Publisher's Synopsis
As recently as a decade ago, earning a living playing videos games was considered nothing more than a pipe dream - with limited monetization avenues not just for players, but for game developers and publishers as well. The esports industry itself was still in its infancy, and competitive gaming was little known outside a core group of highly engaged players and fans.However, in the last ten years, esports has exploded in popularity, as evidenced by Riot Games' League of Legends Championship Series establishing itself as the third most popular sport in the United States amongst 18-34 year olds, only behind the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. In addition to sanctioned, competitive play, there has been a dramatic up-tick in the number of individuals who have established careers live-streaming video game content on popular sites such as Twitch and YouTube.
