Esports is much older than you think. It is believed that the first esports event happened as early as 1972 at Stamford University where students competed in the video game Spacewar. The first recorded official esports competition was 1980’s The Space Invaders Championship with 10,000 participants in attendance. The early days of esports were dominated by high score / PvE (Player versus Environment) games.

Fast forward 40 years, video games such as League of Legends and CSGO are the big hitters of the esports industry. Unlike competitive games in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, the new kings of esports are PvP (Player versus Player) games. So what happened to PvE esports? You might be surprised to find out that PvE esports is not only alive but it is bigger than ever and growing rapidly.