Wellplayed.org recently conducted an interview with Valve head honcho Gabe Newell, in which they asked him all sorts of questions, some pertaining to gaming in general and others more specifically to Valve’s future plans within the eSports community.
DotA and Counter-Strike each have massive eSports followings, and with Valve currently working on sequels for both games, there is a lot of pressure on the company to become involved in professional competitive gaming, and that’s exactly what it plans to do.
When asked if the company plans to support DotA 2 as an eSport, Newell said “Yes. Running The International was an eye-opening experience for us both on the production side and on the spectation [sic] side. We see a lot of immediate work we have done and are going to do to help support eSports. This will over time get migrated into Steamworks for other developers to take advantage of if it makes sense for their products.”
He also reiterated the importance of pleasing hardcore DotA fans with DOTA 2, calling it “pretty much front and centre.”
DotA 2 trailer
Newell also confirmed that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will feature a ranked matchmaking system similar to that of StarCraft II and DOTA 2, although it remains to be seen just how this will be implemented in conjunction with dedicated servers.
When asked his thoughts on the recent growth of eSports, Newell had this to say:
“I think there are a lot of opportunities for game developers to provide better platforms for eSports. I also think that professional play is a form of content authoring, and that it needs to be integrated into an overall notion of user generated content. Since this is a challenge that is already being taken on by game developers, I think it’s good news for eSports fans and competitors. In other words I think there are a bunch of structural changes that are occurring in game design and game services that will, intentionally or not, benefit eSports.”
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gameplay trailer
eSports is also growing in South Africa at a significant rate, with the likes of the DoGaming League which has already confirmed substantial cash prizes for a variety of games in 2012.
DoGaming will host Counter-Strike: GO as well as DOTA 2 leagues in 2012, although prizes for those leagues have yet to be confirmed. The PolarfluKe Starcraft II monthly competition has also shown nice growth, and each month it puts up R8,000 in cash prizes.
DOTA 2 is a PC exclusive game, and will be released sometime in 2012. Couner-Strike: Global Offensive is being released for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 early in 2012.
