Esports, also known as video game competitions, have become massive.
This year, the industry’s biggest annual tournament (currently taking place in France) features a prize pool of $75 million and over 2,000 players from more than 100 countries. In 2025, the same tournament reported over 750 million viewers from around the world. For comparison, 2026’s flagship American football tournament drew an estimated 220 million viewers. In addition, several more tournaments will take place before the end of the year, each expected to attract total viewership numbers in the 8 to 9 digits.
Could the popularity of these events provide investing opportunities? Let’s explore some potential ideas.
How did esports tournaments get so big?
In the late 2010s and early 2020s, esports experienced explosive growth, aided in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, which boosted at-home entertainment. While its current growth rate is not as explosive as it was in the late 2010s and early 2020s, market forecasts project revenue and users will continue to climb steadily through the end of the decade.1
Globally, the Asia-Pacific region attracts the most viewers, followed by Europe and North America, respectively. Gen Z and millennial demographics dominate the audience, with viewers skewing predominantly male.
Those who believe in the future of the industry and its events argue that it has a unique ability to capture these younger consumers, who are increasingly difficult to reach through traditional television and sports broadcasts. Meanwhile, skeptics counter that popularity does not necessarily equal sustainability, as individual esports teams have at times struggled to become profitable.
What are esports stocks, and what are some ways to invest in them?
Esports stocks are the publicly traded stocks of companies that build infrastructure for esports events. The most direct way for most investors to capture potential upside from the industry is through investing in either these stocks or an esports-related ETF.
Examples include:
- Game developers. Companies that create and sell the video games esports teams play. Examples include Electronic Arts (
), Microsoft ( ), Tencent ( ), Roblox ( ), and Take-Two Interactive ( ). - PC, mobile, and PC equipment brands. Companies that build and sell the desktops, smartphones, headphones, mice, and other equipment esports teams use to play. Examples include HP (
), Dell ( ), Logitech ( ), Apple ( ), and Corsair Gaming ( ). - Graphics cards. Desktop computers run on GPUs and graphics cards. Examples include Nvidia (
), Advanced Micro Devices ( ), and Intel ( ). - Streaming platforms. Tournaments are broadcasted to the world via online streaming platforms. Alphabet’s (
) YouTube and Amazon’s ( ) Twitch are among the most popular.
Esports ETFs to consider
As far as ETFs go, investors might consider researching the following, among others:
- VanEck Video Gaming and esports ETF (
), which tracks the performance of a variety of companies involved in different stages of esports production. - Global X Video Games & Esports ETF (
), which tracks the performance of companies involved in developing games, enabling streaming, owning and managing esports teams, or building esports-related hardware. - Roundhill Video Games ETF (
), which tracks the performance of companies that develop video games.
What to consider before investing in esports stocks
Investing in individual stocks can offer higher return potential, but it also comes with higher risk than investing in a fund or ETF that tracks an entire sector.
Keep these factors in mind when deciding which is right for your portfolio:
- Individual stocks. Your investment performance depends heavily on the success of a single company. Company-specific factors, like management decisions, earnings performance, competitive pressures, and potential regulatory restrictions, can have a significant impact on the stock price.
Individual stocks may outperform sector ETFs or mutual funds during periods of strong company performance. However, they can also experience larger losses when markets decline or when company-specific issues arise.
- Funds and ETFs. Investments in this category can help reduce the risks that come with buying individual stocks by spreading investments across multiple companies within a sector. This diversification can limit the impact of a single company's poor performance and may result in less volatility compared to owning individual stocks. The flip side is that the potential upside may also be lower compared to that of some individual stocks.
Ultimately, those looking for a potentially lower-risk way to gain exposure to a specific sector might prefer investing in a fund or ETF.