From Old Trafford to H&M billboards, David Beckham’s career has taken him in some interesting directions. His latest venture, however, sees him swap real life sports for the virtual arenas through 

 company Guild eSports, in which he owns a minority stake.

The London-based company, which was set up just last year, announced its IPO earlier this month and is aiming to raise £50 million (down from a previous target of £100 million) through the sale of 40 percent of its shares. It will reportedly use the money to recruit up to 20 new professional players to compete in games of 

Beckham acquired his stake in the company through his personal investment vehicle, DB Ventures. The move into online gaming is a savvy one on his part; no longer the refuge of the recluse, the online gaming sector generated almost $1.1 billion in 2019 alone, and is watched by around 500 million people globally.

And, with many more of us becoming socially distant this year, the sport has reportedly grown in leaps and bounds as people – particularly men under 35 – turn to online forms of entertainment. “We see eSports as being in the same conversation and rivalling many of the traditional major sports in a matter of five years,” said Guild executive chairman and former Activision Blizzard executive Carleton Curtis, outlining plans to reach one million registered fans in the first year after the IPO.

Still not sure exactly what eSports is? Let us explain…

eSports competitions aren’t actually as cutting edge as they seem. In fact, the first tournament was held way back in October 1972 at Stanford University when students were invited to an “Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics” – a tournament centred around the game 

As arcade machines became popular during the Golden Age of video games, players were able to record their scores and compare them to others for the first time. Want to know who the 

 king or queen of your town is, then trounce them publicly? No problem.

Walter Day, who owned an arcade in Iowa, took it upon himself to start collecting these high scores from across the US, founding Twin Galaxies to keep track of them in 1980. In 1983, the company helped launch the US National Video Game Team. The team was integral to some of the first tournaments, with its players gaining a minor level of celebrity.

In the 1990s, the rise of one-on-one fighting games like 

 saw more players competing directly against their opponent with a clear winner decided on screen, claiming glory in bloody pixels, not just via the high score charts (Hadouken!!!). Tournaments like the Nintendo World Championships toured the country, and increased internet capabilities saw the beginnings of an online community.

"We see eSports as rivalling many of the traditional major sports in a matter of five years"

A huge driving force behind the industry was South Korea, where the 1997 Asian financial crisis saw thousands out of work and with little to occupy them at a time when the country’s broadband network was just taking off. Combine this with the popularity of internet gaming cafes and the country’s gamers were ready to break into the big time, helping to drive a global movement in the process. However, it wasn’t until the 2010s and the advent of streaming platforms like Twitch that gamers started to attain the level of celebrity that draws the huge crowds seen today.

Since the early 2010s fans have been calling for authorities to recognise eSports as an actual sport, with some looking to the Olympic committee for help. A summit held by the International Olympic Committee in 2017 acknowledged the growing popularity of eSports, concluding that “Competitive ‘eSports’ could be considered as a sporting activity, and the players involved prepare and train with an intensity which may be comparable to athletes in traditional sports.”

 as a category in the Olympics, however, seem slim. And, for the players, competing for their country may be seen as a step down from the ridiculously lucrative world of modern eSports tournaments.

According to market analytics company Newzoo, eSports is watched by half a billion people annually, mostly from North America, China and South Korea. And they don’t just watch online. While the Covid pandemic has scuppered IRL (‘In Real Life’) plans this year, in 2017 588 major eSports tournaments were held.

The majority of these tend to be held in arenas usually reserved for visiting pop stars, with two teams of combatants playing live on stage, their games broadcast on huge screens before which an 

 style panel of adjudicators sits to offer commentary.

It isn’t just a few thousand attendees watching each event either; the 2017 League of Legends World Championship drew more than 80 million viewers and generated $5.5 million in ticket sales, making it one of the most popular eSports competitions ever.

Naturally, a lot of money exchanges hands, with streaming services like Twitch turning amateur video gamers into legitimate personalities rivalling YouTube influencers in audience draw and monetary potential. It is not unusual for the best eSports stars to draw seven figure brand endorsements on top of hefty tournament purses in the millions of dollars.

The business operates like traditional sports too – at least in the US where the NFL or NBA takes the best players from college teams and give them a chance at the big leagues. In 2018, the NBA held a draft for the launch of its own eSports league, focused on the NBA 2K. The draft saw 102 professional eSports players selected. Naturally, the colleges themselves are keen to promote this, and more than 50 have set up varsity eSports programmes monitored by the National Association of Collegiate Esports.

If higher education for video games seems oxymoronic and counterintuitive, fret not. Naturally, one of the simplest ways to become an eSports super star is, unsurprisingly, to spend all of your time playing video games.

Topias Miikka Taavitsainen is currently the highest paid eSports star in the world with a net worth of $5.4 million. This Finnish player has been playing 

 since the age of eight and games under the apt moniker ‘Topson’.

And while they don’t dominate the top ten, British eSports players are no slouch, either. 16-year-old Jaden Ashman, alias Wolfiez, is the UK’s best earning gamer, having pocketed £1,019,813.16 from 22 tournaments plating the open world shooter 

 player, is Kyle “Mongraal” Jackson, also 16, who’s earned a respectable £483,585.04 from 48 tournaments – approximately £483,000 more than the average paper round. Meanwhile, the British eSports Association works to promote the next generation of talent, running tournaments and events for students.

Not long ago, young men like Ashman and Jackson would have dreamed of becoming a professional football player, maybe one day following in Beckham’s footsteps and captaining their national team. Today, there’s every chance young sports fans could end up playing football for Beckham, in the virtual world. Surely it’s only a matter of time until they’re as famous – and rich – as their IRL counterparts, too.

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