British gamers will ‘earn millions’ in first London stadium built for ‘eSports’

Britain’s first dedicated eSports stadium is opening in London this year – and its founder thinks that British gamers will soon earn millions playing games such as Call of Duty for the crowd.

Gamers in America and the Far East already pull in £800,000 a year in prize money, the CEO of Gfinity told Metro. .

Gfinity is to launch a dedicated 600-seat stadium in Fulham’s Vue cinema in London – and believes that millions will tune in online via streaming services such as Twitch.

Last year, the company staged a match at a former Olympics venue where 4,000 fans attended – and 15 million tuned in online, including two million in the UK.

Neville Upton, Gfinity’s CEO says that British gamers will soon earn millions battling in front of the crowds.

Upton says, ‘The world market for eSports is now 50 million viewers – that’s bigger than a lot of real sports.’

A study estimated Twitch was behind 1.8% of the entire world’s internet traffic.  The service has 55 million visitors per month, each of whom watches on average 106 minutes per day.

 ‘There are five million eSports fanatics in the UK – at live matches, they’re screaming, they’re shouting, they want to get autographs’.

Gfinity will take over the Royal Opera House for a European Call of Duty final next month – and Upton says British gamers could soon become ‘like rock stars.’

‘There will be British eSports millionaires within the next five years,’ he says.

‘There are already tens of millions tuning in via Twitch, and the sponsorship money will follow.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/18/british-gamers-will-earn-millions-in-first-london-stadium-built-for-esports.