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eSports and VR won’t explode this year

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eSports is growing every year, with more players, more tournaments and more cash being thrown around. The expectation, with many in industry, is that eSports is a huge growth market. One example of the belief in the future eSports is obviously Activision-Blizzard’s recent acquisition of the MLG.

Some analysts, however, aren’t as convinced it’ll be as much of a booming industry as people might hope.  In its 2016 Technology, Media, and Telecommunications predictions report, Deloitte global doesn’t think the near term potential of eSports is all that explosive.

“In some ways, eSports is comparable [to traditional sports],” Deloitte researchers Paul Lee and Duncan Stewart say. “A single event (but not that many per year) may attract 40,000 people watching live, and tens of millions watching over the Web. This could be interpreted as meaning that ‘eSports is bigger than basketball.’ That may be true, when measured by audience size for an individual event, but in dollar terms, eSports is not yet playing in the big leagues.”

They prognosticate that it will grow, seeing revenues of up to $500 million in 2016 – which is pretty steady, but muted growth.

Another industry they don’t think will take over the world just yet is Virtual Reality.

“Virtual reality is a fantastic innovation which can demonstrate the cutting edge of what technology is capable of today,” the analysts said. “VR’s capability is likely to improve further still over the years as processors improve, screen resolution increases yet further, and content creators learn how to create for the format. That said, as can happen with emerging technologies, there is considerable hype about the impact of VR in the near-term.

Any company that is considering VR in any regard should have a careful look at the likely addressable market. Enthusiastic reactions to VR at trade fairs or at industry conferences, based on a few minutes of usage, may not convert into mass market demand.”

Instead, they believe it’ll be a niche market, all the way through to 2017, where it may escape the shackles of nerddom.

Virtual Reality-based eSports? Well, that’s just dead in the water, innit?

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Last Updated: January 14, 2016

No Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    January 14, 2016 at 14:04

    Damn you Deloitte, get out of my head!

    Reply

  2. Loftus

    January 14, 2016 at 14:13

    I would get behind that Virtual Reality-based eSports

    Reply

    • Original Heretic

      January 14, 2016 at 14:15

      Hells yeah. Though something like that does rather remind me of that movie, Gamer. Not a great movie by any means, but the concept was pretty cool.

      Reply

  3. CongoKyle

    January 14, 2016 at 14:16

    No thank you. I can’t quite put finger on it, but VR in eSports just sounds so boring. inb4 all eSports are boring. I feel like it will take a lot away from the experience for viewers, and the goggles look ridiculous.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      January 14, 2016 at 14:23

      But what if you have an option to view the event through goggles and see what the players see? I’d love to see what AB de Villiers see when he smacks a six or what Bakkies Botha sees when he grabs a poor Frenchman by the neck

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        January 14, 2016 at 14:25

        You mean… around the shoulders and accidentally slips up.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          January 14, 2016 at 14:27

          Nope, this would be an “after the whistle” altercation

          Reply

  4. Original Heretic

    January 14, 2016 at 14:17

    I just wish they’d bring something like The VOID to SA sometime in my lifetime, preferably before I too old and decrepit to actually enjoy it.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      January 14, 2016 at 14:24

      I’m sure they’ll have wheelchair access

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        January 14, 2016 at 14:27

        Well, if it comes to that, as long as they also supply me with a colostomy bag for all those jumps scares.

        Reply

  5. RinceThis

    January 14, 2016 at 14:31

    Is that because it’s not really a sport?

    Reply

    • Loftus

      January 14, 2016 at 14:37

      And chess is? 😛

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        January 14, 2016 at 14:43

        Nope, it’s a past time or hobby 😛 Should never have been in the Olympics.

        Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      January 14, 2016 at 15:06

      Come now, be a sport ;P

      Reply

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