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Humble Beginnings
While attending the University of Cambridge, Alexander Shafto Douglas focused on completing his doctoral thesis exploring the interaction between humans and computers. As part of his research, he developed a game called OXO, in which players could compete against the computer. OXO, based on the timeless game Tic-Tac-Toe, served as a demonstration of his findings, showcasing the potential of computer programming in gaming and human-computer interaction. -
Spacewar!
Spacewar! was developed on a PDP-1 Computer by a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students led by Steve Russell, and subsequently released. This groundbreaking game is widely acknowledged for establishing a foundation for the video game industry. Collaborators on this pioneering project included Peter Samson, Dan Edwards, and Martin Graetz, along with Alan Kotok, Steve Piner, and Robert A Saunders. Together, they played a crucial role in shaping the early landscape of gaming. -
Computer Space
The first arcade game is released by Nolan Bushnell, Ted Dabney, and Allan Alcorn, Computer Space. -
Atari, Inc.
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney become the founders of Atari, Inc. The development of Atari led to the 70's heralding in the "Golden Age" of arcade games, including Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Pac-Man. -
The Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics
The first official video game competition is held at Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, dubbed the "Intergalactic Space War Olympics". This tournament held 24 players who all gathered to compete in Spacewar! The prize for winning this tournament was a subscription to Rolling Stones magazine. -
Space Invaders Championship
Space Invaders was released for the Atari 2600. After acknowledging the success of this title, Atari designed a tournament that would determine the best Space Invaders player by holding regional competitions to compete in the final in New York. A total of 10,000 people participated from all of the regions combined. Although, this wasn't the first video game competition held it was clear that competitive gaming had arrived into our culture and is the predecessor of today's eSports competitions. -
Video Game Capital of the World
Walter Day, founder of Twin Galaxies, Inc. opens the Twin Galaxy arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa. In the the following years, Ottumwa mayor Jerry Parker declared the town "Video Game Capital of the World", in a ceremony held at Twin Galaxies Arcade by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Atari, and the Amusement Game Manufacturers Association. -
Atari VCS Bundesliga team
In Wiesbaden, Germany, the Atari VCS Bundesliga team was established by Armin Stürmer. This initiative was solely spearheaded by Stürmer and was independent of support from Atari or other commercial entities. The tournament featured clubs competing against each other across various games, adhering to limited rounds and set rules. Despite its relatively short duration of three years, the tournament was regarded as a precursor to the evolution of eSports. -
Bookkeeping
Walter Day curates a database of arcade records he gathered by visiting over 100 video game arcades over a period in 1981. This database was known as the "Twin Galaxies National Scoreboard," meticulously documented scores from a variety of games and facilitated competitions among top players across the United States. -
The First of its Kind
The U.S. National Video Team, the first professional gaming team in the world is founded by Walter Day and Jim Riley. This gaming team was created as part of the Electronic Circus tour. The Electronic Circus tour saw the USNVT players challenge players of arcades across the country and even attempted to challenge other countries through visits to foreign embassies. -
Never Seen Before
Netrek, the first Internet multiplayer game was released globally. This game allowed up to 16 players to compete against each other over the internet and was the foundation for Real-Time Strategy games. At this time, the Internet was at an early stage and it was mainly scientific institutions that had access to the Internet. -
Ushering in a New Age
The new decade entailed the emergence of the Internet, fostering an environment where competition thrived and gaming technology advanced. A pivotal moment in eSports occurred when Nintendo acknowledged the burgeoning popularity of gaming competitions by launching the "Nintendo World Championships" in the USA. This gaming triathlon consisted of players competing in the titles Super Mario Bros, Rad Racer, and Tetris to accumulate as many points as possible. -
Player vs. Player
Games such as Street Fighter II (1991) and Mortal Kombat (1992) revolutionized competition by introducing direct competition to determine the best player, shifting the focus away from merely achieving high scores. These games laid the foundation for Player vs. Player (PvP) video games, which would shape the future of competitive gaming. Their impact would directly influence the creation of the Evolution Championship Series in 1996, a fighting game tournament that is organized yearly to this day! -
LAN Parties
As hardware technology progressed, it became more affordable and powerful, making personal computers accessible to households. This accessibility fueled the expansion of the games industry. During this period, the first large LAN (Local Area Network) parties began, and gamers could compete face-to-face. This became a massive effort for more gamers to convene on a smaller scale and enjoy playing sessions of their favorite games. -
