The growth esports has maintained can be measured by economic gains and rise in viewership, both of which have seemed to sprout during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Economically, esports has produced immense market revenue spikes in the billions since 2020, including the rise in advertisement revenue, tournament prize money, streaming, and merger and acquisition deals (Geyser, 2023; Hughes, 2023; Nordland, 2023; Sharma, 2023).  This economic boom is seen as a byproduct of viewership gains in professional gaming over the same timeline, much of which can be attributed to the streaming service Twitch (Gardner, 2023; Geyser, 2023). Twitch’s market share and billions of hours watched worldwide shows the gaming landscape’s success and potential, as well as other studies that similarly saw record viewership in professional gaming events, a steady rise in esports viewership, and implementation of esports on the collegiate level (Nordland, 2023). Furthermore, a variety of research has pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic as a large part of this spike, as studies indicate the peaks of esports came during and after the year 2020 (Billings & Mikkilineni, 2023; Gardner, 2023; Geyser, 2023; Nordland, 2023). 

Recent studies on the esports landscape have researched why esports players indulge in this practice, looking for motivations that different groups of players may have. When looking at this research, two main groups seem to emerge: “competitive” gamers and “non-competitive” gamers (Hedlund, 2023; Orsoglu et al., 2023). Both groups have reported heavy engagement as esports players, but seem to have varying reasons as to why they play. For “competitive” gamers, competition appears to be the primary motivation to play, but several other factors also have importance (Hedlund, 2023). For the “non-competitive” players, motivations get more complicated, with a wide variety of factors playing a role.(Orsoglu et al., 2023). 

As mentioned previously, Twitch has become an integral piece in the rise of esports over the last few years. Studies have also researched why esports consumers turned to Twitch for their consumption practices. In recent research, two main reasons Twitch has become the hub for esports streaming become clear. Streamers’ personalities and play-styles draw in viewership, and the abundance of positive streaming communities creates loyal fans. In multiple studies, esports players have made it clear that watching streamers play video games is often more amusing than playing the game itself, and by the nature of live streaming, viewers can notice strong parasocial experiences with the streamer due to their connection with its audience (Kohls et al., 2023; Sherrick et al., 2023). Additionally, positive streaming communities are more likely to attract fans and build loyal viewers, with the streamers counted on as leaders to form positive relationships (Sherrick et al., 2023). With Twitch’s chat feature and undeniable transparency in streaming, positive reinforcement and communication seems to be the key for Twitch streamers to maintain their audiences (Obreja, 2023; Mazza and Russo, 2023). 

As esports continues to find its way in the world of entertainment, professionals in the field are starting to find legitimate comparisons between esports and the traditional sports entertainment business (Lee, 2023; Kohls et al., 2023). Additionally, with certain commonalities between the two platforms, researchers see the possibility of traditional sports fans also participating in esports (Norland, 2023; Hughes, 2023). With esports recent rise in sponsorship, live ticketing, streaming, and investment from professional sports figures, esports has been able to draw parallels to the way traditional sports has become so successful. Additionally, the acknowledgement from prominent sports figures becomes a marketing scheme to sports fans. In terms of viewership, although esports has not reached the same amount of fans as the world’s top sports, esports stadiums, journalistic coverage, and fanbases can be compared between the mediums.