Forbes Lists Its Top Three Esports for the Next Decade
Published: Jan 2, 2020
Forbes Magazine may be best known for its influence in the spheres of finance and big business, but it is also starting to take a real interest in the burgeoning esports scene. So much so that on New Year’s Eve this year, the online magazine published its list of Esports games that it feels will be amongst the most popular in the 2020’s.
While acknowledging that Dota 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends were the triumvirate of top dogs in the esports industry in the world today, the writer then went on to admit that it can be ‘impossible to predict’ which of the games will be popular throughout the decade. Confessing that “chances are, some of them haven’t even begun development yet.”
However, of the games that are available right now, he earmarked three that he felt would be huge in the 2020’s.
- Call of Duty
- Rocket League
- PUBG Mobile
Why These Three Games?
Call of Duty’s inclusion was heavily based on the fact that the new Call of Duty World League is set to start this year and that its similarity to the popular Overwatch World League, which uses the same franchise model and structure, means that this first person shooter, one of the most popular console and PC games of all time, will be a smash hit success.
Rocket League’s inclusion was put down to the fact that it is “not violent”, “super-easy to understand and consistently entertaining”. There is, of course, already a burgeoning Rocket League esports scene at the present moment but it is clear that Forbes feel that it has potential to grow even further beyond this.
The final selection is perhaps the most interesting with PUBG Mobile being advocated simply because it already has a very strong mobile-player base and that while the initial mobile tournaments and events have been popular, there is still room for them to be improved and attract even more followers.
Read also: Forbes Produces Report on the Most Valuable Esports Companies
Esports Betting Overlooked
While gazing into the crystal ball to predict what games will be popular in the 2020’s is a difficult task, it is made more difficult when you consider that Forbes didn’t really take into account any of the offshoot industries from the main core of esports tournaments, many of which play a role of vital significance nowadays.
Particularly, no mention was made of the key role of esports betting, which is now an industry in its own right, and which has a symbiotic relationship with the esports industry as a whole, as one strengthens so does the other.
It sees remiss to dismiss the esports betting industry as a non-factor on this list, especially when you realise how many players are involved in some form of betting within esports. Add to that How esports is enriched for many by betting on the outcome of matches and it seems to go hand in hand that the most popular esports of the next decade, will also be the ones on which esports betting is most popular too.
Image courtesy of Psyonix
Since: August 10, 2015
