It has been obvious even since the end of 2006 that Blizzard has intended to make WoW into more of an e-sport. First came the Arena and its Arena Season PvP gear together with easier ways to get some “starting gear” for PvP, and after that it’s all up to your skills, more than your gear, as is true in all other aspects of PvP. The Blizzard World of Warcraft Arena Tournament, and its Tournament Realm is another huge step towards removing all other factors than game knowledge and skill, as all players will start on an equal footing.
While Blizzard absolutely don’t want to abandon PvE (Bornak made posts on the matter here, here, and here, especially as answer to all the misconceptions plaguing the Chilton Interview).
As an interesting additional twist, showing that Blizzard probably are doing the right thing in terms of “e-sportifying” WoW is that there are other, independent leagues starting as well. MMO-Champion’s owners, the Major League Gaming, is also starting up WoW together with their other games (albeit with a lot smaller scale, “only” $22.500 in prizes per event).
- Other stops: MLG Orlando, July 11-13 and MLG Dallas, TBD.
- Official PC Circuit game: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
- Format: Arena 3-vs-3 - more details on rules and the official format will be released on May 15.
- Total spots available: 32 teams
- Prizes: $22,500 per event
Over all, it seems very interesting, and while it has been said once every 2 or so odd years that “now is the time for e-sports to really gain popularity”, perhaps it IS starting to come along, and we’ll be able to see a similar reception to games as what Korea has for StarCraft, with fangirls and groupies for the most successful players.
