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Esports gaming has of course grown hugely in recent times. The buzz around it, the sheer amount of players taking part, the growth in sponsorship deals and the overall progression it is making year on year is making esports a highly popular – and when done right, lucrative – world.

Of course more traditional forms of gaming will always live on, whether you’re one of the millions of people in the UK and Ireland who enjoy casino games and are already familiar with the likes of casino.com, you enjoy playing some older offline creations on your PlayStation or you enjoy a Mario session on the Nintendo Switch now and then, the options are endless.

But esports is certainly making great strides in the gaming world and provides yet another option for gaming enthusiasts, be it as fans or players themselves.

With the huge array of esports teams out there taking part in all kinds of games, we thought we’d highlight some of the biggest and best on the scene and assess just how far they’ve come. With esports continually growing, so will these various organisations.

Remember this is just a small handful of organisations that, in our guest writer’s opinion, have had a big impact. This is not designed to be a comprehensive list based on numbers of fans or tournaments won.

Fnatic

A winner of multiple League Of Legends tournaments, Fnatic (logo pictured above) are also considered to have one of the greatest CSGO team’s of all-time. With their headquarters in London, Fnatic have players based all around the world competing in various games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Dota 2 and many others.

Fnatic are certainly successful, as their Swedish CSGO team became the first to take back-to-back Majors, and the first to hold three titles. They’ve also had success in both the CS 1.6 and CSGO eras.

Evil Geniuses

Founded in 1999 and based in San Francisco, Evil Geniuses is arguably one of the most successful esports teams on the scene, competing in a vast array of games including Dota 2, League Of Legends, StarCraft II, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Originally founded as a Canadian Counter-Strike team, Evil Geniuses has gone on to cement itself as one of the big dogs.

Natus Vincere

Based in the Eastern European country of Ukraine and competing in the likes of Counter Strike: Global Offensive, FIFA, League of Legends, Dota 2 and World of Tanks, Natus Vincere has had huge success by winning various tournaments, including the inaugural 2011 edition of The International Dota 2 Championship.

Vici Gaming

There will always be plenty of opinions flying around, but not many fans of esports can deny the impact Vici Gaming has made. Based in Shanghai, the team became widely known for its success in StarCraft II, WarCraft III, FIFA, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, League of Legends and especially Dota 2, where it usually finishes high in the rankings.

Team Liquid

Probably well known due to its ownership which features various executives from the world of basketball and American Football, Team Liquid was founded in 2000 and is technically based in Holland, though it has several teams housed in the US. Most of its success has come in StarCraft II and Dota 2, but it also competes in various other games including League of Legends, Call Of Duty, CSGO, Super Smash Bros, Overwatch and Halo.

T1

With bases in both China and South Korea, T1 (formerly known as SK Telecom T1) is one of the most established teams in the Asia region, probably best known for competing in StarCraft II and League of Legends. Founded in 2002, T1 have had great success since.

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