SPORTS
The New Game in Town How esports is changing the face of Atlanta’s sporting community By Mi chae l J . Pa l l e r i no
L eague of Legends. Dota 2. Counter-Strike, Call of Duty. The Fortnite Battle Royale. Overwatch. Street Fighter. Super Smash Bros. Live in the world of esports and your heart jumps into a tizzy at the mere thought of mixing it up in the fray. Putting it mildly, esports —which officially stands for electronic sports — is a worldwide phenomenon. And before we go any further, let’s get one thing straight: This is not your father’s video game competition. Manned by professionals doing epic battle in multiplayer or individual video game competitions, Esports abides by its own set of rules and guidelines. And it is all the rage. Similar to athletic sporting events, esports games are played live or broadcast over the internet. With its rise has come a litany of professionals— pro gamers, as they are known—who compete regularly in sanctioned tournaments with cash prizes, including the recently held Dream Hack festival in Atlanta, which awarded more than $1 million. Dream Hack was one of the first byproducts of the Atlanta Sports Council’s recently launched Atlanta Esports Alliance, created to entice major esports and gaming events to the metro area. Esports also caught Atlanta’s attention recently when a joint venture of Cox Enterprises, called Atlanta Esports Ventures, purchased a 13,000-square-foot warehouse just west of Atlantic Station as the home base for its esports team, Atlanta Reign. Another local company with a stake in the game is Coca-Cola (KO), which has hitched its Coke Zero and Coke brands to the esports wagon. In addition, the Atlanta Hawks and Turner Sports Broadcasting (TBS) are actively involved, with the Hawks’ professionally sanctioned NBA2K team called the Talons and TBS’s Eleague, which operates tournaments and video game events and produces televised content. “Finding creative ways to connect to consumers, like streaming, a brand can elevate and lend credibility to the esports industry as a phenomenon,” says Asante Bradford, Project Manager for Digital Entertainment and Emerging Media with the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “As far as a captive audience goes, esports are enjoyed by people of a more impressionable age. The demographic is right — mid-to-late teens — so it is natural for brands to appeal to this audience.”
Over the past several years, thanks to the rise as an entertainment industry, Atlanta continues to be an incubator for the esports engine.
And here is the kick: Brands gain access to massive audiences, both online and offline, at a fraction of what it would cost to use traditional channels. As more money funnels into esports, it caters to a broader audience. Today’s esports games already are getting better at visual cues and statistics to help casual fans understand what is happening. “Traditional sports are mainstream,” Bradford says. “Esports were created for and by a subculture. It’s not the same culture that created football, baseball and hockey. At the end of the day, when you’re sitting in the stands and your team is winning, it’s the same experience. The details are different, but the spirit of competition remains.” And those details are attractive. Over the past several years, thanks to the rise as an entertainment industry, Atlanta continues to be an incubator for the esports engine. Fortune 500 companies, a thriving tech center, film, TV and videogame tax incentives all play into the mix. In addition, Atlanta’s young professional growth — ranked sixth when in the country at 10.1% in the prime esports range of 20 to 29 year old’s — will continue to create 21st Century jobs for the state. Georgia esports is also a sanctioned activity at the local high school level with a focus on STEM exposure.
Asante Bradford
Photo by Aaron Romano
Georgia is one of only five states to recognize esports as an official high school sport, while colleges like the University of Georgia, Georgia Southern and Georgia State are starting to offer scholarships to esports teams. “Esports is becoming an economic driver for Atlanta, making [next year] a pivotal one for gamers with the growth of even more esports programs, competitions and companies for the state,” Bradford says. “Businesses want to appeal to young people. We feel this is our competitive advantage. With professional leagues sprouting up, and video game companies and investors are driving demand for creative office space or industrial lots to house headquarters or tournaments for a new generation of spectators, esports offer a direct pathway to access an audience which is traditionally hard-to get.”
2 8 | T H E G E O R G I A H O L L Y WOO D R E V I E W | J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter