Does Professional Gaming Have a Future?

mr_sifter writes "Three years ago, celebrity gamers such as Fatal1ty were bagging millions in prizes, and TV channels were queuing up to broadcast games on TV. Professional gaming looked set for the big time. It never happened, and in the current economic crisis, sponsors and media organizations are cutting costs, resulting in the closure of many pro gaming competitions (as we recently discussed) and a down-scaling in prize money. This feature looks at whether pro gaming can bounce back, and whether it will always be a PC sport, or if pro gaming on consoles is the future."

Comments

Mass culture not ready for ...

[blahplusplus]

... pro gaming. While you have places like Korea and starcraft, it's not the norm anywhere else.

I remember many startups like "Online athletes" years ago (defunct now) trying to create a "pro gaming" site and pay gamers for winning games, the y failed horribly.

Also there is a problem with pro gaming - the games keep changing and you can't do real "pro gaming" online because of cheaters and hackers, so you can't be sure the people you're playing against are "clean".

Gaming is also not like other sports where you stick to one game and then build an audience around that game around those rules. In the video game world everything is constantly changing.

One of my best friends plays at the WCG every year and would always be in the top 10 players but he never made any real money on it, he won prizes like computer hardware, etc. But I think it will take a leap forward in culture and technology before eSports takes off (a generation or so) when gaming is seen as something normal that most everybody does, and technology has advanced to allow more activity... in which Nintendo's Wii will be seen as just one of the first attempts.

Many competitive sports games can be really fun to watch but only if the camera work is done intelligently. Things like Orange Smoothie/other mods for Quake 3, etc, allowed people to stream live matches to the web so people could watch the match, truth be told... not all video games are exciting to watch, and this has to do with the lack designing the game and the games systems to do what traditional camera's do for televised sports.

Re:Mass culture not ready for ...

[Anonymous Coward]

You are spot on with the constant change problem. It takes very long to build an audience. Look for example at snow/skate boarding and how long it took them to get where they are now, which is still far behinde more traditional sports. Most games just don't live that long. Starcraft is a notable exception. Games are just not made to last long, because there is no money in that.

Real online games could perhaps change the picture. Games that are made to play online. They are still rather new and just start to mature. There are still lots of lessons to learn for the producers. But I think for example Quake live could be a great deal here. It does not intend to be the newest and greatest and most complex or realistic. That means it doesn't follow a trend and won't be outdated as easily. It has simple and intuitive rules (kill or die) and is just fun. And it will be easily available for almost everyone. All that places it a lot closer to real sports than almost every other modern game.

I seriously doubt it, few activites allow it

[SmallFurryCreature]

While you MIGHT want to link pro-gaming with pro-sports, the simple fact is that very few sports can be done on a pro-level. Especially the kind of pro-level that hands out small fortunes in prize money.

I read a story just recently about a dutch soccer player who played for one of the smaller but still big enough to matter teams, who in between matches worked as a constructor and now does once again. Okay, so his team wasn't in the top, but still, soccer is HUGE and he could NOT earn enough with the sport to make it his full time occupation.

The top darter in holland drives a tram. I am sure there are many other examples of sports that are at times aired on tv, where an individual might even be famous and they still need an ordinary day job to pay the bills.

You also have to consider the audience. Yachting attracts big sponsers because the people who watch it spend big money. Is gaming like that? Would you slap down several thousand bucks for a seat at a programing event? Did you buy the new X-fi soundcards? Gamers are two markets anyway, the geeks and the new MTV crowd. Cater to one and you loose the other. Doesn't happen with soccer. The geek gaming crowd isn't going to spend a fortune on a branded item. They know the deal and will get something cheaper instead. The MTV crowd? They got lots more to spend it on, you are competing with all other entertainment and mobile phones and clothes for their money.

So no, I don't think pro-gaming has a future, it will always be like one of those small sports where sometimes someone gets their 15 minutes of fame and if they are smart make enough to live comfortably for the rest of their lives but equal to say Soccer or baseball or whatever is your countries big sport. No.

Re:A little bit besides the question

[pathotron]

www.gomtv.net is the english version of the site.

Re:No

[Quantos]

Racing is an incredibly effective way to sell cars.
My dad used to sell cars back in the 60's, when one manufacturer won a race on the weekend the sales for that car spiked the following week. He loved it when Dodge won the race.
As for games, I don't buy games just because others like them. I buy them because I like them. Thanks to the readily available demos. Whereas auto racing has a purpose to it's heritage, video gaming doesn't. Until that changes gamers will need jobs.