For instance, coverage of a battle royale is going to be drastically more complex than a game like Mortal Kombat and completely different than MOBA coverage. Asking one entity to develop the infrastructure to cover all games is quite a reach. This leaves developers in charge of covering their own events and lets them dictate how they set up tournaments, pay athletes, and cover the events. Could there ever really be a unified esports community under this system? Probably not. This means a lack of regulation, consistency, and viewership will always be an industry-wide conc

Part of the problem with esports is that there are simply too many games. There are hundreds of titles with professional leagues that award prize money, host tournaments, and stream competitions online. Each of these games and leagues has their own fans and their own way of doing thi

MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) was once that genre in gaming. League of Legends was bringing in big money, Dota 2 was a force in esports, and copycats were springing up all over the place. In truth, that hasn't really changed. Sure, everyone is streaming battle royale and auto chess now, but MOBA is still alive and well. League of Legends keeps paying Riot's bills, and Dota 2 still brings in those __ huge prize pools . The copycats have slowed somewhat as developers flock to make auto chess games. The goal for MOBA developers now seems to be to tap into empty markets. That's probably the inspiration behind Genesis , a new MOBA exclusive to P

Still, esports is often treated like one entity. In reality, individual games play out more like anthologies—unconnected by the umbrella term that defines them. Like a thin layer of algae on the surface of an abandoned pool, esports as a title masks the diverse ecosystem that exists beneath the surface, suffocating its variety and preventing outsiders from getting in the water. Even if you are a huge fan of one title, other games remain largely uninteresting and impossible to watch. As a result, can anyone really call themselves a fan of espo

Coverage is bad because esports are hard to watch, not the other way around. It all stems from an inability to produce universal coverage. Too much diversity or segmented viewership may not seem like an issue on the surface, but it is. Maybe you’re simply saying "well, no one is asking you to watch every esport," and that’s fair. Maybe communities are fine existing in their own worlds—far out of the reach of other gaming communities. But it does create a barrier for the industry to break into mainstream entertainm

Building up your hero is automated by default. If you don't "pre-order" a late-game item, the game will prompt you to buy the next affordable recommended item as soon as you have the gold. When you level up, the game will automatically apply a point to an ability. Since you can't freely choose targets with a mouse pointer, there's a priority system. With a click of the left stick, your hero will cycle between targeting creeps, structures, or enemy heroes. It's all streamlined, designed for console players who probably never played a PC MOBA. Fortunately for experienced players, it can all be turned off. Well, except for the game pad controls. The devs are planning to eventually put Genesis on PC, but have stated that they don't plan on incorporating mouse and keyboard contr

Genesis has a top-down view, mid goes solo, bottom duos, and hopefully someone jungles. Thankfully, every Best Support champion has the ability to teleport to friendly towers. There's a cooldown, of course, but it's still nice to have that ability not locked to a summoner spell. The shop is also available everywhere, not just at base. This all seems designed to expedite the laning phase. There's even an option to begin with your character at level four. It's like the Genesis devs know that farming creeps is boring and are helping players get to team fights fas

With Junglers seeing nerfs to the amount of experience gained from every monster camp, they are under increased pressure to play what is strong. Fortunately, even though there were nerfs to jungle overall, there are still champions that can be incredibly strong in the r

With studios scrambling to keep up with light-speed growth, a reactive wait-and-see attitude seems like the industry-wide solution."I think it has all the tools to really go the distance and become something powerful," says Peter Guber, CEO of Mandalay Entertainment, to CNBC about the future of esports. This roughly translates to, "it looks cool, but no ones's really thought about it too hard yet." Until it becomes something more powerful, you can find me playing games instead of watching t

Shrines provide strategic assistance by restoring both mana and hit points to a hero and nearby allies with a five-minute cooldown. Knowing when to use these and when to save them is a cornerstone to high level play, as the worst mistake a player can make is use the shrine with there is no threat, too early in a skirmish, or when there is clearly an opportunity to replenish in another