Breaking The Mould and Beyond
Now that the excitement of eSports has spread, gaming events are sprouting up across the globe. On April 8th, Wargaming who developed the free-to-play giant World of Tanks will be hosting their 3rd annual Grand Finals in Warsaw, Poland which they have declared the new capital of eSports gaming. Twelve of the best teams from around the world are competing for a piece of the $300,000 prize pool. Wargaming is an industry leader in eSports who have created a system that fuels the culture. Teams that reach a specific tier within World of Tanks qualify for a salary paid by Wargaming which provides not only an incentive for teams to focus branding efforts into Youtube, Twitch and social media but also allow them to spend more time honing their skills within the game to create a more exciting tournament in the end. These marketing efforts work in full circle to evolve the way professional gamers are compensated but also stimulate the entire market as a whole, all while promoting their game — it’s a triple win. COGConnected will be there for full coverage of the event so stay tuned.
It’s not hard to see where this industry will be in the next 5 to 10 years. The excitement of competitive gaming transcends nations and brings people together with the common purpose of love for video games. There’s so much interest around the world it’s only a matter of time before it catches on in other parts of Asia, Europe and Latin America. It’s mind blowing the direction gaming has embarked on in such a short period of time, we can only sit and wait to see how far this train goes.