EA Interactive plan to join the eSports bandwagon with the launch of a new competitive gaming division showcasing professional FIFA, Madden NFL and Battlefield competitions and leagues.
“EA Sports it’s in the game.”
When I grew up, I heard that line uttered more than my mother shouting at me to “turn that music down!”
As a sports nut, I loved the EA franchise. Granted, I jumped the FIFA ship to play Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), but I always remained a loyal fan when it came to the American sports such as American Football, Ice Hockey and Basketball.
One drunken Sunday afternoon, the lads and I held a PES tournament in my home. We were all kids that day. We loved it. I always believed in the world where millions of players would compete in eSports tournaments. Only in my world, they were all playing sports, not killing each other, or leading an army of Orcs against a gang of Ghouls.
EA Sports were going to dominate that world.
It didn’t quite work out that way.
The eSports industry has taken off in a big way. Game creators like Activision Blizzard and Valve have dominated the market. Millions of dollars are pouring into their arms. The word ‘billions’ will soon make the word ‘millions’ seem old hat.
EA Sports have flirted with the idea of joining the gang before. They have hosted the EA Sports Challenge Series, and the FIFA Interactive World Cup, and the five million plus players who have competed since 2009 make it a Guinness World Record holder for the world’s largest online gaming tournament.
But the winner of the 2014 FIFA Interactive World Cup, Abdulaziz Alshehri, only won $20,000; Team Evil Genius won over $6m for winning the Dota 2 World Championship earlier this year.
EA hope to play catch up by created a new Competitive Gaming Division. EA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President, Peter Moore, will head the division. He will climb down from his current role at the end of the current fiscal year. Former EA Senior Vice President of Product Marketing, Todd Sitrin, will join him at the helm. He will be responsible for leading strategic operations.
EA will begin by focusing on three franchises: FIFA, Madden NFL and Battlefield. Their three primary goals are to unite the EA gaming community, create official EA tournaments, pulling the whole lot together to create an excellent live product. There is a fourth goal that was missing from the press release, and that’s to make a boat load of cash.
I’m going to dust off the old joystick and get practicing.
I won that old PES World Championships held in my Mum’s front room for £100.
I reckon I’ve got this.
