Growing Pains: A History of esports’ worst, most infamous and game changing scandals

From media laughing stock to media craze, from thousands of viewers to millions—esports has eclipsed all expectations in the last decade.

But while competitive gaming has come a long way since its humble beginnings, it hasn’t been without its own controversies.

And that’s no real surprise, just look at sports. From the NFL’s Deflategate and head trauma controversies to the MLB’s doping scandals and match fixing that dates back to 1919, one thing is pretty clear when it comes to professional sports—sometimes the spirit of competition gets lost in the money and fame.

And esports is no exception.

Now, in 2017, with the announcement of NA LCS franchising and the continued anticipation of the soon-to-come Overwatch League, esports takes yet another step towards maturity.

As the industry continues to move forward, the interest and investments from the sports world is bound to lead to more professionalism, stability, and yes, scandals.

Footage Courtesy: CEVO, Starladder, Blizzard, ELEAGUE, ESEA, ESL, GOM eXP, Honor the Call, Tmartn, IeSF, JoshOG, MBC, MLG, mOE TV, OGN, NFL, MLB, PGL, PhantomL0rd, Procydicate, Riot Games, theDailyDot, Team Curse, SPOTV, Sky News, Team EnVyUs, The Bitfury Group, TheWarOwl, TSM, Valve, weusecoins, fluff, Greg Wroblewski

Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).

Check out theScore esports on Android and iOS:

Android: http://thesco.re/esportsAndroidYT
iOS: http://thesco.re/esportsiOSYT

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thescoreesports
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theScoreesports
Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/theScoreesports
Follow us on Snapchat: theScoreesports

source