What Games Will Make Big Waves in eSports in 2024?

2023 has been another huge year for esports, with the industry continuing to grow as more players and viewers get on board. We expect to see competitive gaming become even more popular in 2024 but what new games are likely to be part of this?

Counter-Strike 2

CS2 was finally launched in September 2023 as a replacement for the much-loved CS: GO and vied with games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for the title of the year’s biggest release. Some of the biggest tournament organizers have already stated that they will be switching to CS2 with immediate effect. This means that all of 2024’s major events will take on the new game.

While the basics of CS2 are similar to what we are used to in CS: GO – Terrorists vs Counter Terrorists over a series of maps – the switch to this updated version has become hugely problematic for Valve. Initial reviews were extremely positive but once players started trying it, they were quick to give it negative feedback.

Casual players don’t seem to have a problem with CS2, but more experienced players claim that the shooting feels off and that it’s a downgrade on CS: GO. Since precision is such a key part of esports, it’s going to be fascinating to see what the pros think when they start getting to grips with it in big tournaments.

You can already find details of the upcoming CS2 tournaments to bet on them. The likes of the ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2023 is listed when you look online for the crypto esports betting odds for games. Betting can be conducted in advance of the games taking part or during them, as in-play wagers while you stream the action.

Tekken 8

The Tekken series of arcade games by Bandai Namco Entertainment has given us a dynamic fighting game that’s evolved with each new version since the release of the original in 1994. With various fighters each having different skills and engaged in a competition to win the King of Iron Fist title, it’s a perfect game for the highly-competitive and fast-moving esports world.

Tekken 8 is – as you might have guessed – the eighth game in the main series and introduces 32 new character models to the fray. One of the key changes is the increased level of aggressiveness, with the developers creating a Heat Gauge and encouraging fighters to smash up the stage as they battle their opponents. It remains to be seen what other changes are being brought into the gameplay.

Only two fighting games have sold more copies than this franchise – Mortal Kombat and Super Smash Bros – so expect to Tekken 8 get a lot of publicity when it’s launched at the start of 2024. This look at the list of characters is intriguing as it includes Jin Kazama and his mother, Jun Kazama.

ZeroSpace

It isn’t yet clear whether this game will be released in 2024, or even at all, but it still looks incredibly exciting and a possible contender as a leading esports game of the future. ZeroSpace is currently in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds and it is already raised more than five times the initial goal. The delivery date is currently set to December 2025 but reports suggest that we should see early versions by March or April 2024.

Described by its developers as a “cinematic RTS with an epic sci-fi story”, it gives players the chance to save the galaxy. It’s been created with the help of StarCraft II esports pros and with an eye firmly on the competitive gaming scene, it seems.

Among the details on the Kickstarter campaign, we can see that it’s got a clear interface that’s designed to make it easy for anyone to pick it up and start playing. They’ve also set it up with a diverse set of factions battling each other in a crisis that’s rocked the whole galaxy.

A New Apex Legends or Titanfall Game?

One of the most intriguing ideas to appear in the last year is that a new Apex Legends or Titanfall game will be made soon. There have been rumours of Titanfall 3, although so far it hasn’t come to fruition and the best, we’ve seen in a new Apex Legends character going by the name of Conduit who is the first Filipino Legend.

Apex Legends was released in 2019 as a battle royal hero shooter that could be played for free. Within its first month of being available, the number of users had climbed to 50 million to make it one of the fastest-growing video games ever made. The game was quickly identified as being ideal for esports and was incorporated into the competitive gaming world easily. This means that a new game in the new series would be huge news in this industry.

Any of these games we’ve looked at could easily become the biggest name in esports in 2024, but in some cases, we need to wait a bit longer to find out more details about what exactly they’re going to offer.