e.sport: questions, problems, opportunities

Video Games /e.sport

Let’s be frank: does a theatre, even Altair, have anything to do with the development of e.sport, which are tournaments turned professional, for the biggest of them?

The answer is obviously: no.
A theatre offers live shows.

I like to kill Altair regularly. There, it’s done. – don’t worry, it’s okay, I’m happy to provoke myself.

If I want to go to sleep, I stop there: the answer is no, it’s obvious – why talk about it, then?

Probably because the obvious is mainly the demonstration of the obvious laziness of the brain. I’m talking about my laziness – it took me a long time to push Altair into the waters of e.sport.

Of course, the programming of a classical theatre has nothing to do with it – but Altair is not so classical. Altair is a theatre with two sides: the “venue” side: which I use to program this e.sport event: Altair / the “virtual content production” side: Altair Twin.

What I’m proposing for e.sport can only be done by the virtual content production company: so, Altair Twin.

Are you in ?

I still need to address a number of issues and problems related to the possibility of e.sport.

I guess it has worked out well – sometimes it works out well.
Altair Twin is working with a video game company, and is producing what will be the content for the live performance competition:
AT selected the show – wrote the show.
AT has identified passages in the show that will be played by professional and non-professional players in an e.sport competition.
Both are given simultaneously, live : the show & the tournament.
Say like that, I can go for a nap, it’s so great.

So – AT has spent a lot of money to make this happen.
Is it profitable to spend so much money to use this content only once?
Is it possible to duplicate the tournament + live show duo – to really get a return on this investment?
Is it possible to sell the package to other venues?

How to distribute the money flows between AT and the video game company? How to share the debts if it is a failure?

My questions are obvious, aren’t they?

It seems to me that the basis lies in the contract negotiated with the video game company.
It is very possible that this company does not want the event to be duplicated and sold: the rarer it is, the more people it can attract.
It is very possible that this company will push the opposite: that the maximum amount of duplication is done and that the package is realized in several different places – in several theatres/performance halls.

I think we have to follow their requests – on the other hand, don’t give our hair to be shorn.

This means that at the time of the contract, we have to be able to present estimates of profits – even estimates of how much we will lose by accepting their demands.
Without being the sales person of the day, Altair is not there to offer golden bridges to other companies.
The more accurate this work is, the better equipped we will be to discuss.

I’m the one writing this… the tailors, their shoes – no more comments

Of course, I still have many other questions and problems related to an e.sport tournament.

Since it is a tournament, it means that there is a whole organization that will select the two – or three – finalist teams. Three, because I would definitely prefer 3 teams, which boosts the appeal of the final – and by the way, when you’re in the pro tournaments, it will allow the gamblers to play otherwise than at one chance out of two.

How to organize this tournament?
The final takes place during the performance – that’s a fixed point.
But what about the previous stages?

If I take a model from what happens in general, the tournament lasts one day – there are 6 teams of 4 players who compete against each other, which gives in the end 16 matches played, including the final – with match lengths of 5 minutes.
Sometimes there is a pre-selection stage of players and teams – it depends on the attractiveness of your tournament.

– This is, of course, a classic, non-binding framework.

Sounds like an objection – but look at it : for the final, it gives a 5-minutes player/game presence on stage: it’s very manageable and easily integrated into a show “designed for that”.

Let me remind you of my idea: in accordance with a specific video game, we set up a show “designed for that”: so the players, in the video game, find themselves playing in a specific downloaded content.
Obviously, this content was created before the tournament.

You agree with me, don’t you?

For the record, I want to remind you that I want to create this downloadable and playable content in as many video games as possible – so that means that this content – this creation by Altair Twin for a game – doesn’t need a representation to be played.
The e.sport tournament represents here a maximum use of this content.

If I’m a player, a real player, what amuses me the most is to discover this additional content on the day of the tournament.
The selection steps of the final allow me to take in hand the map and the difficulties of this content.
I’m ready for the final – I can be at my best – and I’m not jaded.
I have the day, with my team, to build the best strategy to win.
This makes my day both horrible and great at the same time.

The horrible part is, let me say it again, in case you think I’m an honest person, that the final will be rigged so that I, Altair (the real theatre) will get the winner that I’ve already chosen for my performance.
The teams will also have the whole day to rack their brains about who will benefit from the outrageous cheating that will give one team an advantage over the other two.

– If I think about betting on the winner, it could also make for some pretty splendid gambling moments. But hey, that’s off Altair Twin. Well, I’m still slipping the concept in. Anyway – I’ll shut up.

Once the performance is over, there’s no reason not to put this content back into a game – without the necessary associated performance.

Is it duplicable?
Can I have, for example, three evenings of performances and three e.sport tournaments associated? Tell me why not.
There’s no reason not to duplicate it – but it means having three ends for the performances – and three cheats : the essence of the game is, in my opinion, this horrible doubt about: who is going to benefit, because of the end?
As soon as the end is known, the game loses much of its originality.
So write three endings – and create three cheats.
It’s more work – so it costs more money.
It’s more fun, because everything is put back into play during the performance.

Is it saleable? I mean, can the whole Altair (Altair and its twin) sell this concept to another theatre?
No objections either, as long as the video game company agrees. However, these other theatre must be able to run an e.sport competition during the whole day of the performance.
… This would allow these other theatres to have some damn good days with audiences everywhere – and “unknown” audiences, all these young people: I think it can be sold quite easily, once we have made everyone else envious with successful tournaments.

Altair reserves the Premiere – and passes on the product afterwards.

Organizational question: you’ll see that the girl is not just a scatterbrain – there has to be a place to have teams and an audience for the day of the tournament. A place in Altair, the real theatre.
When I looked into the material organization of this theatre, I proposed to build several halls, including one that I called an amphitheatre, which is a hall designed for large events, with a very large audience – and this summer I came across an architectural firm that I was delighted with – they have done some great projects for amphitheatres and e.sports arenas.
So yes, as I see it, it is already possible to host a day-long tournament in Altair – and to have the finalist teams of the tournament on stage in the evening, because the performance will be in the next room.

Okay, what I propose is above all a real financial investment to be carried out.
It is a question of developing as much as possible a virtual content created for a video game.
This implies :
– inventing the show – inventing its ends – inventing its cheats
– to have created the virtual content (it is an evidence, but the evidences are quickly forgotten).

The return on investment, well thought out, can be important:
– several performances with a tournament day – since there are several ends to the show
– sale of the tournament+show package to other theatres
– obviously exploitation of the virtual content without the e.sport tournament in the chosen video game.

Speaking of the obvious – I hesitate even to write it down because it’s so obvious – selling the show alone, without e.sport, is also quite possible: the part played being recorded, the company producing the show has it at its disposal. They will have a show from the world of video games. It will be less incredible – but it will also be cheaper. Of course, here again, don’t forget this point when designing the contracts: with the video game company, with the company that is going to create the show and Altair.

For the moment, I’m sticking with Altair’s idea of commissioning specific shows to live performance companies – Altair only keeps control of the narrative process – at least of what will be brought into the game: video games and e.sport.

So I maintain: yes developing e.sport tournaments Altair version can represent a huge development opportunity – and – still – once the virtual content is made for a game – will allow to really exploit this content, for the essential benefit of Altair.

I’ve had a brainstorm, at least for tonight – and my ideas are clearer.
So I’ll have something to bring back my pretty nose (that nobody can see any more, under a mask) and tell about my project to develop e.sport in a theatre.

I’m going to look like a madwoman – I’m starting to get used to it – but so far it ends with congratulations – which don’t pay my rent, but warm my tender little heart.

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