What is the next popular eSport on PC?

eSports is a huge industry. Tons of developers aspire to build big communities and teams dedicated to their game. However, when the likes of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite and League of Legends have such a huge following, it’s tough for any new eSports to compete. That’s not to say it isn’t impossible, but most established eSports have their top players and teams cemented into the world rankings and that makes it difficult for anyone else to have a chance of knocking them out of their spots.

Up and coming eSports have the advantage of having smaller communities so you can get to grips with the game and become a master before the eSports scene really takes off! We’ve put together a list of some games that have the potential to be the next popular eSports. To even have a chance of going toe to toe with an eSports pro, you’ll need a dedicated *esports gaming PC to ensure you don’t lose a match due to frame drops.

Quake Champions

Any competitive first-person shooter owes a ton to the Quake series. Quake III Arena was a huge breakthrough for competitive gaming online back in 1999 with official professional tournaments. The new Quake Champions hopes to recapture the magic of that game while adding modern twists to attract new fans.

This free-to-play arena shooter keeps trademark Quake elements like the lightning-fast player movement and rocket jumping and introduces ‘Champions’ that function similarly to the ‘Heroes’ from Overwatch.  Each Champion has their own set of skills and abilities players use in free-for-all battles. Killing other players nets you points, get the highest score to win!

The esports scene of Quake Champions has been gaining popularity since it was released in 2017. The official Quake Pro League takes place every year at QuakeCon with a $25,000 prize pool up for grabs. The hardcore Quake community have warmed up to Quake Champions as it has received consistent updates since its initial release. It’s surprising it isn’t a more recognised eSport already considering the series’ notoriety but it’s steadily growing to join in with the ranks of eSports heavy hitters.

Dragon Ball FighterZ

Even if you only know a little bit about anime, you’ll still recognise the name Dragon Ball Z. The extremely popular Japanese animated show has had countless fighting games developed based on the show’s iconic fight scenes. The 2018 release of Dragon Ball FighterZ is the first to get major eSport popularity and its frequent updates have helped it stay relevant in the fighting game scene.

The gameplay is very similar to other 2D fighting games like Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom where players create a team of three characters and go up against another player’s team. The fighting mechanics are as complex and intricate as the biggest fighting games out there which really clicked with old school fighting game players. Adding to that, the game’s visuals are beautifully rendered, using 3D models and cel-shading to look like you’re playing an episode of Dragon Ball.

The eSport scene still feels relatively small with the official Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour tournament managing to take place in February 2020 with a prize pool of $24,000. The tournament has plans to continue but the game hasn’t been featured in EVO, the biggest fighting game tournament around. Despite that, the popularity of Dragon Ball Fighterz continues to grow. If you’re a fan of the show and intense fighting games then what are you waiting for?

Halo Infinite

The Halo series was a system seller for the Xbox when it first launched and each instalment remained exclusive to the platform for many years. Now, not only is the latest game in the series, Halo Infinite, coming to PC but the multiplayer mode is absolutely free!

The free-to-play option is set to bring in a whole new batch of players who have never played the series before. Plus the addition of mouse and keyboard controls will give veteran players more control and precision after the series was locked to controller-only when it was on consoles. The multiplayer mode is set to include classic modes like the Arena mode with 4v4 deathmatches and the brand new Big Team Battle which puts two teams of 12 in a huge sandbox where the last team standing wins.

The official eSports league, Halo Champion Series, have announced big plans to support Halo Infinite upon its release but are keeping concrete plans under wraps for now. The tournaments have had huge prize pools of up to $63,000. Halo has been the de facto console eSport for many years, now the series is on PC and going free-to-play in December, it’s sure to become one of the most popular eSports on PC.

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

//Copy: Card games are no stranger to the eSports scene as Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering are both big names that offer some of the top prize pools in the current eSports scene. Gwent began as a minigame that could be played in the hugely popular The Witcher 3 and has managed to become a very popular game in its own right.

The game is turn-based where two players are pitted against each other, each with a deck of 25 cards that they can pull a hand of 10 cards from. The goal is to win two of three rounds by defeating the opposing player’s hand and gaining points. There are a lot of complexities to the game which make it very popular amongst card-game enthusiasts. The major success of The Witcher series also means that Gwent has introduced a lot of people to the digital card game community.

Gwent World Masters is the official eSports tournament for the game and boasts a massive prize pool of $50,000. While it hasn’t quite reached the popularity of Hearthstone, Gwent is an extremely complex but rewarding eSport to get invested in.

Become a master!

//Copy: There are so many games looking to be the next hot eSport that it’s hard to know which will take off. The good thing is many of them are free-to-play so you can try them for yourself and get involved in the communities without ever spending a penny. Give some of these games a go and become the next top player!