Esports Is Taking The World By Storm!!
Defined as competitive video game tournaments, esports are watched by millions around the globe with incredible cash prizes up for grabs.
In New Zealand, esports is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country. Dozens of community groups up and down the country gather together to compete in video game tournaments for the love of their particular game title. Hundreds of thousands of Kiwis play competitive video game titles each week from the comfort of their own living rooms.
One of the driving forces behind esports’ growth in New Zealand are LetsPlay.Live also known as LPL. Tucked away in the heart of Auckland at SkyCity is a world-class esports broadcasting studio in the Sky Tower, where LPL broadcast professional esports and gaming content five nights a week.
Not only do LPL broadcast top-tier esports content, they also run an online tournament platform where players of all ages, skills and interests in games can compete. From casual Saturday night Call of Duty tournaments to 10-week professional CS:GO leagues, there’s something for everyone at LetsPlay.live.
Esports is shifting from a niche hobby to a sport being taken seriously by brands.
Prize pools range from $60 AUD a week to $100,000 USD a season, with the ability for top-ranking players and teams in each skill division to rank up for larger sums of cash prizes each season. LPL runs three seasons of esports leagues a year, broadcasting to hundreds of thousands of audience members in the first three months of 2020 alone.
The man behind the magic, LPL co-founder and managing director Duane Mutu, likens the rise of esports to that of extreme sports in the early 2000s. Having worked for game publishers Ubisoft and created New Zealand’s first 24-hour action-adventure television channel GARAGE TV, he spotted the similarities early on and set to work creating New Zealand’s first televised esports event in 2016. “We’ve come a long way since the first broadcast at MOTAT,” he says, four years from their first League of Legends event. “Esports is shifting from a niche, stereotyped hobby to a sport that is being taken seriously by brands and traditional sports organisations, too.”
LPL have worked alongside the likes of NRL, New Zealand Football, and New Zealand Rugby to bring esports tournaments to fans.
Mutu also sits on the board of the New Zealand Esports Federation, the official sporting body for esports in the country. “Now we have official backing by Sport New Zealand, people are starting to take esports seriously and are seeing the potential it has for gamers and the wider economy.” Esports, Mutu says, is most importantly for everyone. “The beauty of esports is that everyone can compete. Traditional sport is restrictive in terms of physical presence, age brackets, gendered teams and the like. Esports takes away the need of having to physically be somewhere to participate.”
Kiwi gamers of all skill levels interested in a taste of Esports can check out LPL’s tournaments on their website LetsPlay.live
Enter Now!!
Simply email zoe@letsplay.live with your name and the subject line “LPL Marketplace Mag” to be in to win.
Winners drawn 31st August 2020.