Esports - Bigger And Better?

Some interesting news recently on the eSports front.

The CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League) has partnered with Sierra Entertainment for the 2007 World Tour, bringing two games: Fear on the Xbox, and World in Conflict on the PC with stops in Europe, Australia, and South and North America and a total purse of $500 K (GotFrag, Amped). After years of supporting games like Quake and Counterstrike the move was routinely ripped apart by the eSports community and GotFrag had a satirical post announcing the demise of the CPL. Interview with Angel Munoz at Amped.

The reason is likely the 800 pound gorilla in eSports now, the CGS (Championship Gaming Series) which has sponsors with big pockets, TV coverage via DirectTV, and $5 million in salaries and purses. The suite of games are more along the lines of what is typically found, although their league structure (each team will have players for each of the games - selected by a draft) is rather bizarre. Competition from CGS and WSVG is putting severe pressure on the CPL.

Gaming News announces a dedicatedUK eSports television show XLEAGUE.TV. Not sure yet if this is part of a league, tournament, or just free for all competition. There's a large selection of games there, including some for PS3.

Personally I think having 20 or more games spread across four or five leagues/tournaments is not going to do a damn bit of good for eSports. Games like Counterstrike require some dedication on the part of the audience (and the broadcasters) in order to get up to speed on the complexities of the game. Changing the games every year in order to make the sponsors happy
is just short-sighted. In a few years I suspect there will only be a single league with a monopoly on eSports.

WSVG Brings WoW To Esports

Hmmm...massive multiplayer roleplaying online esports game?

WSVG announces one of their games for the upcoming year will be World of Warcraft 3v3 arena battles (best of 5 - via Amped). Interesting choice, but so are the others on their list: Q4, Guitar Hero? and Friday Night Round 3 (a boxing game) as primary games with $750 K in prizes. I suppose they are really differentiating themselves in the somewhat crowded esports scene. This announcement comes hot on the heels of MLG's PR on their $1 million prize structure for Halo2 and Rainbow 6.

In fact along with the olympics of esports, the WCG, and the newcomer CGS, there's actually not a lot of overlap in the games selected. Is saturation about to hit? How many video game tournaments and different games can the public actually support?

eSports Update

What's going on in the world of eSports lately?

Not a lot really. Many shakeups in the major clans as they realign themselves for the DirecTV Championship Gaming Series.

GamingJunky asked where are the major tournaments awhile back? That post and this one on VideoGamesBlogger list most of the events for 2007.

Announcements from WSVG (World Series of Video Games) and WCG (World Cyber Games) about their tournament schedule followed (via ESreality and GotFrag). Expect more announcements from the other events soon.

Major League Gaming also announces a TV deal.

Global Gaming asks if eSports is even spectator worthy? If people can watch poker, cricket, bowling, and darts, then I say yes, if it's done right.

Esports and DirectTV's CGS

Some interesting developments in the world of eSports. The last CPL event was supposed to have been broadcast by DirectTV (see previous posts: "DirecTV/eSports", Esports event to be broadcast by DirectTV"). That did not happen, and according to articles at various sites (HLTV.org), this was because the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was asking for far too much money for the broadcast rights. Either in retribution, or because they feel that working with established leagues was not working, DirecTV (in conjunction with IGN) has now turned their attention to their own eSports gaming league: Championship Gaming Series (CGS - noted on GotFrag 1, 2; ESReality).

Some interesting facts were released by CGS in their FAQ and in an interview on GotFrag:

• 1. Players will be paid a salary (tourney winnings will be on top of this)
• 2. There will be a draft (and a hierarchal tourney structure to get to this stage)
• 3. The three games will be Counterstrike Source for the PC, and Dead or Alive and Project Gotham Racing for Xbox360.
• 4. Fatal1ty will be involved in broadcasting (color commentator?)

Probably the biggest news is the player salaries and the draft concept. Midway at GotFrag has an analysis, as does Dunn at Amped Esports. Midway says that the draft should be location based so that teams get local support. I completely disagree with this point as there are many sports (golf and tennis come to mind) where locality means nothing. There are many people in the world who follow Roger Federer and Tiger Woods in their respective sports solely because they like the player, not because they are from their home town. I think eSports in the digital age will generate the same type of followings. Of course there are the international competitions where national pride for one's teams will occur but for the most part people will follow teams and players because they are fans, not because those players live down the block.

This is a big step forwards for eSports in terms of sponsorship and money, but it remains to be seen if the audience will be there to support the whole structure. DirecTV is investing a lot of time, effort and money at this concept, so if it fails it will likely have repurcussions for years to come. If it succeeds, then I suspect even larger media companies will enter the arena. 2007 looks like it will indeed be a big year for eSports.