The booming, billion-dollar eSports industry is looking for new venues, and one designer sees an opportunity During a long weekend last August, thousands of energized fans, many dressed in elaborate costumes, packed the Air Canada Centre in Toronto for three days of frenzied competition. It?s not uncommon for this venue, which seats just under 20,000, to sell out. But the crowd didn?t come for hockey, basketball, or even a concert. There were there to watch pros play video games.
Fans clamored for seats to see teams playing in the North American championship series for the League of Legends, one of a number of popular multiplayer online battle arena video games. Players squared off at center court, their every move broadcast to the arena on massive screens. Though it was the highpoint of the season, it?s wasn?t an outlier in terms of crowd size. It?s one of many indications that this growing sport needs newer, bigger spaces to play. Competitive video games, or eSports, are on the way to becoming a $1 billion industry by 2019, and have drawn huge crowds at other iconic venues across the United States, such as the Staples Center in Los Angeles and New York?s Madison Square Garden. The rapid growth of the live aspect of the industry has many arena owners, as well as architects, seeing an opportunity, as well as the emergence of a new kind of sport venue.

Populous
Fans seats at a proposed eSports arena, showcasing various reactive technologies t...