eSports Weekly Update – Stories you may have missed!
We are looking at the past, present and future of eSports this week. We’ve got news like Ninjas in Pajamas’ tournament win at the Dreamhack Masters Malmo, an insight to Sacremento Kings Co-Owner, Andy Miller’s statement that Virtual Reality is “inevitable,” for eSports, as well as some new research showing us how “The eSports consumer is young, racially diverse, tech-savvy and often female”.
Having thoughts on wanting to work closely with eSports? The world’s popular soft drink company Coca-Cola, has some exciting projects bubbling up for anyone up to the challenge.
Let’s quickly look back on how eSports has changed the competitive gaming scene.
A Comparison between the 2016 Spring Split Immortals and the 2015 Summer Split Fnatic
During the 2015 EU LCS Spring Split, it became readily apparent that Fnatic was building something special. They finished the split with a 13-5 record, dominating the league and taking 1st place in the Spring Split Championships. Incredibly, they returned even better, ending the Summer Split in 1st place with a historic 18-0 record.
FNC had developed into what seemed like a real World Championship contender. They made a deep run in the 2015 World Championship, losing to KOO Tigers in the semifinals. Didn’t matter; they showed they had what it took to compete against the Korean juggernauts, and would be back in 2016 stronger yet…except in the craziest off-season in professionally League of Legends history, top laner Seong “Huni” Hoon Heo, Jungler Kim “Reignover” Ui-jin, and Support and Team Captain Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim chose to leave FNC in order to pursue more enticing offers.
Enter the newly minted Immortals (IMT), the next destination for Huni and Reignover. The majority of IMT’s starters had proven themselves already; along with Huni and Reignover, mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Justice Park is was the reigning mid lane champion of NA (edit: TSM swept IMT in the semifinals, as I always knew they would cough). Jason “WildTurtle” Tran is still a top ADC, regardless of his lackluster finish on TSM last year. The only pseudo-questionable talent was support Adrian “Adrian” Ma, who did not get the chance to shine while on Team Impulse.
IMT exploded onto rift in a very FNC-esque way. They won their first game against perennial favorite Cloud9 (C9) in a 17-7 victory, followed by a perfect game against Team Impulse (TIP) (16-0, 0 Towers, Inhibitors, Dragons, or Barons given). They continued showing FNC-levels of dominance throughout the split, ending the split with a 17-1 record, dropping a single game against Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) in the seventh week of the split.
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Coca-Cola is Hiring for Gaming & eSports Projects
An opportunity to work in eSports with the company behind the world’s most popular soft drink has bubbled up.
Coca-Cola is looking for experience and ability to help run some of their forthcoming gaming and eSports projects, with the role of project manager located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, the prospect of up to a $50K salary and all-important paid time off.
Key responsibilities include event management, social media management, curation and analysing of data, agency management and internal education of Coca-Cola employees about gaming potential.
Requirements are high but while competition for the role may be in abundance, eSports remains a relatively young and developing market in which talent from all backgrounds can sparkle.
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eSports involvement actually greater among women than men
“The eSports consumer is young, racially diverse, tech-savvy and often female”
While Nielsen Games recently pointed to an eSports audience that’s over 80 percent male, a new report from the researchers at PwC paints a different picture of the burgeoning eSports scene. Its latest US consumer survey, part of its consumer intelligence series, notes that 22 percent of women say they’re involved with eSports compared to 18 percent of men.
“While the difference is relatively small, it indicates an early trend that women may be just as, if not more, engaged with eSports than males. For viewing versus playing, men are playing slightly more than women, and men appear to watch from a competitive lens, while women appear to watch for enjoyment and for the social aspect of the viewing experience,” PwC said.
Male or female, the eSports audience continues to be a very young one, with 68 percent being under 35 years old. “The increasing popularity of eSports has attracted the attention of companies industry-wide, and they are trying to reach the coveted millennial audience… As it becomes harder to reach millennials on traditional platforms, such as linear TV, companies are seeing an opportunity with eSports as its viewers tend to be highly engaged,” PwC noted.
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Sacramento Kings Co-Owner Andy Miller Says That Virtual Reality is “Inevitable” for eSports
Andy Miller is co-owner of the Sacramento Kings and NRG eSports. NRG recently signed up Shaquille O’Neal, Alex Rodriguez, and Jimmy Rollins as partners and has big plans for the future. Miller also founded Quattro Wireless, which was acquired by Apple in 2009, where he went on to become the Vice President of Mobile Marketing.
