Dennis ‘Thresh’ Fong on competitive gaming, then and now

Back when he was known as “Thresh,” Dennis Fong was the original professional gamer. He’s also the CEO of game video sharing site Plays.tv, and so he has decades of visibility into esports, which has become one of the hottest sectors of gaming.

Market researcher Newzoo expects that global esports revenue will grow 38 percent to $906 million in 2018 and hit $1.65 billion by 2021. Esports will continue to be smaller in revenues than traditional sports, but it is rapidly gaining in terms of numbers of spectators. Once those spectators start spending like traditional sports fans, then advertisers will shift more money to esports and the industry will continue to gain momentum.