When your mother told you to “turn your video game off, it will never become a career,” she probably had no idea how wrong she was. Being a videogame professional is now a reality with the rise of eSports and video game streaming services like Twitch. Professional teams, like in the NBA, have started to become extremely popular. Rick Fox, a basketball mogul and actor, bought a team for himself called Echo Fox.
iDigitalTimes sat down with Echo Fox’s CEO Jace Hall to talk about the future of eSports and his team. Hall used to work for Warner Bros. Interactive and is also the curator of Twin Galaxies. He’s a gamer, through and through: “I’m as old as video games, I’ve been playing them since they were around. I just intrinsically live in that ocean.” If he didn’t have to function as an adult, he would be pursuing a career professional gamer.
Echo Fox is still a new eSports team, trying to figure out what the right way to do things. Last split, their League of Legends team ran into a few problems. Their star player, Froggen, had Visa issues and was unable to play for most of the split. Hall assured me that everyone’s Visa is in order this time around. “Our first foray out, we had all sorts of mistakes. This time we have a chance to really make something.”
Hall talks to the League players ever day, their scrims in Korea are going well and they are playing against some of the best teams in the region. They have their own practice facility, with everything an eSports pro could possibly want, but Hall would not specify. “They go in and they start scrimming, it’s all business.”
Echo Fox tries to foster player growth, not acquire short term success. Hall believes that players should have their talent fostered so that they can grow into even better players. It helps that most of Echo Fox’s players are career veterans, including All-Stars Froggen and KeithMcBrief in League of Legends and newly acquired Mew2King in Super Smash Bros.
“You have to help develop the ideology of what it means to be a professional video game player and it helps when you have Rick Fox, who is a professional athlete saying that this activity is very valid,” said Hall.
ESports player’s careers are usually very short, with most young people deemed too old by the industry to play professionally by their mid 20s. Echo Fox wants to change that: “Translating from regular sports, the only reason people who are older don’t play is because they have to go out and earn a living, it takes time and practice” says Hall. It doesn't matter how old you are, you can still be a pro gamer. “You can go to any nursing home and get beat at Wii Bowling. At some point your age will factor in, when you’re 105.”
“Players are more important than games themselves.” Hall believes we need to start focusing less on the games and more about the players playing them:
“We have Game of the Year, why don’t we have Player of The Year?” Hall wants players start “accruing value” for their accomplishments and getting mainstream society to try and accept them.
Hall also believes that there is no eSports “bubble.” The industry will just continue to grow with technology. “You are going to see tremendous growth across all game types. You’ll have big tent poles like League and DOTA, but there will be more” said Hall.
“The best part of videogame culture is you’re who you are in the screen and what your skills bring – I don’t care if you look like Jabba the Hutt or Boba Fett.” Watching videogames will only become more popular as the barrier of entry gets lower and becomes more accessible to everyone.
Echo Fox is doing its best to try and improve the lives and careers of players.
“Right now all the power’s in the game companies’ hands, that’s how it’s been for 35 years. So as teams and players rally for pieces of the pie, there’s going to be this tension.”
Game companies can just cut you off without any explanation; see what happened to the League of Legends teams Renegades and Team Impulse . “Everyone needs to realize, a healthy player base is good for everyone, and you want to support players being treated better.”
“Echo Fox isn’t just about winning the championship; it’s a lifestyle and cultural play that is trying to move all video games forward.” It won’t be easy, but if anyone can do it, it’s Echo Fox.
