Aries_37 wrote:
It's not a great lifestyle but what the videos don't tell you is that between them they probably make over half a million dollars in livestream revenue a year. Their website also gets a ton of traffic and makes them a tidy sum as well.
Practicing at the game and winning tournaments is really just so they can attract more stream viewers. I doubt they really care that they could be having more fun.
yeah and what about when the 'e-sports' thing falls through (it will, trust me, it did for me when i played fps games... i.e. it became wholly corporate, teams started having cash-sucking managers, sponsorship deals become questionable; basically the whole hyped-industry was maturing and people were starting to see through the dust that it wasn't the road to corporate millions) and these guys are turfed out on their asses again? they've spent the best years of young adulthood playing computer-games 12 hours a day: socially retarded, disconnected from the realwordl, not to mention with a yawning hole in their resumes. i'm not sure any employer is really looking for somebody with an APM of 250 or the best ashe play in asia. it's completely short-sighted.
they probably do make good money now - and so they should, they're basically plugged into a computer 12 hours a day working 1.5x full-time jobs - but where's their future? celebrities for a bunch of geek losers today, walmart employees tomorrow. i only hope these guys are finding time in between 12 hours of practice per/day to get a degree and actual work experience. because, if the fps scene was anything to go by, this whole 'e-sports renaissance' will just be another hype-bubble inflated by the big hardware/computer companies for a quick buck. and they'll be dropped on their ass.