The days of “couch potato” gamer stereotypes are long over, as the burgeoning eSports industry rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

The trend’s top beneficiaries include Logitech, the Swiss maker of computer accessories like keyboards, headphones and high-end gaming gear, and its CEO, Bracken Darrell, is thrilled to be a part of it.

“It’s been an explosion of a business for us,” Darrell told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer on Thursday. “We’re getting deeper and deeper into eSports with every launch, and we’re really innovating very aggressively trying to improve the experience for not only the casual player or the competitive player, but even the professional player.”

One such professional player is Andy Dinh, the 25-year-old founder of one of eSports’ top-ranking teams.

In five years, Dinh rose from his gameplay being watched by hundreds to filling stadiums. Now, he is sponsored by the likes of Logitech, HTC, Red Bull and Geico, among others.

“I think it’s a billion dollar industry right now, and the revenues are in the hundred millions annually,” Dinh told Cramer in a joint interview with Darrell. “I think, in the future, it’s going to be in the multi-billions.”

Dinh’s team, SoloMid, is known for being the winningest North American team in League of Legends, the top game in eSports. Dinh and his teammates work with Logitech to develop the most efficient gaming products for them to get an edge over competitors.

“Every second matters,” Dinh told Cramer. “Every click matters. You can lose in basketball based off of one point. You can also lose in eSports based on one second. So everything matters and using your preferred gear is extremely important. It matters more than just the paycheck. You have to use the best products.”

And while Logitech’s first-quarter results were not met kindly on Wall Street, its CEO is already capitalizing on the rapidly expanding industry.

Darrell said that eSports teams will soon have to pay tens of millions of dollars to buy in and become permanent, just like in the NFL or the NBA.

“This league is about to completely change,” Darrell said. “We sponsor about 25, 26 teams. And so it’s a dynamic thing. But we intend to be a leader. We’ve got great competition in there too, there are a lot of great companies making peripherals. But we’re a technology company and we’re going to keep investing to make sure that we give an edge to people who use our equipment.”

Source: Tech CNBC
Top eSports gamer talks 'explosion' in billion-dollar gaming industry with Logitech CEO