Esports: "27 Million People Watched the LoL Finals" - PCgamer - Gaming is Truly Big

[kail]

No, and only a gaming company would try to sell that angle. Anyone who truly believes that a bunch of people playing video games qualifies as a sport need their heads examined.

Does it really matter what it's called? It's competitive, a measure of skill. Similar to our traditional sports except lacking the physical activity. eSpots is easier to say and type out than competitive gaming.

Anyone who believe email qualifies as mail needs to get their heads examined. You can't send physical items through emails.

[carnifex2005]

I actually watched some of it and I don't play LoL or even any MOBA's. I was intrigued by the 40,000 people watching an eSport in a stadium and gave it a try. I was very impressed by the quality of the stream and quality of the presentation. It was almost NFL like. Very good job by Riot on that one.

[stellvia]

With LoL this popular as a self-proclaimed eSport, what's next? Competitive tournament Tiddly-winks?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

It looks like they've been locked in a soundproof box so that they can only hear each other. That, coupled with the headsets probably means Riot prepared ahead of time to make sure that they don't get distracted or anything. Evidently, quite a lot of effort was invested into this event.

[Jester Joe]

I like how people are all like "It's not a sport!" while ignoring the big ol' e attached to the front.

But that's cool actually, didn't Dota internationals also manage to get a spot on some TV channel and they were happy enough with the results to say they're going to explore more eSports?

[Suporex]

It's an american thing, nobody cares about LoL in Europe. But e-Sports, of course, is big and will only grow the next years, with almost every Blizzard title at least somehow involved.

In America, MLG is the biggest thing you'll ever see that involves e-sports. They favor console games not PC. Most of the tournaments involve CoD and MLG wouldn't exist without Halo. Most LoL viewers are not from NA.

[Skorpionss]

It's an american thing, nobody cares about LoL in Europe. But e-Sports, of course, is big and will only grow the next years, with almost every Blizzard title at least somehow involved.

Lol if you truly believe this... It's pretty huge in Europe too

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Actually, it isn't. Even in the gaming community I have issues finding people playing LoL, Dota2 etc...leave alone people watch it. I know it's played a lot, but as an Esport it isn't a thing yet in Europe at least.

Yes that's why it's the most watched game at Dreamhack and the such... because it's not a thing... at all...

[Chickat]

Is that all through twitch?

[Vespian]

http://www.pcgamer.com/league-of-leg...llion-viewers/

Dear, God.

The event recieved about 1/5th as many views as the Superbowl.

Has esports really become a thing?

I think a specific subsegment of eSports is enjoyable to watch and that's mostly MOBA related. SC2 is comparatively boring (opinion) and Shooters get dull after several seconds. A good second would be fighting games and only a fraction watches those..

Do I think certain eSports are making a breakthrough? Yep. Do I think this counts for eSports as a whole? Nope.

It's an american thing, nobody cares about LoL in Europe. But e-Sports, of course, is big and will only grow the next years, with almost every Blizzard title at least somehow involved.

Hah! I LOL'd (teehee). I stopped playing, because I'm slightly toxic, even to myself, but damn if I don't watch almost every single match. Netherlands here. Got many friends that do the same.

[Deleted]

Well, the article says the numbers went down from 32 to 27 million. a bit surprising considering that
it seems like Riot put even more money behind the 2014 than last year. The concurrent viewer record
suggests that there were quite exciting matches which is good considering TI4 finals kinda sucked.

I just hope that the teams from US and Europe can compete in the next years. It seems that every time
there is some e-sport hype, the Chinese and Koreans slowly creep to the top and dominate the scene.

Gaming as a spectator sport is guaranteed to grow as whole tho. The more people play video games the
more they will be interested in watching them as well. CS:GO has grown the most in the last year I think.
It went from tens of thousands to hundreds in terms of twitch viewers in a very short time span.

ps: Hope overwatch will be good.

[Edge-]

With LoL this popular as a self-proclaimed eSport, what's next? Competitive tournament Tiddly-winks?

If people want to watch it, why not? Does it impact your life in any way, shape, or form?

[Spraxle]

its not surprising really. ive played a lot of games in my life and watched a lot of tournaments as well as played in a few local lan tournaments but to me personally there is no game out there that is more fun or easy to spectate than LoL. in fact i almost get as much enjoyment out of watching games than i do actually playing them.

