Abstract
The phenomenon of eSports is not a recent development, despite popular opinion being that it emerged just in the last years. The roots of competitive gaming in fact date back to the beginning of computers. Since then, eSports has been part of the evolution of computers and first rose to popularity in the arcade era. With the internet, the current iteration of eSports emerged, and the eSports industry experienced several hypes and crises. Still, there was always space for business, and many existing stakeholders appeared in the early 2000s. The recent years, however, have indeed been a time of exponential growth as well as potential business opportunities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Adanai. 2013. Esports: A Brief History. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://adanai.com/esports.
Aldrich, Howard, Bill McKelvey, and Dave Ulrich. 1984. Design Strategy from the Population Perspective. Journal of Management 10 (1): 67–86.
Alternate. 2012. ALTERNATE aTTaX!—ALTERNATE sein eSport-Clan. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://blog.alternate.de/2012/07/10/alternate-attax-alternate-und-sein-esport-clan.
Ausretrogamer. 2015. The Atari $50,000 World Championships Fiasco. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://www.ausretrogamer.com/tag/1980s-gaming-tournaments.
Berger, Allen N., Rebecca S. Demsetz, and Philip E. Strahan. 1999. The Consolidation of the Financial Services Industry: Causes, Consequences, and Implications for the Future. Journal of Banking & Finance 23 (2–4): 135–194.
Borowy, Michael, and Dal Yong Jin. 2013. Pioneering eSport: The Experience Economy and the Marketing of Early 1980s Arcade Gaming Contests. International Journal of Communication 7: 2254–2274.
Bowden, B.V. 1953. Faster than Thought. A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons.
Bycer, Josh. 2018. Is Battle Royale the Next Esport? Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JoshBycer/20180615/320045/Is_Battle_Royale_the_Next_Esport.php.
Cifaldi, Frank. 2015. The Story of the First Nintendo World Championships. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/13/the-story-of-the-first-nintendo-world-championships.
Cocke, Taylor. 2018. Method’s World of Warcraft Raid Race Uncovers Untapped Esports Market. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://esportsobserver.com/method-wow-untapped-market.
Custer, C. 2014. Why the World Cyber Games Got Cancelled: It’s All Samsung’s Fault. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.techinasia.com/why-the-world-cyber-games-got-cancelled-its-all-samsungs-fault.
Darwin, Charles. 1859. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray.
Dave, Paresh. 2015. Competitive Video Gaming is Set to Return to TV in 2016. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-turner-img-esports-20150924-story.html.
Dchozn. 2012. NBK: ‘We Have Milked CS 1.6 and CSS Empty’. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://play.esea.net/index.php?s=news&d=content&id=11446.
Donau-Universität Krems. 2004. Der Computer als Sportgerät. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.donau-uni.ac.at/de/aktuell/presse/archiv/03317.
Donnelly, Joe 2018. Epic to Provide $100 Million Prize Pool for First Year of Fortnite Esports Tournaments. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-to-provide-dollar100-million-prize-pool-for-first-year-of-fortnite-esports-tournaments.
ESPN. 2017. The 2017–2018 League of Legends Roster Shuffle. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/18107525/the-2017-2018-league-legends-roster-shuffle.
Flesch, Rudolf. 1951. The Art of Clear Thinking. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers.
G7. 2007. Mission Statement. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20070124100245/http://www.g7teams.com.
Gardé, Etienne. 2004. Die Cyber X Games—Die Ganze Wahrheit über den Flop Event des Jahres. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.giga-search.de/0,3404,75873,00.html.
Gera, Emily. 2014. What is the Dota 2 Compendium. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.polygon.com/2014/7/16/5898483/what-is-the-dota-2-compendium.
Gonzales, Dennis. 2017. The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Chinese Counter-Strike. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.thescoreesports.com/csgo/news/13976-the-rise-fall-and-rise-again-of-chinese-counter-strike.
Hannan, Michael T., and John Freeman. 1977. The Population Ecology of Organizations. American Journal of Sociology 82 (5): 929–964.
Jabzilla. 2016. History of Counter Strike: The CGS Years. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.hltv.org/blog/12903/history-of-counter-strike-the-cgs-years.
Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
Jin, Dal Yong. 2010. Korea’s Online Gaming Empire. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Jones, Ali. 2018. PUBG Creator Says ‘We’re Not Esports Ready’ at PUBG Global Invitational. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.pcgamesn.com/playerunknowns-battlegrounds/pubg-esports-ready.
Kalning, Kristin. 2008. The Anatomy of the First Video Game. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27328345.
Kane, Michael. 2008. Game Boys: Triumph, Heartbreak, and the Quest for Cash in the Battleground of Competitive Videogaming. New York: Plume.
Korea Joongang Daily. 2005. StarCraft Finals Draw Crowds to Busan Beach. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2600715.
Lewis, Richard. 2015. Echoes of Future Past: The Ghost of the CGS and What It Means for Counter-Strike. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://dotesports.com/counter-strike/news/cgs-vulcun-twitch-esl-counter-strike-league-1665.
