It is a paradox pitting popularity against relative pittances - e-sports have exploded into the global consciousness but the big money has not yet appeared pitchside, or screenside.
Participation has soared as virtual games gain traction, with a worldwide fan audience now estimated at 280 million, approaching that for the NFL[1].
Such a leap in growth has helped fuel talk that competitive electronic sports, or professional gaming, could even soon become an Olympic "discipline".
But even if the League of Legends final drew a huge audience to the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium in Beijing earlier this month the sector has yet to mature economically and needs to secure more funding in order to secure a longer term foothold in the sporting world, analysts say.
And the question of how to open the revenue stream sluice gate is complex.
"This year, e-sports should earn a little over EUR 850 million ($990 million) and studies show that come 2021 we'll reach turnover of some three billion euros," says Laurent Michaud, director of studies at Idate, a leading European think tank on the digital economy.
"But that's set against a global video games market worth more than EUR 65 billion."
How to ramp up low monetisation is exercising minds given that an e-sport fan brings only three euros to the table annually on average, according to a recent study by Nielsen Sports.
Soccer generates typically some ten times more.
'Complicated audience'
One reason for the disparity between the virtual and the non-virtual sporting universes is the difficulty of engaging with e-fans via traditional broadcasting outlets.
"Our football stadiums are still sold out -- but clubs shouldn't feel too safe because the crowds are not so young. Traditional sports...