esports started without support from game developers, just the community doing its thing. then it got big and publishers not only wanted in, but full control. Riot and Activision Blizzard have no one to blame but themselves for the state of things x.com/alexleewastake…
esports started without support from game developers, just the community doing its thing. then it got big and publishers not only wanted in, but full control. Riot and Activision Blizzard have no one to blame but themselves for the state of things x.com/alexleewastake… https://t.co/jBZLgfr50h
@Slasher Didn't Riot make League esports the biggest esport before esports was "BIG".
@Slasher Successful developer-driven leagues can and should by all means be possible and better positioned to do so than grassroots esports. It's likely an incentive and competency issue if it doesn't work. Much harder to make grassroots work, especially with IP control always looming.
Publisher owned esports league being judged by 'profitability' as a stand alone P&L needs to stop. Is marketing or legal profitable? No. Are they necessary? Yes. The mistake that was made was they tried to force them to stand alone as separate P&Ls in a weak copy and paste of sports. This distance from core publisher KPIs like marketing beats related to MTX and other game initiatives was the real death knell for esports. Esports isn't failing, the model is.
@Slasher Esports are worldwide. First mistake, don't localize them. Second, let the communities decide what is good for the game and the esports around it. Third, be a guide and not a dictator. Fourth, use the hammer only when necessary. Game Devs that do this, thrive.