Hundreds of thousands of people are watching esports instead of E3

The Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in Los Angeles is one of the biggest events of the year for the gaming industry, and yet a huge audience of hardcore gaming fans don’t care.

Earlier today as the Microsoft media event was starting, 500,000 people were watching E3-related livestreams on Twitch. At the same time, however, another 500,000 people were watching esports-related broadcasts for games like League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Hearthstone, Dota 2, and Overwatch. So while it might feel like everyone in the gaming world has their eyes on L.A., it’s more obvious than ever that video games are far bigger than what is happening at E3.