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Nissan and eSports:
Quote:The involvement of Nissan and other non-endemic companies in eSports marks an important milestone in the industry. Blue-chip companies have the ability to make larger impacts to the eSports economy. When more funding is available, the scene will grow. This means the eSports as a whole continues to grow, creating job openings, opportunities to produce additional content and fund more programs for teams to meet with fans.
full article:
http://www.teamcurse.net/news/27204-whats-in-the-briefcase
eSports, who is playing?
Call Of Duty tops Western eSports audience
http://www.redbull.com/en/esports/stories/1331645000683/call-of-duty-tops-western-esports-audience
summary:
Over 70 million people watched eSports in 2013
video game companies gave away over $25 million in prizes to professional gamers
United States has 31.4 million eSports viewers and participants, while Western European territories account for another 16.3 million eSports enthusiasts.
Half of Western European gamers aged 10 to 50 and 56 percent of American gamers in that demographic are aware of eSports
Males aged 21-35 make up the majority of eSports enthusiasts in the US (43 percent) and Western Europe (45 percent)
Breaking the gamer stereotypes, these enthusiasts are more likely than the average gamer to be married, 52 percent versus 39 percent, and have a full-time job, 71 percent versus 50 percent.
ESports enthusiasts also put their money where their interests are. They carry the biggest game wallets with 22 percent of them being big spenders, compared to 8 percent for all gamers.
Only 5 percent of all eSports enthusiasts never
spend money on games, compared to 32 percent for all gamers
One in five of gamers in the U.S. that can be considered ‘big spenders’ on games – spending more than $20 per month – watches eSports regularly, or participates
This year is shaping up to be another one for the eSports record books and there’s no end in sight for the growth of professional gaming worldwide
eSports in numbers: Five mind-blowing stats:
http://www.redbull.com/us/en/esports/stories/1331644628389/esports-in-numbers-five-mind-blowing-stats
Quote:Research has revealed that over the last year we've racked up some eye-watering numbers in terms of eSports watched, prize pools offered and events attended. To help put them into perspective we've done some handy conversions. Read on to find out the weight of the world's eSports viewers, how many tanks World of Tanks is worth and how many chocolate bars a Dota 2 prize pool could buy...
$CMGO
Esports company Azubu announces $34.5 million investment
http://www.dailydot.com/esports/azubu-esports-investment-streaming-twitch/
The world of esports broadcasting just got a whole lot more competitive.
Esports company Azubu announced a major stimulus today for the upcoming April relaunch of their streaming platform, Azubu.tv. Private investment firm Sapinda Group, who already holds a stake in the German-based Azubu, will increase their investment with $34.5 million in equity capital funding.
The move underscores the growth of Azubu TV in the burgeoning global esports broadcast market, topping the latest round of venture funding for primary competitor Twitch.TV, who received $20 million of Series C money in November of 2013.
“Esports deserves a premier broadcast platform which respects the global nature of esports,” a Sapinda spokesperson said, adding that the company was committed to providing Azubu the support necessary to make that happen.
"Azubu has the leadership, vision, partnerships, and technology to radically elevate the eSports viewing experience," the spokesperson said.
That leadership comes in the form of CEO Ian Sharpe, who took the helm of Azubu in November of 2013 and has helped focus the company on their primary goal: Expanding the esports audience.
“At Azubu we offer seamless game streaming, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Sharpe, in an October press release, “We’re also introducing talented young players, providing insightful commentary and broadening esports-awareness at the corporate and consumer levels.”
Sharpe joined at the end of a tumultuous year for Azubu. The company established partnerships with American League of Legends powerhouse Counter Logic Gaming and sponsored Riot Games’ League Championship Series. But in June, allegations of fraud contributed to the closure of its office in esports mecca South Korea. The company brought in Sharpe shortly thereafter to renew the focus on its streaming media platform.
The changes also led to the dissolution of one of the most iconic parts of Azubu’s business: Their esports team.
Team Azubu featured Korean League squads Blaze and Frost and a number of talented Starcraft 2 players, like Dong-Hyun “Symbol” Kang and Young-Jin “SuperNova” Kim. In February 2014, Azubu shut down its squads to focus on partnering with existing esports entities.
The next stage of Azubu TV’s development will begin in April with the re-launch of their website. Whether they can challenge Twitch as the premier esports broadcast platform in 2014 remains to be seen. But they have 34.5 million new reasons to think it’s possible.
