A great year is coming for Esports in Latin America

For several years now, Esports have positioned themselves as a great source of entertainment for young people and adults around the world. Games like Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Fifa, Fortnite, Dota, among many others, move millionaire figures in tournaments, sponsorships and salaries to professional players.

For example, that young Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf won $3 million in a Fortnite tournament and Faker won or $ 1,255,465.80 in League of Legends, according to Esports Earnings estimates. This proves that the business of video games and professional tournaments is a reality.

Despite the fact that the largest markets are still North America, Europe and Asia, Latin America is considered the third fastest-growing. According to the analysis company Newszoom, the use of cell phones to play various franchises helped Latin America and the Caribbean to increase profits by 17%, moving closer to more powerful markets.

By 2021, the video game sports market is expected to generate around one billion dollars, which represents a growth of 15.7%, according to Newszoom. Also, the highest income will come from sponsorships and broadcasting rights (74.8%). Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the numbers continue to grow. The EFE agency highlighted that during the second quarter of 2020, stream audiences increased by 50% (figures from the Peruvian Association of Electronic Sports and Videogames).

Precisely, the Esports Bar platform estimates that by the end of this year, there will be 55 million followers of Esports in Latin America and 70 million in 2022. Even the streaming platform Twitch believes that by that same year, there may be more followers in this region of the world than in all of North America. However, several experts assure that despite the great growth in the number of followers in Latin America, the main challenge is to monetize this audience, since the pandemic has hit the economies of the region and people look to Esports for entertainment with little expense.

Read also: The rise of e-sports in times of quarantine

Infrastructure

So much has been the growth of this sector that even in Mexico an events center for Esports tournaments was inaugurated this year in its capital. The Arena Esports in Ciudad de México measures 300 square meters and is equipped with 4K screens to host the most important video game events in Latin America and the world. The venue has a capacity of 100 people. This event center had an investment of 2.5 million dollars and was financed in an alliance between the giants of Mexican entertainment: Cinemex and Tv Azteca and the creator of the LOL video game, RIOT Games. Despite the fact that due to the pandemic, several events were canceled with which the stadium would be inaugurated, it is foreseen that by 2021 this could be one of the most important for the industry.

According to Esports Bar, companies such as Movistar, Claro, Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Gillette, Burger King, Motorola, Samsung, Ax, Mastercard and many others, are already investing large sums between advertising, sponsorship and event organization.