Many believe that the first matches and tournaments in esports appeared literally 10-15 years ago. And they immediately entered the international arena, began to bring players a huge income, and this market itself immediately received a multi-billion dollar budget.
Of course it isn’t. The computer games industry has been developing for a long time, until it was recognized as a sport, and bookmakers began to accept bets on cyber competitions. Want to bet on your favorite team but don’t know where? You can use the information on this site to make sure that the bookmaker is reliable.
The first esports tournaments: only for insiders!
It is generally accepted that the #1 digital computer game is Spacewar!, developed in 1962 by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She, in fact, laid the foundation for all future gameplay:
- competition with other people, not a machine;
- limited game resources and the need to extract them;
- the presence of certain difficulties in pumping, etc.
And in 1972, a cyber tournament was held at the facilities of Stanford University in the USA. Since the action of the game took place in space, the competition was called the “Galactic Olympiad”. It was attended by 24 people, one way or another connected with engineering, technical and exact sciences. That is, students and employees of several leading universities in the world. The time has not yet come for a wide audience.
Milestones in the development of video games and the transition to a professional basis
1980 – Space Invaders Championships takes place, which brought together about 10 thousand participants.
1982 – the rules are streamlined and refereeing is introduced (national American tabloid Twin Galaxies).
In 1988, for the first time, gameplay became available via the Internet. Up to 16 users could play at the same time. Given that at that time access to the network was available to very few, then only employees of research institutes, universities or companies of the Silicon Valley level “fought”.
By the end of the 90s. of the last century, professional leagues were founded, which grew out of the clans of popular games. Counter-Strike, released in 1999, allowed team competitions to be held on a common base for all, which helped gamers to move into the category of real athletes.
In 2000, the WCG (World Cyber Games) is held in Seoul. Bookmakers are already placing bets on the results of matches and the position in the standings, favorite teams and individual “stars” appear. Large cash prizes are up for grabs. That is, this is already a real sport, albeit with the cyber prefix.
