Do like me and get into eSports because that's how American gridiron football dies

that was a good article even though it took me a week to remember to finish reading it. The closing anonymous quote does not bode well for the field, I'm afraid - it sounds way too close to "let's just do it and be legends" - also, Overwatch is completely unwatchable, and that's coming from someone who loves the Wachowskis' Speed Racer movie.

Ex-esports caster here, still on the fringes of esports but not as heavily involved:

This isn't likely a bubble in the same way the two previous implosions were. I don't think Blizzard's approach to OWL will be good for esports longterm, but I don't think it can sink gaming to the same extent as previous implosions.

There are other monetization structures (i.e., Valve's structures) that are lucrative--and being able to bring those numbers to the table will allow investors to feel more surefooted, even after a failure like OWL might put on display.

(by the way, casting Overwatch is also extremely difficult compared to other esports. unenjoyable experience imo)

I saw Overwatch on tv at the gym and it was completely illegible to someone who's never played it (although the same is true about football!).

Part of the difference is how obvious and tangible the objective is. In football, I can point to an end of the field and say, “That team wants to get the ball to that side of the field, and that team wants to stop them,” and someone who has never seen football can make sense of that. Put bodies in the way to stop them from getting anywhere. The nuance is in decision making and execution, but the objective is simple. You don’t have that luxury on a big windy fantasy world map.

Further, most people know what it’s like to throw a ball, or to try and run from someone. It’s obvious where the skill is in these things.

This is a problem across a lot of esports. Some games (like Starcraft) have the benefit of the gameplay looking like a spectacle; there’s multitasking and clashing armies and four different things going on at once. Trying to get the buy in from people who don’t know what it’s like to try and land a projectile is tough.

Fighting games will alway be the easiest thing to watch bc you can always tune out the jargon from the cast and just watch the thing happen all at once on the single field of play

I'm not annoyed that G2 lost in the finals, I'm annoyed they got swept so easily.

So: is ESPN going to have to resort to covering esports on live TV now?

FGC events pretty high risk as far as gatherings go unfortch, even if it were only competitors there that's still a lot of ppl cheek to jowl in a hotel ballroom

yeah espots events aren't any less risky than any other spots event

the fighting game majors are likely to be cancelled too. not sure about evo which is in late july but the spring and early summer ones for sure

Yeah, this is extra bad for regional fighting game tournaments

https://kotaku.com/amidst-coronavirus-the-fighting-game-community-faces-a-1842317400

It strikes me that conducting other esports matches without an in-person audience would at least allow for social distancing. Fighting tournaments aside it doesn’t seem like a large gathering is required

Fox Sports is showing a virtual NASCAR race

Virtual car racing is more entertaining than real racing

Seems like it’d be cheaper, safer, easier to broadcast, quieter, lots of advantages

Shorter, too - can't drag 500k people to a superspeedway for a one hour race but with iRacing why not? Cut out the middle 300 miles of the Daytona 500 that pop-pop uses for his Sunday nap.

No guilt from the thrill of a good wreck.

Is this on Twitch? Where do I check this out

Twitch and Youtube for NASCAR and Indycar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW1hvZQM4-0&t=1264s

I thought Formula 1 was doing these but I don't see them on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW1hvZQM4-0&

If I had a bunch of money I'd probably invest it in a racing setup but I also get really mad at Forza so realistic racing would probably not actually be fun in any way

This very nice-seeming English guy is making it harder to say no to getting into racing (aside from not owning a PC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-uCx06dlZU

https://i.imgur.com/fYOR4ci.png

Shady Numbers And Bad Business: Inside The Esports Bubble

Kotaku asked sources with knowledge of esports teams’ revenue about what sort of deficits they run, but most seemed reluctant to answer. One, speaking anonymously, believes a lot of teams are operating on million-dollar yearly deficits. The CFO of Complexity Gaming, one of the only team representatives to respond to Kotaku’s inquiries, declined to say if the team is profitable. Although it’s early on in the industry’s new life as a sexy investment, there’s only so long organizations can remain unprofitable before they’re deemed duds.

NewZoo analyst Jurre Pannekeet, who sees the revenues for 14 esports teams, says the majority of teams are operating at a loss, but declined to say how much on average, citing nondisclosure agreements. When pressed whether that majority was closer to 51 percent or 90 percent of teams operating at a loss, he said: “If you looked into it, it’s probably closer to 89 percent than 50 percent.”