Slashdot Mirror
America's Gaming Elite
Next Generation is reporting on the World Cyber games, which enter their final leg between the 16th and 20th of September. The U.S. teams have been finalized after the last round of national competitions in New York over the weekend. From the article: "The spectator excitement combined with a high level of competition this past weekend here in New York signals that the era of e-Sports is beginning to mature here in the US, as it already has elsewhere in the world. We have always been the biggest tournament in the world, and it is here that pro-gamers get their start. We are now seeing the kinds of corporate sponsorships necessary to back these players so they can train and compete at the highest level worldwide." Five bucks OGRE 1 and OGRE 2 for the Halo 2 win.
But there the kind of public interest that makes such sponsorships worthwhile? Obviously sponsors of the contests get great visibility with an important customer base. The lack of coverage these events suffer from (except in South Korea) seems to preclude any real marketing impact for individual competitors, except perhaps using first place winner's endorsement in conventional advertising saying.
People sponsor racecars because even if the car isn't first, if it is in the race people see the primary sponsorship. Of course when they teams win, they use that fact in conventional advertising as well, but small time racers can be sponsored by small companies in local circuits exactly because that visibility of sponsorship can affect people in the exact community where the business is.
Small time game players are not seen in local events that are accessible to the public at large. Large events like these only can attract large companies as sponsors, which would seem to indicate a lot of the players will go without such sponsorships. Not that sponsorships are as necessary as they are in auto racing...
Sig under construction since 1998.
WCG Finals are in November, not Septemeber; would appreciate it if the editors at least checked their own articles.
Wow finally something from the esports scene has been slashdotted :)
Howabout the CPL Winter event too
Just to throw this out there, and I am sure many people agree and disagree, but I think this is just stupid.
How long until there are televised Madden games?
Halo 2?
What kind of joke is that?
When I read this:
...the only thing that came to mind is the introduction to the original Unreal Tournament: "The Liandri Corporation quickly found deathmatch to be its most profitable enterprise" or something to that effect. I didn't know whether to be amused or terrified. I guess that as long as I don't hear "You fight like Nali!" when I'm walking down the road I should just be amused.
We are now seeing the kinds of corporate sponsorships necessary to back these players so they can train and compete at the highest level worldwide.
(That's called "humor", mods. Look it up.)
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Never before has there been a finer line between what some consider elite, and others consider losers.
Don't blame me, I voted for Cthulhu.
eSport/pro-gaming is not very mainstream in US nor in most of the world. A sponsorship of a top team in Korea is as valuable as sposnoring a top sports team. The events and teams have extremely good coverage in the press and the events themselves are often very well attended by supporters of the various teams. Sponsorships of individuals and teams in Korea are big money deals. Koreans look at esport on the same level many americans look at things such as College football. In the US, there is no real coverage of the events outside of the esport scene itself. Most mainstream media use the esport stories as a kind of "news of the wierd". I am not sure where most corporate sponsors are seeing a return on there investment. Every pro team proposal from the US I have ever seen has been practicaly empty regarding real marketing value (except for a few really well organized teams like 3D). I recently saw that Tylenol is now sponsoring a team that they have named "Ouch!". It makes no sense.
I shoulda went over to Korea with Starcraft as I rocked it worldclass. The problem with WCG is that you can only compete once a year at San Francisco. I think a real tournament system would involve 50+ games a year with rankings over time, and internet collaboratory. Us gamers typically pick video gaming because its cheap.
God spoke to me.
"America's Gaming 1337"?