Miller has not been shy about sharing his interest in (and expectations for) eSports and graciously accepted our interview request to do just that. He recently said that the Kings’ new arena – built primarily to serve his basketball team – is “perfect” for massive game competitions.
“I came at eSports from a bunch of different angles,” said Miller. “I think the most relevant one was my teenage boys, who play Call of Duty and CS:GO. It was hard not to recognize that, as much as I expected them (being baseball players and whatnot) to be talking about the Red Sox and Mike Trout, they weren’t.”
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How eSports Has Changed the Competitive Gaming Scene
It would be naive to think that, with the global phenomenon that is the gaming industry, that a competitive scene would not too rise from its flames. While the professional gaming industry has spent the past ten years equipped with the social stigma of sweaty teenagers, it appears, finally, to be taking a modern, new glossy tone.
In the last 20 years the gaming industry has seen a seen a huge windfall in cash-flow. the industry worldwide is worth $83.6 billion and, by 2018, is expected to reach $113 billion. With the rise of the gaming industry, it’s been only natural to see that the competitive gaming scene has grown concurrently.
eSports is a term that may be unfamiliar to many, though through the course of the past 10 to 15 years, the concept has leapfrogged from humble, low-scale tournaments, to the multi-million dollar events we see now; across games like League of Legends, Counter Strike, Dota2, Starcraft, and more. The top players in their respective games have taken home millions of dollars through prize pools alone, compared to the triple-figure rewards for top players in years gone by.
As it stands, the eSports industry alone is said to be worth $748 million, and by 2018 is expected to have more than doubled to reach $1.9 billion. Considering there has always been somewhat of a stigma against competitive computer gaming, this is a staggering leap.
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International e-Sports Federation applies for esports recognition as an Olympic sport
If the International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) has its way, esports could become a matter of national pride. The South Korea-based organization has applied to the International Olympic Committee for the recognition of esports as an Olympic sport. The IeSF was founded eight-years-ago with the desire to “promote e-Sport as a true sport beyond language, race and cultural barriers.”
They are an official signatory of the World Anti-Doping Agency for esports. This means that the IeSF (its member countries and athletes) agree to abide by the rules set in the WADA Code. It’s a document that “harmonizes anti-doping policies, rules and regulations within sport organizations and among public authorities around the world.” Since 2009, the IeSF organization has been holding yearly tournaments in its home country of South Korea with players from its member nations.
Alex Lim, the secretary general for the IeSF told theScore esports in an email that the evaluation process for recognition is due to start in December of this year.
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A reality show about a League of Legends team is coming to MTV Spain
The show will follow the players as they compete to advance up the rungs of the amateur League of Legends scene in Spain. Along the way, they’ll be helped by experts from a variety of fields (the trailer shows one gamer sitting in a flight simulator).
Vodafone has partnered with MTV for the show. The British telecommunications giant is paying for the swanky house the players are living in, and it also signed a sponsorship deal with G2 on Feb. 15 (the Spanish League team goes by the name G2 Vodafone).
Vodafone released a trailer for the show today that frames it in epic proportions. The show is “a complex and ambitious project that without doubt will create the standard relationship between the world of gamers and entertainment,” the voiceover boasts over shots of the giant house, team meetings, boxing matches—and the flight simulator, of course.
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Ninjas in Pyjamas triumph at DreamHack Masters Malmö
Nobody believed in them – but Ninjas in Pyjamas have just won their first premier tournament in 18 months, defeating Na’Vi in a 2-0 series at the grand finals of DreamHack Masters Malmö.
The game played out over two nailbiting maps, Dust2 and Cobble, both ending with the scores 16-14 in NiP’s favour. On both maps, Na’Vi started out on the CT side and were in the lead at halftime, and both times the ninjas fought their way back into the game and took the lead in the final rounds. That makes Ninjas in Pyjamas the first ever DreamHack Masters champions, going home with a $100,000 cheque and their bedst result in ages.
Earlier in the day, Ninjas in Pyjamas defeated their countrymen from Godsent in the semifinals. Godsent turned out to be the breakout team of the tournament. Led by former Fnatic player pronax, this was the first premier international tournament for the team. They were the joker of their group, but made it out and played a thrilling quarterfinals against Mousesports, beating them 2-1.
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