theScore has made its name as a source for global up-to-the-minute sports news and coverage. With the recent addition of eSports to its app and website though, the Canadian-based sports media company will venture into unchartered waters. eSports is the relatively new sector of entertainment that lends to professional video gaming. theScore’s video game app and website will provide consumers with live news and scores of matches from games, such as Call of Duty, League of Legends, and Starcraft II, in the same mold as traditional sports coverage.
This eSports inclusion into their app will initially benefit from a lack of competition, as no other service currently provides scores and updates for the gaming world as if it were a major sport.
Increasing mobile app advertising and enormous global eSports demand, combined with interest from major brand sponsorship, should insure that theScore will pioneer a new frontier of sports scores and news. Not only is theScore fulfilling a need for 71 million eSports enthusiasts globally, they are creating another platform for corporations to use to market to consumers.
This move also takes a step in solidifying eSports as a bonafide sporting mainstay; there may soon come a day where video gaming champions are as well-known and revered as the top sports stars. Perhaps the kid who was too small to play quarterback in high school can still attain a lucrative contract through his skills at the Madden video game franchise.
theScore could very well be ushering in a new day, where the sporting world and video gaming worlds compete on a level playing field. The traditional sporting world would be wise to embrace this new technological counterpart, or risk falling victim to it.