Since, you’ve been a gamer you’ve probably know the majority of sources to get the latest esports videos, news, etc around the internet. We know that in South Korea gaming is really what drives the majority of people. Especially when it comes to Starcraft.
However, there has been a growth of esports competitions throughout the entire world. USA is now noticing the effects of this wave of gaming. There is an article on the social site “Mashable” that compares MLG’s success of last year wave of tournaments with the streaming offerings for the Super Bowl. Claiming that 3.5 Million viewers logged in to watch Starcraft 2/Halo/Call Of Duty/Leage Of Legends matches throughout the year. Where as only 1.2 million viewers logged in to watch the stream of the Super Bowl. Impressive, but I don’t consider this a great comparison for the esports area. These two are completely different demographics and we can’t combine four different tournaments and a championship for MLG against the even we all know is the Super Bowl.
What does make me happy is to see more and more of these tournaments being held here in the United States. A recent Forbes article announced that IGN execs are expanding their IPL Starcraft Pro League to the states and bringing a huge tournament to Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will consist of 2 seasons, IPL 4 and IPL5. IPL 4 will be held April 6-8 and IPL 5 will be held August 2012.
Also, IGN partnered with Korea’s Global Starcraft Team Leagues to hold GSTL(Global Starcraft Team Leages) Finals during IPL4 and they are partnering once again to hold GSL(Global Starcraft League) Finals. If you follow Starcraft 2 tournaments, you know that GSL held its finals at Blizzcon last year and it gathered tremendous momentum for esports here in the states.
That’s a lot of information to take. However, you can read more about this new partnership and interview at Forbes.
What do you think? I personally think is great that gaming competition is getting momentum outside of Korea. We do have our small events here and there within the US and other parts of the world, but I think pro-gaming should be acknowledged widely.