Top Korean University recognises eSports - A step in the right direction?
http://www.mweb.co.za/games/ViewNewsArticle/tabid/2549/Article/12411/Top-Korean-University-recognises-eSports-A-step-in-the-right-direction.aspx
Quote:I think this is a huge moment for eSports and will hopefully set a precedent that others will follow. eSports is growing and it doesn’t look likely to stop. Instead of trying to fight it or ignore it, eSports needs to be recognised and those pursuing it need more support than ever. One of the biggest dangers of eSports is the need to stop education whilst pursuing or having a career in it. If pro players can have both, it would make eSports a more viable future with less at risk for such young people.
Having said that, I don’t think the rest of the world, specifically the Western world, is anywhere close to getting to this point, where a top tier educational institution would recognise eSports into its admission policy. But imagine if somewhere like Harvard decided that gaming would give you an edge in. Looking closer to home, imagine if UCT began to support the eSports scene locally. The effects would be massive. It would lower the risks, increase the support structure, create more awareness, everything that eSports would need to become legitimate and mainstream. The ultimate goal.
First blue-chip company gets involved with eSports: American Express sponsors League of Legends:
eSports is trading on the OTC:
On March 28, 2014, CMG Holdings, Inc. (trading under the symbol CMGO), completed its acquisition of 100% of the shares of Good Gaming, Inc. (“GGI”) by entering into a Share Exchange Agreement (the “SEA”) with BMB Financial, Inc. and Jackie Beckford, GGI’s shareholders. The owner of BMB Financial, Inc. is also the owner of Infinite Alpha, Inc. which provides consulting services to CMG. Pursuant to the SEA, for 100% of the shares of GGI, CMG paid: 5,000,000 shares of its $0.001 par value per share common stock, $83,000 in cash and equipment and a commitment to pay $150,000 in development costs. In addition, the SEA calls for CMG to adopt an incentive plan for GGI pursuant to which the GGI officers, directors and employees are to receive up to 30% of the net profits of GGI and up to 30% of the proceeds of any sale of GGI or its assets.
The SEA contains representations and warranties from the former GGI shareholders customary for this type of transaction.
GGI is an online gaming portal with a business objective of assisting eSports gamers to hone and elevate their skills so as to enable them to compete at a higher level in amateur thru professional gaming tournaments. GGI plans to provide its targeted market with access to its proprietary membership based eSports web platform. GGI intends to provide a service with a monthly membership fee to its target market comprised of 16-25 year old, single, high school/college level adults with disposable income and more than 10 hours of invested game play weekly.
GGI plans to offer a multiple array of incentive driven tournaments to meet the needs of a varied gaming community. GGI plans to hold signature level season tournament play on a quarterly basis. GGI intends to offer many regularly scheduled tournaments on a weekly and monthly basis which will offer cash and other incentive based prizes. GGI also intends to offer organizational level tournaments for groups of gamers who organize themselves in guilds/teams/clans/parties etc. As GGI grows it intends to offer community driven tournaments that are structured by gamers and organized groups in which they will determine the prizes, style and nature of the incentives.
GGI intends to producce gaming content that is regularly updated by experienced gamers. This content will cover hundreds of areas, some of which are: gaming skills, macros, play style, nomenclature, terminology, tricks and tips, items, equipment, survival, balance of power and etiquette. This content will be focused on improving the gaming experience while improving the overall skill level of casual and serious gamers. In addition, the content will provide a teaching base to assist gamers achieve higher levels of competitive play with the intent to develop the right candidates for professional level play.
GGI plans to introduce a proprietary matchmaking system code named “Mercenary” that GGI believes can greatly improve upon the linear “ranking” style currently in place in most eSports and competitive games. Mercenary can enable gamers to locate players that not only play at or near their skill level but also their play style and “comp”. Mercenary can also harness the power of community based knowledge to offer a continuing improved gaming experience. Mercenary, as it grows, will teach players where their strengths and weaknesses are without relying solely upon a dubious quantitative value that is left for the gamer to decipher. GGI is planning to make Mercenary applicable across multiple games and platforms to quickly allow matchmaking to occur in the adoption of new games and new content.
GGI plans to actively pursue game designers, publishers, indies, and content providers seeking partnerships and agreements that can produce a win-win scenario for gamers and providers. These agreements will focus on securing exclusive game content for the purpose of improving the GGI community and offering unique content and experiences. GGI plans to offer providers access to a unique demographic of gamers at their disposal for alpha testing, beta testing, feedback, non-traditional gaming exposure, and test content. GGI plans to attempt to foster a cross platform/game concept to consolidate merchandising, pay to play, aesthetic, and advertising content in a cohesive collective. This collective can create unique and new ways for gamers and providers to achieve goals that currently do not exist or are not robust enough to meet the larger needs of the gaming and advertising community.
