12.5 million people tuned in for game 1 of the World Series for the Kansas City Royals vs the San Francisco Giants. A number that’s been in the New York Times highlighting the falling viewership in recent years.

A number fewer people will know about is 32 million. That number corresponds to the amount of people who watched a popular video game titled “League of Legends” and their season 3 world championship which featured Korean power house “SK Telecom T1” versus the Chinese “Star Horn Royal Club”.

Mention any of this jargon to the average person and they will be perplexed and skeptical to the reality of “professional video game players”. Yet, the reality at this point is undeniable. On October 27, the video game “League of Legends” marked its fifth anniversary.

Never meant to be a competitive game at all, the game is now the most played in the world with almost 70 million players.

Their first championship which was held in June 2011 featured a viewership of 1.6 million. Next years’ viewership would propel to over 8 million viewers. The 2013 championship as previously mentioned had a total viewership of 32 million, and the data has not yet been released for the championship in 2014.

Anywhere that 70 million people go, money will follow. Another video game titled “Defense of the Ancients: 2”, which is commonly referenced as “DOTA 2” recently held their championship titled “The International”. DOTA 2 teams consist of 5 players on each team who compete against each other in an attempt to destroy the base of their opponent’s’ team.

The International 2014 featured 16 teams from around the world. The total prize pool from the event was $10,930,698. The team that finished in first place titled team “Newbee” went home with $5,028,121 for five players and the staff of the team.

Not to disparage on the other competitors who also enjoyed their fair share of money. This is not even the main revenue for most players in this industry, though.

Most players get their income from broadcasting their games through streaming platforms such as twitch.tv and azubu.tv. Players can play a game and broadcast their gameplay with their commentary over it, often attracting thousands of viewers. Open up your web browser and go to twitch.tv, where you will routinely notice the most watched broadcasters being viewed by 20,000-50,000 people daily.

The ad revenue that these popular “streamers” enjoy is more than enough for a stable income. It’s often speculated that the most popular streamers on twitch. tv and azubu can expect around 10k a month in the forms of ad revenue, subscriptions to their channel, and donations.

What sets these games apart from others and has lead to such a boom in these recent few years? Well, for one thing the most popular games are all free to play. Go hop onto your computer and download either League of Legends, Hearthstone, or DOTA 2. Hop into a game and get going.

This has allowed these games to attract player bases that haven’t been seen in the past. The way these games make their money is through exchanges called “micro transactions”. Players can buy items that often are simply cosmetic, extremely cheap, and provide no real in-game advantage.

Between January and September of this year, RIOT games (League of Legends parent company) has made $964 million. In their fifth year of production, these company is going to experience a billion dollar year. The growth is almost unbelievable.

The e-sports culture has yet to become mainstream, though. Many people are still completely unaware of team “Newbee”, “The International” or “twitch.tv”. E-sports remains a culture with a small, but dedicated fan base.

It may be years or decades more until you can talk with a stranger about these professional video game players, but if the rate of growth continues the day shall come. For now, players have to settle to having their conversations online.