With CSGO’s E-LEAGUE set to debut on TV tomorrow night across North America, League of Legends developer, Riot, have had information leaked that ESPN are in a deal for the television rights of the eSport. Reported on PVPLive that weekly viewing figures for LoL continues to rise, with over 22.8 million hours consumed in the latest study. They also report that it’s unclear whether their deal with ESPN could affect anything they have currently in place with streaming platforms Twitch, Yahoo and Azubu. It wouldn’t be out of character for ESPN to splash the cash, they’ve previously paid premium money for exclusivity on sports such as College Football, and have been heavily involved with eSports for sometime now, recently adding it as part of their news website. We’ll keep you updated on any progress. http://www.dexerto.com/news/2016/05/23/riot-espn-talks-500-million-tv-deal-lol-lcs/ Why ESPN Is Investing in ESports Coverage Despite hundreds of layoffs across the company last fall, ESPN is building up one new business—eSports. After dabbling with livestreaming, television, and print coverage of eSports, ESPN has launched a new online vertical covering the world of competitive gaming. It’s yet another step toward mainstream acceptance of professional video gaming. After all, if the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports” is covering top games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive alongside the NFL, NBA, and MLB, eSports and sports will be sharing the same pages for the first time. Chad Millman, editor in chief of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, says the company started having preliminary conversations about eSports early last year. After the first eSports issue of ESPN The Magazine published, the audience spoke. “We saw how responsive the fan base was, how tremendous the storytelling opportunities were and, for those of us not already immersed in the industry, how similar it was from a competitive standpoint to what we already cover,” Millman says. “It didn’t seem like that much of a stretch then to get aggressive about creating a digital destination.” ESPN, a division of Disney DIS 0.69% , hired an editor and two reporters from within the eSports community to cover the games, teams, pro players, and breaking news from across the industry. The eSports industry will grow from $278 million in revenue in 2015 into a $765 million industry by 2018, according to forecasts from research firm Newzoo. ESports is also attracting a young male gaming demographic that advertisers crave. Newzoo estimates over 88 million active eSports fans and an additional 117 million casual eSports fans watch events and competitions today. T-Mobile TMUS -0.17% has come in as a sponsor for the eSports section on ESPN.com. And ESPN is cross-promoting eSports through its sponsored “Bank of America Fan Correspondent” segment, which this week covered the opening weekend of the League of Legends Championship Series at Riot Games in Los Angeles. “We will be doing multiple pieces of content on a daily basis, from text pieces to videos to highlights from events to podcasts,” Millman says. The addition of eSports coverage fits within the framework of sports reporting, he says. “There are so many similarities between eSports and what we traditionally think of as mainstream, stick-and-ball sports,” Millman says. “The intensity level of the competition, the intrigue amongst the ownership groups, the following eSports has. All of it allowed for us to play in a space that is comfortable for us as far as reporting, specifically telling stories about these various disciplines, covering the events and breaking news.” And the site has already connected with eSports fans. Its new @ESPN_Esports Twitter handle has over 56,000 followers. Millman says a recent story about League of Legends player Lee Sang-hyeok, who’s known as “Faker,” received over 1 million page views. Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter. “It wasn’t just the eSports community that responded and commented on that piece, it was a wide swath of readers and consumers of ESPN,” Millman says. “On the site we have pages that are dedicated to explaining the intricacies of different games, but the more we can share the personalities and drama of the sport, the more we’ll engage an audience that didn’t know much about it before.” This expansion into a new market comes on the heels of approximately 300 companywide layoffs last October andthe closure of the Grantland.com site. But ESPN has been experimenting with eSports coverage over the past few years in various forms. ESPN3 carried live coverage of BlizzCon and the International Dota 2 Championships over the past two years, as well as the 2014 League of Legends tournament. The network also delivered exclusive live coverage of “Heroes of the Dorm,” with the final airing live on ESPN2—the first live, televised coverage of a collegiate eSports event for ESPN. Over the past few years the X Games have awarded medals for the top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty pro gamers through a partnership with Major League Gaming (MLG), with coverage across ESPN. http://fortune.com/2016/01/22/espn-invests-in-esports-coverage/
I used to roll my eyes at this whole video game / sport / entertainment connection future until I was over at the in-laws this past holiday season and the nephews were fixated on the television. I thought they were playing a video game themselves but NO. They were watching a guy play a video game on television. Not a friend. A random guy. The guy would play all day and crack jokes and stuff and I found out the dude had like a million people who actually pay money to subscribe monthly to watch him play video games. With stuff like the rising populality of that and all the controversies with injuries in sports, and all the fat kids we have, maybe a future where we all tune into the eSport SuperBowl instead of the actual SuperBowl is not that far off. I don't understand it, probably never will, but I am just one guy who will be dead some day and not the future.
There was a constant debate when Sports Illustrated covered Bridge and Chess tournaments whether they qualified as sports; I guess the debate can be renewed now for these E-Sports.
Chess is boring as fuck, e-sports aren't. In S. Korea, e-sports like League and Starcraft are more popular than physical sports. I play League and I'm bad but I have a lot of respect for the nerds who play it for a living. It truly is an e-sport.
I can't wait for EA Sports eSports 20 on the PS5. If it's in the game of the game, it's in the game of game of the game.
There'll be a mode where you can play a kid sitting in front of a TV cheering on a kid talking about playing a video game.
The way you have to balance eating Cheetos, going to the bathroom, and washing or not washing your hands to try to make it back to your couch to watch a kill shot is incredible, but the controller layout is seemless and makes it all so realistic. And they don't miss a single detail. Piss no-handed while trying to watch through the crack in the bathroom door and you'll piss all over the wall. Grab your dick and marvel at the graphic detail of getting Cheetos all over your pubes. It's in the game!
I just invented an e-game. On-the-line 12 year old kids playing on-the-line Little League Baseball culminating in an on-the-line Little League World Series with all the participants needing to provide birth certificates and evidence of residency of their town (the game will not permit ringers of any sort). Think e-Tom's River versus e-Taiwan with no one ever having to break a sweat. _
I can pretty much guarantee that anyone that watches e-sports will continue to watch on streaming sites such as twitch or hitbox rather then anything involving ESPN.
I watch on twitch cause I think Leauge is the best. ESPN right now at least as far as I'm aware only streams that piece of garbage called heroes of the storm. If ESPN starts streaming Korean League matches I will watch ESPN, I don't care. Basically I want to watch the best players in the best league in the best MOBA. Right now this is S. Korea League of Legends Challenger division.
So correct me if I am wrong, this is about people watching people playing video games and some want to call it a sport because of that? Pretty soon we'll just have an entire generation of gelatinous blobs sitting in front of the computer. Makes me glad my 23 year old son is out on the Appalachian Trail for 2 weeks.
