This is my eSports Journey
Before we start I should give a brief intro to my insight in eSports and what I've done in this industry. I was an eSports Journalist for over 2 years for Fomos.kr when they had their Global section and I have worked at companies that had held Official Tournaments for the WCS (StarCraft 2), Street Fighter IV (Capcom Pro Tour), Hearthstone (BlizzCon), and League of Legends (feat. Invictus Gaming and Hong Kong eSports.)
Before we start I should give a brief intro to my insight in eSports and what I've done in this industry. I was an eSports Journalist for over 2 years for Fomos.kr when they had their Global section and I have worked at companies that had held Official Tournaments for the WCS (StarCraft 2), Street Fighter IV (Capcom Pro Tour), Hearthstone (BlizzCon), and League of Legends (feat. Invictus Gaming and Hong Kong eSports.)
I was a Masters SC2 player, a Diamond 4 LoL player, Rank 3 (highest rank) in Hearthstone, and SMFC (B4 Rank Nerf) in CSGO. At one point I was rank 19 on dota.hk ladder for DOTA1.
I recall the moments that Blizzard took the stag in South Korea when they announced StarCraft 2, "Hell, It's About Time..."
I've seen the rise of a custom map game called Defence Of The Ancients... I recall playing the Hong Kong ladder (dota.hk) which had close to 20,000 players/accounts alone (of which I peaked at #19).
At those times I really asked myself, can these games go big? Starcraft 2 seemed to be a great kick-off and I believe it is what started this boom we have seen since its release.
Starcraft Broodwar, Starcraft 2, Quake, CS 1.6
At those times I really asked myself, can these games go big? Starcraft 2 seemed to be a great kick-off and I believe it is what started this boom we have seen since its release.
Starcraft Broodwar, Starcraft 2, Quake, CS 1.6
As StarCraft Broodwar, Quake, and CS 1.6 kicked off the foundation of what we call eSports, we have certainly come a long way...
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When Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty came out, it was almost another reboot of eSports and it became the biggest eSports game, companies like MLG, Dreamhack, Redbull Battlegrounds, NASL, etc... All wanted in and the scene was flourishing.
LoL
A small game company called Riot had a game really explode into the eSports scene in the form of League of Legends. I recall hearing about their Season 1 championship with a decent viewship (100k viewers I think??). But no one could have seen far this game has come.
In 2011/2012, eSports took another step forward in the right direction. Bravo to Riot and how they were able to push eSports to where it is currently today. The viewership grew, the production level was and is amazing... and year by year viewership has been stable, reporting millions of viewers at the World Championships.
DOTA 2.
Parallel to the success of LoL was DOTA2, with the acquisition into Valve, DOTA2 has had quite the impressive run themselves. The game has a long history, and I really respect the way Valve have handled DOTA2, HOWEVER, not many games... If any, have their own IceFrog. Their idea of community funded prize pool was ingenious and really pushed the popular of this game, even making news lines of how massive their International Tournament was.
Counter Strike.
This game, along with StarCraft means a lot to me as they were my first gaming experiences in general, I've grown up hoping one day t
hat these games grow to a stage where we can have a popular game where it's like sports where there are Pro Teams competing.
hat these games grow to a stage where we can have a popular game where it's like sports where there are Pro Teams competing.
Now CS 1.6 was and still is a great game.`Global Offensive has had its time to mature and now has taken off since the end of 2014. I must say I never followed the NIP 86-0 era but I certainly knew about it. Now we see teams like Fnatic dominating with other great teams like EnvyUS and Astralis.
I see great things for CSGO's future, and the announcement of the Turner E-League is a good step forward. This should definitely spark interest in bigger investors to jump into this industry which I feel can only be a good thing to grow.
I see great things for CSGO's future, and the announcement of the Turner E-League is a good step forward. This should definitely spark interest in bigger investors to jump into this industry which I feel can only be a good thing to grow.
General eSports.
eSports has come a long way, and I feel it still has a long way to go yet. We see in South Korea, they have a proper system with grass roots into how to become a pro. We then look over to the rest of the world and I can see that they are playing catch up. HOWEVER, the production level, the casters, maybe not all the game play... has improved.
2016 is going to be a good year I feel for eSports. We have matured scenes in CSGO, LoL, SC2, and DOTA2, now it is about taking the right steps forward to grow the industry and it starts with the details; and I am confident we will get there.
eSports has come a long way, and I feel it still has a long way to go yet. We see in South Korea, they have a proper system with grass roots into how to become a pro. We then look over to the rest of the world and I can see that they are playing catch up. HOWEVER, the production level, the casters, maybe not all the game play... has improved.
2016 is going to be a good year I feel for eSports. We have matured scenes in CSGO, LoL, SC2, and DOTA2, now it is about taking the right steps forward to grow the industry and it starts with the details; and I am confident we will get there.
Now its about taking the next few, but important steps forward. Hopefully as I work on more topics to talk about I'll touch on certain issues and concerns I have with the industry and also some of the positives. I am no Thoorin... but I enjoy giving my opinions.
by: Michael "DexVitality" Chow