GGI’s overall goals are to be the one stop internet presence for serious gamers that wish to move beyond the casual gaming moniker and compete in eSports. GGI plans to improve the overall gamers experience through improving their game etiquette, skill set, and mastery techniques suited to higher professional play. GGI while serving the gaming community has the overall desire to close the gap between gamers, providers, advertisers to foster a gaming community that results in a fun, satisfying experience while serving an economic purpose.
GGI currently has five employees, each of whom is involved in the development of its eSports web portal.
CMG believes that GGI currently does not have any direct competition. However, GGI has a number of indirect competitors which offer eSports content and information related to competitive gaming focused around specific game titles or consoles. These indirect competitors include: Skill Capped, Major League Gaming, Curse, MMO Champion, LOL King and MOBAfire.
8K http://www.otcmarkets.com/edgar/GetFilingHtml?FilingID=9901719
$CMGO
How the players, developers, and leagues of e-sports are making money and creating a thriving industry
E-sports, which are the organized competitions between professionals in certain games, are growing at a rapid pace. Traditional publishers used to ignore and avoid them, but e-sports have slowly squeezed in from the edges of the industry and made their presence known and unavoidable. Today, companies like Valve and Activision incorporate competitive gaming into their marketing strategies.
Full story:
http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/03/how-the-players-developers-and-leagues-of-e-sports-are-making-money-and-creating-a-thriving-industry/
$CMGO
eSport player earnings:
http://www.esportsearnings.com/countries
Highest Earnings By Country
1. Korea, Republic of Korea, Republic of $17,765,447.36 837 Players
2. United States United States $11,913,842.10 1592 Players
3. Sweden Sweden $6,295,245.45 460 Players
4. China China $5,855,551.05 387 Players
5. Germany Germany $2,541,071.88 388 Players
6. Ukraine Ukraine $2,250,755.97 128 Players
7. Russian Federation Russian Federation $1,789,570.35 309 Players
8. France France $1,714,925.13 334 Players
9. Canada Canada $1,641,375.18 253 Players
10. Taiwan, Province Of China Taiwan, Province Of China $1,627,294.32 92 Players
11. United Kingdom United Kingdom $1,398,120.91 179 Players
12. Denmark Denmark $1,321,366.11 210 Players
13. Poland Poland $1,292,171.48 124 Players
14. Netherlands Netherlands $940,046.18 80 Players
15. Malaysia Malaysia $708,042.22 68 Players
16. Finland Finland $586,567.63 170 Players
17. Norway Norway $524,031.29 95 Players
18. Estonia Estonia $504,469.49 10 Players
19. Brazil Brazil $492,980.79 138 Players
20. Spain Spain $480,768.12 103 Players
E-Sports Reach Pro-Athletic Status, Fandom — And Money
US government recognizes League of Legends players as pro athletes
The Rise of eSports
Amazingly, the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship had 32 million viewers. That’s more than the MLB World Series viewership and the NCAA Basketball Final Four viewership COMBINED! Competitive gaming is on the rise worldwide, and it looks like there is no stopping it. It has gotten so big that the U.S. has even started grating eSports athletes professional athlete visas. In Korea, more than half of the population plays online games. In a way, that’s an almost insane number to think about.
But, there’s no arguing with the facts – competitive gaming is the future. Gamer or not, in the coming years it will be hard to not see matches on TV or online
Read more: http://www.gamerheadlines.com/2014/04/the-rise-of-esports-or-why-you-should-be-a-gamer/#ixzz2yIp92v00
Sizing & Profiling eSports: slide show
http://www.slideshare.net/Newzoo/newzoo-free-report-sizing-profiling-esports
Will the Growth of eSports Be a Game-Changer for Fans?
June 26, 2014, 2:37 PM PDT
http://recode.net/2014/06/26/will-the-growth-of-esports-be-a-game-changer-for-fans/
Just Dance becomes an eSports title for 11th Electronic Sports World
Ubisoft's Just Dance franchise is entering a new field this year, eSports — the massively popular dance title will be part of the game lineup for the 11th Electronic Sports World Cup, Ubisoft announced today.
According to Ubisoft, Just Dance will be the first-ever casual game featured in the Electronic Sports World Cup. Other titles in this year's competition include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, FIFA 14 and Call of Duty: Ghosts.
