Intel Extreme Masters Oakland is taking place this weekend at Oracle Arena with gamers competing around two of the bigger titles in League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The ESL-sanctioned tournament will be the first time an eSports event will be featured at the home of the Golden State Warriors.
George Woo, eSports Marketing Manager at Intel, recently chatted with SportTechie about IEM Oakland, which kicks off Saturday. Woo discussed why Intel has been a partner with ESL for IEM over the past 10 years along with the general gaming landscape.
He weighed in on why IEM Oakland is the first eSports tournament to broadcast live in virtual reality and also shared his thoughts on sports team owners and current athletes entering the space.
On why Intel has partnered with ESL around IEM Oakland: “Our strategy from a decade to now has certainly changed as eSports has grown. Back then a decade ago, it wasn’t a spectator sport or even coined ‘eSports.’ It was pretty less professional PC gaming. We used that to really establish ourselves in gaming…With programs like IEM, they’ve helped us to get into the conversations with the pro PC gamers who come in. It was a game changer for us. It allowed us to have a conversation with them and have them touch our technology.
“A few years later, the tournament has grown tremendously. Now, it’s eSports. We’re filling up live arenas around the world. Our strategy has changed and is more focused on the broadcast. We want to create a great, amazing experience on-site, but the broadcast is where it’s at and we’re reaching millions of viewers. We now have the access to talk to a larger audience about our newest gaming products.”
On Intel’s continued investment in eSports: “No. 1, we know the gaming space. It’s always been a part of what we do. We believe we build the best gaming processor in the world. It goes hand in hand. Gamers need their PC like a tennis player needs a racket. Gamers need that so they can perform and deliver how they want. IEM is just one piece of the puzzle; there’s a whole ecosystem behind it…We have influencers that we have partnerships with. Teams have sponsorships like CLG Red, the all-female team, or Cloud9, the male team. Then we have gaming and events around the world.
“The reason why we do this is, this market is huge. There’s 1.3 million PC gamers today. They’re projected to spend about $100 billion annually by 2019. This was based off the Newzoo reports. We know that there’s huge potential for revenue and over 250 million viewers around the world who love eSports. IEM, with this one platform that has four stops in a year, only reaches about 20 percent of that. We eventually want to get more of those viewers. I think you’ll see Intel investing and putting more behind eSports and the overall gaming space.”
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On the heightened level of interest of gaming: “The visibility of the sport has obviously grown. People have heard of it. They’ve seen advertisements as well as ELEAGUE and what Turner is doing on Friday nights with their CS: GO tournaments…(eSports) is definitely here to stay, and people are starting to recognize it.”
Why ESL/IEM Oakland is broadcasting live in VR this weekend: “We want to always push the boundaries and provide a great experience for our fans. This is a first step. Someday, we hope to work with a publisher, get a VR title and have the teams participate in the goggles. That’s probably two or three years away. The reason why VR, it’s a key model to help simulate sales. To be able to get the real, immersive VR experience, you need to buy one of our processors…This is a cool usage model, it’s up-and-coming, everyone is getting involved. We know there’s a huge audience. IEM is one of the great platforms around the world, and we want to be the leader in this industry in VR.”
On traditional sports merging with gaming and what it means for IEM and eSports a whole: “The overall eSports industry is excited about these investments…It really legitimizes the sport. The money is there, and they see the big picture. When the Philadelphia 76ers are investing in these athletes and teams, it opens your eyes. I think it’s a very good thing for eSports.”