On E-asy street The esports argument
Esports is booming on the back of a gaming industry that is larger than the film and music industries combined. Robert van Royen spoke to a Dunedin gamer whose racing prowess has taken him to Tokyo and Taiwan.
Had things gone to plan, Simon Bishop would be a step closer to becoming McLaren’s new Formula One simulator driver.
The top-ranked New Zealander at Gran Turismo Sport, a driving simulator, was recently flown to Taiwan to race off against five others from Asia/Pacific in the Logitech G Challenge.
‘‘The event itself was cool, disappointing result,’’ as Bishop put it.
He didn’t do enough to advance to the final in the United Kingdom early this year, when seven drivers will scrap it out for a contract with McLaren, the British team Fernando Alonso races for.
Bishop is far from downbeat. After all, he knows more opportunities will arise in wake of the International Automobile Federation (IAF) teaming up with Gran Turismo.
The 29-year-old retail worker has signed with Esports+Cars, a virtual race team headed by former Nissan Motorsport boss Darren Cox, until the end of this year, which he predicts will see the scene really ‘‘blow up’’.
Gran Turismo, and similar racing games, still have work to do before they can be mentioned in the same breath as League of Legends and Counter Strike – games which feature esport events with prize pools in excess of $1 million.
Bishop isn’t yet paid a salary to be part of Esports+Cars, but is rewarded depending on his performances, has his travel costs covered, and the team ensures he’s armed with the equipment he needs to train from his Dunedin home.
One of his team-mates, Brendon Leigh, won the F1 Esports Championship a year ago. He is now Mercedes’ F1 simulator driver.
‘‘When the IAF allegiance got announced, it became pretty apparent that it was going to get pretty serious,’’ Bishop said. ‘‘So myself and a few other New Zealanders gave it a crack and all of a sudden we found ourselves at the top, so we were racing with the fastest guys in our region.’’
Treated like a pro athlete
Being followed by a camera crew for four days was a shock to the system for Bishop.
But he quickly got used to it after touching down in Tokyo in October to compete in the AsiaOceania finals of the Gran Turismo Sport world championships, an event hundreds of thousands of people around the globe entered.
‘‘We were treated like professional athletes. If you wanted something, they would go and get it for you. It was quite weird. The way that it was run, it was faultless.
‘‘We were going between shooting interviews. I had never been on camera in any scale . . . it was pretty amazing for all of us at the event. We got there from playing games in our lounge – in my case, sitting on my swivel chair in front of my TV at midnight on a Saturday night.’’
The championship, which Bishop qualified for as the leading Kiwi, and 11th best in Asia, was supported by Sony and live streamed by tens of thousands of people.
One of 30, including four Kiwis, Bishop needed to finish in the top two of his race to join the best 10 from both the Europe and American championships in Monaco for the final.
He finished third, pipped by a Malaysian with two laps remaining in the 17-lap race.
‘‘To qualify for that Tokyo event was pretty massive. I don’t think people believed the scale of it until we got there. It was just quite eyeopening.
‘‘I didn’t get the game thinking that I was going to be all of a sudden travelling the world racing cars online. But when I got it, I discovered I was having fun, so I was like, ‘oh yeah, I’ve got to play this more’.’’
Screen time
In an age when it’s not uncommon to hear of people logging doubledigit hours of screen time playing games, you’d think Bishop would be stitching together huge numbers to get to the level he’s at.
However, with a fulltime job to manage, sitting behind the wheel for hours on end is out of the question.
‘‘In the leadup to these kind of events, after work I would do somewhere between two to three [hours] per night. On the average day, I might play it for an hour a day, or something.’’
Bishop is a long-time gamer. He’s been playing the Gran Turismo racing series since he was 11, when Gran Turismo 2 was a popular game on the original Playstation console.
He also regularly plays other games, including the Madden NFL series, and reviews games for the Otago Daily Times.
On the back of his recent trips to Tokyo and Taiwan, and the many hours spent training and qualifying for the events, a break over the festive season is in order.
‘‘It’s been non-stop playing basically for the best part of the last six months, so good to take some time away,’’ Bishop said.
‘‘That being said, still doing a few races here and there to keep the eye in.There will be competitions again next year – probably more than ever. The whole scene is growing rapidly. I will look to try take part in as many as possible once I’ve had a break.’’
While the International Olympic Committee recognises esports as a ‘‘sporting activity’’, it is not recognised as an official sport in New Zealand, despite lobbies from the NZ eSports Federation.
It, along with squash and boules, is expected to be considered for inclusion at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, a bizarre thought for the detractors who don’t consider gaming to be a sport.
Bishop isn’t entirely sure if it should be considered a sport, but does make a case for driving simulators. He cites the physical element to it, something games such as League of Legends and Fortnight don’t require.
‘‘The amount of focus that you have to put in, and the competition, is what makes it a sport,’’ Bishop said. ‘‘At the event in Tokyo, on stage it was probably mid 40 degrees Celsius. It’s not like an easy Sunday ride. We were racing on stage in intense heat, trying to focus for half an hour to an hour at a time.
‘‘People were getting up completely drenched in sweat, which is funny considering we were playing games. But it leans to that thing, that it’s actually quite physical.
‘‘It’s hard to comprehend for most people.’’
Bishop also pointed to Brazilian Igor Fraga’s story.
Fraga, who won the World Gran Turismo Championship in Monaco last month, is the Brazilian Formula Three champion in ‘‘real’’ cars, and has signed with F1’s Williams Martini Racing esports team – something he plans to utilise in order to fulfil his goal of racing in F1, or the Indycar Series.
‘‘It’s a great thing for the credibility of the esport racing. It shows that skills definitely transfer in a way, unlike most other disciplines,’’ Bishop said.
More viewers than the NBA Finals
It’s not just a mountain of people playing games making the industry boom, there’s also a stack of fans watching.
Look no further than the 2016 League of Legends tournament, played in front of a sellout crowd at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest Stadium, in China. It drew 36 million viewers, 5 million more than the NBA Finals.
Staggering numbers. Numbers which advertisers can’t ignore.
Companies such as Red Bull, Coca-Cola and Samsung are jumping on board as the growth rate of esports has it in track to one day surpass some of the biggest sporting leagues in the world.
According to NewZoo, esport revenues are expected to reach US$1.5 billion (NZ$2.2 billion) by 2020, up from US$362 million (NZ$533 million) in 2017.
In comparison, the NFL made US$14 billion (NZ$20.6 billion) last year, the NBA made US$7 billion (NZ$10.3 billion) and the NHL raked in US$4 billion (NZ$5.8 billion).
Disney, the owner of ESPN, is in on it, having signed a sevenyear, US$350m (NZ$515m) broadcast deal with Riot Games, the publisher of League of Legends.
Fifa recently partnered with Electronic Arts, the producers of the popular Fifa football game series, for an online tournament. It drew 20 million players and 30 million viewers.
‘‘South Korea particularly, games like League of Legends, it’s their national sport now,’’ Bishop said. ‘‘The thing that’s huge is because it’s online, you can reach such a massive audience easily. Nothing is behind pay barriers such as Sky and rugby. They turn in such massive numbers, it’s so valuable.’’
‘‘The amount of focus that you have to put in, and the competition, is what makes it a sport.’’
Simon Bishop