Comment by shimman
5 days ago
Don't disagree, but Quake already had a competitive scene before counterstrike with prize pools + tournaments too.
5 days ago
Don't disagree, but Quake already had a competitive scene before counterstrike with prize pools + tournaments too.
also leaving out that real competitive gaming at that time was probably in Korea and involved Starcraft and others
This still ignores the FPS scene that fully existed before SK. Not saying BW wasn't important (I still watch the ASL and watching Soulkey play) or not on another level (any other esports tournament had the finalists arrived both on separate jets?), but there was already a thriving large esports scene in NA with prize pools in the thousands.
Yes, crucial omission - and that was 1996!
One big difference to note: Quake in 1996 didn't host central infrastructure or have any expectations of recurring revenue. By 2007 things had changed. WOW was built around Blizzard-hosted infra and recurring revenue as central design pillars.