Worldwide esports to hit $2.17 billion by 2023 - Report

Add Research and Markets to the list of industry market research firms sold on the growth of esports. The company this month released its global forecast report for the esports market, projecting that esports revenues will reach $2.17 billion by 2023.

The group puts this year's esports revenues at $926.3 million, so the 2023 mark would represent a compound annual growth rate of 18.6%. The revenue total takes into account a variety of sources for esports income, including media rights, ticket sales, merchandise, sponsorship, publisher fees, and direct advertisement. Recently, the sale of broadcasting rights has been the biggest contributor to esports organizers' pocketbooks, the report noted.

"The growth of this market is attributed to the increasing popularity of video games and growing awareness about esports," the group said. "However, the threat from esports gambling/betting is restraining the growth of the market."

While the growth predicted by Research and Markets is certainly significant, it's actually more conservative than other recent projections of esports' potential. In February, Newzoo projected that esports revenues would reach $1.65 billion by 2021 (Research and Markets' numbers put it at less than $1.55 billion in the same time frame). Late last year, Superdata released its own forecast, calling for global esports revenues of $2.3 billion by 2022.