Tournament Edition - Helping Esports

[DeathAndHealing]

Something Ive been thinking about recently.. Maybe this is just a recent trend with fighting games being so popular, but why arent companies taking some of the profit to support their games? MK9 sold 900k copies in the first month, how much is that when you times it by how much it cost when it first came out? (45,000,000 if you use $50) Of course NRS or to whom it may concern did not see all of that, but are you telling me in that 45,000,000, they couldnt take 1,000,000 and use it to support their game through tournaments? Im not sure about the logistics and Im sure someone will inform me but if that is not a feasible idea, why not sell a Tournament Edition of the game which directly funds competitive play? With $1,000,000 they could (at minimum) fund 2 tournaments a year for 3 years and payout something like..

20,000
10,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000

For a top 8. This could be a selling point when purchasing fighting games. If companies took more interest in their games I think fighting games would take off and be making the kind of money they should be.

Ideas, thoughts, suggestions, rants&raves?

EDIT: Not a slant aimed at NRS/WB as I know they actually donated to some tournaments winnings. Just a thought aimed at the FGC and companies in general

 

[Dizzy]

They provided the prize money that got it at MLG as well as the EVO pot bonus. Not to mention the 1k pot bonuses at UFGT/CEO/other tournaments I don't remember. Who do you think the "sponsor" for these were? Also don't forget PDP, although I am not sure how much of it was NRS vs PDP for the actual pot bonus, seeing as how the tournament required use of PDP stick they surely had a hand in it.

While it isn't a million dollars, providing 100k+ for tournaments is a lot.

 

[Faded Dreams V]

You're not taking into account production costs.

Aside from that, it might simply not be that profitable. The competitive scene is rather niche compared to the casuals who play this online. I agree that NRS should definitely support the tournament scene a lot more (and they have done plenty as it is, btw), but to throw away THAT sort of money to attract a smaller crowd than who they actually target? Ehh.

 

[Enenra]

Just be glad they gave us the game. For that, they can have their money.

 

[DeathAndHealing]

Im sure something more can be done. Like I said I dont know the logistics and they arent likely to tell us, but even selling a "Tournament Edition" version which directly supports competition would be a step in the right direction. Of course we could all just donate to tournaments to provide bigger pot bonuses but honestly a lot of people find that sketchy and is less likely than forking over an extra $5 when purchasing a new copy of a fighting game.

I give NRS props and whichever other companies have donated before but how come these other games have such high turn outs and cash prizes? Did someone just say "Im going to host a StarCraft or LoL tournament for 100k+" or did the companies start the trend and it just blew up from there because the players knew the could make money from it? Another thing to note is that take MK9, NO ONE took it real serious but then it blew up and we were at MLG making serious cash. Do you think people are going to sleep on MK10 next time? I dont think so, more players = more buyers, which is going to be directly related to cash prizes that they can/couldve won.

 

[Cossner]

You mean Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.