Monday column is back after a super-busy period with Games Convention, too much work and some resting. Here is the most interesting stuff from last week:
* CPL re-rembraces Counter-Strike 1.6
* WCG draws groups
* CGS comes up with big announcements
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The CPL first. It was not so long ago when CPL president Angel Munoz said that it was too difficult to find sponsors for Counter-Strike 1.6 for him. And now we’ve got a brand new $50,000 CS 1.6 competition at CPL Winter.
Let’s cut past the obvious first. It is NOT too difficult to get sponsorship for CS 1.6. Somehow, year after year, leagues like the ESL manages to increase their prize pot for their tournaments. And that includes CS 1.6. Somehow, completely new tournaments like the Intel Challenge Cup in Moscow find the funding for CS 1.6. Somehow, sponsors of top CS 1.6 teams don’t seem to be going anywhere!
Even if Angel had trouble finding sponsors for CS 1.6, it is because all the companies that are familiar with the game no longer support the CPL. The truth as I see it is that Sierra came up with a much better deal than anything else the CPL had for any game. If I were Angel I would have done the very same thing.
But I would have come out and said the truth. There is no shame in doing business.
What was said really does not matter since the list of Angel’s reasons was never important. What matters are facts: there’s a CS 1.6 tournament and someone’s putting up 50K for it.
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The World Cyber Games groups were announced last week and someone online said that the tournament was too bloated and unwieldy, with too many obscure teams and players that do not really stand a chance. What would be the point for them to compete in the finals, then?
This is a pretty narrow-minded mindset. If it wasn’t for the WCG, we would have never found out that Kazakhstan and Poland have got talented and skilled Counter-Strike players. You never know until you actually allow them to compete.
For gamers coming from countries where the conditions for online gaming may not be perfect, the WCG tournament is the only window through which they can play against the best. This is their only opportunity to convince potential sponsors that they are worth investing money into. Did you see the boys from PGS Gaming travel to CPL events before their success in WCG and the Samsung Euro Championship (both events covering airfare and accommodation)? I didn’t think so.
Tournaments where the roof of your talent is the only obstacle between you and greatness play an invaluable role in esports. You do not need thousands of dollars for plane tickets and hotels in order to touch the sky. All you need is the love of the game and the dedication.
Long live tournaments where the road from obscurity to beating your former idols is open for everyone. It’s the ClanBase EuroCups, ESL’s competitions and events like the ESWC and the WCG that bring new superstars into gaming by being unwieldy and bloated.
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The Championship Gaming Series is moving to Europe very, very quickly. Emil “HeatoN” Christensen was put in charge of the Stockholm franchise, Sujoy Roy gets to have fun with the London one and Michael “ODEE” O’Dell receives Birmingham.
Those are very smart choices, I think. All three gentlemen have got extensive experience in many parts of esports. ODEE has proven himself to be a very resourceful manager, surviving in a sponsorship drought next to a Four Kings monopoly and slowly eating away at their hegemony. He grew Team Dignitas into a respected organization.
Sujoy has organized a great many events and has been a professional player himself. PR will definitely be his major strength. But I think he and HeatoN were chosen because of the attention they will get.
Talking badly about Sujoy is considered blasphemy on ESReality, one of the most critical communities in esports. For a chunk of the gaming population, Sujoy is an icon, just like HeatoN is for the majority. The CGS got the attention of an enormously big piece of esports territory by getting Sujoy and HeatoN on board. This would have been impossible with two other people.
And just how much the CGS needs attention in Europe says the recently-announced $75,000 prize purse for the UK/Euro qualifiers.
7 Comments
My first reaction would be I hope Angel comes back on EG for an interview, but to be honest you’ll never get a straight answer from him so there’s not much reason to.
Angel Munoz is becoming less and less deserving of the respect he gets (or once got) as a result of his actions.
I think CS1.6 coming back for another event is a positive thing, it’s going to pump that little bit more money into the community and give the spectators and players another event to hold them over until CSP is released, hopefully to positive reactions. Despite the arguably beneficial 180 flip in policy I’m still not sure I’ll look at the CPL or Angel the same way again.
The CPL flip flop constantly between headline games making silly decisions across the board. Painkiller wasn’t a very popular game despite being one of the best spectator experiences to date, but did it have to be a headline game? Intel and Nvidia seem to be doing wonders in the community by supporting a substantial amount of teams, events, leagues and other assorted companies, so why did the CPL see it necessary to screw them around and eventually burn that bridge to the ground? And why is it the CPL turned down a major TV deal with DirecTV because the price wasn’t right?
At one point in time the CPL was the leader of the pack, growing by leaps and bounds with every incarnation of it’s brand, and now there are more spectators in the CGS studio than there were watching this years CPL WT worldwide.
If Promod takes off the CPL is going to have a tough time selling Severity to Counter-Strike, Call of Duty and other assorted team based communities. I’m sure they’ll snap up the Quake community instantly, but consisting of a whopping total of 6 people, it’s not much to cheer about.
The success of Severity is tied in with the CPL’s popularity. The game is designed for competitive gamers which isn’t that big of a market at the moment. The same guys who are going to be expected to buy this game are the ones who have heard of, have competed in or have watched a CPL event, namely, CS players. If the CPL continues to upset them then it’s all over for Severity, which in turn means another horrible tour for the CPL, I wonder how many more hits that sinking ship can take. Upsetting them means dropping their game again, something which in all fairness seems like a probable scenario.
And if CSP takes off, Severity is destined to become the new Painkiller and it’s possible at that point that the CPL will close its doors for good and disappear into the history books.
“The World Cyber Games groups were announced last week and someone online said that the tournament was too bloated and unwieldy, with too many obscure teams and players that do not really stand a chance.”
You like quoting me as much as I do you it seems!
I’m not going to argue long and hard because I’ll just quote something you said tonight “gaming should be a meritocracy!” and WCG/ESWC don’t allow for the best collection of talent to compete. Nationalism in eSports is just a stupid concept which holds gaming back. Kode 5 and WSVG systems are good and pretty much cover all the bases.
“The CGS got the attention of an enormously big piece of esports territory by getting Sujoy and HeatoN on board.”
Agree that it was a good pr move although you know as well as I do that Heaton at least wasn’t first choice ;)
Evan, this can easily be fixed by berthing more players depending on the country’s results in a given game. Getting a medalist in a game should add a spot for a country.
So… if Koreans win three medals in StarCraft, next year they should send six players. If Poland wins WCG in CS, they should send two teams next year.
Think the system should be made more akin to the Champions league where traditionally strong nations in particular games can send more teams, but the diversity of countries and players isn’t affected they just have a harder time to qualify.
I mean, Sweden could easily send four counter strike teams which would likely reach the last sixteen or eight every year. Your system of adding more players just makes it even more bloated. eSports has a hard enough job keeping to schedules as it is. We need more compact skilled tournaments and stability.
Having countries like Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Peru, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Macedonia is just pointless. The WCG finals has what 43 countries? The WCG/ESWC system is purely for marketing.
Have you ever heard of Erik the Eel? Why are you so preoccupied with those that have a shot at winning? In such events competing alone is of great value. Sports about much, much more than just winning.
I’m elitist! Gaming needs a monopoly to begin with. Then some foundations can be put down with good regulations and organisations which actually benefit gamers. To me sport and gaming is only about the winners since they’re the only ones who actually matter (cruel but honest)!
You have to be a loser a couple of times to become a winner some day. You need all of those losers to get new champions some day.