Wow Method How is This So Easy
Mentioned in this article
This is the second part of The Esports Observer's analysis on Method's World of Warcraft raid race. For details on the event's viewership and sponsors, click here to read part one.
On Sept. 19, more than 260K viewers flocked to Twitch
for a chance to witness something they had wanted to see for nearly 13 years. For days, they had watched Method co-founder Scott "Sco" McMillan and his teammates fight their way through an ancient temple filled with bizarre monsters. According to the story of World of Warcraft ( WoW ), McMillan and his compatriots had waded into the depths of Uldir to save the world from a giant slug monster.
However, McMillan had a far more important goal: He needed to save the world faster than anyone else. After more than 200 attempts, the giant slug monster breathed its last. McMillan leapt from his gaming chair, and a new esport was born.
Saving the World First
World of Warcraft is a video game about killing monsters so that your character can get stronger in order to kill even bigger monsters. The game's biggest monsters are locked away in special areas of the game called "raids". These monsters are so big and so difficult to kill that players attempting to bring them down will need to bring 19 friends along with them in order to have any hope of defeating them.
Every few months, WoW developer Blizzard Entertainment releases a brand new raid filled with bigger and tougher monsters. Over time, some of the game's best players decided that they wanted to challenge themselves to not only defeat the world's toughest monsters, but they would try to do so before anyone else. This lead to the creation of dedicated teams of raiders called "progression guilds".
One of the oldest and most celebrated progression guilds is Method, which was founded by McMillan and his teammates. Whenever a new raid is released, Method's goal is to be the first guild in the world to defeat every monster inside. This competition between progression guilds is known as the race to World First.
Although guilds have been competing for World Firsts for nearly 13 years, no one would have ever considered the practice to be an esport. After all, there is no prize money on the line, no stadium filled with cheering fans. The guilds are not battling on the same playing field against one another, they are just trying to accomplish a goal as fast as they can.
However, Method's broadcast of their most recent World First race proved that not only can raiding make compelling esports content, it could be the next big thing.
Think of the World First race like the 400 meter dash. The runners are not facing off head-to-head, but there is a clear competition with an easily identifiable winner. Method's streams showed that their race can produce the same level of excitement, drama, and collective celebration of an Olympic relay race.
How Has This Never Happened Before?
The viewership, engagement, and excitement of the World First race exceeded even Method's own expectations. Given the success of this event, how is it possible that this potential market has gone completely ignored by the esports industry for over a decade?
Simply put, there was no way to measure the demand until now. Before Method, no progression guild had ever broadcast their entire attempt to achieve a World First for fear of revealing strategies to their opponents. Additionally, Blizzard chose to develop esports programs around other aspects of World of Warcraft with more obvious competitive elements.
The beauty of raiding, however, is that it does not need any sort of outside structure in order to create compelling content. To run a race, all you need is a finish line. Every time Blizzard releases a new raid, Method and all the other guilds have their new finish line. Each raid can be an event unto itself.
Even more exciting to sponsors—viewers won't know when the race might end. It took more than 200 attempts for Method to finish off the last monster in the most recent raid. As a viewer, how can you turn off the stream after attempt 203 knowing that they might win the race on attempt 204? With a minimal setup and no developer support, Method held viewers captive for 10 days, all the while the Red Bull logo hung just behind McMillan's head.
The Giant Slug Monster is Out of the Bag
Method proved that World First racing can generate viewership, and it can scale. There are progression guilds all over the world competing for each World First. Every one of those guilds could broadcast their own attempts, adding to the drama, excitement, and potential viewership.
Fortnite has already shown that there is interest in an esports broadcast that jumps between multiple perspectives. The same could be replicated in World of Warcraft . Brands can sponsor the streams of individual guilds, or work with a broadcast company to produce content around the race as a whole. A sponsor could even place a bounty on the World First, building stakes and creating engagement no matter who wins.
By trying something new, Method has opened the doors to a brand new opportunity to monetize competitions in a massive, long-running game. World of Warcraft has survived for over 13 years and still maintains millions of paying subscribers. It is unlikely that interest in the game, or its raids, will disappear any time soon.
The next raid will be released before the end of the year. Now is the time to get in on the ground floor of a brand new esport, without the risk of investing in an unproven game.
Editor's Note: A previous version of the story mentioned 25-man raids. Raids for guild groups are mythic in Battle for Azeroth and only require 20 players.
Source: https://esportsobserver.com/world-of-warcraft-method-raid/
0 Response to "Wow Method How is This So Easy"
Post a Comment