With an estimated fan base of 3.5 billion, football (soccer in the U.S.) is the most popular sport in the world. eSports by comparison has a fan base that is roughly 3% of that. According to the Daily Dot, one of Germany’s more popular football clubs, Bayern Munich (along with a few other German teams), might be looking to get into the eSports scene.
eSports is a form of competition that is facilitated by electronic systems, particularly video games; the input of players and teams as well as the output of the eSports system are mediated by human-computer interfaces. Most commonly, eSports take the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between (but not limited to) professional players. – Wikipedia
Overall it makes sense — eSports is very similar to a lot of other team based competition. For the teams to get to the top they need to devote a lot of time, practice constantly, develop strategies, look at film of previous games to figure out strengths and weaknesses (both theirs and the competitors), and deal with ever changing rosters while trying to find the right chemistry.
If German teams do get involved, eSports and competitive gaming will benefit from a much bigger spotlight. This will give a lot more exposure to a demographic that might not otherwise know of eSports. Similarly, sponsors will start to take notice, and traditional media will inevitably have to make it a staple of their normal coverage. This could also help bridge any gaps, or remove any negative stereotypes, against video gamers as a whole.
What do you think about German football clubs possibly getting involved in eSports? Is this a good or a bad thing for the eSports scene? Have you heard of eSports before or are you currently involved? Should other major sports follow suit? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
[button link=”http://www.dailydot.com/esports/eight-german-soccer-orgs-esports-divisions/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Daily Dot[/button]
