Microsoft have the biggest IP that could turn into an esport (Halo) and all they would need to do is put it on PC and Xbox one for free, throw in cosmetic microtransaction ala CSGO and they would make billions. But they will never do it.
:), I dont think you understand what esports is about, it is not about playing with a pad with huge autoaim.
CS GO was dead in the water eSport wise on release and took major core gameplay changes for it to get to a point where people were okay with it, but 1.6 is generally considered the better ompetetive game.
The idea that companies can just make a game an eSport is incredibly flawed. A game needs the qualities to become one. It's why the Gamecube version of Super Smash Bros, Melee, destroys the brand new one in tournament viewers despite Nintendo promoting the new game as an eSport.
Most of your arguments here are based on the fact that halo is only released on console. It's obvious then that it would have these console shooter features. If it were released on PC it obviously would not have aim assist.
> and the aim reticle is 1/3 of the way up the screen, instead of the dead center like you'd expect in a PC FPS.
This is something people would easily get over.
There are still people playing Halo 1 for pc online (Even after microsoft shut down the servers) and there is an even larger community playing a reverse engineered Halo version that was released in russia as F2P. (http://www.reddit.com/r/haloonline)
Its a much much bigger deal than you think. Not only is player camera movement effected but the entire flow of the game - all the weapons, the chokepoints, areas to balance all become REALLY different when you change the targeted control scheme. Go into games like Titanfall and CoD on a console and then try them on PC - PC players are MUCH more aggressive and use the map and weapons quite differently because their control scheme allows it, while on console people are much more likely to be slower and methodical in their play.