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Last night, ESPN aired the final Street Fighter V portion of the 2017 Evolution Champion Series, the world's largest fighting game tournament. Disney XD also participated and aired the final Smash4 portion of the tournament to kick off its brand new gaming block that night. This marks DXD's first live broadcast as well as ESPN's second time broadcasting Evo.

 

I've watched the tournament on television, with its ubiquitous ESPN-esque production value, and it was absolutely surreal. It got me wondering... when will other networks besides ESPN (or more recently NBC or TBS) jump in the world of competitive video gaming?

 

I mean, with it's rising popularity, ratings, and revenue, it is only a matter of time. :D

 

Or...are they too late?

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I honestly don't mind this.

It is surreal, but it also looks kinda fun.

 

I guess competitive gaming does look to have the endurance, skill and hand-eye as, say, tennis?

I mean it does have a place and a niche (it can work on Disney XD), so...

I for one welcome our new electronic, CGI-based future overlords.

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TBH, I could do without the play-by-play commentary but I think that e-sports are the future of gaming. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if 5 years from now, Joe Buck is calling a e-sports championship on Fox live from New York City's Madison Square Garden.

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TBH, I could do without the play-by-play commentary but I think that e-sports are the future of gaming. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if 5 years from now, Joe Buck is calling a e-sports championship on Fox live from New York City's Madison Square Garden.

 

I just can't see Joe Buck doing that. I don't think people in esports would like that, either.

 

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U had the more interesting day, though I was not a fan of the presentation in-match (they had to shrink the game video down to accommodate ESPN's ticker above all - if a game is in 16:9, present it full screen, please) and it appears they even ran commercials during matches including at least one critical moment. (!!) They did have their own commentator crew which allowed them to tailor their discussion toward those unfamiliar with the game. (The fact it was on TV was also a godsend for some people because Twitch went down hard at the start of the Smash 4 Top 8 causing viewership on stream to drop 50%.)

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Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if 5 years from now, Joe Buck is calling a e-sports championship on Fox live from New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Well... Riot's kinda done that twice*...

 

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*Joe Buck and Fox not included

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Riot wouldn't gain anything from getting on Fox Sports besides linear television carriage, IMO. They already have the viewership, the production, and the advertisers.

 

If a Fox Sports broadcast prevented the event from being streamed on Twitch, it'd probably be a net loss for Riot.

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I just can't see Joe Buck doing that. I don't think people in esports would like that, either.

Yeah, we don't need him massacring another sport with bad commentary.

 

Back to esports. I do agree that e-sports heavily leverages the internet compared to other sports, which use a more linear model. Having Fox or CBS would just be icing on the cake whereas the internet is the cake.

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