ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ESPORTS MARKET

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of the global Esports market are analyzed, current trends in Esports are revealed. In particular, it is noted that the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), which began in December 2019 and continues to this day, has led to an unprecedented situation with countless consequences for society and the economy as a whole. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world economy hard, although not all sectors have been affected equally. The video game and Esports industries, in particular, are among those sectors that have been slightly affected by the effects of the pandemic. The most popular home activities during quarantine for millions of people there were watching movies and playing computer games, which led to the growing popularity of gaming and Esports in the first half of 2020. The abolition or postponement of many sports tournaments around the world due to the pandemic has also affected that the huge number of people have started playing Esports. After all, video games allow people to continue to communicate with each other during competitions in such game disciplines as League of Legends, Call of Duty, Dota 2, Fortnite, etc., during video game broadcasts, or during Esports and gaming talk shows, even under quarantine restrictions. The rapid growth of Esports as an industry is also related to the achievement of commercial goals. In particular, according to the world's leading statistical Internet portal Statista, in 2021, the global Esports market is valued at just over 1.08 billion U.S. dollars, an almost 15 percent increase from the previous year, and the worldwide Esports audience size reached 474 million people. The same data is provided by the analytical company of the gaming industry Newzoo. The Asia-Pacific region, North America and Europe are the three largest Esports markets in the world. Thus, the Esports industry is growing at an incredible pace, despite the depth and scale of the crisis in the world economy, the deployment of which has accelerated by the coronavirus infection. The importance of Esports development in Ukraine is also mentioned in the article.