Toronto leads gaming revolution
Picture yourself in front of a crowded stadium (difficult these days, but humour me).
A red carpet guides athletes from the street to the stadium’s entrance. They high-five and sign autographs for the fans who arrived early and staked out the best spot to snap a photo or meet their idols. Inside, a sold-out crowd of 18,000, who paid hundreds of dollars for tickets, spend the day cheering for their favourite players who are competing for a $25 million (U.S.) prize pool.
Play-by-play and colour commentators chase players for their reactions after a big game. And every few minutes, the sold-out crowd rocks the arena on its foundations.
It isn’t a soccer game or live basketball, or even the NHL. Instead, this was my first time witnessing the hype around a live global esports video game competition. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.
For six days in August 2018, Rogers Arena in Vancouver hosted the Dota 2 International, a global esports event. At the time, I was running Aquilini Sports and Entertainment, owner of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks.
Outside of the Super Bowl, I had never seen fans like this. That is where it dawned on me that gaming was becoming the dominant source of entertainment for young people around the world.
Residents of Toronto should prepare themselves to be wowed in November when Scotiabank Arena will host the semifinals of the League of Legends World Championship. Games are also scheduled in Mexico City, New York and San Francisco.
Not to be outdone, Call of Duty League has a live event coming to Toronto this summer and, lest you think these are one offs, 30 million people watched the 11th League of Legends World Championship broadcast live from Reykjavik late last November.
So while the perception of some chief marketing officers and c-suite greybeard remains that gaming is something occurring only in the nation’s basements, they should prepare themselves for a crowd of people who will stream downtown in numbers that puts a Leafs’ playoff (we can all dream) crowd to shame.
And to confine gaming’s impact to esports would be to ignore its broader cultural moment. Gaming is big business, as evidenced by Microsoft’s recent purchase of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion (U.S). Gaming has entered the luxury fashion market — platform Roblox launched a virtual world with Gucci where virtual handbags have sold for more than the real thing. And gaming has even penetrated the political realm. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh took time during the recent federal election to court the gamer vote in the final weeks of the campaign, playing against celebrity gamers who have millions of fans online.
For those who remain unconvinced about gaming’s impact or appeal, the research is clear. In October 2021, Deloitte concluded that in the United States, Generation Z’s favourite form of entertainment is gaming, and that for many, “these activities have become social.” At his wedding, my company’s chief financial officer invited someone he had only met gaming online. Clearly, online connections are creating real and meaningful social relationships.
To translate, if you are seeking votes, customers, or influence with young people, you need to understand that gaming is a core part of their identity.
But where gaming has really grown and matured is in the sense of community and identity it instills in so many Generation Z gamers. As Metaverse leader (and Canadian) Matthew Ball tweeted, “something underappreciated … about gaming’s advantages in ‘The Metaverse’ versus social networking, is that games are designed for, thrive because of, and work tirelessly to be fun. Not to sustain engagement. That comes from producing sustained fun. It’s a key difference.”
To translate, gaming is fun. Gaming with friends is the most fun, particularly when in-person social activities are more challenging, because of distances or, say, a global pandemic.
The best news is that Canadians are leading in this space.
Matthew Ball is one of the most-cited and notable thinkers on the Metaverse. Toronto’s own Sabastian Diamond is one of the founders of international gaming and lifestyle behemoth FaZe Clan. The biggest gamers in the world include Pokimane, NickEh30, and xQc, Canadian players who, in the fine tradition of Mike Myers and Wayne Gretzky, have taken their talents and ambitions and made it big in the United States.
My own company was founded as a blog in a Toronto basement, and now reaches more than 300 million monthly viewers worldwide.
Over the next few years, gaming will even change Toronto’s skyline, as a new 7,000-seat stadium dedicated to esports is planned for construction at Exhibition Place.
So, to the 40- or 50-something corporate leaders for whom video games still evoke memories of woodpanelled basements, the world has changed. Gaming has emerged from the basement, graduated to the stadium, and become a global force. This city and country are leading the way.
The best part is, we’re just getting started.
ADRIAN MONTGOMERY IS THE CEO OF ENTHUSIAST GAMING, A GLOBAL ESPORTS AND GAMING MEDIA COMPANY
To translate, if you are seeking votes, customers, or influence with young people, you need to understand that gaming is a core part of their identity. — Adrian Montgomery