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.

WSVG Finals

Filed under eSports:

The World Series of Video Games is taking place this weekend in New York. There will be tournaments for Halo2, Warcraft3, Counterstrike, Quake 4 as well as some other games. There are supposed to be live streams from CSTV and TSNCentral, but of course CSTV is not working, and TSN is down. Big surprise there. Almost every tourney I've tuned into has had technical problems. You don't see this crap on ESPN now do you? If I was a sponsor of the event I would make make sure that the technical infrastructure was there in order to meet the audience demand so that the sponsorship dollars were being well used. Otherwise, what's the point?

Since we're on the subject of the WSVG, there was recent news of a cash infusion from a venture capital firm to the tune of $4.8 million (read PR, not news).

Also, there is apparently already some controversy brewing. This comes from a disupute between Major League Gaming (MLG) and WSVG. Some of the teams qualifying for WSVG are under contract with MLG. WSVG requires a waiver form to be signed to appear on CSTV as part of the tournament, and MLG is advising its players not to sign, a move that would surely prevent the teams from playing at WSVG. Hmmm...interesting...as MLG not only represents the players and teams but is also a rival with WSVG. Conflict of interest perhaps?

Well, I guess I won't be watching this.

Major League Gaming Signs Million Dollar Contracts

Are we there yet? Has pro-gaming truly gone past the tipping point to where it will become world class entertainment?

Major League Gaming, billing itself as the first pro league in video game competition, has announced that is has signed some major contracts with it's star players (is that even normal? what other league signs players, I always thought it was the team owners that signed, or where you had to earn your pro rights like in golf or tennis?). Neglecting the potentially shady dealings (are these guys always going to win the league?, what if they don't?, if they don't how does that affect the sponsorship?), and the fact that the players must now become mouthpieces for the league, this is a major step towards professional video game competitions as a way of life.

Final Boss, the team at the top of the Halo2 league was completely signed (four players) to a three-year million dollar contract, as was Tsquared ($250K contract), another top player from the 2nd place team (why was the rest of his team not signed?). The contracts consist of salaries and sponsorship money. Apparently, MLG also 'manages' a number of other players as well as a player's association (what other league runs it's own player's association?).

MLG also announced that Red Bull will be the official energy drink of the league. I suspect that's what 'fueled' these multimillion dollar contracts.

The tight workings of this league will likely become a major focus of some problems in the future, I guarantee it. I can't think of another 'pro' league with these types of relationships with it's players.