26% of LoL eSports viewers no longer play League of Legends (LoL) themselves but only watch eSports. In CS:GO, it’s even 30%. Leya has looked into the statistics from Newzoo.
Some gamers cannot understand why so many viewers want to watch professional players playing on Twitch. Why just watch when you can play yourself? they ask.
I belong to the 26% who only watch LoL and no longer play
In my circle of friends, it is becoming increasingly common that the highly competitive games are no longer being played. Games like League of Legends, Counter-Strike, or Dota 2 used to be our go-to games. Today, they are being replaced by other games.
We still enjoy following League of Legends in the LCS. The LCS is the European and North American professional league of League of Legends. Here we immerse ourselves in top plays and mishaps of the pros, observe new mechanics and champions. We all still have a certain passion for the game, but we play it only rarely.
Analysis shows many eSports fans do not play the top titles themselves
A recent analysis shows that many eSports fans might experience something similar to me and my friends. Newzoo is a service provider that specializes in data analysis of global games, eSports, and the mobile market.
In a market analysis of the global eSports scene, Newzoo closely examined the 5 largest franchises.
- League of Legends
- Counter-Strike – Global Offensive (CS:GO)
- Dota 2
- Overwatch
- Hearthstone
The analysis focused, among other things, on the ratio between actively playing eSports viewers and “non-players.” As soon as a viewer has not played the game for more than 3 months, they were categorized as “non-players.” The graph below shows the results. Click to enlarge.
Once upon a time, life happened
Simply put, life has happened among my friends. We are all no longer students. We don’t stay up for holidays, nights, and weekends anymore, although we should be studying for the next exam.
Some are busy with their careers and building their lives. Others have started families and created their own little heroes. And again, others have simply lost interest. – The lack of interest often correlates with the toxic communities that seem to attract highly competitive games.
Games like LoL, Dota, and CS:GO require a lot of time, practice, and energy if one wants to keep up. It’s about ranks and earning points to climb up or fall down. Those who do not bring the necessary time and energy often do not achieve the success they may wish for.
For us, it’s a good alternative to simply follow LoL in eSports and still be part of our game. If we ever feel the urge to play, we also know the latest state of the game.
These numbers tell me that eSports has a lot of potential for further growth. Because these “non-players” greatly encourage interest in the games. The developers of these competitive games will need to engage more with the “non-player” audience. Because according to these statistics, they make up almost half of the viewers.
What do you think, why do so many eSports fans not play the games themselves?
More about eSports: LCS Europe – Who wants to see these nerds?
