Blizzard chief Mike Morhaime foresees a long road ahead for esports

Blizzard Entertainment scored big with the debut of its Overwatch League. The official esports league for Overwatch players drew more than 10 million viewers in its debut week in January. Blizzard (a division of Activision Blizzard) continues to invest heavily in the esports market as the whole industry hopes that esports will catch up with traditional sports.

Market researcher Newzoo reported last week that global esports revenues will grow 38 percent to $906 million in 2018 and further grow to $1.65 billion by 2021. The number of esports enthusiast fans will grow 15.2 percent from 143 million in 2017 to 165 million in 2018 while the number of occasional viewers will grow from 192 million in 2017 to 215 million in 2018. By 2021, the esports enthusiasts will reach 250 million, and the occasional viewers will reach 307 million.