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Pro Video Game Leagues — Another Economic Casualty

Posted by Soulskill on from the quake-me dept.

Anonymusing writes "Not long ago, professional video gamer Emmanuel Rodriguez earned a base $30K salary plus prize winnings in the Championship Gaming Series. However, with the economy suffering, sponsors like DirecTV and News Corporation are backing out, leaving Rodriguez with a more typical job for a 23-year-old: store clerk. After the demise of the CPL and the Championship Gaming Series last year, the only major pro gamer league left is Major League Gaming, though it expects to turn a profit this year — some of its players earn more than six figures from the $1 million in prizes given throughout the season, while others are putting off college to work on their gaming careers." A recent story in the LA Times discusses how the games industry slow-down is hitting game developers hard as well. Conversely, the used game market is seeing significant growth — it'll be interesting to see what publishers learn from this.

4 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. What will they learn? by Evil_Medic1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Probably...
    "The used game market is canibalizing our sales, they must be stopped!"

    1. Re:What will they learn? by Stepnsteph · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What they SHOULD learn is that they need to lower their #&@%ing prices. We're not talking rocket science here: People buy used games because they're - gasp! - not $60 or more. $30 to $40 is a far more realistic price range for games, and thus that's what most people are going to pay. Basic economics is a little too difficult for these people though. They'll just panic and blame used games for "cannibalizing their sales", or go on blaming piracy, or make some other inane excuse.

  2. Re:Sports Celebrities by ptelligence · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That has absolutely nothing to do with why I watch women's beach volleyball.

  3. Re:The publishers didn't much care. by 2short · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "People would go out of their way to enter tournaments even though they knew even if they won first place, it wouldnt pay for itself. They played because it was fun and they enjoyed it."

    If it didn't pay for itself, you weren't a pro. That's not meant as a slam, just a definition.