Is eSports At Its Most Popular in Scandinavia?

eSports is a form of competition through video games in the form of multi-player games which are mostly real-life strategy or first-person shooting, with the players controlling characters.

The most popular games that are used are Dota 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty. Other games including Fifa are being used to build sports team audiences as this article shows. In 2015, an estimated 226 million people watched eSports worldwide. With popularity in eSports only increasing, so has the equipment that is used.

Products that are specific for eSports are their own million dollar market now, with the average eSports player spending between $1,000 and $1,500 a year of gaming hardware. Cardmunch has reviewed some of the best custom controllers available in the market meaning that the controllers can’t be the reason for a loss and that your ultimate level of performance can be reached.

eSports is a global phenomenon but teams from Scandinavia, particularly Sweden excel in major tournaments that are held throughout the year. One notable team are called the Silver Snipers, who prove the games aren’t just for the younger generation but can be appealing to the older generations too. The average age of this dynamic team is 71 years old, proving that age is only a number.

The sport is expecting to continue to develop and expand as interest in video games only ever increases.

Stats compiled by betting company UniBet has found that Scandinavian countries have more eSport’s players than any other country in the world. Sweden is ranked first but is closely followed by their neighbours Denmark, Finland and Norway, in the survey that was released in late 2017.

Last year, the research found that 400,000 Swedes watch e-sports or some form of gaming on a daily basis. These facts are backed up by betting giant Unibet who found that there are more Swedish professional players than any other country. The obsession is followed up by further research result by Unibet who found that Sweden has never been ranked outside of the top five countries for eSports.

Fortunately for the Swedes, Unibet also found that the industry is expecting to generate a billion dollars by 2019 and have also pointed out that top sports teams such as Paris Saint-German and FC Schalke have recently acquired professional teams to compete in highly lucrative international eSport competitions.

It seems to be growing further as Norway’s governing body of football (NFF) has recently begun to field teams to be competitive playing FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer. Their football association has joined the likes of France and Belgium in launching their own federation backed team. Furthermore, their newly found team also competes in their own dedicated eSports arena at the Ullevaal Stadium in the Norwegian capital- Oslo.

The NFF went further as they hosted a 350-person FIFA competition prior to Norway’s match-up against Slovenia in the UEFA Nations League in October. This was available to watch around the country on paid television channel TV2 Sumo. It went down very well as a total of 50,000 viewers tuned it to the gripping event. Of that audience number, it was announced that 90% were under 40 years of age and 60% of those were between the ages of 10 and 29 years old.

The love affair with eSports in Scandinavia goes even further, with a local bar in Sweden going above and beyond. Kappa Bar has recently announced that they have plans of opening their fourth establishment in Malmo. They already have very successful bars in two of biggest cities in the country in Stockholm and Gothenburg, while their most recent bar was opened in the up and coming area of Jönköping.

Founder of the chain Klas Bergqvist has spoken about their plans, he said: “We never started Kappa Bar to have one shop in Gothenburg”. Whilst the new location is still in Sweden, Malmo is Sweden’s main connection to Denmark, which by definition places it as their main connection to Europe. Malmo will also be Kappa’s biggest venue so far with 365 square meters of space. For those who prefer online experience just check  https://bastaspelbolagutanlicens.com/ to see can You find something that can get Your attention.

It is no longer up for debate that eSports are here to stay, with viewing figures exceeding 400 million in 2017. That number is likely to be a lot higher once statistics for 2018 are released at the beginning of 2019. According to Adweek, 38% of those viewers are women; with American men from generation Y already opting to watch eSports over national sports such as ice hockey and basketball.