By Logan Gilligan
Special to In Motion
Sports have been a primary source of entertainment for centuries and they’re expected to continue growing. But within the last decade, there’s been an emergence of a new kind of sport called eSports.
Due to the popularity of video games in the 21st century, it was inevitable that competition would spark from it. Tournaments are a regular eSports occurrence and most of them gather hundreds if not thousands of gamers who want to prove themselves to the world. Some say, however, that this isn’t an advisable decision when it comes to career choices. They question the future of gaming and ask if it’s even possible to support yourself off video games alone.
Owner of an eSports organization known as Cutting Edge eSports, Gabriel Soto has been a Call of Duty player since 2007 and started competing in 2012 with an impressive Top 24 finish at his very first event at Major League Gaming in LG Anaheim, Calif. Soto started Cutting Edge eSports all on his own in 2013 with the intent of being a small host for tournaments, but as time went on he expanded it into a full-fledged eSports organization as investors took interest.
Despite his achievements, Soto is hesitant to dedicate himself to competitive gaming as a career.
“As of right now my decision is to do eSports as a side investment. To create it as a main career in the future will require that to happen for investment to continue to come in.” says Soto.
He thinks that eSports are on the rise in a great way. In their current state, however. Soto thinks it’s impractical to compete because the money a gamer makes in an eSports career does not offer financial stability.
A player by the name Cyrus “Cagt” Gharakhanian has recently made the change in his life to pursue a full-time career into eSports. Cagt has played Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo Wii U for a little over a year now and hasn’t stopped since. He recently has made significant progress in his career growth after becoming sponsored by another eSports organization by the name of Insomnia Gaming.
Cagt has always had a passion for Smash, despite only picking up a competitive nature within a year. “Smash has always been a very big passion of mine, and I always had the dream of pursuing my passion as a career. So the more I did to the Smash community, and the better I got at the game, it really motivated me to go to the next level.” Cagt explained. While he’s a firm believer in the pursuit of passion, he cautions other people into plunging too far into an ultimately bad decision. Waiting to see what happens seems like the best choice one could make right now, he says.
eSports are moving up in the world and nothing should stop that. Several TV networks, such as ESPN, have embraced such change in culture and streamed live eSports events in front of the millions of viewers. But it’s still in the early stages of development. Currently, the eSports genre is being pioneered by today’s gamers and competitors.
Fans imagine that in as little as a decade things will be much different, as the scene grows and expands. The possibilities are endless, they say, even if it doesn’t seem like it now. Though it may not seem the wisest choice to chase an eSports dream today, good things could come to those who wait.