MAY | TRENDING
A brief history of
e-sports events
connections in mind. I don’t think
Stadia will have a detrimental effect
in that regard.”
In theory, the Stadia technology
allows event organisers to break
down the barriers between attending
an event virtually, and attending
an event in person. Viewers could
be watching a live stream of a huge
e-sports tournament in the NEC, and
then jump straight into a recreation of
the same event on their own device.
The technology could have an
impact on the music sector, too,
offering greater interactivity with
cameras, drones and live streams
at music festivals. And the sheer
ubiquity of Google means the
technology can be put into the hands
1980 – The Space Invaders
Championship draws 10,000
participants and widespread
media attention
of the masses, with the necessary
investment to back it up.
Livestream Nation
Nobody would suggest that a live
stream could replace the experience
of going to a festival, or attending
any live event. And, as Crawford
points out, there are still technical
limitations which need to be worked
through.
But it remains an exciting
proposition, and one that becomes
closer to a reality as major players like
Google step into the streaming ring.
You can view the Google Stadia
announcement trailer at: http://bit.
ly/2KzLn74
1982 – Twin Galaxies
founded in USA, an
organisation which collects
high scores for arcade games
such as Pac-Man and Donkey
Kong, creating a national
leaderboard
1990 – The first Nintendo
World Championships takes
place in venues across the USA,
ending with a final at Universal
Studios Hollywood in Los
Angeles
Below: The Google
Stadia launch
1997 – The Asian financial
crisis leads to the mass
construction of broadband
networks in South Korea, which
paves the way for competitive
gaming to become as popular
as mainstream sports
2000s – World Cyber
Games, Intel Extreme Masters
and Major League Gaming all
establish major e-sports event
franchises across the globe
2011 – Online streaming
platform Twitch launches,
broadcasting e-sports events
live to huge audiences
2018 – Dota 2 tournament
The International 2018 delivers
a total prize pool of $25m, filling
the Rogers Arena in Vancouver
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