The Best Esports for New Viewers
Esports is like no other sport in the world with its diversity and the depth that each subsect can go. Esports is extremely different from something like Soccer or Football which only covers that sport. Esports is a blanket term for a multitude of different games ranging from first-person shooters in Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) all the way to a game about miniature cars hitting a soccer ball into a net in Rocket League.
A stark difference that you will find with Esports versus Traditional Sports is that since there is no centralized league connecting all Esports together there is no standardized set of teams. Each league and game are full of different Esports organizations that sometimes overlap with some organizations being more successful in one game over the other. Take for example, ENCE are a Tier 2 borderline Tier 1 team in Counter-Strike, but they have one of the top teams in the professional Overwatch scene.
This list is compiled of the best Esports beginners can watch to get into this amazing sport that many gamers call their favorite.
A Game That You Already Play
Obviously, the best Esport to get into for any gamer is one in a game that they already play and have experience with. This is easy as you already have gotten over the biggest hurdle when it comes to Esports, which is the terminology and game-specific abilities or techniques. If you already play a game like Overwatch 2 then it is easier to understand what is going on in an Overwatch Championship Series (OWCS) match than someone who has never picked up the game.
A first-time viewer would be confused by the different heroes and abilities that those heroes are throwing out at a constant rate. A new viewer who has never touched the game will not know what a Baptiste Immortality Field or a Symmetra Photon Barrier is or what it does in the game. However, a new viewer who has played the game can identify those abilities through the unique characters, their visuals and voice lines and better understand the context they are used causing for a better viewing experience.
The main point is that if any of these Esports listed below do not interest you, but you still want to get into the sport then try to see if your favorite game has an active Esports league to follow.
Counter-Strike 2
Counter-Strike 2 is a pretty straightforward game and is one of the easiest games to follow along with for new viewers. It is a very simple game at heart with two sides fighting against each other over two bombsites. One team (the Terrorists) must plant the bomb on one of these sites or eliminate the other team completely before the timer runs out to win the round. The other team’s (the Counter-Terrorists) objective is to stop the Terrorists from planting the bomb, eliminate the entire enemy team, or survive until the round timer runs out to win a round.
New viewers do not need to know about things like smoke lineups, pop flashes or boost spots because once you see those techniques in action once it is very easy to identify them later on due to their simplicity. CS2 is one of the only Esport as well to have a site dedicated solely to it with things like rosters, matches and more listed on HLTV for anyone to go on and find out when teams play and what events are taking place. If first-person shooters are one of your favorite genres in video games then Counter-Strike should be on the top of your list as a first Esport to get into.
If you want to learn more about the professional scene of Counter-Strike 2 then visit HLTV to see when the next big events are happening and to look over the rosters and teams competing to find your favorite.
Rocket League
Rocket League is a video game based off the real-life sport of soccer (Futbol) but with a little twist, instead of controlling people on a pitch you control remote controlled cars. Since the game is based off of a real-life sport it is in turn very easy to follow along as it follows a lot of the same fundamentals that many sports do.
The objective of the game is very simple, score more goals than your opponents. It is by far the easiest game to jump into without knowing the game previously especially for people who are already fans of sports. Watching it for the first time you will see high flying acrobatics and high-speed action which keeps new viewers attention locked on the game. There are not special abilities or unique characters you must learn it is simply just Car Soccer (Soccar).
The goals in these games are spectacles of impressive game mechanics and make for some insane moments that leave even the most clueless viewer awed by the skill on display.
Fortnite
Fortnite is one of the most mainstream games in the industry still with over seven years under their belt and being one of the biggest games to push the newer generation of gamers to Esports.
Fortnite is a battle-royale game where 100 players in a server drop on the same map and must scavenge for loot and fight against other players to be the last one standing. The Fortnite official Esports is centered around the build mode meaning the games can sometimes become hectic especially in the late game. However, with Fortnite’s popularity almost everyone who has picked up a controller in the last few years knows what it is and how the game is played.
The number of players competing causes for high stake competition that has constant action throughout the entire match that keeps viewers engaged. Although the games get hectic towards the end, the great part about Fortnite is that throughout the match leading into the endgame it slowly introduces you to the mechanics and the speed of the game at a professional level.
Fighting Games
Fighting games all follow the same concept which is to just beat your opponent up to win the game. No matter what the fighting game it is all the same with the things making each unique or different being the characters or visuals.
Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Guilty Gear and Super Smash Bros are all fighting games and if you watched all of them back-to-back you would notice the differences in the games but the viewing experience for each is the same and all of them are easy to understand. A huge part of this is that the commentators for the fighting game community (FGC) are some of the best at explaining what is going on to the viewers. Whether that be explaining combos or creating a fun and inviting environment with their serious yet comedic commentary on each matchup.
EVO Championship is the largest fighting game event that covers a large plethora of fighting games that anyone can turn on and instantly watch with zero understanding of the game.
If any of this interest you or you are interested to see if a game you currently play has an Esports league or want to see if a different game has an Esports league that is not on this list. The best place with the most cumulative amount of information on events, players, teams and more is Liquipedia. Liquipedia covers all Esports leagues and gives information on players and events of a long list of video games.