"We are very proud to widen the definition of eSport with Ubisoft. Competitive gaming has to welcome all kind of players, has to be developed in partnership with the games publishers and has to showcase the most advanced technologies which link the body to the game. Just Dance is for ESWC the perfect medium to reach those goals," said Matthieu Dallon, founder of the Electronic Sports World Cup, in a press release today.
The competition will begin with a series of eight qualifiers from July 13 through Sept. 21. Participants have three ways to attempt to qualify: They can play Just Dance 2014 online in the World Dance Floor mode; submit a Just Dance 2014 video through Just Dance TV; or dance in person at Electronic Sports World Cup qualifier events and Ubisoft events.
The tournament's organizers will choose a total of 20 finalists: 10 from World Dance Floor (two each from the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of Just Dance 2014), four from Just Dance TV and six from the events. Those 20 individuals will be flown to Paris for the Grand Final of the competition, which will take place in Just Dance 2015 during the 2014 Electronic Sports World Cup from Oct. 30 through Nov. 1.
Just Dance 2015 is set for release this October in North America on PS3, PS4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. You can check out an announcement trailer for the Just Dance World Cup above.
Why Coca-Cola is betting big on eSports
http://www.dailydot.com/esports/coca-cola-riot-games-sponsorship-league-of-legends-esports/
December 10, 2013 E
Just a few years ago, your average professional player of the game Quake, the one-time king of first-person shooters, may have spent the night before a major tournament in his car. The next morning, he'd haul a grey computer monitor into a dingy hotel basement to compete against others just like him for a few hundred dollars in prize money and a chance to compete at the highest level.
Now, professional gaming, or eSports, is selling out major sports arenas and awarding millions of dollars in prize money. But in spite of the industry's ability to transcend geography and nationality, it remains volatile.
High-profile investors flee from the scene during downturns, only to return during peaks. In the valleys between, a small but dedicated few have remained, driving the industry to its next, seemingly inevitable upswing in popularity.
The manic nature of the industry has made it incredibly difficult to attract non-endemic sponsorship. ESports teams, professional leagues, and individual players fight tooth and nail to squeeze profit from their passion but rarely claw their way into the black. Even League of Legends, the world’s most-played PC game, struggles to turn a profit in the eSports industry.
"We lose a lot of money on eSports." Mark Merrill, the president and cofounder of Riot Games, told the press in October of 2012.
"It's not something, currently, that we do to drive return or profitability or whatnot. It's bringing value to our players. Maybe, down the road, that will change. If we bring value to our players, they'll reward us with engagement.”
As recently as August of this year, the company's head of eSports, Dustin Beck, once again acknowledged that Riot is “not making money” in eSports.
Now, League of Legends has secured what is perhaps the most sought after prize in the industry—a long-term sponsorship from Coca-Cola. Coke Zero will sponsor a competitive league for up-and-coming players looking to make a splash in professional circles, called the LCS-lite. The amount of funding provided by Coca-Cola has not been disclosed.
Coke has been backing eSports events since as early as 2001, when it sponsored a competition called the Coca-Cola Ongamenet StarLeague in South Korea. But the company is now clearly betting that the eSports industry is on its way to an even larger explosion in popularity and visibility.
“ESports is at a point now where the company feels like it’s time to move into the industry," Matt Wolf, Coca-Cola’s global head of gaming, told the Daily Dot. "There are several signs that show that this is real, it’s sustainable, and the growth is astronomical.
“We’re looking at it as a sustainable platform. We’re looking at partnership with Riot as an amazing first step into that world. It’s not far afoot to say that eSports, as it stands, is the biggest sport that people have never heard of."
Wolf also noted that eSports's international nature makes it an attractive investment for companies marketing a global brand. Unlike some traditional sports like American football or, to a lesser extent, baseball, eSports transcends national identity and reaches a multinational demographic. Every eSport, from League of Legends to StarCraft 2, sees competitors from all over Europe, North America, and Asia.
“[Coke] is a global brand, obviously that’s important to them," said Marcus “djWheat” Graham, something of an eSports's elder statesmen and an expert on the industry. "But StarCraft has been more global than League of Legends and has been for 15 years."
Graham has been involved as a player, commentator, and broadcaster since the humble early years of eSports, beginning in the late ‘90s as a top-ranked Quake player and caster. And he doesn't necessarily see traditional sponsorship as the financial saviours of eSports.
"Let’s not focus on TV and traditional advertising, let’s get behind [online streaming platforms like] Twitch," said Graham, who also works for Twitch as their eSports manager. "There is no reason why eSports profitability has to be tied to traditional sponsorships and advertising."
