I think eSports should be called a real sport because people don’t understand how much work goes into being an eSports athlete. I have been watching Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag since 2013 and he’s been Call of Duty eSports player since 2008. He retired in 2015 just so he can focus on making YouTube content. In a video announcing his retirement, he has said how many hours he has put into eSports and he just needed to back away from competing at events every weekend. He said in the video how he would wake up at 10am, stream and practice until sunset and then repeat the process the next day. He did that for 365 days. Every weekend, there are eSport events and prize pools will go up to $5 million. eSports is growing and growing and eventually it will be televised on national television. I feel like people are just saying, “oh it’s video games, it’s not a sport.” Well there are people who quit their jobs or drop out of college because they love playing video games and they wanna win money and compete. You can get sponsorships just like any other sport. You can make money just like any other sport. You practice for hours just like any other sport. The only difference is the physical part. That’s the thing people argue about the most. The physicality of eSports. If the game Counter Strike was being televised on ESPN and it had the second highest ratings on ESPN in 2019, don’t you think eSports should be a real sport? If the streamer Ninja is making $500,000 a month just by playing competitive video games and having sponsorships, that should make eSports a real sport? I think so. People need to look at eSports in depth and understand the physicality is not the only thing to consider.
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