of the earlier adopters of gamification in charity. To date, Freerice, through the World Food Programme, has donated over 214 billion worth of rice globally.
Conclusion
Esports have made tremendous contributions to the world of charity. While regular sports have also made efforts in this line, their approach is different. The Esports community and Esports teams have made substantial contributions, but more could be done by increasing the frequency of tournaments and donations to charity.