[ad_1]
Thousands of people will complete the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on July 27-28, but not for basketball, hockey, or a concert. They will be there for the Grand Final of the Overwatch League, a video game developer of the Blizzard Entertainment Electronic Sports League with its popular first person shooter, Overwatch.
The sold-out finals mark the end of the first season of the League Overwatch, with teams from Philadelphia and London (the teams of the city are a brand of the league) who will compete for prizes of 1.4 million bucks. The matches will be broadcast live on ESPN and Disney XD, marking the first time that e-sports have been broadcast live on ESPN's main channel in the early evening, said Blizzard
. Michael Morhaime to talk about the tournament, Overwatch and more broadly from the game industry.
The following questions and answers have been slightly modified for clarity and accuracy.
What do you think? about e-sports in regards to its cultural moment right now? Looks like it's just about to become mainstream.
Games are common now. It has been a change. If you go back there 20 years ago, the game was not, in fact, outside of some places in the world, with South Korea being one of the they. But there has been a gradual movement of the popularity of the game more and more into the mainstream.
It's as big as any other form of entertainment, and so I think it's natural that organized competitive play would follow. I think people are interested in watching what they know and what interests them, so as you have more people where the game is a big part of their life, they want to see what the best players in the world are able to do. [19659008] There has been controversy about inclusivity and about players who say things they should not do. Did it surprise you, and how do you react to that?
We want gaming and e-sports to be welcoming and appropriate for anyone who wants to come see them. I am surprised by the level of toxicity that sometimes exists online, especially when people can say things anonymously. We spend a lot of time talking about this to Blizzard, and I think there are some good ideas that will start to have an impact on reducing that.
For some players, all of a sudden under a light like this, it's probably something that surprised them. But they have to accept that they are now public figures and that they represent more than themselves, and so they have to take this responsibility seriously if they want to be part of it. a professional organization.
I think it is necessary and important.
It's important to be inclusive for business reasons, too – you want to sell games to female players, to LGBTQ players.
We do it, that's for sure. But even more than business reasons … in what world do we want to live? In which world do we want our children to grow up? And when you're thinking about extending the game to a wider audience, you think of people who go online and have their first experience, and what should this experience be? You do not want them to be exposed to these kinds of things.
Overwatch League has taken steps to ensure that players are well compensated in terms of salary, benefits and so on. Why is it important to you?
It's really important that the best players, we provide them with stability so that they can focus on the best. If you look at traditional sports, it's something that traditional sports do very well. You have signed up with a team and you have a lot of things that are like regular work, where you focus on being the best you can be. So, have a minimum wage, have health benefits, have this good environment [helps] to focus on team work with the team.
Has there ever been a challenge where maybe something is good? ] Overwatch but does not feel good for the average casual player?
This is something we deal with in all our games that are electronic sports. It is essential that at the professional level, the game be well balanced. And we must also look at all levels of play, and how the decisions we make also impact those levels. So, it 's really a balancing act, but it' s something that the design team is constantly thinking about.
Do you play often?
Yes, yes.
Have you tried? to play against some of these players?
That would not even be fun to watch. But you know, one of the coolest things I love Overwatch is, no matter what your skill level, you can go there and have a really fun experience. And I do. I am able to go out there, and I am able to win matches, and I am able to play with my nephew, who is a little younger than me, and we can go and have a good time . And I'm not very good at the game, so it 's pretty awesome that I can have a good time playing and getting away without feeling like I'm being so bad at the game. game I probably am, if you matched me with people who really knew what they were doing.
Source link
