You read the headline right? You'll soon be able to watch professional Smash Bros gameplay on ESPN! But, you might be asking, what's a video game doing on ESPN?
Enter to the world of esports. While organized video game tournaments have existed for decades, they were mostly amateur events organized by fans. Around the early 2010s, these events experienced a huge surge in spectator popularity. The main reason for the surge was the creation of live-streaming websites such as Twitch. On Twitch, millions of viewers can simultaneously watch major gaming events live. In addition, the rapid rise in popularity of MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games like "League of Legends" and "Dota 2," the stakes were raised higher than ever, with prize pools in the millions.
Major sports networks like ESPN noticed that esports was an explosive new form of competitive entertainment. Because of this, ESPN now covers most of the major esports games, players and teams. Recently, they have expanded to include Super Smash Bros. While it is currently unclear which Smash Bros games will be included in the circuit, it is likely that "Smash 4" and "Melee" will be included, because they are by far the most popular.
Competitive Smash is currently bigger than it's ever been, and with the support of major broadcasters like ESPN, it can only get bigger. Smash tournaments had their beginnings in hotels and garages, with dozens of screaming fans huddling around TVs and throwing wads of cash in the air. Now these tournaments fill up entire venues and get millions of viewers. With so much progress made in only a few years, where will competitive Smash go now that major networks like ESPN are interested?