I agree with this. With the right casters and players who actually try the games can be a blast to watch. During the summer split when CLG boot camped in Korea and they brought in a bunch of subs to play for a few weeks... those games were awesome. The subs wanted to have fun and it showed.

[Arkenaw]

I will never understand the appeal of watching other people play things.

[Arewn]

No, and only a gaming company would try to sell that angle. Anyone who truly believes that a bunch of people playing video games qualifies as a sport need their heads examined.

Just because it's stupid doesn't mean it can't be a sport.
People watch horses run in a circle, watch cars drive in a circle, as long as it's presented as something "competitive" where you can cheer for someone totally unrelated to you and feel good about their victory as if it was your own even though it has nothing to do with you, people will come in droves to watch complete drivel.

I agree that it will always sit badly in my mind that they call it a "sport" though. It strikes me as ego stroking on the player's part, and an attempt to up their legitimacy on the company's part.
Soccer, whether your 5 year old is playing or a professional, is always "a sport". Doesn't matter who's playing and to what capacity, it's categorized as a sport.
The amount of retarded calling video games "an esport" sounds to me is staggering. When I play any multiplayer game is it suddenly "an esport" now?
F that. It's a video game. Some of which are competitive in nature. Some of which have a professional scene.

[Charge me Doctor]

probably a mistake or dodgy view counter (anyone remember some websites hiding somewhere on their main page 1x1 pixes size streams, boosting Twitch views?), it's very hard to believe in 27 millions people watching it

[Duronos]

Well, the article says the numbers went down from 32 to 27 million. a bit surprising considering that
it seems like Riot put even more money behind the 2014 than last year. The concurrent viewer record
suggests that there were quite exciting matches which is good considering TI4 finals kinda sucked.

I just hope that the teams from US and Europe can compete in the next years. It seems that every time
there is some e-sport hype, the Chinese and Koreans slowly creep to the top and dominate the scene.

Gaming as a spectator sport is guaranteed to grow as whole tho. The more people play video games the
more they will be interested in watching them as well. CS:GO has grown the most in the last year I think.
It went from tens of thousands to hundreds in terms of twitch viewers in a very short time span.

ps: Hope overwatch will be good.

In China they pay the players well compared to other regions so they often perform better because of it while Korea pays jack shit but provides often the most brutal of training environments and produces champions that burn out after a year (I mean who the fuck wouldn't, they don't pay jack shit for your efforts). We've seen nearly most of the top Korean players go to China outside of Faker because they were offered contracts within the mid hundreds of thousands and that's not fully including streaming.

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probably a mistake or dodgy view counter (anyone remember some websites hiding somewhere on their main page 1x1 pixes size streams, boosting Twitch views?), it's very hard to believe in 27 millions people watching it

You're forgetting the Chinese and probably a decent chunk of Koreans watching it since it was in Korea.

[Edge-]

probably a mistake or dodgy view counter (anyone remember some websites hiding somewhere on their main page 1x1 pixes size streams, boosting Twitch views?), it's very hard to believe in 27 millions people watching it

Last year was 32 million.

Remember, this is broadcast globally, and League has a large following in just about every major continent, including China (which is a massive market).

[Charge me Doctor]

Last year was 32 million.

Remember, this is broadcast globally, and League has a large following in just about every major continent, including China (which is a massive market).

I just wonder how did they count these views, because there is tons of reasons and ways to boost views through internet. I know that LoL has huge community, but i'm still very skeptical about their view numbers. I will believe in these numbers if the count rebroadcast 12 hours later or something, because timezones are still a thing

[Edge-]

I just wonder how did they count these views, because there is tons of reasons and ways to boost views through internet. I know that LoL has huge community, but i'm still very skeptical about their view numbers. I will believe in these numbers if the count rebroadcast 12 hours later or something, because timezones are still a thing

They're unique views in the sense of access via unique computers, IP addresses or Twitch/streaming accounts. Unique means not-repeated, so not "visited twice over 3 days). That's kinda the whole point of "unique" : P

[Fallen Angel]

Concurrent viewership only peaked at 11.2m though. That's still impressive for a video game.