As genre of eSports is continues to grow year after year, more companies are deciding to throw their cash on the table to see what an investment can get them. The video game industry as a whole has raked in billions of dollars, so it makes sense that corporations would want to get in on the latest trends.
The commercial giant Walmart has become the latest interested party, and has spent a huge amount of money in its bid to become a player in the eSports game. This move could go far beyond just creating more spaces for eSports to occur. Walmart and its partner's initiatives could change the eSports field as we know it.
Neighborhood Gaming
Two years ago, Walmart quietly started a small project. They partnered with Esports Arena, a chain of indoor arenas and centers dedicated to eSports. These locations are meant to host tournaments and events, and the company has been working on building its brand for a few years already. By all accounts, their growth has been going pretty well. Walmart initially opened three Esports Arena locations inside of its stores, and quickly expanded to seven. These arenas have all the major consoles, as well as PC stations, and they host tournaments there at night. Players can compete or practice there during the day for a small fee, much like the cyber cafes that have mostly died out throughout the country.
These locations, unlike the mostly forgotten cyber cafes, are thriving. Gaming's popularity is only increasing, and placing these eSports sites inside of a place that already gets huge traffic is actually a genius idea. Gamestop is slowly decaying, and people are more often than not getting their physical games and accessories from places like Walmart. So why not get your games and your competition in the same place?
Discount Pros
Walmart will be expanding the number of Esports Arena locations from the current 7 to 18 by the end of the first quarter of 2020. These locations are paying dividends, and Walmart is not letting up on the gas. However, the biggest thing to come out of this investment may be yet to come.
Esports Arena is creating a semi-professional gaming league. The founder of Esports Arena, Tyler Endres, wants to promote professional gaming but sees things a little differently saying, "It's very difficult to become a pro gamer. There's really no clear path. We're looking to provide a path for the gamer to start their career in eSports."
This path that Endres spoke about launched last week. This league will begin with two games: Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and Fortnite. Each location will host qualifying matches that will decide who will be the local representative in the overall league. After that, there will be a "draft day" where these players will get sponsored. Esports Arena has assembled a lot of big names to sponsor these players. The list includes Nerf, Pop-Tarts, and Mountain Dew Game Fuel, among a decent sized list of others. These sponsors will draft players from the chosen pool, and create a number of teams that will go on to compete with each other over the course of the season. Players will receive a $1000 monthly salary, which is nothing to sneeze at.
At the local level, players will compete with each other for a shot at the next season's spots, as the draft process will restart each season, and only the top three players will be guaranteed their spots. The hope is that doing well in these semi-pro leagues will draw attention from the big-name professional teams, and give normal players a realistic path to the pro scene that has never really been there before. It remains to be seen if this will work out, but there is a lot of room for growth in eSports at the moment, so it really can't hurt for some more competition to shake up the scene.