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The DeanBeat: The esports scene keeps gaining momentum

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

I was drenched in the esports scene yesterday at the [a]list Summit in Los Angeles. At the event, esports companies and brands gathered to figure out how to make money in the industry, which generated $892.4 million in revenues in 2016, according to market researcher SuperData Research.

For many years, esports wandered in the wilderness. ESL, which is now the biggest non-publisher company in esports, started 15 years ago. Back in the early days, people laughed at the idea of watching someone else play a video game or getting paid to play video games.

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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.