This article is part of our Game Side series.
A decade ago the city of Atlanta once thrived with LAN centers throughout the metro area. However, that changed after the recession hit in 2007 as small businesses couldn't survive the market, ultimately closing all of Atlanta's gaming venues. With the lack of venues or events, the community resided to their homes to play online or host their own LAN parties in their residential basements.
With the rising popularity of games and events on Twitch, though, the fandom of gaming has seen a resurgence. Atlanta based events such as the Smite World Championships, MomoCon and ELEAGUE have each found major success in the eSports industry as of late. And if that weren't enough, the metro area is also seeing some restructure with Battle and Brew, a video game center and bar, opening their doors to the public and local gamers in recent years, bringing in large crowds consistently. Colleges have also tuned in on the fun, as Georgia Tech hosts their own LAN twice a year for students and fans from all around the city to play, compete and win prizes with each year growing more attention.
ELEAGUE has been a major part in bringing the gaming community in Atlanta together as well as showcasing what the city can do for eSports with the production and authenticity. ELEAGUE has now closed their book on Season 2, wrapping up their season on a high-note with a thrilling final for $1.1 million dollars. Their success is even more evident when you consider the introduction of other corporations such as Buffalo Wild Wings and Arby's. For one of the first times, an eSports league can be broadcasted live in a bar across the United States much like the NFL, NBA or NHL.
RotoWire sat down with Christina Alejandre, VP and General Manager of Esports for Turner Sports' ELEAGUE to talk about ELEAGUE and the state of gaming here in Atlanta.
How is ELEAGUE different from other events and or leagues? Are they competitors?
"There are competitors; however, ELEAGUE is in a unique position that we have the ability to have the linear and digital platform without having to go out and look for a TV or digital distribution deal, so we are able to go about distributing our content across on any platform. Turner Sports has a strong background on sports production and we also have some eSports experts to guide and advise -- nobody does sports production better than Turner. We have Grammy award winning directors and producers from last year's Inside the NBA set to help build our set for ELEAGUE, so we are definitely positioned differently than others. Then also our partners WME-IMG are just as much as involved as Turner Sports are, they're also uniquely set up with the live experiences. They have such a huge history in doing live experiences, and then also creating best in class hospitality experiences for the players and the talents. When you come whether you're a fan or somebody who is actually participating in the tournament, I think everybody walks away with a pretty good experience."
Why CS:GO over other popular games such as Dota 2 and League of Legends?
"CS:GO is a very easy game to understand. So if you turn on the TV and stumble across the game you can very quickly understand at a base level what is going on. I think, also, that it was the most popular eSports game out there, it was a double threat for us. If you look at League of Legends and Dota, the moba type games have a lot to gain if you understand what you are watching because it's super exciting to watch; however, if you were to tune into the game and not be familiar with eSports it could be very overwhelming quickly. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will always be in our DNA, we will always look to have events in Counter-Strike, but we are looking to grow, so we want people who are now like, okay we get it, we see ELEAGUE and eSports now, so I am going to learn about the game that they are featuring. So we are set up nicely for other eSports as well."
How would you look at ELEAGUE Season 1?
"Season 1 was a great success for us. We had really great engagement maintaining authenticity within eSports and within Turner Sports and there was no compromise to achieve more over the other. So when I look back on Season 1 and what we put out there, it was really really successful. It also enabled us to take away some key lessons and apply that to Season 2. Also a remark of success for any type of brand you take from learning and able to effectively translate those tools and apply them on the next big thing."
There were some obvious changes going into Season 2 with the format. Why were there changes from Season 1 going into Season 2?
"I think for us it was one of the key learnings that there was entirely too much content in Season 1. It was a very long season with nine plus weeks and then in each of those weeks had at least 25-30 hours of content. We saw a lot of fatigue across all levels, even the players showed fatigue because of how long the season lasted and how long those weeks were. The Tuesday and Wednesday matches from the first season very candidly didn't matter. There were no real high-stakes, anyone could try experimental strats because it would have been effective for the rest of the week, but in a group of four it really didn't matter.
If you look at this season, every match you watch matters and has real consequences that are related to how you advance throughout the season. Also keeping it short and more precise, but also having the qualifiers in the beginning I think added to the excitement of Season 2. Season 1 there was a combination of three months of content followed by the choice of venue with the Cobb Energy Center and I think for us the change in Season 2 was concise and the ELEAGUE arena has literally become a character, a component and signature of ELEAGUE. We thought that since it is a ELEAGUE season, it made sense to accommodate that into our arena. For us it all about the mood and the feeling of the crowd. Even Fnatic's Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer commented "There is only a couple hundred people in here, but it's just as energetic than any other stadium I've played in."
Do you think Atlanta will be the next eSports hub?
"Absolutely! Atlanta is ripe and ready for eSports. We already have big tournaments and conventions like MoMoCon, and with DreamHack coming here, we have the ELEAGUE Major coming here, and we have Battle and Brew. There are a lot of really cool things happening in Atlanta gaming wise with how much of a technology hub this place is, so I think this is a really positive sign and it's all pointing to people that are catching on so that is good. You will see a resurgence here."
With big events and tournaments, is that what the city needs to grow in having more events for the locals?
"I don't think it needs to happen but you will start to see a trend happen and it will slowly grow and get bigger and you will potentially see more LAN centers and venues that can handle large scale events. Look at the Fox Theatre, it is such an amazing historic venue here in Georgia and if you were to look and see that we announced the ELEAGUE Major, I'm sure the Fox Theatre would have not been the first place you would've imagined. However, we are working closely with them to make sure it is ripe and ready to host the Major. I believe it will be one of the coolest Majors people will attend. I think you still start seeing that trend of support go throughout these events."
The city of Atlanta will now look towards 2017 with the ELEAGUE Major in January held at the historic Fox Theatre and the return of ELEAGUE Season 3 at Turner Studios. MomoCon will also return for their 12th straight event, in which tournament organizers are expecting an audience attendance that rivaled the 71,000 fans that came in 2016. The city will also host its first ever DreamHack event which will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center July 21-23.
