I am happy to see this trend potentially ending. In my estimation, esports ultimately resulted in barbaric desecration of formerly-enjoyable multiplayer experiences, all for the sake of the all-mighty meta. Many titles were built for the express purpose of being a PPV event.<p>I believe Starcraft 2 and LoL evolved into some of the top offenders in this arena. Overwatch also had a scary phase with mandatory meta queues. These days, SC2 feels like you are playing an organ with 1 hand tied behind your back. LoL lost all of the wacky energy when you couldn't stack items anymore.<p>Competitive multiplayer gaming is effectively dead for me, and not because I don't like to get sweaty anymore. I will still periodically fire up something like TF2, just so I can remember how good it all could have been. I can play [insert role] all day on 1 server with <i>other humans</i> and no one will give me shit about it. Try playing off-meta in LoL and see how long your account stays active.
I stopped playing video games after the Super Famicom & Neo Geo so I'm not even remotely informed about the industry but whenever I see kids showing off their gaming gear and rooms on TikTok I feel like parents these days have to spend their entire paycheque on these kinds of setups — And I'm not sure youngsters are having the same fun that we used to have with a bag of chips and Bomberman & a Super Multitap.
Not even mentioning In-App purchases.
I think there is a lot of effort involved in staying up to date when you try to be a semi competitive player. When I played LOL a while ago I remember pretty much every 2 weeks there would be a new character with unique skills, changes to the characters skillset, new skins, new/removed items, meta changes etc, etc which you would have to learn to remain in a decent shape.<p>After not playing for a year I've had a couple of games and quickly lost interest as it was just not fun to learn this adjacent stuff. It's even worse when they have a complete rework of a character you enjoy playing. Since then I'm unwilling to invest any time into playing these quick changing games.
So the overspending and unmet expectations have finally hit? Not that some don't continue on, but it probably was too much money for too little return. And enough VC to spend for growth and esports being main-stream(like regularly on TV) that just didn't materialise.
Artosis, a well known SC2 commentator recently departed from South Korea to move to PEI, Canada. What's in PEI, you ask? I have no idea. Probably the real estate price is still somewhat reasonable (but even that is a big question mark right now). My guess is, he saw the writing on the wall and got out of there before it all comes crashing down.<p>If anything, the people situated over there are far more "in tune" with what is happening, and by the time we find out in the Western hemisphere, it has already occurred.<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Artosis/status/1539757584600952833" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/Artosis/status/1539757584600952833</a>
Note that Slasher who is quoted in the article spread false information regarding DrDisrespects ban from Twitch and insinuated he had been involved in a heinous crime. Last time I checked he hasn’t tweeted since last summer.
Esports has never been big or successful. People like to say “look! They filled a stadium!” But the revenue was never there. It’s a small non growing industry.
Could someone explain what the article means by "Endemic esports media outlets" and "Endemic news site"? I'm thoroughly confused.