Major League Gaming, Dreamhack and ESL partner up to revolutionize international eSports competition

If there’s ever been one problem for someone not involved in the eSports scene looking to follow a particular game, it’s that eSports are very nuanced and complicated. After a given tournament is over, a new fan has two options:  Take to Twitter and other social media websites to follow what tournaments their favorite players will be at, or just guess and watch any new tournament that pops onto the scene. And we all know the second is unlikely to happen. In addition, deciding what tournaments are more important than others is always difficult as well.

For example, Startale’s Life recently won the MLG Fall Championship. Is he any more or less skilled than someone who wins Dreamhack Winter? How do we know?

Today, MLG, Dreamhack and ESL are embarking to help alleviate this problem for not only new players, but for those experienced in following the scene as well. The key features for getting new players involved would be a unified ruling structure for major games, such as League of Legends and StarCraft 2, and a master ranking list used for seeding players in tournaments, as well as seeing who the best in the North American and European scenes truly are.

Here’s the full list of what this partnership will entail:

• ·         Universal Ranking: A universal ranking system across organizations for all major game titles directly impacting seeding and event qualification.
• ·         Master Tournament Calendar: One event calendar ensuring a minimum or no conflicts to ease players’ schedules and enables fans across the globe to easily spectate.
• ·         Unified Competition Structure: Development of a unified competition structure for all major titles at all tournaments.
• ·         Talent and Marketing Efforts: Cross promotion and support for all leagues to drive further awareness for eSports and league activities, as well as a shared roster of commentators and broadcast talent.

The heads of these leagues were of course on hand when the announcement was made. Together, they hope to be the foundation for everything that they’ve worked to this point to build can rest on for years to come.

“DreamHack’s philosophy has always been about inclusion and never exclusion,” said Robert Ohlén. CEO of DreamHack AB. “This joint initiative by MLG, ESL and DreamHack is something that will insure the continued growth of eSports that we have been seeing during the past 24 months, for the players, the audience and the industry as a whole.”

“We are confident that with this partnership we are shaping the future of our sport,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO of Turtle Entertainment GmbH. “Working with DreamHack and MLG we can create a more manageable and sustainable infrastructure for players that will become the basis for eSports to realize its full potential.

“The growth of competitive gaming over the last few years has been staggering and we have now reached the point where we need to align our efforts to advance eSports on a global scale,” said Sundance DiGiovanni, CEO and Co-founder of MLG. “The collaboration between our organizations is the first step in a united effort to take the sport to the next level while benefiting all of those involved.”

What sort of growth is Sundance talking about? The numbers, when you look at them on paper, are truly staggering.  A 636% growth in a two year period, from 1.8 million unique views to 11.7 million, with a 334% growth in the last year alone. Those are TV levels of consumption. And that’s just with MLG on its own. Imagine what these numbers will swell to when the leagues are unified, with a true defined storyline able to be followed from one event to the next.  There is also the potential for there to be a true International Championship, on the same scale as Riot’s League of Legends Season 2 finals,  using the ranking system mentioned above across multiple games  – truly an exciting time to be an eSports fan!

More details will be coming in the next month or so, so keep it locked here to GameZone until then.

Dustin Steiner is GameZone's eSports Editor! Follow him on Twitter @GZSteiner and check out Video Gaming Hard Corps, where he is a local tournament organizer for the S. FL. Fighting Game Community.