As 2014 comes to a close, it is safe to say that the year has seen the biggest eSports events ever held. It has also shown that eSports have staying power and are beginning to generate mainstream appeal. I’m a huge fan of eSports in general and incredibly happy to be able to watch it grow, so let’s take a look through the biggest events of the year.
Call of Duty Champioship
One of the first big eSports events of the year and strong proof that eSports is entering the consciousness of people other than hardcore gamers was the Call of Duty Championship. Team CompLexity emerged as the second Call of Duty World Champions, netting $400,000 of the $1 million prize pool. While it may not be a game that draws huge crowds of eSports fans they put on a good show and it’s fun to see more games taking their competitive aspects more seriously.
Later in the year, Call of Duty made another splash by appearing at X-Games Austin with a five team tournament providing some more mainstream coverage for competitive gaming.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Counter Strike, one of the world’s oldest eSports has seen a revival recently thanks to Valve’s support through sales of gun skins and other in game cosmetics. This March saw the game’s second major tournament with a $250,o00 prize pool. EMS One Katowice saw sixteen of the top Counter Strike teams come together to battle it out. Virtus Pro defeated a powerful Ninjas in Pyjamas in a best of three that went down to the wire.
Valve also funded two other $250,000 tournaments, IEM Cologne where Ninjas in Pyjamas defeated Fnatic for the top prize, and the upcoming DreamHack Winter 2014. Valve’s support has really helped bring Counter Strike back to the top in terms of major eSports and the regular occurrence of its major tournaments makes sure that fans always have something to look forward to. For more on my thoughts about Counter Strike eSports, check out “Why Counter Strike Doesn’t Need an International.”
Looking forward to next year, CS:GO teams, including the popular Cloud 9, Fnatic, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, will be appearing at an MLG event during X-Games Aspen, an event sure to draw even more spectators to eSports.
League of Legends
Riot Games continued its popular League of Legends Championship Series this year and it delivered the same exciting action and entertaining personalities as always. League’s first major event of the year took place in Paris, France when the top teams from North America, Europe, China, Korea, and Southeast Asia, as well as each region’s individual All-Stars met for the chance to win individual glory and the $50,000 grand prize. Korea powerhouse SK Telecom T1 K walked away with the money without dropping a single game.
The stakes we monumentally higher at League of Legends annual world Championship where teams competed for a cut of the $2.1 million prize pool. The tournament was played throughout Southeast Asia and culminated in front of a sell out crowd of 40,000 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Korea.
Home town favorite Samsung White marched to victory, dropping only 2 of the 17 games they played en route to victory. The event was truly a spectacle, featuring a pregame show to rival the Superbowl’s, pre and post-game performances from Imagine Dragons, and pyrotechnics galore. Riot recently released a behind the scenes of the tournament so you can get a better look at the amount of work that goes into planning an event on this scale. Check it out here.
Beyond professional League of Legends, Riot also organized the North American Collegiate Championship, offering students the chance to play for scholarships. This dedication to eSports has paid massive dividends, to the tune of having 27 million players each day.
DotA 2
The other behemoth in the MOBA genre hosted its own World Championship in July. Valve again sold Compendiums, an in game item that provided purchasers with battle point boosters, unique couriers, and the opportunity to compete in a pick-em challenge. Player showed their support, buying Compendiums in droves, driving the prize for the tournament to nearly $11 million. Team Newbee surprised everyone and emerged victorious claiming their $5 million grand prize. ESPN even aired a pre-game show/tournament roundup on ESPN2 the night before the Finals. ESPN was happy with viewer numbers, but Twitter seemed less than happy.
2014 was truly a breakout year for eSports. Between appearing at the X Games, coverage on ESPN, and filling a massive soccer stadium it’s clear that people are beginning to accept that professional video gaming is here to stay. A fact that isn’t lost on developers either. Despite being delayed by matchmaking issues, 343 Industries is gearing up for the start of its Halo Championship Series. Nearly every game with competitive multiplayer, from Hearthstone, to World of Tanks, from Call of Duty to Counter Strike, has developers encouraging people to play, compete, and watch, in hopes that their game will become the next huge eSport.