Will esports become mainstream after first Overwatch League grand finals? | High Noon | ESPN

Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre debate if esports will become mainstream after the first Overwatch League grand finals at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

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[Hennybear]

In 2016 more people were watching ESports then the Olympics. Let that sit in your minds for a second.

[bicauseofme]

Normal athletes would get destroyed by this kids if the tried to play against them, same way these kids would get destroyed by athletes in there own sport. There’s a reason their pros playing for a million dollars

[spitfyre]

Really appreciate mainstream media going ahead and giving esports a chance.
love the stuff the ESPN guys are doing.

[coreymiller]

The issue with esports gaining mainstream popularity is that there's too many games. If you don't play football you can still understand football, it's been the same for a hundred years. Video games just don't have that kind of staying power in the market, and each one has different rules, characters or "teams" or different gameplay all together. This means that only those who actually play the game will get enjoyment out of watching it. I do think that those who play are seeing an uptick in interest for the pro scene, but out of 30 million players, only around 500, 000 watched the finals on ESPN, Disney, and Twitch.

It's just not feasible for this to reach the "mainstream". Having said that, if your game has 30 million fucking players you assholes don't get to have a say in whether or not it's on ESPN. We'll watch it, it's bringing in more viewers than bowling, WAY more than the WNBA, and it's a competitive, skill based GAME that requires countless hours of practice, coaching, and sacrifice to master. if you don't like it, don't watch it, but it's *going* to air, because people are *going* to watch it.

[icekapp]

Pro athletes would have a tough time even killing one of the esport pros. There’s a lot more to the game than good hand eye coordination. You have to know hero skills, positioning, what heroes counter them and what heroes they counter, etc.

[tonybryant]

They make more than the WNBA players lol

[fhf]

No way it overtakes the all popular bowling and fishing on Sundays lol

[NewYork]

It will slowly happen, if ESPN starts covering it.

[danielgadberry]

If you're smart and you like esports you should start looking into majors and degrees for the entertainment industry and the jobs it takes to make these events happen. This will become huge in the next 5-10 years. The opportunity is there.

[hanyolo]

I like that these guys respect what esports are and that's all we can ask for, were not asking you to like we just want respect it takes just as much if not more dedication to become one of the best in the world at competitive gaming as it does in any other sport, and I do find it funny that some people in the comments are saying we don't want to see this but "esports" are gonna be around for a long time and its only getting bigger, it's what this generation and the next generation are doing Playing Video Games.

[Tatoru]

Yes but its already CSGO. OW is falling off and from a spectators standpoint hard to keep a track of whats going on if you dont play the game. CS is simple but with high skill ceiling making it much more enjoyable to watch, even for non gamers.

[Kruppt]

I've been watching others playing video games since the 90s when there bowling alleys that had arcade games Street Fighter 2, Virtual Fighter, Mortal Combat, shooter games, pinball having said that I wouldn't go to any event to watch these huge tournaments as video games were never about becoming obsessed with one or 2 games and treating it like a job to get to a certain pro level to me at least. I play them to relax, challenge myself casual like and play them with real life friends.

As the growth of video games over the last 20 years people have taken playing them from casual and once in awhile to extremes where it takes over your whole life, kids, teens, 20s and 30s and older. That's unfortunate that many people don't have the self control to be disciplined especially when it comes to mmo, Dota style games, freemium and the

[bosslax]

esports shouldn’t have the word sports in the title. I’m a gamer so I don’t dislike gaming, but it’s just not really a sport.

[CommentFanatic]

They had 300k viewers for the finals.... how the hell will that make esports mainstream? Other games have had 20 million viewers and it didnt make esports mainstream so how is 300k gonna make it mainstream.

[charlesblack]

As an athlete who also grew up a gamer, stop asking for respect nerds, you're not getting it, you're not supposed to, YOURE NERDS.

[AlxThSeal]

As a (former) gamer and both a traditional sports & esports fan, esports will never be a sport. The two are and should remain separate, distinct, branches of entertainment. Esports is growing insanely quickly; from 10 years ago to now, it has grown at a quicker pace and brought in more interest & investors than any other traditional sport or entertainment branch has ever done in such a short period of time.

Esports is already bigger than many, if not most, traditional sports. It's obviously not yet at the levels of football, American football, basketball, etc., but it's getting ever so slightly closer each day.

Mine (23 years of age) is the first generation to embrace this and find esports "normal". Even as such a young person, I was skeptical and going "Huh? The fuck is this.. these people are getting paid to play video games? Is this a joke?, until I saw the 2014 League World Championship, Imagine Dragons' live performance, and that insane 50k+ crowd.. So we can't blame older people for not getting it if even we were kinda skeptical at first. But from this generation and on, it will become a completely normal, regular thing. Esports is now a legit career path! Be it coaching, color/play-by-play commentating, being a pro player, manager, sports psychologist, analyst, whatever..

[gregrussell]

I like sports - Doesn't mean I like men's volleyball. I like eSports - Doesn't mean I like Overwatch league. IMO FPS games are some of the worst to watch. It reminds me of watching some Paintball tournament on ESPN 12.

[Bells_KB]

Even as a gamer I hope it does not become mainstream...

[lilliamcruz]

ESPN I'm tired of you forcing your subs to like WNBA and accept videogames as sports, if it wasn't for Stephen A i would unsubscribe

[TheFabulousFlapjack]

I don't mind Esports at all. Hell I'm a gamer myself. But seriously ESPN can you stop posting this stuff on here? ESports is not actually a sport. Almost as bad as calling them athletes