2013 will be seen as a turning point in the evolution of eSports, or Electronic Sports, which pit the world's best video game players against one another for huge cash prizes. Over $15 million in prize money will be distributed through video game leagues and tournaments by the close of this year. Professional video gaming is shattering records with each new global tournament. The millions of fans who tune in to watch pros play video games such as League of Legends, StarCraft II, Dota 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II are starting to attract the same type of sponsors that market to traditional sports fans.

    Coca-Cola (KO) is one of the biggest brands to enter eSports. The company used the League of Legends World Championship at the sold-out Staples Center last month to reveal that Coke Zero will sponsor a new minor league series that will serve as a place for gamers to compete in before going pro.

    "Our partnership with Riot symbolizes how serious we are about the space," said Matt Wolf, head of gaming, The Coca-Cola Company. "Pairing Coke Zero with League of Legends and collaborating with Riot on a new amateur series will bring something special to the players and help elevate eSports to a new level in the world of international sports. By working with Riot to create a road to the pros, we hope to deliver something authentic and unique to a vibrant and passionate player community."

    Although eSports has been around since approximately 1997, it hasn't been until recently with the 2007 debut of Justin.tv (now Twitch) and the 2009 launch of Riot Games' free-to-play League of Legends that things really accelerated. According to Peter Warman, president of video game research firm Newzoo, the majority of gamers around the world play the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game that pits teams of champions against one another within a fantasy setting. Fifty percent of the players are in Asia, and the other half come from the rest of the world. Warman says that 85 million of the 1.2 billion gamers worldwide play it. "We expect the total gross revenues of League of Legends to be at least $350 million this year," says Warman.

    More than 32 million players engage in the team-based five vs. five combat action a month, according to Riot. There are over 12 million active players a day with a peak concurrent rate of 5 million gamers engaging in the game. Without a doubt, this makes League of Legends the most popular game on the planet. And this popularity has opened a lot of eyes to the competitive gaming space. Organizations like the European Sports League (ESL), World Cyber Games (WCG), Major League Gaming (MLG) and Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) have incorporated League of Legends into their events, working with Riot to make the overall season have stops around the globe.

    2013年将被视为电子竞技（Electronic Sports）的转折点，全球电子游戏顶尖高手将捉对厮杀，竞争巨额奖金。到今年年底，会有超过1500万美元的奖金分发给各支电子游戏代表队和各种锦标赛。职业电子游戏比赛正在打破每一届全新全球锦标赛的记录。收看职业高手开打各种经典游戏，如《英雄联盟》（ League of Legends），《星际争霸II 》（StarCraft II），《魔兽争霸》（ Dota 2）和《使命召唤：黑色任务II》（Call of Duty: Black Ops II） 等的千万粉丝也开始吸引向传统体育迷推销产品的同类赞助商。

    可口可乐公司（Coca-Cola）正是进军电子游戏市场的最大品牌之一。上个月，《英雄联盟》世界杯在斯台普斯中心（位于洛杉矶中心城区的多功能体育中心——译注）举办。就在这个座无虚席的大赛现场，可口可乐公司宣布，零度可乐（Coke Zero）将赞助一个全新的小联盟系列比赛，它将成为游戏选手晋级职业选手的预备赛事。

    可口可乐公司游戏部主管马特•沃尔夫说：“我们与Riot公司的合作表明了我们对这个领域的重视程度。零度可乐与《英雄联盟》携手，同时与Riot合作开始一个全新的系列业余比赛将会给玩家们带来一些特别的东西，并在国际体育界将电子竞技提升到全新高度。通过与Riot合作为玩家开辟一条晋级职业选手的道路，我们希望为充满活力、激情四射的玩家们带来一些真实而独特的东西。”

    尽管电子竞技早在1997年左右就开始萌芽，但直到2007年Justin.tv生活频道（生活视频创建和分享网站——译注）横空出世，同时Riot游戏公司在2009年推出了免费的《英雄联盟》后，它才迎来了突飞猛进的发展。据电子游戏研究公司Newzoo的总裁彼得•瓦尔曼称，全球绝大多数玩家玩的都是“多人联机在线竞技游戏”（MOBA），即多支参赛队伍在虚拟场景中捉对厮杀。50%的玩家在亚洲，另外一半则来自全球各地。瓦尔曼表示，全球12亿玩家中有8500万人玩的都是这种游戏。他说：“我们预计今年《英雄联盟》的总收入至少能达到3.5亿美元。”

