eSports: 2015 in depth - part one
How big was the explosion? We’ve compiled a two-part review of the year to assess the state of the industry...
It’s been an adrenaline rush of a year for eSports, with the industry taking some bold steps forward, plus plenty of drama to keep fans happy.
We’ve compiled a two-part review of 2015, to take stock of the state the industry is in.
Looking back over the year, the best place to begin seems obvious: the games themselves.
Games
In fact, we’ve recently had the results of The Game Awards 2015 - the biggest annual celebration of video games - with the event broadcast live from Los Angeles.
The nominations for best eSports game (voted for by fans) were replete with the usual suspects: Dota2, League of Legends, CS:GO, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Hearthstone.
The title went to a resurgent Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which has had a string of highly successful major tournaments this year and, despite a slight end-of-year dip in tournament viewership, is set to go into 2016 as the fastest growing eSport.
However, it is still the MOBA games that dominate the industry. Recent research by community-tournament website Battlefy showed that when it broke down its user activity, MOBA games such as Dota2 and LoL accounted for a massive 64 per cent.
Perhaps what is most interesting about the games of 2015 is actually the clues for what we can expect in the years ahead, since a number of new games have already made a significant impact on the eSports scene.
For example, Rocket League wowed players upon its release this summer and scooped up prizes for best indie game and best multiplayer game at the Game Awards.
It’s proving hugely popular in eSports and has enormous viewing figures on Twitch.
We also had the beta for Overwatch, Blizzard’s new MOBA/FPS title, which was created with eSports very much in mind.
Those lucky enough to play the closed beta gave it rave reviews and there are already a number of competitive Overwatch teams forming.
Smite, a new MOBA game, also deserves a mention - it came out this summer and can already boast of a tournament with the sixth largest ever prize pool in eSports at £2,612,259.
Teams
eSports teams have become institutions in their own right.
Of course, the biggest and most famous is Fnatic – and they’ve had a great year.
A strong performance from their LoL team was outdone by their CS:GO squad winning an unprecedented three majors, including ESL Cologne and Katowice (as well as being the first CS:GO team to win two back-to-back majors).
Thanks to such a spectacular year of success, Fnatic are right back at the top of the CS:GO rankings.
Not that it has been entirely smooth sailing all around for them.
After a disappointing performance at DreamHack Cluj-Napoca, in-game team leader Markus 'pronax' Wallsten left the team to be replaced by Dennis 'dennis' Edman.
The team were able to dish out a few upsets of their own, though, dashing the hopes of an audacious Team Luminosity at the FACEIT League Stage 3 Finals at DreamHack Winter last month.
Luminosity’s CS:GO team had themselves just undergone a painful roster change right before the tournament and were practically written off.
However, after unlikely victories against EnVyUs and Ninjas In Pyjamas, it fell to Fnatic to break hearts and knock the Brazilians out.
It wasn’t just Fnatic breaking hearts and records this year - SK Telecom T1 became the first two-time winners of the LoL World Championship, taking on fellow Koreans KOO Tigers in the final.
This was thanks in no small way to SK’s star player Faker, who maintains his reputation as the greatest LoL player of all time.
Speaking of world-renowned players, the 2015 Game Award for best eSports player went to Kenny ’KennyS’ Schrub.
KennyS moved from Titan to Team EnVyUs this year and has been praised by fans for being one of the game’s most exciting players.
And what of the Game Award for best eSports team?
Well, that went to Optic Gaming, a Halo and Call of Duty team that has received admiration for bringing more casual gamers and fans into the world of eSports.
The world of Dota2 was also set alight this year, with the fifth edition of record-smashing tournament The International, held in Seattle.
Veteran team Evil Geniuses went on to take home the biggest single first-place prize in eSports history, standing at a juicy $6.6m.
This stunning victory was thanks in no small part to two of Dota 2’s most exhilarating players: Peter 'ppd' Dager and Syed Sumail 'Suma1l' Hassan.
Their powerhouse performances granted Evil Geniuses two nominees in the Game Awards best player category – with the duo both losing out to KennyS.
So, as we go into 2016, we’ll be seeing more from our favourite teams - who have truly become eSports institutions now – and more from our favourite games.
But we’ll also increasingly see new titles joining the fray, which can only be good for fan and player choice.
Keep your eyes peeled for part two of our year in review, as we look back at the year’s greatest tournaments, and the onwards expansion of the industry.
