Turner Sports dubs ELeague “very successful”

Competitive gaming continues to gain a foothold in traditional broadcast channels. This year TBC debuted their eSports show called ELeague, which is a competition/reality TV show that pits 24 video gaming teams against one another for a sweet $1.2 million cash prize.

It aired on Twitch but also on TBS, and it seems that Turner Sports is pretty happy with season one results.

“In our business, engagement is going to be one of the most important metrics going forward,” Craig Barry, EVP and Chief Content Officer for Turner Sports said. “And specifically around engagement, we’ve had a very successful first season.”

According to Digiday, ELeague viewers clocked in 13.3 million hours on Twitch and TBS, and TBS had an average of 271,000 viewers across life and time-shifted viewing.

Wendell Lira quits pro soccer for pro gaming

Normally you play sports video games because you’re not good enough to be a pro athlete, but apparently that’s not always the case. Brazillian soccer player Wendell Lira is quitting soccer to pursue a career in FIFA e-gaming. Should be a natural transition, right?

Lira cites mounting injuries for his career change. He won the 2015 Puskas Award, which goes to the person who scored the “most beautiful” goal of the year.

And for those thinking that Lira has no shot in pro-gaming, he handedly beat the FIFA Interactive World Cup winner to the score of 6-1. So the kid knows his gaming.

Should eSports be in the Olympics?

Seems like a silly question, but that’s what Polygon is asking. We’re wondering — summer or winter games? Professional eSports tournaments draw a wide variety of talent form all over the world. So each event is almost like it’s own min-Olympics.

The South Korea-based International eSports Federation (IeSF) has already requested information on how eSports can be included in the Olympics. The process begins in December.

It’ll be an interesting debate. Is eSports sports or just competitions? How much physical (over cerebral) activity does a game need to be before it’s sport enough for the Olympics? This request should bring up some interesting debates for sure. There’s already pushback.

We’re personally pushing for jousting.