The Video James Corner: The esports played Down Under

November 20, 2019 by Leave a Comment

While getting into games as a casual player might seem easy enough, there is a more competitive side to gaming that may be harder to wrap your head around. Between finding the right game to sink your teeth into and being good enough to make a career out of it, the stress injected into our beloved hobby will make most us long for the days where the grand prize was your initials on a scoreboard. But still, the question stands: why should we play games competitively and more importantly, why should we watch someone else do just that? Believe it or not, Australia’s market for esports is booming for good reason.

 

The easiest way to find the right kind of esports information is to look at the places dedicated to voicing it. Josh Swift, owner of Snowball Esports, says gaming is the most popular entertainment sector in the world.

 

“Gaming, in general, is by far the most popular entertainment sector globally now, it completely dwarfs movies/tv/music”, Says Swift. “Esports is only a small part of that world at the moment, but as gaming continues to grow exponentially in terms of revenue and viewership, the esports will as well.”

 

Now you know that esports are popular, but you’re probably still wondering “how do these people play for money?” and “who is going to pay these guys?” I’ll tell you right now, if the Australian scene is hard to wrap your head around, the international industry will blow you away.

 

Many players competing in Aussie competitions get the chance to extend their play to stages all around the world. Over this past year alone, players like Anathan “Ana” Phan have competed in (and won) the Dota 2 International Championship in China, Matt “Drippay” Den-Kaat moved to America to compete in the RLCS and Vendetta are currently competing in the PUBG Global Championship. These are a few of the incredible opportunities our players get to experience for being at the top of their game.

 

Posted by Evil Geniuses on Friday, 11 January 2019

 

I like to think you’re now hooked and itching to jump into the next available tournament, but competitive gaming is a lot more than just the competition. The community surrounding the Aussie gaming scene is compassionate, and often you’ll find the organisations running these teams as well as the people supporting them contribute to good causes. Gamer Aid Australia is a prime example of this. Focused on helping those affected by the bushfires going on in NSW and QLD, Gamer Aid Australia is a charity founded by Aiden Hiko and Josh Swift that has raised over $10,000 in a week. “We both thought that we as the gaming/esports community in Australia could be doing more,” says Swift. “The Australian gaming community is full of passionate and tight communities, and we want them to use their reach, big or small, to help those who need it most”.

 

On a base level, esports share traits with traditional sports. For instance, professional teams like the Essendon Bombers share facilities with their AFL counterpart, including access to dieticians, exercise programs and sports psychologists. There are a vast variety of other sports organisations that have dedicated gaming branches.

 

 

 

Mainstream sporting organisations are finding it easier to join the esports scene because the main hallmarks of great sports translate over to esports so well. People show passion for their team, get involved with events on all levels of play and continue to be inspired by the incredible stories shared by the players for both sports and esports alike. As someone whose main understanding of sport comes from hearing my mother scream at Dustin Martin on the TV, growing so attached to the different esports out there made me realise how easy it is to get addicted to watching your favourite team on the big screen.

You can read last week’s article here.

 

 

 

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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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