Did you watch the World Cup this weekend? No, not the one in Germany, but the Electronic Sports World Cup, ESWC, held this weekend in Paris, France. It is the world’s largest arena for cyber-athletes with the celebrity status of Ronaldo and Beckham in gaming.

Every year, the ESWC attracts a live audience of up to 30,000 spectators, and several tens of millions watch via all of the different media providing coverage. This year, 800 cyber-athletes battled it out in games such as Counter-Strike, Quake 4, Warcraft 3, Gran Turism 4 and Pro Evolution Soccer 5 for a total of $400,000 in prize money.

Whereas network television, film and print today are considered mature businesses, the video games industry is a booming growth market. The worldwide interactive entertainment market (console video games, PC games, online games and dedicated portable systems) is expected to grow from about $28.5 billion in 2005 to around $42 billion in 2010, according to gaming market analysts DFC Intelligence.

As the gaming industry grows, it is expected to become more like a network service business and less like a packaged goods industry. The prospects are none the less positive, for example with regard to China, where the online game market is can be expected to triple in the next five years, according to the same DFC analysts.

Looking at the gaming market in Korea gives us a hint of the future. Top videogamers there can earn six-figure salaries for playing in big tournaments and have the status of real sports stars. The e-athletes and the competitions they participate in are the focus of two 24-hour cable television networks devoted to gaming the way ESPN is devoted to sports. If you think this vision is unlikely for the US - well, five years ago the popularity of poker on TV might have seemed far-fetched, too.

The popularity of cyber games also tells us something else, something more important about the future of mature businesses like network television: the future growth lies in interactivity and compatibility with the television set. Microsoft Xbox 360 offer more than just life-like graphics and improved online play for such games as Madden NFL 2006 and King Kong. The 360 has enough processing power and network connectivity to bring streamed and downloaded video straight to a TV screen. So, in a few years, it is possible that ABC would cover the online World Cup as well as the offline. But before that happens, either the online or offline team from the US would have to be stronger competitors. 

Results from the 2006 World Cup in Pro Evolution Soccer 5

Teams:

1st

 Spank (France)

2nd

 Myto (France)

3rd

 Jinxy (Belgium)

4th

 Song (China)

5th-8th

 Abiga (Brazil)

5th-8th

 Kerobba (Italia)

5th-8th

 L.O.G (Germany)

5th-8th

 Popo (Spain)

Related Links:

http://www.esworldcup.com/2006/

http://www.nvidia.com

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6153490.html