
Interview: David “LD” Gorman talks humble beginnings, DotA2 changes, TI7 picks, OWL, and Blizzcon
David “LD” Gorman has made a large impact within the DotA2 scene, most notably with Beyond the Summit alongside founder David “GodZ” Parker.
It’s rare to come across individuals as motivated and passionate about esports, gaming culture, and helping others within the gaming industry as David.
Forever striving for higher and better quality products and content for the public to enjoy is what he’s all about.
A lifelong gamer with a true and genuine understanding and appreciation for every little aspect of the gaming industry. Always able to see both sides.
In perhaps the longest interview I’ve done in a decade, we take an in-depth look at David’s foundation, humble beginnings, his thoughts on hot gaming industry topics, and reasons why everyone should dream big — always.
For those not familiar with you, could you tells us a little about yourself, how you got into esports, and how Beyond the Summit was ultimately created? What’s your background in the world of gaming?
My name’s David Gorman, also know as LD in the DotA2 community.
I’m a DotA2 caster; I also run Beyond The Summit, together with David “GodZ” Parker. We are an entertainment and broadcast company that’s perhaps best known for The Summit tournament series, which is an intimate behind-the-scenes style event we run out of a house here in Southern California.
Designed to showcase the personalities and faces behind the names behind competitive gamers. The experiment started in DotA2. We’ve expanded it to Smash Brothers, Melee, as well as (recently, this year), CS:GO. We’re always on the lookout to expand into other games. That’s who I am and what I do right now.
As far as how I got into esports initially, and just a little bit about myself in general, I went to college up in New Hampshire. I majored in philosophy; my original plans going into college were to focus on computer science and become a software developer of some kind, and possibly an entrepreneur. I, during my college, decided I didn’t want to do that and ended up studying philosophy. I was thinking of possibly going to law school or possibly some other type of graduate program.

Entering the real world as a business consultant for a couple of years, I eventually started my own practice. So, that was my full-time job. During the evenings, I would just play games.
I’ve always been a hardcore gamer since the age of 5 or 6 — started on SNES, then NES, then PlayStation, N64 — a lot of console games growing up. I was really big on RPGs. Final Fantasy VI, or III I guess, as it was known in the Americas. Chrono Trigger, NES classics, really the old school nostalgia favorites.
Also, as I transitioned into my teenage years, I started to become a large PC gamer and got into Counter-Strike, StarCraft, Command and Conquer, and started online. I’ve played Age of Empires 2 competitively. There was a point where I was using dial-up. I think I realize now more and more that competitive esports players are 12 or 13, playing these games better than I ever could.
One of my best Christmas presents ever was actually… people will laugh at this now, but it was a little envelope from Comcast, which meant I was getting cable internet. Prior to that, I was on dial-up.
One of my best Christmas presents ever was actually… people will laugh at this now, but it was a little envelope from Comcast, which meant I was getting cable internet. Prior to that, I was on dial-up.
That’s one of my oldest memories, and I think that’s the point I truly became a PC gamer and began to get more into competitive gaming opposed to playing games I enjoyed as an individual, or casually at my house.
My first game was Counter-Strike, right around when Counter-Strike retail came out, right as the beta ended. After Half-Life, I played a little Team Fortress Classic, but CS was the first esport I really sunk my teeth into. I wouldn’t call it an esport — I guess it was a really early one back then.
I remember watching NiP play X-3 at CPL. I think this was even before GotFrag. I’d try to watch any rudimentary audio or live streams they had back then, so I was super into CS competitively. I would go to school and a couple of friends would have a clan.
They were actually clans. That sounds a little weird now, but we would diagram strategies in class, in study hall. So we’d draw out the maps, designate which role would be which. We were not nearly as good as we thought at the time, but we slowly made out into the wide world of gaming.
My old friend Will who lived two houses down from me and Brian were the best, as they had cable opposed to dial-up.We would play competitively over the years. Gaming really became my true hobby — the thing I spent most of my time on.
We would play competitively over the years. Gaming really became my true hobby — the thing I spent most of my time on.
My parents wanted me to join clubs; I was a big soccer player growing up, so they pushed me to do a lot of extracurricular stuff, but I wanted to just play games. I was always finding ways to stay up late. I had a timer, actually, in the kitchen — it was one of those old kitchen timers. So, I’d have a two hour time limit for games and I wasn’t supposed to play until all of my homework was done. So, I’d always start and cheat the system.
Setting the timer for 2 hours, I’d hit start, sneak into the kitchen and the computer was right next door, and I would turn the timer on and off. So whenever my parents came home after running their own businesses, the timer would always be at 1 hour and 50 minutes — I played a lot. I played 4–12 hours a day after school.