    Riot公司称，每个月有3200多万人会参加五人一队的对战。每天的活跃玩家有1200万人，参赛的峰值人数能达到500万。毫无疑问，这使《英雄联盟》成了世界上最流行的游戏。同时，这种火爆也让很多人开始关注起竞技游戏领域来。欧洲运动联盟（European Sports League）、世界电玩大赛（World Cyber Games），美国竞技游戏联盟（Major League Gaming）和英特尔极限大师杯赛（Intel Extreme Masters）都已将《英雄联盟》纳入自己的赛事，同时与Riot公司合作在全球各地全年推广。

    "As core PC gamers who actively play competitive online games, we believe games are a real sport -- and know that many gamers share these beliefs," said Marc Merrill, President of Riot Games. "We look at the thriving eSports ecosystem in Korea and are hopeful that eSports can be as successful elsewhere in the world. We grew up dreaming of a future where thousands of eSports fans would pack into stadiums in the West and millions would watch online. We're trying to realize that dream and demonstrate the possibilities of eSports, and we're really excited about the early progress that's been made."

    Riot Games handed out $8 million throughout its global season this year. Over 1.4 million fans tuned in to watch the Finals between South Korean gamers SK Telecom T1 and Chinese gamers Royal Club. A new season begins in January. And Riot Games is just part of the eSports field.

    Activision (ATVI) and Microsoft (MSFT) gave away $1 million in cash to the top Call of Duty: Black Ops II players in Los Angeles in April. Virgin Gaming awarded $1 million in checks to the best PlayStation 3 EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13, NHL 13, and Madden NFL 13 players in Las Vegas back in February for the EA Sports Challenge Series. Other game companies have awarded purses from $360,000 to $1.8 million in tournaments. Valve Software gave away the highest prize purse in eSports history -- $2.8 million -- to the top players of its DOTA 2 (Defense of the Ancients 2) game at The International 3 in Seattle in August.

    Team Curse League of Legends captain Brandon "Saintvicious" DiMarco believes the trajectory eSports is on will result in mainstream popularity within 10 years. ESports already has a huge following with advertising's favorite demographic, males 13 to 35, but the ability for fans to bypass television and tune into big events on PCs, mobile devices, or consoles has kept the majority of consumers in the dark about this growing phenomenon, at least in the U.S. In South Korea, there are eSports-dedicated TV channels, and pro gamers like StarCraft II pro Jang "MC" Min Chul are treated like real athletes, complete with huge endorsement deals and TV commercials.

    "ESports in the U.S. will go more the Korean path, where you'll see it more on TV," said DiMarco, who's Team Curse averages 15 million livestreams per month. "You'll see brands like McDonalds (MCD) and Taco Bell sponsoring players and teams. Once you see eSports on TV and in commercials like you see NFL or NBA players, it's going to become more mainstream. It might not happen in five years, but I can see it definitely happening in the next ten years."

    Fans are already averaging 100 minutes per session watching eSports content on Twitch. And Youtube (GOOG) and Azubu.tv are seeing record growth thanks to the livestreaming of practices and competitions. Livestreaming has opened up the ability for pros to connect directly with fans. The hand-eye coordination and mental processing that is required for pro gaming is similar to real sports.

    "We have training camps, we have practices, and you have to keep a level of physical shape," said pro gamer Chris "Huk" Loranger. "Sports and eSports are very similar in almost every way. StarCraft II players often have longer days than traditional athletes. You can only work out so much before you push yourself too far. We don't have that physical cap, we can play 12 hours a day as long as you're taking care of yourself. It's a mental game. You can train as long as you want to train. But at the same time, it's mentally exhausting."      

    Riot Games公司总裁马克•美林称：“我们自己是PC游戏的忠实玩家，现在也在在线竞技游戏方面也很活跃。我们深信电子游戏也是真正的运动——而且也知道很多玩家都这么认为。看了韩国充满生机的电子竞技生态系统后我们就希望，电子竞技在世界其他地方也能这么成功。我们一直就梦想，将来有一天西方会有成千上万的电子竞技玩家涌进体育场观战，同时上百万人在线观看。我们正在努力实现这个梦想，同时向世人展示电子竞技的潜力。目前所获得的初步进展让我们十分兴奋。”

    今年Riot Games为全球赛季发放了800万美元的奖金。共有140万粉丝观看了韩国玩家SK电信（SK Telecom）T1与中国玩家皇家俱乐部（Royal Club）之间的决赛。新赛季将于明年1月开始。而Riot Games只是电子竞技领域的一个玩家而已。