…
Riot’s League of Legends Championship Series is organized at the corporate level and funded by company earnings. That's quite distinct from the populist, grassroots origins of professional gaming. This more insular model for the eSports industry has left some skeptical of Riot's success.
“ESports isn’t profitable for Riot. That is absolutely the case,” Graham said. “Riot got into this knowing they were going to lose money."
"They could write off every dollar they spend on eSports as marketing. I’d call them liars if they said eSports wasn’t moving their needle a little bit, but how can you gauge that? How can you get statistics?” It's extremely possible that in three years, Riot will evaluate their ‘investment’ and say, 'Hey, we've been hemorrhaging money on eSports and it's time to cut the cord.”
Coke, not surprisingly, seems confident they're not about to lose money. Riot's ability to reach an elusive demographic will continue to attract investment, Wolf said.
“When you only consider Riot’s latest published numbers in a vacuum, they’re well north of 30 million active players spending over 2.5 billion hours a month on this game."
What makes the game especially attractive to Coke, Wolf added, is the its dual nature. There are the people playing League of Legends for fun, and then there are people playing for money and attracting millions of viewers to their matches.
"We get to engage with players in different forms and in a lot of different, meaningful ways,” he said.
Overlooking the possible pitfalls, Graham still acknowledges that what’s good for Riot is good for eSports as a whole
“I’d like to believe that Riot’s initiatives will trickle down. Where will Pepsi go? Maybe to a popular team? Maybe to other games? I do feel like the partnership between Riot and Coke will serve as a catalyst for other major companies to take a closer look at eSports."
Other major brands have, in fact, tried theirs hands at eSports. Pepsi sponsored the Korean Pro Gaming Association’s StarCraft: Brood War League in 2002 and also affixed its brand to the Global StarCraft 2 League in 2011.
But in spite of Riot’s ability to attract non-endemic sponsors, Graham argues that independent eSports organizations—and not corporate game developers—are ultimately better equipped to find financial stability in the industry.
“Riot isn’t holding up eSports on its back,” he said.
“I firmly believe that teams and players are now the most profitable eSports organizations. They have lower overhead and a lot of flexibility to please sponsors. Some of these organizations are actually making some money. Not a ton, but it’s something.”
…
Joining the ranks of a select few eSports organizations, Riot has built a professional gaming platform that didn’t need profitability to convince a sponsor to get on board. Given the widespread popularity and success of League of Legends, why does non-endemic sponsorship remain so elusive in the rest of the industry?
Coke was quick to point to Riot’s skill in event production and global reach as a major selling point.
“I couldn’t even do their productions justice in explaining them to you,” Wolf said. “The way that it’s proliferating is going beyond what most people think of it today. It’s growing. Since Coke is a global brand, we see value in the global nature of eSports.”
In terms of profitability, Riot eSports still only serves as a marketing investment that is losing money in the short term—even with support from one of the most recognizable corporate brands in the world. Other organizations are still fighting tooth and nail to stay out of the red. Take, for instance, Major League Gaming (MLG), one of the West’s largest independent eSports leagues. MLG is on the front lines of the industry when it comes to experimenting with different models and new methods to raise the profile of eSports.
As a privately held corporation, MLG keeps revenue figures and statistics private. But it's occasionally candid when speaking generally about their successes and failures.
"There's not a tremendous amount of profit being made. I'm saying that because it's reality,” MLG’s CEO Sundance DiGiovanni said in an interview with ESFI last year. “We've been doing this for quite a while and we do about $20 million in revenue. But we're spending, investing a lot as well.”
Fifteen years of volatility doesn’t create longevity in any industry. Still, eSports has continually refused to fade away, returning stronger and more visible—even after experiencing a relatively significant downturn.
Perhaps the next industry surge will finally start lining the pockets of the industry's corporate masters, while its stars will continue work for a relatively decent living playing games.
And conveniently enough, getting paid to play video games is still probably the best job in the world.
What Are eSports? A Pro Videogaming Guide for the Rest of Us:
http://recode.net/2014/06/22/what-are-esports-a-pro-video-gaming-guide-for-the-rest-of-us/
June 22, 2014
For some people, it’s esoteric and dull. For others, it’s a thrilling spectacle. Its legions of fans can recite the names and long, rivalrous histories of its many players. And right now, a major tournament has gathered the faithful in one place for a boisterous showdown.
Soccer? Nope. Professional competitive videogaming.