The Red Annihilation Quake Tournament
The Red Annihilation Quake Tournament was organized by id Software, the developers of the popular game Quake. The Red Annihilation tournament was held at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. Dennis "Thresh" Fong would go on to win the Championship title and an extraordinary grand prize: a Ferrari 308 GTS. This was a pivotal moment in establishing the legitimacy of competitive gaming as a spectator sport. -
Professional Leagues Emerge
The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) is founded. Their mission was to organize professional gaming competitions and events, the CPL pioneered the field and set the stage for the rise of competitive gaming. In 2000, the Professional Gamers League (PGL) emerged, further solidifying the infrastructure for competitive gaming by hosting a series of events. Together, these organizations catalyzed the growth of professional gaming and played an instrumental role in the development of eSports. -
eSports is Born
The new millennium brought about a technological boom unique throughout history. South Korea served as a trailblazer in propelling eSports into the mainstream spotlight. The Korean e-Sports Association was established with the Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Jie-won credited for coining the term "eSports", solidifying its identity within popular culture. -
International Competitions
South Korea hosts the first World Cyber Games with an overall prize pool of $300,000 in Seoul, a landmark for international competitions. This event involved 430 players from 37 nations and hosted 5 different game competitions. The games included in this inaugural tournament: Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, Age of Empires II, FIFA 2000, and StarCraft: Brood War. This globalization of gaming fostered a sense of community among players worldwide and laid the foundation for the global eSports scene. -
Gaming Industry Boom
The video game industry was in full stride for developers and players with many popular titles being released in the years that followed. On November 9th, 2000, Counter-Strike was fully released to players by Valve Corporation and is widely considered to be one of the most influential competitive FPS games of all time. -
Major League Gaming
The organization Major League Gaming (MLG) is launched and eventually became the first televised video game console gaming league with the Halo 2 Pro Series in 2006. -
Professionalism
SK Gaming expands as an organization, also becoming the first modern eSports organization to contract players beginning with the SK Sweden Counter-Strike team. -
A New Era of Gaming
Microsoft Corporation released the coveted Xbox 360, followed by Sony Interactive Entertainment releasing the PlayStation 3 on November 11th, 2006. A milestone in gaming history that connected gamers and their friends through the internet. Competitive gamers could now compete online, instead of on Local Area Networks. A new landmark for gaming competitions. -
Livestreaming
Twitch is launched as a video live-streaming service that focused on gaming and eSports. The platform became a major means of connecting gamers to eSports competitions and famous individual players were able to live stream their game play to viewers. -
The International
Valve Corporation holds the debut "The International" tournament for their title Dota 2 in Cologne, Germany. This tournament was the first gaming competition to host 16-international teams playing for a $1 million prize pool. -
Gaining Traction
The United States officially recognized eSports as an official sport, enabling foreign professional eSports players to apply for P-1 visas to enter the US to compete. Twitch, a popular streaming platform, witnessed an astonishing consumption of 12 billion minutes of video, with the most popular broadcasts featuring games like League of Legends and Dota 2. Additionally, universities and colleges began offering athletic scholarships to eSports players, acknowledging them as varsity athletes. -
Mainstream Solidification
Formative developments in the mainstreaming of eSports began with the acquisition of Twitch by Amazon for almost $1 billion, a landmark deal that solidified the importance of livestreaming in eSports and gaming culture. This would ultimately lead to the formation of the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) to promote fair play and integrity by combating cheating, match-fixing, and doping in eSports. -
Olympic Dreams
The International Olympic Committee acknowledges the popularity of eSports and entertained the possibility that eSports could be an Olympic sport. -
A New Standard
Esports had already solidified its position in the gaming atmosphere with viewership reaching new peaks year after year. Epic Games' would release the hit-game Fortnite in 2017, a paramount release for the company, gaming, and eSports. Epic Games' success with Fortnite allowed the company to traverse a difficult market in eSports and led the company to host a variety of competitions. Players competed for a $100,000,000 competitive prize pool in 2019, setting a new record for eSports prizes. -
Embracing e-Sports
The International Olympic Committee hold their inaugural Olympic Esports Week in Singapore. Four months later, IOC President Thomas Bach would announce the plans to create an Olympic Esports Games amid the rapid growth of esports and called on Japan to host the Olympic Esports Games in 2026.