GGL Wire

The recent announcement of the Electronic Sports World Cup re-marrying nVIDIA and moving the final to California has pleased many fans of competitive gaming all over the world. In an interview with Wire, ESWC President Matthieu Dallon talks the prizing and the games of the 2008 season and the future plans of the organization.

What convinced nVIDIA to come back to the ESWC?
You have to ask NVIDIA! But, in my opinion, they took a break last year to prepare, among other operations, what we are announcing today.

How long is nVIDIA back with the ESWC for and what is the nature of the relationship?
We are working with NVIDIA on ESWC 2008 since half a year already. They are the ESWC main and worldwide partner. In 2008, NVIDIA will also co-produce the Grand Final event in California with Games-Services. Their commitment is deeper than ever.

Does this mean that the ESWC will go back on track with its old prizing?
It means that we will do our best for the gaming community, first concerned about the sporting project, the qualifiers, the offered trip to the national champions, the accommodations for everyone offered on-site, the global entertainment, the best conditions of playing… Prizing will be released later.

After the shutdown of the WSVG, fans are concerned about the ESWC, especially since the prize purse was cut in 2007. How many seasons of the ESWC do you have guaranteed and on paper already?
The prize has been reduced from 2006 to 2007, as the number of tournaments, but not cut or cancelled as some leagues do after arrogant announcements! We never announce things we cannot afford. It will be the 6th edition of ESWC, our company is now 8 years experienced in e-sports productions, and we don’t want to stop. We love our job and we have a vision. To date, we have options worldwide until 2011.

Is it an option that the ESWC will be sold to a new owner?
No, it is a wrong way to analyse our wish to develop ESWC and Games-Services. We have a boost plan for the company, which some key people of the market know, and that goes with a significant investment and necessary with a new sharing issue of our capital. In a few words, we want to leverage our online platform ESWC.COM, develop strategic partnerships with publishers, and increase the value of the brand worldwide. All the founders, including me, are fully committed in this plan and will be part of it. Every other version is unwise.

History has proven that it takes years to make your audience used to coming to a live event to spectate. Does it make sense at all to move your grand final, with absolutely no guarantee that spectators will come?
We have been chosen by NVIDIA because we know how to create emotions through pixels sparkling. They have given us enough guarantees concerning the audience. When you will see the full puzzle including the details of the whole production, the communication plan, I think all this will become obvious for you. I’m not saying there is no risk; I’m saying that we are perfectly aware of this issue. We want to make a success of this challenge.

A) Live esports events have been failures in the U.S. so far. B) You have never had stable partners to run ESWC-branded events in America. So why California?
I think that’s 2 good reasons to come in USA. By the way we will not licence the event, all the Games-Services team and the ESWC core staff will be there to run the event smoothly as usual.

Did nVIDIA push for the U.S. location?
We have decided together to organized the ESWC Grand Final in US. And as mentioned, they will be also involved in the production of the event.

Wouldn’t Asia be a much smarter choice?
China, Korea, India, would also be tremendous locations for the Grand Final. But you don’t produce a good event with a smart choice. Opportunities will come in the future.

There will be a Masters event in Paris. Will it be an open tournament for anyone to compete?
Yes, inasmuch as we can welcome people ; ) News about the Masters in Paris will come later …

Will we see other Masters events next year?
We hope so.

How will the Masters events fit into the ESWC structure?
Basically, the ESWC Masters will be international events open to anyone that will offer additional slots for the Grand Final. An extra-chance for a team or player that has failed to his national preliminary or that has no preliminary in his country.

Let’s move on to games now. Can ESWC broadcasts have Counter-Strike content or not?
Yes.

The “pure FPS” game has not been determined yet. What chance does Quake 4 have to make it to the ESWC yet again?
A chance.

Q4 and UT3 are two options that would not be surprising. Are you considering scenarios where you pick a wild card like Warsow, PainKiller: Overdose or anything else that would be surprising to the community?
Yes. But there is also the option that we do not take a “pure FPS” game as official worldwide discipline but just for an invitational tournament during the Grand Final. The issue for qualifiers is the size of the community and the local interest in national competitions all the year long. Gathering a pool of champions for the show next summer is also an option. And then the question of the title is very open. But honestly, to date we really don’t have the answer on the best choice.

Do you have any plans concerning StarCraft 2? When it comes out, is it likely to replace Warcraft 3 in the ESWC?
We are very confident on the success of Starcraft2. We doubt that we could have the resources to manage 2 RTS games in the competition.

Do games like Call of Duty 4, Team Fortress 2 or Enemy Territory: QuakeWars have a shade of a chance to be ESWC games in the future?
It is very difficult to add team-played games because of the impact on logistics and costs. Think about the trips to offer, the accommodations, the prizes, the number of computers to provide, the schedules etc… We have chosen to develop CS Women instead of a new team-played title. But we’d love to add games like COD4, DotA… as new console games. We are open to that if it makes sense also for all our partners worldwide.

What about World of Walking *cough* Warcraft?
It seems to be a great game for million of people. I doubt they need e-sport to increase their pleasure of playing. If we had to renew an happening on stage it would certainly be something like unseen PVE performance.