The death of the Esports ‘Middle Class’

In 2015 and 2016, the future of esports looked inevitable. Big money and big names were investing into competitive titles on the (overinflated) promise that they would be the next big thing. But the boom times have not lasted.

Today, esports organizations and publishers are feeling the pain, but the layoffs and crunch are not happening uniformly across the industry. Bigger teams and publishers have — so far — weathered the winter better. Instead, the middle class of esports is on the precipice of a mass extinction event.