    今年4月，美国动视公司（Activision）和微软公司（Microsoft）在洛杉矶为《使命召唤：黑色任务II》的玩家发放了100万美元的现金奖金。2月，维珍游戏公司（Virgin Gaming）在拉斯维加斯为艺电公司（EA）“运动挑战系列赛”（Sports Challenge Series）中PS3的《艺电运动之FIFA足球13》（EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13），《全美冰球联赛13》（NHL 13）和《疯狂全美橄榄球联盟13》（Madden NFL 13 ）的最佳选手发放了100美元的支票奖金。其他游戏公司为各种锦标赛发放的奖金则从36万美元到180万美元不等。而8月份，维尔福软件公司（Valve Software）则在西雅图举办的“第三届魔兽争霸国际邀请赛”上将电子竞技史上最高的一笔奖金——280万美元——发给了《魔兽争霸2》的优胜者。

    英雄联盟战队队长布莱登、“邪恶圣人”（Saintvicious）迪马克相信，电子竞技按照目前的轨道发展，最终会在10年内成为主流运动。电子竞技已经拥有的庞大追随者大多数是13到35岁的男性，他们同时也是广告主们最青睐的人群。但是玩家们能忽略电视，直接观看PC、移动设备或游戏机上的重大赛事这一点也让绝大多数消费者不了解这个日益繁荣的现象，至少在美国是如此。而韩国就有专门的电子竞技电视频道，像《星际争霸II》的职业玩家蒋星灵被大家视为真正的运动员，接了大量代言和电视广告。

    每个月观看迪马克战队比赛的平均流量为1500万。他说：“美国的电子竞技会更多按照韩国的模式发展，也就是大家能在电视上更多地看到我们比赛。大家会看到，麦当劳（McDonalds）和塔可钟（Taco Bell）这样的品牌将赞助选手和参赛队伍。一旦大家能像看到美国橄榄球联盟（NFL）或美职篮（NBA）选手那样在电视和广告上看到电子竞技，它就会成为更为主流的运动了。可能未来五年这还不太可能，但未来十年一定会成为现实。”

    每个赛季，粉丝们在电子游戏直播平台Twitch上观看电子竞技的平均时间已达到了100分钟。而由于流媒体应用及竞争的推动，在Youtube和Azubu.tv上，这个记录还在不断增长。流媒体使得职业选手能与粉丝们直接互动。职业选手在比赛时所需的手眼协调和大脑活动与现实的体育运动十分相似。

    职业玩家克里斯•“虎克”•罗伦杰说：“我们有训练营，有各种训练，还必须保持一定的体型。真实的运动竞技和电子竞技其实在各方面都很相似。《星际争霸II》的玩家每天训练的时间比传统运动员还长。只有大量刻苦练习，才能达到更高水平。我们没有生理极限，只要能照顾好自己，每天可以训练12个小时。这是一种脑力游戏，可以根据自己的意图想练多久就练多久。不过，这也会让人的脑力精疲力竭。”       

    Pros often take time away from college and make other sacrifices to play in the big leagues. Like more physical sports, the window for peak pros to compete at the highest level is finite. In addition to earning salaries and getting paid sponsorships and receiving free travel and housing, some pro gamers even have agents.

    "For years I had acted as my own agent negotiating contracts, managing my schedule and trying to pick up new gigs," said Nick "Tasteless" Plott, a former pro gamer who now provides play-by-play of matches as a caster. "Now EMG (eSports Management Group) handles all that and more. My life is a thousand times better since working with them. Representation is absolutely necessary so they can worry about everything else, while I just cast."

    With the advent of newer, bigger advertisers–and eSports has already seen big companies like Dr. Pepper, Stride, Red Bull, Doritos, Alienware, Qualcomm (QCOM), and Intel (INTC) get on board – these already significant prize pools will continue to go up. And the more money up for grabs, the more attention eSports will generate.

    职业选手往往要利用大学的空余时间训练，同时还要牺牲一些其他的东西才能参加大型赛事。和很多实际运动一样，让顶尖职业高手展开巅峰对决的窗口也是有限的。除了要挣钱，获得赞助并享有免费差旅和住宿，一些职业选手还需要经纪人。

    曾经是职业选手、现在则担任比赛解说人的尼克•“无味”•普罗特说：“多年来我一直是自己的经纪人，自己谈合同，管理日程，还有找新活。而现在电子竞技管理集团（eSports Management Group）帮我打理这一切和其他更多事情。自从与他们合作后，我的生活品质提高了上千倍。代理制度绝对必不可少。这样，经纪人就能帮着打理其他事情，而我只管专心解说就够了。”

    随着更新、更多大牌广告商加入赞助电子竞技的阵营——目前已有胡椒博士（Dr. Pepper）炫迈（Stride）、红牛（Red Bull）立体脆（Doritos）、外星人（Alienware）、高通（Qualcomm）和英特尔（Intel）这样一些大牌公司了——现在已经规模惊人的奖金池还会继续扩大。而供选手们竞逐的奖金越多，电子竞技将获得的关注也会越多。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远