Many within the pro gaming world call it eSports, and the organizer of this weekend’s tournament in Anaheim, Calif. — Major League Gaming — makes a point of comparing itself to the traditional sports world, early and often. The 12-year-old company’s logo would be right at home alongside the MLB’s and NBA’s, and last year it began broadcasting the eSports Report, an online show that borrows heavily from ESPN’s SportsCenter as it recounts the latest in pro gaming news.
But there are some big differences between eSports and “normal” sports that may keep them just out of reach for non-gamers. You know, besides the whole exercise thing.
Here, then, is an attempt at an explanation of the pro gaming phenomenon for the rest of us.
Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman and William "Leffen" Hjelte face off in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Enrique Espinoza / MLG Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman and William “Leffen” Hjelte face off in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
The Games
One of the biggest differences between a pro sports league like like the NBA and a pro gaming league like Major League Gaming (MLG) is, of course, that the latter covers multiple games. There are five games being played at this weekend’s tournament, which concludes today. On the largest stage, Activision’s shooter Call of Duty: Ghosts; on the second-largest, Blizzard’s strategy game Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm; and on the smallest stage, three fighting games — Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Melee, Warner Bros.’ Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Microsoft’s Killer Instinct.
Quoted:
“Teams will act online like they’re doing a certain thing, and then when they get to a tournament, they’ll do something completely different to throw you off.”
Call of Duty: Ghosts player Seth “Scumpi” Abner on how professional videogame teams surprise their competitors.
It’s sometimes difficult to explain why the professional players are so impressive if you’ve never seen or played the games at a nonprofessional level. The basic goals are accessible enough — usually boiling down to “kill the other guy” — but like the significance of one particular opening move or another in chess, the means to accomplishing that goal are deceptively simple.
“I think one of the issues is, eSports is just insanely fast compared to other sports, so keeping up with what’s going on is difficult,” MLG co-founder Mike Sepso said. “That challenge of, how do you get more people interested in understanding what’s going on on the screen, it’s not something unique to eSports. All sports have the same challenge.”
In that context, traditional sports have a big leg up. Basketball has been around for 123 years, while the Call of Duty franchise isn’t old enough to have had a bar mitzvah. Plus, the fields, courts and rinks in sports are boringly boxy, but each new installment of or update to a franchise can be a literal game-changer. Players (and viewers) transitioning from 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops II to 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts had to learn the ins and outs of 12 new multiplayer maps.
“This Call of Duty has been out since last November, so a lot of people already know the game,” professional Call of Duty player Seth “Scumpi” Abner said. “[But] teams will act online like they’re doing a certain thing, and then when they get to a tournament, they’ll do something completely different to throw you off.”
mlg-pro-circuit
Enrique Espinoza / MLG
The Leagues and Tournaments
With apologies to MLG’s PR department, the MLG Championship Anaheim is definitely not directly comparable to the World Cup in significance. Not yet, anyway.
The international fandom of eSports is heavily splintered, and the jury’s still out on who really “owns” it. Is it MLG, well-known to pro gamers in the U.S.? Is it the Europe-based Electronic Sports League, or ESL, which is preparing to challenge MLG on its home turf? Is it Twitch, the video platform where anyone can broadcast gameplay, and that serves as a proving ground for games that are fun to watch?
Or maybe there is no single unifying force.
Game publisher Valve, for instance, runs a tournament called The International, solely devoted to its own game, Dota 2; this year, it used crowdfunding to build the prize pool for players to nearly $10 million at the time of this writing. Blizzard also runs its own tournaments for its eSports-friendly games like Starcraft at the BlizzCon convention in November. And last year, the finals of Riot Games’ League of Legends Championship Series sold out the 15,000-seat Staples Center … in one hour.
The Teams and Players
To hear MLG itself tell it, this is the key to understanding eSports. Sepso said the company’s sales pitch to potential advertisers focuses strongly on the players and teams, and barely on MLG or the games.
“As an advertising sales organization, we spend a lot of time talking about personalities,” he said. “Are you a Yankees fan or a Red Sox fan? Are you an Optic fan or an EG [Evil Geniuses] fan? Those are the storylines that connect for people.”
Those names he mentioned — Optic Gaming and Evil Geniuses — are just two of the many eSports teams represented here. Some, like Team EnVyUs, specialize in certain games like Call of Duty, while others like Cloud9 and Team Curse are spread out across multiple titles. Rather than representing a location like New York or Boston, teams are effectively composite brands, and sponsorship aggregators, for personalities and styles of play.