Li, Roland. 2017. Good Luck Have Fun: The Rise of Esports. New York: Skyhorse.
Lingle, Samuel. 2016. The Complicated Past (and Future) of Esports on TV. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/headline-story/16083/eleague-esports-tv-history.
Locklear, Mallory. 2018. Two Major eSports Players Associations are in the Works. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/15/overwatch-counter-strike-players-associations-in-the-works.
Lückerath, Thomas. 2005. NBC Universal gibt Mehrheit an GIGA Digital Television ab. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.dwdl.de/nachrichten/5722/nbc_universal_gibt_mehrheit_an_giga_digital_television_ab.
Messier, Marc-Andre. 2011. The Lessons eSports Should Learn from the Recession. In eSports Yearbook 2010, edited by Julia Christophers and Tobias M. Scholz, 54–60. Norderstedt, Germany: Books on Demand.
Mitchell, Ferguson. 2018. Esports Essentials: The Impact of the Counter-Strike Majors. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://esportsobserver.com/esports-essentials-counter-strike-majors.
Mitrevski, Lydia. 2017. Why Don’t Esports Organisations Care About Heroes of the Storm? Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.mcvuk.com/esportspro/why-dont-esports-organisations-care-about-heroes-of-the-storm.
Nelson, Richard R., and Sidney G. Winter. 1982. The Schumpeterian Tradeoff Revisited. American Economic Review 72 (1): 114–132.
New York Times. 2014. Innovation Report. New York: New York Times.
O’Neill, Patrick H. 2012. A History of Esports. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://github.com/hubwub/history-of-esports.
Pandey, Rohan. 2008. Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) is No More! Accessed 2 November 2018. http://www.gameguru.in/pc/2008/17/cyberathlete-professional-league-cpl-is-no-more.
Partin, Will. 2018a. ‘StarCraft II’: How Blizzard Brought the King of Esports Back From the Dead. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://variety.com/2018/gaming/features/StarCraft-ii-esports-history-1202873246.
———. 2018b. Twitch Isn’t for Esports. It’s for Streamers. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://compete.kotaku.com/twitch-isnt-for-esports-its-for-streamers-1824263773.
Pickard, James. 2018. The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Heroes of the Storm Esports. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/08/17/the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-again-of-heroes-of-the-storm-esports.
Popper, Ben. 2013. Field of Streams: How Twitch Made Video Games a Spectator Sport. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.theverge.com/2013/9/30/4719766/twitch-raises-20-million-esports-market-booming.
Riot. n.d. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates.
Scholz, Tobias M. 2012. New Broadcasting Ways in IPTV—The Case of the Starcraft Broadcasting Scene. Paper presented at the World Media Economics & Management Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece.
———. 2017. Big Data in Organizations and the Role of Human Resource Management. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Scholz, Tobias M., and Volker Stein. 2017. Going Beyond Ambidexterity in the Media Industry: eSports as Pioneer of Ultradexterity. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations 9 (2): 47–62.
Seppala, Timothy J. 2018. Video Game Records are Broken. Can Anyone Fix Them? Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/14/twin-galaxies-donkey-kong-dragster-records.
Shagrath. 2008. Nvidia and ESWC Part Company. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/20612-Nvidia_and_ESWC_part_company.
Sheehan, Gavin. 2017. A Look Back at the Show ‘Starcade’ With the Creators. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/09/12/a-look-back-at-starcade-with-the-creators.
Simon, Herbert A. 1993. Strategy and Organizational Evolution. Strategic Management Journal 14 (S2): 131–142.
Smith, Keith. 2012. The Atari $50,000 Centipede Fiasco. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-atari-50000-centipede-fiasco.html.
Syrota, Lari. 2011. eSports. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/249860-esports-a-short-history-of-nearly-everything.
Taylor, T.L. 2012. Raising the Stakes: E-sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
———. 2018. Watch Me Play. Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming. Princeton, NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
theScore. 2017. Infographic: The History of League of Legends. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.thescoreesports.com/lol/news/14525-infographic-the-history-of-league-of-legends.
Van Allen, Eric. 2017. Battle Royale Esports are Still a Work in Progress. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://compete.kotaku.com/battle-royale-esports-are-still-a-work-in-progress-1794707007.
Wells, Jessica. 2018. PUBG’s Global Invitational Proved That Battle Royale Esports are Here to Stay. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.pcgamesn.com/playerunknowns-battlegrounds/pubg-global-invitational-tpp-finals.
Yoo, Reera. 2014. How ‘E-Sports’ Outgrew ‘Real Sports’ in South Korea. Accessed 2 November 2018. http://kore.am/how-esports-outgrew-real-sports-in-south-korea.
Zacny, Rob. 2016. The Continental Counter-Strike Divide. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.redbull.com/us-en/the-continental-counter-strike-divide.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Scholz, T.M. (2019). A Short History of eSports and Management. In: eSports is Business. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11199-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11199-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-11198-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11199-1
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)