Hey everyone. I’ve been dabbling in game journalism for a few weeks and I just put out a full length article on E-Sports. Check it out and leave your opinions, feel free to share.
http://www.gamefob.com/2012/02/12/e-sports-unpopular-but-for-how-long/
Excellent article! I’ve just recently gotten into e-sports, particularly watching UMVC3 streams and SFIV. In a vacuum, it feels like the fighting game world is more popular than ever. I don’t if it’s just my perception or not though since I didn’t about EVO or any other competitive tournaments 10 years ago when I was hardcore into 3rd Strike. But also the local arcade is always packed with people when I go now so that’s another sign of growth. Do you think E-sports have grown significantly in the last 10 years?
Absolutely. There’s no doubt that E-Sports has grown, especially when you consider the world-wide aspect. In Korea RTS game tournaments (among others) actually have mainstream popularity. I don’t expect this trend to change. I work at a video game store, and the demographic has changed considerably in the last few years. I had a 13 year old girl pre-order Kid Icarus, and tell me her mom would kill her if she found out. With kids of all different backgrounds growing up in an era where gaming is at their fingertips we’ll see a shift toward mainstream acceptance and popularity. I’m excited to see where the trend actually goes, but I hope I’m right!
As for the fighting game community, it is very much in a vacuum but as game knowledge becomes more and more intuitive for non-competitive players we’ll see it expand.
Thanks for the compliment, it made my day. Have one in return; your avatar is classy as fuck.
Can you imagine if E-sports got as big in America as they are in Korea? It’d be insane! And yeah, the overall game market has grown tremendously.
I think the Wii and DS really deserve alot of the credit for helping expand the causal gaming market.
You’re welcome man! And thanks! It’s from Mystery Team, the sleeper hit comedy of the century!!! =P