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Shanghai sets the standards for building esports arenas

Xing YiChina Daily/Asia News Network Aug 06, 2019

• Shanghai has taken another stride toward building itself into a global esports centre, as it announced standards for the construction and operation of esports venues during the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference which ended on Monday.
• “The esports sector has been growing quickly in the past few years, but there is a lack of top design. The guidelines can boost industry growth in a healthy manner,” Yu Xiufen, director of the bureau, was quoted as saying by Xinmin Evening News.

Published by the municipal culture and tourism bureau, the standards for esports venues specify the construction requirements in areas such as stage lighting and telecommunication networks and set the service standards for operating such venues.

“The esports sector has been growing quickly in the past few years, but there is a lack of top design. The guidelines can boost industry growth in a healthy manner,” Yu Xiufen, director of the bureau, was quoted as saying by Xinmin Evening News.

The criteria for esports venues have four categories, from A to D.With a construction area of more than 50,000 square meters, class-A venues can host the highest level esports competitions, while class-D venues must have a 500-square meter construction area, and will be used to hold qualification trials.

One of the most important upcoming esports events in the city is The International 2019, an annual tournament for the popular multiplayer online battle arena game Dota 2, which will be held in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, a class-A venue, from Aug 16 to 25.

It will be the first time for China to host one of the most-watched esports events in the world. Its crowdfunded prize pool reached a record of more than $30 million (S$41.5 million) in July and is still growing.

According to Perfect World Zhengqi, a subsidiary of Perfect World Co Ltd and the operator of the game in China, the event’s 26,804 tickets were sold out in just 53 seconds in May.

“We have organised many esports events in Shanghai before, so we know the venues here are excellent and the viewers are very active,” said Xiao Hong, CEO of the company. “Shanghai has the best environment for esports in the country – both in facilities and government policies, and we’d like to co-operate with the government to build mature industrial chains in the future.”

Wang Yong, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai Esports Association, said the development of esports includes not only hosting tournaments, but also esports training, performance and public experience, which requires a number of esports venues of different sizes and functions.

Many shopping malls are interested in building esports venues, and these standards will help them find the right partners, Wang added.

A report published by gaming industry analyst company Gamma Data estimated that esports market revenue in Shanghai reached 14.6 billion yuan (S$2.9 billion) in 2018, accounting for 19 per cent of the national total.

Source: https://www.asiaone.com/digital/shanghai-sets-standards-building-esports-arenas

Attitude toward esports does 180 at X Games

• Gaming has become more mainstream and is currently at the forefront of public discussion due to the $30 million prize pool — one of the largest prize pools ever at an esports event — offered at the Fortnite World Cup Finals last weekend.
• The winner, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, took home $3 million as the solos champion.

Emily Rand

Wade was a competitor and silver medalist in BMX Freestyle Big Air in 2014.

Eight teams competed in Call of Duty: Ghosts in the MLG X Games Invitational in Austin, Texas. OpTic Gaming, then made up of Matt “Nadeshot” Haag, Seth “Scump” Abner, James “Clayster” Eubanks and Jordan “ProoFy” Cannon, became official X Games medalists.

The reaction against esports athletes receiving the same medals that the action sports athletes were getting was instant and vocal. At the crux of the issue was the fact that gamers didn’t put their physical bodies on the line in the same way as action sports competitors.

“I can see both sides,” Wade said. “I wasn’t particularly bothered by it, but from one point of view, the X Games are really physical sports in general, and gaming isn’t really physical. It’s very difficult, I’m not taking away from that, but the physical aspect of it, we do stuff with our bodies, we show our talents physically with what we can actually do. Whereas gaming is on the other end of the spectrum. The other side of that coin is that the gaming industry brought in a lot of sponsor revenue to keep all of us alive, so I’m not hating on it. Gotta keep the games flowing.”

A lot has changed since 2014.

“Honestly, the attitude shift I’ve seen is that no one talks about it,” Wade said. “When it first came out it was like, ‘What is this? It’s not even an action sport.’ Now it’s just kind of old news. It’s cool that there’s a spot for those guys. Everyone deserves to excel in what they love.”

Gaming has become more mainstream and is currently at the forefront of public discussion due to the $30 million prize pool — one of the largest prize pools ever at an esports event — offered at the Fortnite World Cup Finals last weekend. The winner, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, took home $3 million as the solos champion.

The World Cup even made its way into an X Games Minneapolis news conference this week, when the EXP Apex Legends Invitational was introduced, with skateboarder Jagger Eaton asking if the event was a Fortnite tournament.

“Sports has always been the backbone of what we do,” said Tim Reed, vice president of X Games. “But the focus is on trying to remain relevant to youth culture and what kids are into so that people who show up at the X Games get a sense of what’s important to kids and important to young people in the world. So what we’ve just tried to do from the X Games perspective is make sure that we can bring in those elements that are also relevant.

“This year we’re doing more gaming. They’re getting different medals because last time we made that decision it was, uh,” Reed paused and laughed. “One that wasn’t very well-liked, so we made some adjustments, but we’re excited to bring those in.”

BMX rider Ryan Williams joked, “I’ll see how this X Games goes, and if I don’t do too well I think I’m going to start gaming.”

“I’ll carry you, I’ll carry you,” BMX rider Kyle Baldock replied.

“What’s the rule with that because I’m down to win some money if we’re going to do this,” Eaton said. “I’m down to play Apex. Let me know.”

“When we did it in, I think our first one was 2014, just the reaction was totally different,” Reed said. “There’s more athletes that play games than there was back then. You guys should hop in and try it out.”

“I’m gonna,” skateboarder Nicole Hause said. “Let’s go.”

Hause, a Minneapolis native, turned to video games while recovering from an injury that kept her from skating.

“I’ve been pretty shy about it,” Hause said. “I don’t usually talk about it that much, but at the same time, I don’t really care if anyone knows. It’s not something a lot of people would guess I do in my free time, but I do. A lot.”

Hause enjoys Battle Royale games, including Apex Legends, describing it as a mix of Halo and Call of Duty, but with a Battle Royale component.

“I like the Battle Royale gameplay style a lot,” Hause said. “I like Apex, but everyone wants to play Fortnite, and you need three people to play Apex,” Hause said. “I like both of them a lot, but I play Fortnite the most. In the past I played a lot of Call of Duty. A lot of Call of Duty.”

As for whether esports belong at the X Games, Hause thought it fit since so many X Games athletes play video games casually. In a way, video games have become a low-impact sport that traditional athletes can play in their offseason without serious injury risk.

“I think it’s cool because a lot of the action sports people play video games,” Hause said. “Especially nowadays. Most of the dudes in the park that I know play Fortnite — everybody plays video games now, NFL players — it’s like a sport we do in our off time. When we’re resting or it’s just a rainy day or whatever, you’re not practicing, it’s something everyone does whether they want to admit it or not.”