Professional gaming attracting big name companies, and now large audiences too

An interesting piece from FastCompany looks at how professional gaming
continues to rise up in stature. Apparently, last year over 700,000
watched pro-gaming events online and some events even attracted as many
as 15,000 paying customers. But things dont' stop there, it seems like
corporate America also wants a slice of the pie with many brands
including Doritos and Dr Pepper affiliating with pro gamers.

Here are some interesting facts from FastCompany:

Os mesmos são:

Citação :

"We want to be to Major League Gaming what Burton is
to snowboarding," says Brett Lovelady, head of Astro Gaming. Lovelady,
who designed the Xbox 360's and HP's gaming products, may have gotten in
at just the right time as corporate America takes notice of
professional video gaming's growing fan base. Events last year attracted
as many as 15,000 paying customers in person and 700,000 watched online
via espn.com.
Doritos ran MLG's first scouting combine in March to identify the next
generation of pro gamers, and it's promoting the sport on its bags this
year. Dr Pepper is a title sponsor of five events this season, beginning
with April's opener in Orlando and concluding with the championship.
"Teaming up with MLG is a great way to embrace this lifestyle," says
Robert Stone, director of interactive media at Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

Astro and Lovelady are playing a key role in advancing that
lifestyle. Astro's core products -- headphones and a mix amp -- are
"designed to improve performance, like running shoes," Lovelady says.
The gear allows teams to communicate in multiplayer titles like Halo
3. "We would often be hoarse after an event from screaming at one
another," says Justin "Roy" Brown, who, like almost every MLG player,
wears Astro. Its new A30 headphones are multipurpose, so they can be
used with everything from game consoles to cell phones. The gear helps
spread the word, as will the Doritos talent-scouting events that will
take place all year. "We hope to find our superstar at one of these
events," says MLG cofounder Sundance DiGiovanni. In other words, MLG
needs its own Shaun White.

Events last year attracted as many as 15,000 paying customers in
person and 700,000 watched online via espn.com. Doritos ran MLG's first scouting combine
in March to identify the next generation of pro gamers, and it's
promoting the sport on its bags this year. Dr Pepper is a title sponsor
of five events this season, beginning with April's opener in Orlando
and concluding with the championship. "Teaming up with MLG is a great
way to embrace this lifestyle," says Robert Stone, director of
interactive media at Dr Pepper Snapple Group.








A questão da PS3 na MLG:

its a great thing what your trying to do for the Ps3 as an avid Ps3
gamer i can appreciate it as im sure other can also
but the simple fact is Ps3 hasnt deserved it ps3 followers have
shown no follow through on any of its major games whatsoever Ps3 has had
numerous tournaments already even on its major titles yet they all seem
to fail
MLG asks for 2 things MASSIVE activity , and Fanbase to follow
through
4 of the PAST ps3 titles have all failed the only 1 that had a chance
isnt as active as it used to be
Resistance 2 massive sequel had a 50k tournament and it barely broke
100 teams THAT were active non the less
Metal gear online had WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT and there wasnt
even 25+ teams that had played GBs
Socom the game that made this website was active but is dwindling
down in activity
KILLZONE 2 one of the most hyped games can’t even break 100 teams on
GB and sign up 32 teams for “KICK OFF” tournament and the game has been
out a month
Ps3 gamers jump to the next game and don’t stay one game to follow
through for MLG to even consider the most active ps3 games on GB are WaW
a third party title that has 100x more activity on 360 so why would
they even consider it for MLG so they spend thousands Probably even
millions for 3 teams to show up because its expensive to fly out to
events hotels and everything WHY would MLG even consider that when teams
are not willing to fork over 12.99 for credits ( People will complain
that the payout is low ) and its true but if the players do not support
the game why should MLG
the simple fact is PS3 has not earned the right of MLG we have been
given like 5 chances and we failed them all maybe in 2 years if its fan
base is bigger and PEOPLE stay on a title longer than 6 months for the
next title and activity is soaring then MLG might consider a ps3 title
but for now its gonna stay 360 because atleast they have shown more
intrest no matter what ppl say on this site.

De facto... Gostava muito que a PS fosse para a MLG, mas de facto eles tem razao... Talvez tambem pelo facto de ter havido ladder interna no KZ 2 a competicao nao ter ido para a GB e nao ter tido a devida projecao para a MLG por exemplo... E alem disso, penso que tambem e muito importante o facto de EUA = Xbox, sendo o acesso a MLG mais facil para eles tambem nao havera a tal adesao a PS como ha para a xbox... Vamos ver se a situacao melhora.

Penso que agora só quando houver algum exclusivo com grande hype e com sucesso competitivo na GB. Próximo será só ate ao killzone3 ? E mesmo assim vai levar com uma paulada do gears em cima...

kz3 vai ter ladder interna tambem logo vai ser igual ao kz2