Starcraft 2 unit ranks professional#

For a period of time in the early 2010s, вЂњ StarCraft IIвЂќ it was the most-watched game in the world, a sign that esports might actually take root outside of South Korea, where the game was, more-or-less, a national sport.

Starcraft 2 unit ranks professional#

Designed with professional play in mind and timed to coincide with the rise of livestreaming, вЂњ StarCraft IIвЂќ -the-esport was an instant hit. When вЂњ StarCraft IIвЂќ was released in 2010, it signaled to audiences across the world that a new era of esports had arrived. вЂќ But itвЂ™s also, IвЂ™m sorry to say, likely that you havenвЂ™t touched the game in years. If youвЂ™re an esports fan today, thereвЂ™s a decent chance that your interest in competitive gaming began with Activision- BlizzardвЂ™s legendary strategy franchise, вЂњ StarCraft. NewzooвЂ™s analyst thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. Finally, one bleary-eyed hedge fund suit, clearly skeptical of and a bit exasperated by yet another pitch for esports with no downsides, mustered up the question that no one else had dared to ask. Armed with plenty of cheerful graphs, he guided the audience - mostly journalists and would-be investors - through the same story of growth told by any metric you could think of. The men and women who spoke at the Forum - higher-ups from companies like ESL, Intel, Team Liquid, and the other victors of the scramble for cyberspace -now command vast empires arcing across virtual and physical lands, and their intended message could hardly be clearer: esports has arrived.ДЄs the day wore on and attention spans waned, an analyst from the market intelligence firm Newzoo presented the companyвЂ™s annual report (available, here, for $7,500), which takes on the unenviable task of estimating the gross value of a messy industry. Wealth has transfigured those roughneck guides into viceroys, now dressed in the same clothes as the investors whose attention they now command. Esports isnвЂ™t nearly as lawless as it used to be, but it is a whole lot richer. In 2018, as esports consolidates around a dwindling number of companies, colonialism might be the more apt analogy. Until recently, esports executives liked to describe the industry as the вЂњwild wild west,вЂќ a metaphor meant as a compliment, a warning, and an offer: if you want to invest here, hire a guide. Timed to coincide with Intel Extreme Masters Katowice, one of the largest gaming tournaments of the year, the Forum was a celebration of all that esports have achieved over the last eight years. Earlier this spring, a significant chunk of the whos-who of professional gaming gathered in Katowice, Poland for the first annual Global Esports Forum.