Why game development companies should switch to eSports

For a long time, video games were considered to be just another mode of entertainment. In particular, youngsters would return home from a hard day at school or university to unwind with a few hours of delving into an alternate reality.

Often, kids were encouraged to spend a much larger proportion of their leisure reading books or playing outdoor games-modes of entertainment that were considered to be less prone to inspiring violence and more amenable to creativity and the general development of good living habits.

This is no longer the case.

Enter eSports and the rise of the professional gamer. While contests between individual gamers or teams facilitated through multiplayer systems are nothing new, in the past few years, a large-scale formalization of professional gaming competition has occurred. Infact, facilitating eSports competitions might soon turn into one of the best gaming development practices.

Which kinds of products should game development companies focus on in order to make it big in eSports? Currently, the most highly developed eSports competition revolves around the League of Legends, which simulates an online battle arena. RiotGames currently hosts an annual League of Legends championship, which brings together thousands of gamers.

Above all, the competition is marked by high visibility-it is beamed on all major TV channels. Currently, the 2016 edition of the competition is being held with much fanfare. The previous edition, held in 2015, was won by the South Korean gaming team SK Telecom T1, which walked away with a $1,000,000 prize. Held across 4 countries-France, UK, Belgium and Germany-it attracted a peak viewership of 14 million, during the final stages.

Another highly popular eSports title is Counter Strike. Widely regarded to be one of the most popular multiplayers of all time, Counter Strike's latest edition CS:GO(Counter Strike: Global Offensive) is the focus of innumerable eSports competitions earning upto $4 million.

Yet another highly popular multiplayer online battle arena(MOBA), Dota(Defense of the Ancients) 2, rounds out the troika of highly popular eSports games. While not a household name, unlike the other 2 titles, the 2015 International Dota 2 tournament handed out $9.1 million to the winning team Wings Gaming from China, an unprecedented sum for an eSports tournament.

Therefore, it goes without saying that MOBAs are clearly the preferred choice of game development companies, atleast as far as eSports titles are concerned. So what is it about these games that put them ahead of other genres ?

MOBAs essentially favor intense competition and quick reflexes without skimping on strategy. In MOBAs, players control characters in teams which seek to destroy rival teams in the midst of rapidly changing conditions. In addition, they also incorporate role playing elements, by allowing players to customize their characters to the maximum extent. At the same time, common features among playable characters force players to undertake difficult choices. For instance, Dota 2 playable characters are of two types-”support” and “carry”.

“Support” characters start off slowly, but gain in abilities quickly, whereas “carriers” act as bulwarks. An emphasis on character development, which is guided by player choices, provides an effective psychological reward which entices players to return to the game time and again.

Due to their similarities with RPGs, advanced MOBAs generally feature excellent graphics, which aids in immersion. Designers' imagination runs rampant in the creation of out-of-the-world characters. The worlds created by MOBAs are far from idyllic however, for even the tiniest of mistakes can lead to a character's death-and cause the gamers controlling them to miss out on prestigious prizes.

These heartbreaks often leave gamers in tears, especially since there are no prizes for mere participation and the only earning is prize money. Does this mean that eSports gamers and game development companies have a hit-and-miss future? Far from it. Esports gaming cult icon Tom Taylor earns $100 million per video gaming lesson, which he provided to amateur eSports competitors.

In the same way, eSports game development companies can expect to rack up big bucks by participating in advising, as well as in training others interested in best game development practices.

In the near future, one can expect MOBA pioneers such as Valve Corporation to achieve the same profile as that of Nike or Adidas in conventional sports. What do you think of the prospects of eSports game development companies? Let us know at Eclipse Technoconsulting Global Pvt. Ltd., one of the leading software development companies in Kolkata, India.

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