E-sports in 2020/21 - you have to know these newcomers
Bogdan LashchenkoThe years 2020 and 2021 were characterized by lively activity in e-sports. Talents who have attracted attention with special achievements have stood out in a wide variety of areas. It is also special that, due to the major pandemic, there were only a few events at which the players could meet on site. Most of the events took place online, which gave many lesser-known players a chance to play their way into the spotlight.
But not only with the players there have been some innovations in the past few months. It goes without saying that the game developers did not spend their time idly either. After all, especially in these times, the market is crying out for as much entertainment as possible. In addition to the new games of chance presented at Neuecasinos24, a number of new games have also come onto the market that have been picked up in the context of various e-sports competitions. And even in existing and only further developed games, a lot has happened that deserve a mention.
FIFA 21 - every weekend
Perhaps in the past 18 months you have had to change some of your plans for the weekend. The young Dane Anders Vejrgang has made it a real virtue and is fully committed to FIFA 21. He managed to win the FIFA Weekend League ten times in a row. Nobody had succeeded in this feat before. It is hardly surprising that Vejrgang has risen to become a true star who has attracted the looks of well-known teams. RBLZ Gaming, the e-sports team of Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, signed him right away.
VALORANT - a strong debut
A new trend has emerged in shooter games that is entirely based on a new game. Riot Games, the developer who has already made League of Legends a complete success, has created a new game with VALORANT. This has already established itself so well that hardly any of the well-known e-sports scenes could avoid including the game in the program. Riot Games itself organized the first major event in November 2020, at which VALORANT was the focus of the action. Under the title “First Strike” there was a prize money of 100,000 US dollars to be won. For a newly released game, that's just phenomenal.
If you look at the best players who practice VALORANT as e-sports, one thing above all stands out. Among the best VALORANT players are a number of members of the American organization Sentinels. The Sentinels compete in a variety of games, including Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Halo. With TenZ, SicK, ShahZaM and dapr, they have four players among the VALORANT players who have made it into the top 20 of the world rankings. The leading player is TenZ, a Canadian who feels particularly comfortable in hand-to-hand combat. But anyone who now has the feeling that TenZ is not a team player is quickly mistaken. He can adapt to his partners and opponents just as well, which makes a game against him in any form a challenge.
League of Legends - still a favorite with the masses
One of the most popular games in e-sports has always been League of Legends. Teams and players from the Asian region are particularly successful in this area. The world champions have mostly come from South Korea in recent years. Particularly noteworthy is the rise of the Chinese team Suning in 2020 and 2021. Within just one year, the young players from China have made a world-class team.
At the 2020 World Cup in Shanghai, they surprisingly reached the final. On the way there, they beat the top favorites Top Esports, also from China, in the semi-finals. The videos from the live broadcast of the final have since received thousands of clicks and likes on social media. Neither Suning nor the 2020 champion, but the Korean team Damwon Gaming will be represented at the LoL World Cup 2021, which will again take place online.
Stevenage - suddenly at the top
Another factor when it comes to e-sports are the companies that are interested in this interesting field. For example, a well-known fast-food giant sponsored an English fourth division team in 2021 and asked its customers to select exactly this club in EA Sports' FIFA 21. The inconspicuous club from a small town north of London achieved an enormous level of awareness. Thanks to FIFA 21, living legends of football suddenly appeared in the red and white shirts of Stevenage FC.
Stevenage and the self-proclaimed king of burger outlets are by no means an isolated case in which a club or company has quickly and effectively gained more prominence through e-sports. It is estimated that more than 600 million people worldwide will be interested in e-sports by 2021. This harbors enormous commercial potential, which of course everyone involved would like to exploit.
FIFA 21 and PES - in one competition
The name PES is now a thing of the past.But Konami's soccer game should not go completely unmentioned. Thanks to a competition based on the Italian Serie A, the two competitors FIFA from EA Sports and Pro Evolution Soccer from Konami have found each other. Under the name eSerie A, an e-sports variant of one of the best football leagues in the world was created, so to speak, running parallel to the real championship. The number of participants and viewers is already impressive: the competition can potentially reach around 13 million players in Italy alone. The games are followed by a potential 33 million interested viewers.
Now Konami has almost dropped Pro Evolution Soccer and launched an almost completely redesigned game called eFootball. There are still some teething troubles to overcome before you can look forward to exciting games in the e-sports community at eFootball.
e-Sports are becoming more and more mobile
Anyone who still thinks of the good old LAN party in e-Sports in 2021, where each participant brings their own PC, is clearly thinking in the wrong direction. So many games today are designed to work well on the go. Accordingly, e-sports on mobile devices are also gaining ground. Especially in the strongholds of e-sports, in Southeast Asia, China and Latin America, mobile games such as PUBG Mobile or Garena Free Fire are now so popular that they have reached audience numbers in the same spheres as Counterstrike or Dota 2. So we can look forward to a lot for 2022.
Bogdan Lashchenko – content manager at EgamersWorld.Bogdan has been working at EGamersWorld since 2023. Joining the company, he began fillin the site with information, news and events.