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Pro Video Game Leagues — Another Economic Casualty
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.
You mean video game playing adult isn't a recession proof job? Who woulda thunk that?!
This guy makes more than I do with his salary, sponsors and winnings than I do in a year, and I'm a video game developer. I never understood "Major League Gaming". I can understand local tournaments at arcades and pizza parlors, at least there you get outside and be sociable with the rest of the world and have an in-person experience. But watching a screen depicting someone else watching a screen? How much more recursive can we get? Professional Major League Gaming Watching? Physical contact sports I can understand. We're essentially watching athletes who hone their bodies engage in feats of physical endurance and skill, and we admire such classical expositions of strength. I can understand professional Chess tournaments to a lesser extent; great minds coming together to wage war on a physical board in a centuries-old game of intellect. But paying out six figure salaries to people who can click (or button-press) very fast in an order that is more efficient than his/her opponent? Major League Gaming truly is the product of fat and decadent times.