The Digital Revolution In The Olympics: Esports

Let’s face it. We are talking about two of the world’s greatest, if not oldest sporting events.

- Advait Berde

Well, considering that the first esports event happened in 1972 and the first tournament happened in 1980, it is safe to say that esports is old too! Like the Olympics stand as a testament to the thousands of years of sports enthusiasm shared among humans, esports too is an insignia of global gaming enthusiasts and their urge to compete amongst themselves. Both share the same goal; of pitting the world’s best and deciding the world’s greatest. Now it would be natural to ask, why so much emphasis on Olympics and esports? That is because as of the 2024 Summer Olympics event calendar, Esports will be conducted as a series of demonstration events. However, esports has definitely not been an overnight phenomenon. As mentioned earlier, the first esports event happened way back in 1972. So how did it make it so far since then? Let’s find out.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ESPORTS:

To keep it short, the first esports event was hosted soon after the first computer game was created. It was in October of 1972 at Stanford University where about two dozen players competed in a five-man free-for-all, as well as a team event. This was the first stint of a five-man team, which has since become a norm.

It was soon followed by the Space Invaders Championship which saw 10,000 participants since the game Space Invaders was a household name during that era. It would not take long for esports to tap into a global audience. With the rise of the internet and the ever-increasing number of online players, the then-big number of 10,000 began to look minuscule in front of the millions of players logging in every day. This was the beginning of the multi-billion dollar esports industry.