Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although organized competitions have long been a part of video game culture, these were largely between amateurs until the late 2000s, when participation by professional gamers and spectatorship in these events through live streaming saw a large surge in popularity. By the 2010s, esports was a significant factor in the video game industry, with many game developers actively designing and providing funding for tournaments and other events.
T1 is a South Korean esports organization operated by the T1 Entertainment & Sports, a joint venture between SK Telecom and Comcast Spectacor. At the end of 2003, SK Telecom took the StarCraft Team Orion by Lim Yo-hwan under contract and set up the team under the conglomerate's banner. Lim Yo-hwan took the role of team captain. T1's League of Legends team has won the 2013, 2015, and 2016 editions of the League of Legends World Championship.
Jang Min-chul, best known under the nickname MC, is a former Korean professional StarCraft II player, playing as the Protoss faction. MC has accumulated more than $500,000 in tournament winnings, and won the Global StarCraft II League (GSL) championship twice. In 2014, Red Bull Esports called him "one of the most successful StarCraft 2 players ever".
The ESL Gaming GmbH, doing business as ESL, is a German esports organizer and production company that produces video game competitions worldwide. ESL was the world's largest esports company in 2015, and the oldest that is still operational. Based in Cologne, Germany, ESL has eleven offices and multiple international TV studios globally. ESL is the largest esports company to broadcast on Twitch.
Lu Weiliang, who also goes by the pseudonym Fly100%, is a Chinese professional esports player of the real-time strategy game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. He previously been a member of Team Hacker, EHOME and Mousesports. He is considered one of the best Orc players. He had one of the longest playing careers of professional players of Warcraft III.
The League Championship Series (LCS) is the top level of professional League of Legends in the United States and Canada. The esports league is run by Riot Games and has ten franchise teams. Each annual season of competition is divided into two splits, spring and summer, which conclude with a double-elimination tournament between the top eight teams. At the end of the season, the winner, runners-up and third-place team of the summer playoffs qualify for the annual League of Legends World Championship.
Team SoloMid (TSM), officially TSM FTX, is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in League of Legends, Dota 2, Apex Legends, Valorant, Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros., Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Magic: The Gathering Arena, and chess. The organization previously had a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team based in Denmark that later became Astralis and also briefly owned an Overwatch team.
The League of Legends European Championship (LEC) is the professional League of Legends esports league run by Riot Games in Europe, in which ten teams compete. Each annual season of play is divided into two splits, spring and summer, both consisting of nine weeks of round-robin tournament play, which then conclude with play-off tournaments between the top six teams. At the end of the season, the top performing teams qualify for the annual League of Legends World Championship. The LEC represents the highest level of League of Legends play in Europe.
Kevin Yarnell, better known by his in-game name Hauntzer, is a professional League of Legends player who is currently a free agent, and was most recently a part of TSM Academy as their toplaner. He has also played for Team SoloMid, Golden Guardians, and Gravity Gaming in the League of Legends Championship Series.
Jason Tran, better known by his in-game name WildTurtle, is a Canadian professional League of Legends player who is the bot laner for Counter Logic Gaming of the LCS. He previously played for Cloud9, Team SoloMid, Immortals, and FlyQuest. WildTurtle played in the 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2020 World Championships.
Huang Yi-tang, better known as Maple, is a Taiwanese professional League of Legends player for Team SoloMid, of the League Championship Series (LCS).
Hung Hao-hsuan, better known as Karsa, is a Taiwanese professional League of Legends player for Victory Five. He is known for his strategic jungle play and found success domestically and internationally during his time as a member of the Flash Wolves, winning several LMS titles and topping many international events. Hung has long been considered by many analysts and other professional players as one of the most mechanically skillful players from Taiwan.
The ESL Pro League is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) professional esports league, produced by ESL. It is based on four regions: Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, and currently comprises 24 teams each season, including 12 Permanent Partner Teams. The ESL Pro League is considered to be the premier professional CS:GO league in the world and is one of the major professional leagues in esports. The ESL Pro League began as a venture between the Electronic Sports League (ESL) and E-Sports Entertainment Association League (ESEA). Its inaugural season started on May 4, 2015.
The Intel Extreme Masters Season 12 – World Championship or IEM Katowice 2018 was the world championship for the twelfth season of the Intel Extreme Masters. It was held at the Spodek in Katowice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland from February 27–March 4, 2018. The event featured tournaments for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and StarCraft II.
Nikola Kovač, better known as NiKo, is a Bosnian professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for G2 Esports.
Professional StarCraft II competition features professional gamers competing in Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game StarCraft II. Professional play began following the game's initial release in 2010, as the game was the long-awaited sequel to StarCraft, considered one of the first esports and the foundation of South Korea's interest and success in competitive gaming. Between 2016 and 2019, competition was centered around the Global StarCraft II League in Korea and the World Championship Series Circuit everywhere else, with all Blizzard-sanctioned events being under the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) banner. Since 2020, Blizzard changed the format of WCS by entering into a three-year partnership with esports organizers ESL and DreamHack.
The 2017 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2017 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the highest level of esports competition for StarCraft II. The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Lee "Rogue" Byung Ryul.
Professional Counter-Strike competition involves professional gamers competing in the first-person shooter game series Counter-Strike. The original game, released in 1999, is a mod developed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe of the 1998 video game Half-Life, published by Valve. Currently, the games that have been played competitively include Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (CS:CZ), Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Major championships began in 2001 with the Cyberathlete Professional League Winter Championship, won by Ninjas in Pyjamas.
