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The UK’s first professional women’s gaming tournament of its kind starts on Saturday.
Four teams of professional gamers will play the first-person shooter game Valorant, which is the most-watched esports game in women’s leagues.
It is the first time Europe’s best teams have battled it out in the UK, and organisers hope it will bring more women into gaming.
“The more people see you can enjoy gaming as somebody who’s not native to it, the more confident they’ll get and the more they’ll enjoy it,” said host and streamer Meg ‘Megsoundslikeegg’ Gardner.
The players are competing over two days at London‘s Red Bull Gaming Sphere for a prize pool of £15,000.
Michaela ‘mimi’ Lintrup, who is the one of world’s best Valorant players and has been professionally gaming since she was 18, said: “Back then it was not a big thing like it is today.”
The 26-year-old Dane added: “We fought for a case of Red Bull or something, it was not a prize pool with money. I just played because I had passion for it and I loved it.”
But that’s all changed.
Last year, fans watched more than 28 million hours of professional women’s esports, according to industry tracker Esports Charts. The competitions are usually streamed on places like Twitch, TikTok and YouTube.
Those figures don’t even include people watching in China, where esports are so big that more people watched them than traditional sports at the 2023 Asian Games.
In esports, where people play competitively in a variety of video games, there are leagues, prizes and hordes of fans just like in other sports.
Professional gamer Mathilde ‘Nelo’ Beltoise plays for French team Karmine Corp
French player Mathilde ‘Nelo’ Beltoise, who is in a team called Karmine Corp, said the level of fandom…
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