Jaunt and ESL are teaming up to make VR documentaries about esports.
Categories

How esports can grow bigger than the NFL

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 7 min

Steven Roberts, chairman of esports tournament company ESL, remembers when people made fun of esports, and how they just didn’t get the idea that people would want to watch someone play a video game.

But esports is a real thing now, with $892.4 million in revenues in 2016, according to market researcher SuperData Research. Esports viewership hit 213.8 million in 2016, and brands put $662 million in sponsorship money into it, SuperData said.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks. 

Join now →

Sign in to your account.

Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.