“All of these guys, if you talk to them, they’re all such different personalities,” Call of Duty commentator Ryan “Fwiz” Wyatt said. “Just like traditional sports — people like Floyd Mayweather because he’s good and he’s arrogant about it. Some people like the humbler victory. You find those things and, all of a sudden, you find these teams, and you’re an EnVy fan or an Optic fan or an EG fan. It doesn’t take long.”
And what happens when players decide to leave those teams?
“Optic and EnVy have gone through major roster changes over the past few years, but the team goes on,” Sepso said. “They have the same personality, even though the players might change. It’s the same as Yankees versus Red Sox. When the Yankees traded for Johnny Damon, they made him shave his beard.”
But teams aren’t the be-all end-all of eSports. Some players that qualified to play in the championship matches are free agents, and still others didn’t, in fact, qualify initially. Adjacent to the 1,500-seat Call of Duty section is a sprawling 300-station lineup of PCs and consoles for what’s called the “open bracket.” Hundreds of attendees paid between $55 and $125 to play in the open bracket, and the best of the best get a chance to challenge the pre-qualified players onstage.
Enrique Espinoza / MLG
The Fans
As a relative newbie to eSports myself, this has been one of the most fun things to see at this weekend’s tournament. Attendance is something of an endurance test, with some 34.5 hours of playtime on the official schedule, though no one would dare stop a game that runs long.
Unlike most traditional sports, the live experience of watching a game at MLG Anaheim is centered around the company’s simultaneous broadcasts. That means there’s always something for the audience to listen to, complementing the gameplay. At a Starcraft match I watched, small cheers emerged when crowd favorite Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn pulled ahead, but the audience only burst into loud applause when she emerged victorious from her soundproof booth.
At the Super Smash Bros. stage, however, there were no soundproof booths, and the crowd’s hooting and hollering often drowned out the play-by-play commentators. A special round on Friday pitted players from the East and West coasts against one another, and, this being a tournament near Los Angeles, the crowd tilted heavily westward. One audience member waved a full-size California state flag from his seat, and audience members frequently broke out into soccer-style chants of “ole, ole ole ole ole!“
“We’re the smallest crowd out there, but we’re the biggest crowd,” Smash Bros. commentator Chris “Wife” Fabiszak said. “I was talking to MLG staffers at lunch, and they were saying, ‘I can’t hear my game over your game.’ The finals [on Sunday] are going to bring the house down.”
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Gamers hungry for fame have always tried their hardest to beat the highscore, they are constantly looking for competition
and clash against one another, increasingly surpassing their limits. With the help of the Internet, unaffected by
geographical boundaries, esports has experienced a massive boom and keeps impressing teenagers and adults alike on a
worldwide scale.
The eSports market is booming, with reportedly more than 71 million people watching competitive gaming last year.
SuperData, a provider of market information on digital gaming, estimated that the total viewership of eSports surpassed
71 million people in 2013, doubling year-over-year. Males account for 70 percent of the viewership, according to the report,
with most of the group falling between the ages of 21 and 34.
Also known as electronic gaming or competitive gaming, eSports is the evolution of competitive gaming that transforms
video games into a spectator sport.
Packed stadiums, adoring crowds, pro-level players from around the world, sponsors, agents, event organizers – the thrill
of victory and the sting of defeat: welcome to the world of competitive gaming, known the world over as eSports.
With the rise of popularity in gaming and abundant access to live streaming, it has become possible for thousands of
viewers from around the world to watch pro-players go head-to-head and compete for cash and prizes in live tournaments.
Question is, is there money to be made?
From EA Sports:
“When we’ve just come off franchise reviews I looked at a number of properties that we’re doing that certainly have an
eSports focus to it,” EA boss Andrew Wilson told Red Bull, who sponsor a number of eSports events, and whose product
keeps many gamers from experience that blissful thing we call sleep.
“As a company, we believe this is something that’s going to continue to grow. We have some ready-made franchises for this
in our sports properties, but we also have a number of other franchises that people may not typically think about as eSports
opportunities, but we think there might be an opportunity in the future, so it’s something that you’re going to see more of
from us.”
eSports: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel Clip (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMh2b_n7cKw
eSports making stars out of computer gamers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxkgE5Wg3aw
Where to watch games:
http://www.twitch.tv/
http://www.azubu.tv/channel/index.do
Good Gaming Inc is a gateway between rookies and professional eSport gamers
"Good Gaming Inc. is designed to engage the surging 500 million+ active gamers worldwide as the premiere
eSports content provider for the active casual gamer all the way through the professionals.
