Video games have become a thriving global industry. As more video game players crop up around the world, more people are also playing video games competitively and professionally. Most recently, the UK has gradually become an esports hub in the global landscape, providing opportunities not only for passionate gamers but also for businesses and esports organisations in the space.
Currently, the UK is hosting some of the most prominent esports events in the world, including the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational and the Apex Legends Global Series in London and Birmingham. Previously, the FIFA World Cup, Halo Championship Series, and several Call of Duty League events have also been held in the UK. According to former prime minister Rishi Sunak, the UK’s consumer games market was at £7.05 billion in 2022, more than double its size in 2013. In fact, 2022 was the biggest year for films based on video games IP at the UK box office — up 66% from 2019.
Aside from the rising number of gamers, accessibility to gaming has also significantly contributed to the rise of the gaming and esports industry. Gaming bars like Pixel, Meltdown, and Platform have become popular hangouts in the UK, becoming avenues for competitive and casual gaming communities. At the same time, the proliferation of fibre Internet connection has made gaming faster and more enjoyable for gamers. Below, we’ll take a closer look at how having high-speed Internet can benefit gaming and esports:
Faster speeds
One of the best reasons to get a high-speed fibre Internet connection is the faster speeds. Faster speeds are crucial for gamers to enjoy seamless and lagless gameplay. Higher speed caps also mean new games, patches, and updates can be downloaded and installed quicker. Earlier this year, an international team of scientists and researchers set a new record for the fastest Internet connection in the world using optical fibre — reaching a record 301 terabits per second, the equivalent of 9,000 HD films. For reference, this speed would allow a user to download every single movie listed on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) within a single minute.
As more gamers and digital device users continue to rely on faster Internet speeds, these researchers believe their new technology could be used to help Internet service providers meet this swiftly rising demand. Another crucial point of using fibre Internet technology is that providers don’t have to deploy new fibres and cables to upgrade and increase speeds, making fibre a greener way to upgrade commercial Internet speeds.
Reliability
Unlike older forms of Internet connection, fibre optic Internet doesn’t use electricity to send signals. This makes it a much more reliable alternative for gamers who don’t want their Internet connections interrupted or crashing mid-game. Thanks to how fibre works, external factors like power lines, electrical storms, and other sources of electronic interference don’t tend to affect fibre optic Internet.
Therefore, many gamers have now made the switch to full fibre broadband to support their gaming hobbies and endeavours, whether playing casually or competing professionally as esports players. A fibre optic Internet connection allows users to stream, work, and game without limits. Thanks to symmetric download and upload speeds, users also don’t have to worry about lags and buffering, whether trying to download the latest graphically demanding AAA game or in the middle of a rank-up round on a first-person shooter esports title.
Lower latency
For gamers who enjoy esports titles specifically, lower latency and ping can be a competitive advantage, allowing players to see enemies more quickly and shoot them without lags. In multiplayer gaming specifically, latency is the time it takes for data to travel from your device to the game’s server. Latency and ping requirements vary depending on the game, genre, and amount of players involved. However, the general consensus is that the lower the latency and ping, the more likely you are to have a good time gaming.
Several different factors can impact Internet latency, from bandwidth to distance from server. As such, when playing online esports games, it’s important for players to connect to the server closest to where they are playing. Nowadays, online esports games have servers worldwide to accommodate the rising number of gamers. Still, a fibre Internet connection would guarantee better server response times, no matter the game.
If you found this post helpful or interesting, you may like our post on the esport tournament partnership between Alpine and the BLAST.tv Paris Major in 2023, a major Counter-Strike tournament. Today, many esports bodies and tournaments continue to partner with other entities to continue expanding their reach. Likewise, you can find many more gaming and esports insights and articles on our homepage, including insights on the business end of the industry.
