Virtual entertainment is rapidly gaining momentum, and some, especially distinguished ones, have long fit into our daily lives. The leaders in this industry are undoubtedly eSports disciplines. The pace of development of e-sports does not cease to amaze even the most experienced analysts, striking in its scope. Broadcasts of key cyberdisciplinary events not only compete with classic sports, but sometimes surpass them in rating indicators.
Quite a lot of people want to become if not an active part of this gambling world, then at least passive. Someone likes to broadcast from “Twitch”, someone is engaged in the analysis of game processes and puts it all on “YouTube”, and some set a serious goal - to become real e-sportsmen. Well, someone is satisfied with the sofa viewing of virtual battles.
Let's try to make a small rating and designate the most popular e-sports disciplines. Participants in the rating are distinguished by large prize pools, colorful tournaments and experienced players.
5th place - StarCraft 2
The first part of this cult strategy in real time has been a recognized leader for many years, but time is inexorable even for such masterpieces. The developers decided that the king should be replaced by his heir, and released a sequel - "Starcraft-2."
The whole essence of the game is to build a base, strengthen their positions, further expand territories and intervene against the enemy. The phased process allows you to constantly change your tactics and flexibly respond to the actions of the opponent.
The Blizzard company performed a titanic work, and the game turned out to be close to perfection. The second part of the “military craft” turned out to be even more balanced, the gameplay acquired freshness and visual adjustment, but retained all the advantages of the first part.
The project achieved its goal and got into the rating of e-sports disciplines not only thanks to the gameplay, but also to the intelligently developed in-game improvement system, coupled with the updated Battle.Net.
Tournaments
In 2015, about 200 world tournaments were held, and the amount of the prize fund reached $ 3 million. We can say with confidence that the brainchild of Blizzards will stay on the top lines of e-sports for a long time, especially since the new add-on released this year has seriously fanned the fans' interest in the genre.
4th place - Smite
MOBA e-sports disciplines (multiplayer online battle arena) are not uncommon, but Smythe compares favorably with its fellow workers. If most games of this kind tell about everything that is happening, as it were, from above and at a slight angle, then in the “Smayte” camera is placed behind the champion’s back. Such a move by developers radically changes the gameplay, but at the same time leaves the classic features of the MOVA genre.
The goal of the game is the same as that of many games in the battle arena: to destroy the enemy base and at the same time try not to die. The classics of the genre are supported, with the only difference being that you control the hero in the first person, as in the same "Counter-Strike".
Through the efforts of the ESL eSports League and the developers' great desire, the project entered eSports disciplines at the stage of open beta testing. “Smythe” in a surprisingly short time gathered a whole army of fans of two genres at once, and the rally took the third place in the list of popular MOV.
Last year, there were 10 fairly large Smythe tournaments with a prize pool of $ 3 million.At the end of 2016, Hi-Rez Studios is preparing even more grandiose events, promising to shake well the stagnant e-sports disciplines in the MOVA genre.
3rd place - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
After the not-so-successful first version of Counter-Strike, Hidden Path and Valve did a good job of fixing bugs and released a sequel, Global Offensive. It is worth noting separately that the development of the project was carried out in close cooperation with experienced cybersportsmen, therefore it was initially positioned as a new discipline. Despite all the difficulties and the long development time, the goals were achieved, and the main e-sports disciplines were replenished with the CS: GO project.
The goals in the game are quite simple: kill the enemy, otherwise he will kill you. On numerous maps, there is an eternal struggle between terrorists and special services, where the success of the former will be an exploded bomb and hostages, and the successful mission for the latter is to neutralize or save people.
Last year, almost three hundred significant tournaments took place on the new Counter-Strike, and about $ 4.5 million was divided between the winners. Although this figure is far from the leader’s position, many CS: GO admirers joke that “Contra” takes in quantity, not quality, of tournaments.
2nd place - DOTA 2
The famous modification of Defense of the Antisense gave rise to the equally popular worldwide MOV - “Dota 2”. Although the project lags behind the leader in terms of the number of players, it can compete with anyone as a large-scale e-sports discipline.
The game takes place in an arena with three lines - upper, middle and lower. The main task of the players is to destroy the enemy throne and at the same time try to get as much gold as possible by killing other players and farm. The average duration of one game is approximately 40 minutes.
activity
Last year Dota-2 didn’t have many significant events, but the prize pool is very impressive - more than $ 18 million! Of course, it’s no secret that the main part of this fund (74%) was filled by the players themselves, buying in-game items (“donat”) and, thus, making their favorite e-sports discipline one of the most profitable. Separately, it is worth noting that the Russian-speaking community is an ardent fan of Dota-2, while Europe, North America and Oceania prefer the leader of the rating.
1st place - League of Legends
League of Legends is the most popular e-sports discipline in the world, and the Riot developer company includes people who are the founders of the genre. No one could even have imagined that during the alpha and open beta testing, League of Legends would become the most popular MOBA and hold a leading position among all online projects.
The task for the players is simple, but at the same time difficult to accomplish - to destroy the enemy nexus. Players diverge into three lines - the upper, middle and lower, where the main task is to farm, push the towers and kill the opponents along the way. Unlike Dota-2, the fifth player, the forester, plays a very important role. His task is to constantly help other lines and farm large monsters, which provide significant improvements for the team.
A distinctive feature of the “League of Legends” is its anime character, which was enjoyed by many fans of the genre. It is also worth noting that the discipline, according to e-sportsmen, is distinguished by a more adequate community, in contrast to the same “Dota-2”.
Discipline also ranked first in terms of the number of online players: the figure approached 30 million people, which is almost 70% of all existing MOBAs. All eSports disciplines (the list of the best MOV, POV and RTS) could not overcome such a threshold, and this says a lot.
Tournaments
The prize pool, although less than that of Dota-2, is still impressive - about $ 7 million (excluding additional and amateur competitions).Tournaments in the League of Legends are distinguished by their scale and enchantment: world-class stars, original shows, the most beautiful surroundings and a huge number of spectators both at the championships themselves and at the monitor screens.
