Serious Money at Stake as Europe, China E-sport legends Face Off
The story of e-sports keeps getting juicier. The newest discipline in the sporting world has received another boost as the best from Europe and China fight it out for an over 1million USD purse. The November 10 2019 battle took place in France and the title was League of Legends.
Besides the huge prize money, the game was also a fertile venue for the fast growing base of e-sports lovers to congregate. The contest to destroy the opponent’s Nexus was another chance for millions to get in on some juicy action. Fans were also able stream the live action on Twitch and watch as FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) of China go up against Europe’s G2 E-Sport’s. Around 100 million fans followed the action last year and the number should rise or remain this year.
Tenth Edition
League of Legends has only been around for a decade, so you might guess that even the oldest players are still fine in the art. Do not expect this to be a charity or testimonial game where people just come to have fun. It was a battle of the best at the moment similar to the World cup or continental finals. Actually, all players in this edition had ages ranging between 19 and 24 years.
As the ten players (five in each team) squared it out, the profile of the e-sport competitions keeps rising. The 2018 viewership was in the same dimensions as that of the Superbowl, so you can get a picture of what it really is.
Asian dominance in the competitions has been rife. In the last seven finals, teams from Asia have collected six wins. South Korea have collected five and China are the defending Champions. It was, thus, another important occasion for teams from Europe to make a shot at culling this dominance. That was however not to be as the Chinese came out on top and successfully defended the crown. Although the Europeans had the favourites tag, the history card turned out to be the determinant on yet another occasion. Looks like the Europeans will have to go back and regroup for the 11th edition.
Gender Balance
Both teams are comprised entirely of male players. This is a pointer at the slow uptake that has been there in female uptake of e-sports. The topic has been part of many e-sports discussions, with questions arising whether e-sports should be gender separated or mixed.
From the huge purse, the winners make away with around 835,000 USD while the second best team pockets around 300,000 USD. This is an indicator of the huge investment that is being made in e-sports. LoL, as the game is abbreviated, is a product of Riot Games and they appear serious about developing the title. There have been major and minor upgrades throughout the time of its existence.
Players have been actively involved in the modifications made at each turn, while others have proved to be genius innovations. Either way, the League of Legends being played in 2019 is the best version of the game so far.
Also don’t forget that 2020 you can invest in electronic sport stocks!