Now publishers and game developers have a vehicle to create exclusive eSports content for their target
audience. So those who live for the latest game releases such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, League of
Legends, Star Craft 2, Battlefield and Halo will find this a superb training ground and pathway to enhance
their gaming skills.
These eSports tools will help serious gamers bridge the gap between casual gaming and the highly coveted,
professionally paid eSports athletes. It features quality video content, written guides, enhanced forums and
other learning media by veteran players."
http://good-gaming.com/
https://twitter.com/GoodGamingInc
https://www.facebook.com/goodgaminginc
WHo owns Good Gaming?
10/22/13 CMG Holdings, Inc. Announces Partnership With Good Gaming, LLC “eSports” Video Game Competitions
CMG Holdings Inc. (CMGO-OTCBB) is pleased to announce the company has formed a partnership with Good Gaming LLC. “Through this partnership we plan to use the synergy between XA and Good Gaming to assume the number one spot for Amateur/Collegiate level eSports,” said Jeff Devlin, CEO of CMG Holdings, Inc. “eSports”, is a general term used to describe video game competitions. Much like athletic sporting events, eSports games are often played before live audiences and are also broadcast over the Internet. eSports is a massive force coming this way and currently there is only a small amount of exposure on a social level in the US
3/05/14 Good Gaming Vaults into the Forefront of the eSPORTS Marketplace
"We proudly announce the acquisition of Good Gaming.com and warmly welcome them to our portfolio of companies. We are growing exponentially, and actively seeking additional acquisitions in media related, experiential, and e-sports arenas. This bold, new entry into the huge online video gaming space will provide a high-tech platform for casual and amateur video gamers to quickly evolve to pro status."Good Gaming Inc. is designed to engage the surging 500 million+ active gamers worldwide as the premiere eSports content provider for the active casual gamer all the way through the professionals.
Good Gaming Inc. expects to capture in its first full year from all sources of revenue between $2.0 and $3.5 million. In its second full year of operation, Good Gaming Inc. expects to capture from all sources of revenue between $5.0 and $8.0 million and in its third full year of operation, Good Gaming Inc. expects to capture from all sources of revenue over $20 million.
4/16/14 CMG Holdings, Inc. 'Chairman’s Letter' April 2014During 2013, CMG also made the decision to enter into a business with what we believe to be tremendous potential – eSports Gaming. Many of us are familiar with the growth of the online gaming industry. However, upon looking at the actual statistics, I was frankly stunned to see that according to Newzoo BV there are 163.9 million online gamers worldwide with 15.38% of them in the United States who play video games often enough for it to be a full-time job. As a result, we believe that eSports is not just a growing segment within the gaming industry, but within the much larger entertainment industry. It is not restricted by nationality, political affiliation, or socioeconomic status. eSports principal barrier is a simple one – internet access.
I am truly excited to have completed our acquisition of Good Gaming, Inc. recently, having started investing in its business and infrastructure during 2013. Good Gaming’s goal is to complete its web platform and provide a subscription based service to gamers to improve their gaming skills allowing them to compete in gaming tournaments or even to become professional gamers. Good Gaming has already signed veteran talent in the gaming community and is broadening its network of veteran and pro players.
Good Gaming recently established a partnership with a leading third party provider of an eSports tournament management system. This partnership will provide a crucial backbone infrastructure for Good Gaming’s proprietary tournament design and has done so at less than 1/10th the cost originally expected due to diligent work by our IT development team and the innovation of our partner.
Good Gaming anticipates that it will be able to announce key publisher partnerships and agreements in the coming months that can place it near the top of eSports entertainment and solidify its projected membership base.
6/23/14 CMGO's eSports Subsidiary, Good Gaming, Accelerates Original Timeline For New Unrivaled Web Platform
CMG HOLDINGS, INC, Chairman, Glenn Laken proudly announced the positive progress of its subsidiary, GOOD GAMING's web platform and media/splash page. Mr Laken spoke of the company exceeding all original timelines, knowing gamers worldwide are anxiously awaiting it's arrival. "We're thrilled to announce the progress of the platform. We anticipate GOOD GAMING being a dominant player in the eSport sector. This acceleration should boost our financial and margin projections."Good Gaming is in Iteration 4 of the design process for our web platform and updated media/splash page. The overall UI (User Interface) look and feel has been locked in for PC and Mobile web browsing. Good Gaming is anticipating a roll out of the updated media/splash page within the next two weeks, and initial Alpha testing of the web platform within the next four to five weeks.
Gaming companys are looking good
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