The mainstream is coming for e-sports, but do e-sports need it?

The BBC is broadcasting them, Sky's taking bets on them, but finals of Dota 2 and League of Legends are already attracting audiences of more than 20m viewers

E-sports are going mainstream. Well, that's not strictly true. The world finals of Dota 2 were watched by 20 million people this year; last year, League of Legends picked up more than 27 million for its finals, and 11.2 million of them watched it live. Esports are already mainstream.

For comparison, the final of the Great British Bake-Off got the biggest viewing audience of the year so far in the UK, with more than 13 million tuning in. What's happening now is that the rest of the mainstream is catching up.