A League of Legends team called Team Fusion competes in Los Angeles in a broadcasted tournament in August.
The music started. Lights from every color began to hit the ceiling. Announcers spoke overhead, welcoming the crowd. A screen portrayed trailers advertising for the tournament that took place all over the United States this year, starting in San Francisco for the Group Stages, where 16 of the best teams were selected to move to the quarterfinals.
The Chicago Theatre seated nearly 4,000 viewers this past week for the “League of Legends” quarterfinals. Before the event started off, a line of dedicated viewers stretched all around the renowned theatre from the entrance on State Street. Everyone came to watch 10 players compete. Samsung Galaxy, South Korean team, played North America’s team Cloud 9.
The crowd all joined to chant “USA, USA, USA” when the North American team walked out. Whenever a “play” was made, everyone left their seats to rejoice and scream out a player’s name. However, when the South Korean team started to show dominance, the crowd fell into silence. These fans understand eSports is more than just a game.
In the past five years, the eSports scene has continued to grow. One gaming franchise, “League of Legends”, created by two friends, has become a mutli-billion dollar company, Riot Games.
“League of Legends”, a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA), has received success. Over the past few years, the game has seen a tremendous amount of support from the “outside” world. Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal and NBA Sacramento Kings’ co-owners Andy Miller and Mark Mastrov have purchased an eSports team, NRG, with help from investors Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins.
Stadiums are filled to the limit. At the League of Legends Worlds 2015 in South Korea, the Seoul World Cup Stadium was completely filled with gamers from all over the world who had come to watch just two teams play. The finals saw performances by orchestras and even the band Imagine Dragons, who stated their support for the growing industry in front of a packed stadium.
This year, eSports has seen the most success. In previous years, these competitive games received little to no outside support. However, “League of Legends” managed to muster a total of 334 million unique viewers throughout 2015’s World’s tournament. Most of the success can be traced back to the video game being globally streamed on a platform called Twitch, which broadcasts from South Korea to Brazil, along with being a free-to-play game.
“I think what makes the gaming industry such an attraction is the fact that there are so many people watching one game,” quarterfinals attendee Alex Pinedo said. “Each of these games are being watched by gamers in South Korea to countries like the United States and Brazil.”
This year the views are only increasing, with outside audiences now tuning in. Another game and eSport, “Counter Strike: Global Offensive” (CS:GO), a first-person shooter, is now being broadcasted on TBS. The show follows 24 teams through a 10-week season. ELeague, the show’s title, has already begun its second season which premiered Oct. 21.
It does not stop there. League of Legends and “CS:GO” were just the beginning of what is now eSports. Billionaire gaming company Blizzard recently released two games, “Overwatch”, a first-person shooter, and “Hearthstone”, an online video card game. Both have quickly become staples of the eSports community. To raise the stakes for those competing, and to make it more thrilling to watch, games such as “Defense of the Ancients (DotA) 2”, another MOBA, have raised $18.5 million for the winners of their international competition. eSports seemly won’t end any time soon.
“I do not see the growth to stop any time soon. You see this? Thousands of people come to watch two teams go at it,” DePaul junior Miguel Castellanos said. “This is never going to stop. The games will get better; the spotlight will get brighter. This is just a scratch of the surface.”
Video games being solely video games are a thing of the past. It is now a way to make a living. For those gamers who may not think the competitive life is for them, streaming is a platform to generate a revenue. Michael Santana, a “League of Legends” ex-pro, also known by his Twitch and YouTube handle as “Imaqtpie,” makes over $8,000 a month solely off of his video game streams. Being viewed by nearly 20,000 people every time he goes live, Imaqtpie is just one of the many streamers that have capitalized on the streaming business. Partnering with YouTube and Red Bull, players are able to produce actual content that can generate millions of viewers.
“What people seem to not understand yet, is that people find enjoyment out of watching the best compete,” quarterfinals attendee Antonio Gutierrez said. ”Nearly 4,000 people are in this small venue. You tell me we are crazy. I’ll tell you you’re wrong.”
The semifinals will take only four teams and will take place in New York. The finals will take place in Los Angeles, taking in only the best two of the 16 teams invited.
