After recently attending The World Series of Video Game tournaments in Louisville and Dallas I’m left wondering if the professional gaming industry is headed in the right direction. Sitting at the Gaylord Texan sports bar I was surrounded by the World’s best Quake 4 and Counter-Strike players. Having traveled around the world with these professional players we have all become friends, so drinking a pint at a bar with them is nothing uncommon. What made this one night different from all the rest was what was being shown on ESPN while we were at the sports bar.
The huge 52 foot wall of sports screens in the Texas Station sports bar had episodes of the World Championship Domino Tournament and the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog contest running the night in question. Watching the hot dog contest you could see the contestants have their name announced and see them run across the stage with people cheering them on. Actually that’s an understatement. There was an enormous street crowd was cheering them on. Where is the crowd at for the WSVG? Why aren’t the gamers getting super star treatment? I don’t believe it is prize money because first place in the Domino Tournament is only $3,000. Why in the heck are professional gamers not getting the respect that I believe they deserve?
Is The WSVG Right For Professional Gaming?
The CPL used to be the premier professional gaming event and the great branding behind it leading gamers to believe that it was the end all event. It worked, and in recent years if you attended one of the CPL events to compete, you were in a sense at the top of the competitive gaming community. This year at the Summer CPL championships the location was the same, but the event was under the direction of the WSVG organizers for the first time ever. The World Series of Video Games second U.S. circuit event, known in prior years as the CPL Summer Championship, has been renamed the Intel Summer Championship to reflect the deep partnership between WSVG and Intel. The WSVG was able to secure a large number of sponsors for the event with the likes of Intel, Microsoft, ATI, Dell, Red Bull, Antec, and a number of other companies paying out five to six figures per show to be on hand. All of this money adds up to be millions, but where does it go? Going to the WSVG website we can see where $350,000 for each event goes.
While the WSVG sounds like its God’s gift to gamers something doesn’t seem to be working. The attendees lack enthusiasm and for an event costing millions and the press and television crews seem to be missing in action. Why is this the case? I’m going to step out on a limb here and speak my mind and many will not agree with my thoughts, but that’s why freedom of speech is great.Each event will be supported regionally with $350,000 in marketing support. The events will be supported with aggressive media and marketing campaigns, which will include the following:
-Radio: $50,000+ per market in advertising and promotions
-Online: Multi-million dollar campaign on an entertainment portal
-Retail: Promotion through National retailer
-Print: Broad campaign in Future Media and top-tier lifestyle publications
-Grassroots: Online/street team community promotion; aggressive ticketing campaign
-PR: Extensive WSVG campaign/ sponsor campaigns
Lacking Curb Side Appeal
Where is the wow factor in gaming? When you walk into the BYOC or championship areas of these gaming competitions visitors are welcomed by a dimly lit room with the majority of gamers wearing black shirts huddled in front of computer screens blowing stuff up and yelling into their headsets. If a non-gamer walks into the room they are bound to be overwhelmed and not know what is taking place in front of them. Unlike a hot dog eating contest, where the user is instantly engrossed by the images taking place and catching on is basic instinct as we all have to eat gaming just doesn’t have that grip on the public.
Fatal1ty: Helping or Hurting Gamers?
Another problem I foresee with the professional gaming industry is the monopoly taking place by one organization. I can’t think of another professional sport where one of the top players hires other young guns to play under his organizational name and additionally sponsor the event itself. The person I’m talking about here is Fatal1ty. Let me start off by saying that I’ve known Johnathan Wendell for a number of years and he is a great guy that I respect. I clearly see what he is doing, but personally I don’t think it’s helping the professional gaming industry advance to become bigger.
Walking into the WSVG the presence of Fatal1ty is overwhelming. A number of years ago Fatal1ty signed up with Mark Walden to be the master licenser for his brand name. Since them the think tank and circle of trust that Mark Walden has developed has sprung Fatal1ty into the lime light of gaming. With Fatal1ty signing contracts with Abit, Creative, Aruarovision, XFX, and the yet to be announced ATI deal he has locked in 8-10 year contracts with these companies to sell products under the Fatal1ty name. With six figure checks required at signing the Fatal1ty marketing machine has millions in the bank and has used that money to dominate the gaming industry. With money in the bank they are able to go hire other professional gamers to play under the Fatal1ty name. While a select numbers of gamers are set to make more money by signing up, what they don’t realize is they just gave up their individuality. From the outside looking in it seems like Fatal1ty is sucking up the good players and putting Fatal1ty shirts on them while they play. Why do this? Because these gamers are a threat and when you have money you hire the other up and comers and make them part of your organization. This takes place all the time in the business world, but is it right for professional gaming?
When walking into the WSVG all I see is Fatal1ty. Every booth has Fatal1ty products, the huge 25 foot banners hanging all over the venue say Fatal1ty, The Fatal1ty booth is loaded with all of his products and life size cardboard cutouts of Johnathan. Walking over to the championship tournament tables I see Fatal1ty headsets and Fatal1ty mice and all the gamers wearing Fatalty t-shirts (even non-Fatal1ty members as the event shirts list Fatal1ty on the back as a sponsor). Walking in and out of the WSVG the take home message is clear -- Fatal1ty owns this event. I believe this is where things went wrong and to be honest, I’d like to congratulate Fatal1ty and his organization for coming in and dominating the pro gaming circuit. In June Auravision announced Fatal1ty Brand Partners, led by Creative Labs, was now a major sponsor of The World Series of Video Games. The sponsorship now means that Fatal1ty Brand products from Creative, Universal abit and Zalman are now the official PC components for the WSVG. Meaning that sound cards, mice, keyboards, headsets, motherboards, graphic cards, coolers, power supplies and computer enclosures at the event should are all Fatal1ty branded for the most part. Basically this leaves me wondering if WSVG participants should also be allowed to become sponsors of the event itself. From my perspective there should be a separation between the gamers and the organizational body. (think separation of church and state) Walking into an event where Fatal1ty is sponsoring it and playing must have some psychological impact on the gamers playing.
WSVG: What are your goals?
When running a professional circuit I believe that things should be kept clean and even. It is the sole responsibility of the organizers to make sure the event doesn’t become one sided and the WSVG failed to do that by accepting Fatal1ty’s $850,000 check to become an event sponsor. By no means should the organizational body of a professional series take money from an active gamer/group that is still actively competing in that same series.
An example of this is how Fatal1ty sponsored the WSVG and as a result Fatalty products are the only allowed products in a number of the booths. If you walk into the Intel or ATI booths at any of the WSVG pit stops you’ll only see Fatal1ty headsets and keyboards and the same goes for the tournament machines. At the Intel Summer Championships $350,000 was spent on advertising while only $225,000 was given out in cash and prizes. With $350,000 per event going to marketing that means a grand total of $1.4 million dollars will be spent on advertising while $1 million dollars in cash and prizes goes back to the gamers. After seeing what $700,000 in marketing got in Kentucky and Texas I’m not seeing any return on their $700,000 investment in gaming. I didn’t see any TV crews there during the event and even the local Sunday Grapevine newspaper failed to run a big story on the event.
What are your thoughts?
