Can e-sports catch fire in the U.S.?

Kristin Kalning Games editor • E-mail

SEATTLE - There was no torch-lighting at the opening ceremony for the World Cyber Games Grand Finale on Thursday. Instead, the audience of competitive video game players, sponsors and press were treated to an overlong human beat-box performance and an unfunny emcee.

But then, out came the players, one from each of the 74 countries represented at these so-called “Olympics of e-sports.” They came from Iran, Pakistan, the Phillipines and Peru — more than 700 players in total. And over the next three days, these players will duke it out on games such as “StarCraft,” “Project Gotham Racing 3” and “Gears of War.” At stake is over a half million in cash and prizes, gold medals — and bragging rights.

Didn’t hear about it? You’re not alone. Competitive video gaming, or e-sports, haven’t made much of a splash here in the United States. You might see the occasional segment on “60 Minutes” about Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel, who’s made buckets of money playing video games competitively. But for the most part, we Americans like to kick back with a beer and some NFL. Video games are for playing, not watching.

But International Cyber Marketing, the outfit that puts on the World Cyber Games, wants to change that perception. The event, now in its seventh year, has plenty of big-name, high — visibility sponsors like Microsoft, Circuit City and Samsung. They’ve also secured some airtime on Spike TV: a half-hour Oct. 12 and then an hour-long special on the Grand Finale Nov. 9. And their focus for the spots, says Michael Arzt, head of the ICM in the United States., is to make people care about the players, much like NBC does with its Olympic coverage.

“The broadcasts are going to be happening on a very human level,” he says. “There will be gameplay involved, and you will know who won and lost ... but it’s really about learning who the players are — and who are the people that are going to make e-sports grow in this country.”

The World Cyber Games is a yearlong event, with each country staging its own online and offline tournaments on 12 different titles, including “Counterstrike,” “FIFA 07,” “Command and Conquer 3” and “Dead or Alive 4.”

Marcus R. Donner / AP Fans of Andrey "Androide" Kukhianidze from Team Russia cheer as he wins his match of "StarCraft" on the main stage at the World Cyber Games 2007 Grand Final in Seattle.

Much like the athletes who eventually compete in the Olympics, the winners of these small, regional events advance up to the national finals. And the winners there go to the Grand Finale as part of their country’s team. Exposure here can lead to sponsorship, which can be pretty lucrative for a 17-year-old kid who's good at "Need for Speed: Carbon."

It’s not just about individual glory at the Games, though. Much like the Olympics, it’s also about national teams and overall medal count. The South Koreans won it all last year. But the year before, it was the Americans.

I spoke with Arzt a couple of days before the opening ceremony to get his take on the U.S. team’s chances — and how to make e-sports more visible in this country. Here are excerpts from our conversation.

Why bring the World Cyber Games to Seattle? Why bring it to the United States?

The last time we did a Grand Final here in 2004, that was a real tipping point event for the World Cyber Games in particular and for e-sports in general. Suddenly, this country — which may not be the leader in e-sports or in competitive gaming, but certainly is the leader in media and entertainment — took notice of this phenomenon of e-sports. That 2004 event really launched us to the success we had in Singapore in 2005 and in Monza, Italy in 2006.

It was time to come back to the United States, because now … e-sports is kind of bubbling up here in this country and it’s time to give it another adrenaline shot.

Coming to the number one market — and this is why Seattle — for video gaming and technology was a no-brainer. This is a market that will come out for gaming. We saw that in August when 30,000 people came out for PAX [the Penny Arcade expo]. We’re looking forward to big crowds and big excitement this weekend.

How many spectators do you expect?

We’re hoping for 20-30,000 over the three-and-a-half, four days.

How does that juxtapose with the spectators you saw over in Asia?

I think we had 60,000 some-odd people in Singapore in 2005, so that was a pretty big deal. But in Korea, where a lot of this got started, some of tournaments there can get 50,000 to 100,000 people coming to a stadium. We’re not there yet in this country, but we’re working on it.

I would imagine that the goal for many of these competitors is to go on and receive sponsorships.

For some of them, yeah. For some of them, the goal is to pay for college. What’s happening now with our Spike TV relationship is that there are exposure opportunities. I could tell you the story of Wes Cwiklo, the gold medalist for “Project Gotham Racing 3.” He was 17 years old last year, had never really entered tournaments, came out of nowhere, steamrolled the competition through the whole U.S. program, went to Italy, steamrolled everybody there, came back with a gold medal and a check for $15,000, on top of everything else he’d won through the year.

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