Before the coronavirus pandemic, e-sports was a growing industry in terms of both popularity and value, with the prize pools for e-sports events broke the 34 million dollar mark in 2019. As consumers are starved for live events during COVID-19, e-sports can fill the entertainment gap as they can be played and watched from home. Even traditional sports leagues such as the NBA and Bundesliga are using video games as a way to interact with fans and keep interest in the leagues by having tournaments in which the league players play the video game versions of their sport.
As e-sports grow in popularity during COVID-19, higher brand exposure will lead to more sales, and the audiences will expand.