Big players enter 747M 'eSports' market

Teams representing the University of California, Berkeley and Arizona State compete in the Grand Final of last year's Heroes of the Dorm tournament at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles. By the end of this week, four teams will advance to determine a champion after an intense multi-week competition. Their names will look familiar -- UConn, Miami and Oregon -- and monetary stakes are high, to the tune of 500,000. They're battling with video game controllers in the growing arena of competitive video gaming, whose increasing popularity has attracted the attention of big names in tech and media, from Electronic Arts to ESPN to Yahoo'We have the early markers of what will ultimately make eSports mainstream," says Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research, which gathers data on the global games market. But it could require a generational shift before competitive video gaming -- known to many as "eSports" -- formally becomes mainstream entertainment. On April 3, the "Heroic Four" will be determined in Heroes of the Dorm, a competitive video game tournament hosted by Blizzard Entertainment, based on its action game Heroes of the Storm. For the second year, teams representing colleges from across the U.S., including the University of Connecticut and Arizona State University, are playing for glory and more than 500,000 in scholarships and prizes, including a free ride through school for the winning team. Fans watch the action online on ESPN, Twitch and YouTube, and they can even join tournament pools, where the winner with the most accurate bracket snags 10,000. It's the latest example of competitive video gaming's increased following, as younger fans gravitate towardeSports. The market is valued at 747 million, according to SuperData, and is expected to more than double to 1.9 billion in three years. The rising audience -- SuperData estimates it at 134 million as of last year -- is pushing video game publishers and cable networks to create competitive video game experiences and explore broadcasting options. The eSports market is young. Whalen Rozelle, Director of eSports at Riot Games -- makers of the hit competitive game League of Legends -- says it's still in "our pre-teen phase," with plenty of room to grow. "The industry still hasn't really figured out'is every game an eSport?