Genres in Esports

Sport simulations

A classic sports representation in video game competitions. Most classic sports are represented in games (FIFA/eFootball for Football ; NBA2K for Basketball ; MLB for Baseball, etc.). They are usually played on Console with Controllers and Esport Screens.

Mastering the button layout of the equipment is key to differentiate a good player from a casual player. The competitions are usually played on 1 versus 1, but a few rulesets were created for a 2 versus 2 purpose. For example, the rules between the football and its virtual representation are usually identical.

SimRacing (Racing Games)

SimRacing is the virtual representation of races (F1 for Formel 1 ; GranTurismo for Classic Races, etc.). Same rules apply to the virtual representation of the sport.

SimRacing is usually played on PC, using most of the time a SimRacing-Rig, which copies a realistic car equipment (wheel, gas pedal, etc.). Adding to this, players usually use 3 screens to have a better field of view.

Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA)

Biggest MOBA games on the market would be League of Legends [Riot Games], DoTA [Valve] and Pokemon Unite [TiMi Studio Group / The Pokémon Company]. They are strategic games where 2 teams of each 5 players faces each other. The map is split in 2 identical mirrored sides. The main goal is to destroy the opponent’s base (usually one main building in particular).

The particularity of this genre is that the players are “leveling up” during the process of the game. The player gains experience by various eliminations of opponents but also so-called Minions (which are Non-playable characters – NPCs) that move in a fixed way.

The game is played mainly on PC with mouse and keyboards, however there are several games which came out on the mobile platform.

Fighting Games

Fighting games are divided into 2D and 3D realms. 2D means the player can move his character back and forth + use of jumps. 3D means the player can additionaly move his character on the side which adds depth to the genre. Notorious games would be:

Street Fighter (2D)
Super Smash Brothers (2D – 2.5D)
Mortal Kombat (2D)
Tekken (3D)
Soul Calibur (3D)
Etc.

The Genre is played in a 1 versus 1 format. Sometimes the team format of 2 versus 2 is also added in tournaments by popular demand. The goal of the game is to eliminate the opponent by reducing his health bar with consecutive hits or knock opponents of a specific stage. The first player to win a Best of Series, wins the set. (Example: Best of 3 Series = First player to win 2 games ; Best of 5 Series = First player to win 3 games, etc.).

The main platform of those games are console and its player base uses a controller or the famous “Arcade Stick” that gives off the original feeling of an Arcade Machines.

Real Time Strategy (RTS)

The most known real time strategy games would be Warcraft and Starcraft [Blizzard] but also Command of Conquers [EA Games / Westwood Studios] or Age of Empire [Microsoft Corporation]. The main goal of those games are to build your own base and destroy the ennemy base. Different units will be more effective versus a specific type of units (Example of a very notorious game as comparison: Rock – Paper -Scissors.

The competitions are mostly played on PC with mouse and keyboard. A Pro player can fulfill about 300 meaningful APMs (Action per Minute) whereas a casual player usually lies between 50 – 100 APMs. Those actions can be: Different Building contructions, Building units, commanding units (movement, attack, defend, group) and general map and base supervising (moving between different part of the map).

First Person Shooter (FPS) & Third Person Shooter (TPS)

FPS games are played in an ego-perspective (EGO Shooter is also a term of use). The player only sees the hands, weapons of their virtual character and the map in front of them. (Example of games: Counter Strike: Global Offensive – CS:GO ; Valorant ; Call of Duty ; Rainbow Siege ; etc.).

TPS has a big difference compared to FPS as the player can see the whole character (Avatar) and has a camera view of the game slightly above the avatar. (Example of games: Fortnite ; Splatoon ; etc.).

The Main platform of those genres usually are PC, playing with mouse and keyboard, however the console platform also finds its esport community.
The rulesets vary between the games and their genres.

Sub genres of FPS and TPS:

Arena (classic architype with a 5 versus 5 composition, 1 versus 1, etc.) Teams or players face against each other in a series of different Map rotations or selection.
Battle Royale (Everyone versus Everyone – can also be played in a team format of 2 versus 2 and 3 versus 3, etc.). Teams or players face against each other on a big map. To win the round, they need to be the last Team / Man Standing. A timer is used to reduce the size of playable area on the map until no free area is left.