Sports and eSports make more sense when it comes to spectatorship and mass appeal, I mean look at how many people understand sports in relation to how many people understand Call of Duty or Battlefield or StarCraft 2. Obviously there would be more people willing to watch others play sports games than shooters, obviously.
“It makes complete sense in a very organic way.” At least that’s what Virgin Gaming’s Wim Stocks has said. In an interview on Forbes about the EA Sports $1 Million Challenge, another eSports tournament with a mother of prize purses for games such as football, hockey and football, i.e. FIFA, Madden and NHL.
“It’s no different than real life. Not only is there competition in real life sporting events, there’s competition in these events. The great thing about this event around a FIFA, NHL or NFL is that people who watch sports understand what’s happening in these video games. They might not if they’re playing a game of Call of Duty or StarCraft II. Laymen are not going to understand nearly as well in that kind of a competition compared to a game that is sports related. It becomes a real natural for what is we’re doing here.”
In a way I can completely agree with Stocks, and I’m sure it’ll go bit in the United States (nothing wrong with that), because they love their sports, games like FIFA has massive potential in the rest of the world as well. However the amount of spectators for games like League of Legends and Dota 2 could easily trump that. Because it’s actually quite easy to understand what’s going on, even if you don’t know the details. Just as easy it is to recognize when some one scores a goal in FIFA, it is to recognize that one team just got a kill.
That being said, it doesn’t matter what kind of game it is, the effort from companies to legitimize eSports has become tremendous, Stocks believe that the million dollar prize pool helps the cause. When asked what he felt he prize money brought to the table when it comes to eSports, he had the following to say:
“Certainly the epicness of the tournament, not only the online portion and the huge scale we brought with over 150,000 people playing online, but the million dollars is a huge prize and it gets people pretty excited, in and of itself. It’s a great marketing tool. People see now that there’s a legitimate opportunity to make and potential to make some big money by virtually playing video games. The million dollar prize pool is one of the key marketing aspects of what we’re doing here at this event.”
Our very own MainGaming already supports the football scene with their FIFA 13 tournament, so in the words of Leonard Hofstadter, “GO SPORTS!”
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Last Updated: February 19, 2013
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
February 19, 2013 at 09:05
I’d much rather watch a game of SC2 than a sports game. But that’s just me.
Admiral Chief Erwin
February 19, 2013 at 09:18
There goes your rugby invite for Saturday!!!
Darth_Clericus_The_Ultimate
February 19, 2013 at 09:20
Sports GAME. Not real sports.
PS: STOOOORRRMMMEEERRRSSSSS!!!!!
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
February 19, 2013 at 09:22
SHARKIES!!!!! cc @be32c9d0b707e4d635741ed785486a39:disqus
Admiral Chief Erwin
February 19, 2013 at 09:24
haha.
Also yes! Stormers are gonna klap the bulls with a nat snoek!
I am a Shark, but I enjoy watching the Stormers and even the Cheetahs.
(yes bulls is purposefully NOT capitalised :P)
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
February 19, 2013 at 09:22
Sports Video Game.
Real Life Sport is cool. Especially rugby
Admiral Chief Erwin
February 19, 2013 at 09:23
Nice save 😛
OVG
February 19, 2013 at 09:08
Sport was created to distract the peasants from revolting (smelly Rugby fans). Let them eat cake.
Everybody knows that only NERDS play videogames.
Trololololol
Banana Jim
February 19, 2013 at 10:02
This man speaks the truth!
Grant Hancock
February 19, 2013 at 11:47
the cake is a lie !
mornelithe
February 19, 2013 at 09:54
I can watch sports on TV any day of the week, provided it’s a sport I’m interested in. But actually sitting down and watching a Sports game….being played by other people? I could think of few things I’d find more awful.
Tbone187
February 19, 2013 at 09:57
Mind you, PES ’13 is awesome to spectate…got roped in the other day while demoing the game for a friend…
mornelithe
February 19, 2013 at 16:49
Yeah, I know some people are ok with it, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m hyper though, so it’s hard to sit in one place for too long without doing something. And sitting there watching other people play games is really boring for me hehe =)
umar bastra
February 19, 2013 at 10:24
http://www.mweb.co.za/games/ViewNewsArticle/tabid/2549/Article/5599/breaking-news-switzerland-uses-exploit-sa-allocated-win-in-wnt.aspx
So switzerland glitched….LOL….shame