William Collis - The Book of Esports: The Definitive Guide to Competitive Video Games

The Book of Esports

Copyright 2020 by William Collis

All rights reserved. "The Official History of Esports", "The Official Textbook of Esports", and "An Official Book of Esports" are trademarked by William Collis. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact RosettaBooks at , or by mail at 125 Park Ave., 25th Floor, New York, NY 10017

First edition published 2020 by RosettaBooks

Jacket and interior design by Christian Fuenfhausen

ISBN-13 (print): 978-1-9481-2257-3

ISBN-13 (ebook): 978-1-9481-2258-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Collis, William, author.

Title: The book of esports : the official history of esports / by William Collis.

Description: First edition. | New York : RosettaBooks, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2020014979 (print) | LCCN 2020014980 (ebook) | ISBN 9781948122573 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781948122580 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Esports (Contests)--History.

Classification: LCC GV1469.34.E86 C65 2020 (print) | LCC GV1469.34.E86 (ebook) | DDC 794.8--dc23

www.RosettaBooks.com

I dedicate this book to all my family:

past, present, and future.

Some are born great,

some achieve greatness,

and some have greatness

thrust upon them.

William Shakespeare,

Twelfth Night , Act 5, Scene 1

FOREWORD

By Paul Dawalibi

I knew the day I met William that he would be the person to write the definitive book on esports. Ive always called him The Professor because William is the exact type of person you would want to teach you history or tell you a story. He has a talent for making words come alive, and communicating even the most abstract concepts in ways that are easy to understand. And most of all, he knows esports, having raised millions in venture capital to grow two successful businesses in the space.

Today, William and I host the (now world-famous) podcast The Business of Esports. And I can attest, after thousands of hours together, that Williams love of esports is no act. He really is as nerdy as he seems, and he really does know this industry better than anyone alive today.

This book is the perfect foundation for anyone interested in gaming as a hobby, anyone whose industry might be affected by gaming, and anyone who will need to market to gamers and understand their world. Its even perfect for parents trying to understand what exactly it is their son or daughter is doing all day. William has laid out the future of digital competition, and how it reshapes lives and businesses today.

Carl Sagan once famously said, You have to know the past to understand the present. Never has this been more true than with esports. By explaining gamings history, William helps us appreciate how humanity itself is changing. And how esports is catalyzing this change.

Isnt it time you learned what esports are all about?

Paul The Esports Profit Dawalibi

PROLOGUE:

PRESS START

W e strive for the exceptional.

That, in its essence, is our nature as humans. We arent interested in the mundane, the typical, or the amateur. We dont celebrate that which is familiar or frequent. Instead, we crave the unlimited and the extraordinary. Those rare glimpses of raw skill that make us question the boundaries of what it means to be human.

For all of known history, this drive has propelled humanity onward. To art and invention. To creation and conflict. And perhaps most of all, to sport.

Technology has always played its part in our games and competitions. Arenas have evolved from muddied pitches to storied stadia. Refereeing has transformed from gentlemens honor to instant replays. Even the act of watching sports has been radically transformed by digital broadcasts.

But always one thing was constant: the human.

For we still competed in reality.

Sports remained bound by the fundamental coefficients of physics and the mortal laws of life and death. Science acted like a blunt instrument: artificially extending athletic careers with tendon-transplant surgeries, or improving equipment designs to cushion concussive blows. But by and large, despite the incredible innovation characterizing our twenty-first century, sports remained surprisingly anachronistic. Still tamed by reality.

Until now. Until esports.

Make no mistake: we are entering a new world, brave and bold. As laptops and smartphones have digitized our daily lives, human competition now leaps this electronic divide.

You hold in your hands the testament of a new generation of human competition. The Book of Esports is at once an overview of where we are, a celebration of how far weve come, and a prophecy for how far we will go as human competition radically evolves.

Everything is about to change.

Esports, or competitive video games, are not single-player experiences with memorizable level layouts. Instead, picture intricately choreographed teamwork, pixel-perfect commands, and brilliantly innovative strategies, all taking place in gloriously simulated environments, where the impossible is matter-of-fact and the spectacular is assured.

And just like there are dozens of genres of sport, ranging from mainstream (football) to niche (volleyball) to obscure (curling), there are similarly many genres of esports.

THE BIG FIVE

While there are dozens of types of esports, the big five genres dominate the industry today: first-person shooters, battle royales, MOBAs, collectible card games, and fighters . Well cover these genres, and more, in detail throughout the book. But right now, heres a quick summary of each to get you up to speed:

First-person shooters (FPSs) are gun-based titles emphasizing accuracy and reflexes. They are modernized versions of classics like Doom and Wolfenstein , but far more difficult to play because of their fast-paced, 360-degree aiming and team tactics.

Battle royales are similar to FPSs, but feature chaotic everyone-for-themselves combat, played from either a first- or third-person perspective, across a large-scale, but constantly shrinking, battle arena. One of the most popular games in the world. Fortnite exemplifies this genre.

Multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) involve teams of five players, each controlling a single character from a 3D isometric view and carefully sequencing their abilities to destroy opposing forces and overwhelm the opposing teams fortified base.

Collectible card games are purely strategic titles, where a sequence of virtual objects (usually cards) are played to a digital board. Each object has different powers and associated costs, requiring careful planning and sequencing to maximize their efficacy.

Fighting games are modernized versions of the original arcade hit Street Fighter. They feature two players dueling with martial arts on a 2D or 3D plane. Of all genres of esports, fighters have changed the least since the early days of gaming.

All these games roll up into a $27 billion industry, backed by billion-dollar investments from Amazon, Facebook, Tencent, and more. Picture ESPN-style broadcasts, full-ride academic scholarships, and multimillion-dollar prizing. Picture seven-figure endorsements with the likes of Louis Vuitton and BMW. Picture hundreds of millions of fans, most under thirty, clamoring for digital victory.