I would finish all my work during school, come home at night, and barely sleep. I’d be tired at school, so I was a pretty serious gamer from an early age. I didn’t really discover DotA until later. It was actually my brother and friend Will, who introduced me to it. It was right around the time I was in college.
At that time, CS was my competitive game and I was a pretty good player; around CAL-premier, not quite invite level, but pretty competitive within that scene. That was my peak I guess.
I went off to Dartmouth, where I studied. It was around that time I discovered DotA — I played DotA for fun, it was my relaxing game. CS was my serious title, DotA was a game where I just messed around and enjoyed myself. I think that was true for a lot of people. I would really say I got into esports when I was 13. Esports as we all know it now, obviously that came later.
I would really say I got into esports when I was 13. Esports as we all know it now, obviously that came later.
I played it on and off, eventually took a break from CS, DotA became my main game. I was playing it a lot. As soon as I finished working, I would play for 6–8 hours a day. One day I was watching The International I, heard of the prize pool, and had watched replays very casually around the 6.4.8 era, the mid-2000’s.
Then, I kind of just stopped, so I never really got super into it back then, but it was around the TI1 era, where I watched it and saw what it looked like. Such a cool and exciting game. Toby (TobiWan) was really hype, and got me really excited about the games.
It was around this time I discovered Luminous and DotA commentaries. For those that don’t know, Luminous was this very unique caster, heavily-focused on educational styles of casting and it was very different than what Toby was putting out there. I learned a lot from it, including deeper levels of DotA that I never understood as a casual pub (public) player.

It felt like I wanted to learn more about it, and at the time I was running my own business back then, and my hobby was to cast and I was terrible — I was dry, not knowledgeable, I wasn’t funny, it was just a horrible product, really. That’s how it started. It wasn’t good, but these were the Wild West days.
I kept grinding, and sending videos from Luminous. I took some from Toby and other people along with watching StarCraft (SC2) casting — this was around the time that Twitch was starting to take off. Day[9], Tastosis, all those guys casting SC2. I watched them a lot, I studied what they were doing. I was not nearly at that level, but I wanted to do it for fun.
Day[9], Tastosis, all those guys casting SC2. I watched them a lot, I studied what they were doing. I was not nearly at that level, but I wanted to do it for fun.
I didn’t expect it to be a job, I didn’t expect it to be a hobby. This was around the start of 2012, about 6 months later, I grinded a lot and caught a couple of lucky breaks. I ended up getting invited to TI2. I had never done a LAN event before, any sort of live event, and had only been casting for 6 months. I had no public speaking experience, aside one time in high school as a freshman, where I tried to run for class president.
I was so nervous when I got in front of my class — my hands were shaking uncontrollably holding the piece of paper (which was my speech), and everyone saw me and everyone was laughing at me. I was if anything, traumatized, regarding speaking publicly.

Everything leading up to this in regards to casting was always from the comfort of my room, from behind the monitor, where no one could see me. There’s a certain amount of privacy, even if you are streaming, but that was all about to change. It was a “sink or swim” event, and fortunately for me, I did swim. I was very nervous when it started, but when the DotA began, you’re able to just focus on the game, and all the other nonsense (nervousness) just fades away.
I was very fortunate to cast the most exciting and memorable DotA games that have ever happened even to this day, most notably “The Play” which was in Navi vs. iG Game 2, in the winner bracket finals of that tournament. Like all good commentators, it was a combination of doing a good job and being in the right place at the right time. You can only cast a game while its in front of you. You can try to make it more, but ultimately, that won’t seem authentic.
You can only cast a game while its in front of you. You can try to make it more, but ultimately, that won’t seem authentic.
That was my story, and then from there the whole Beyond the Summit story. DotA was a game that I grew to love over the years. It wasn’t my original love, but it was a game that I slowly gained appreciation for.

As far as having a penchant for the production side of DotA2 opposed to being a competitive player, what was your thought process behind that decision and what tipped the scales in favor of behind-the-scenes operations?
That’s a great question. I wanted to be a competitive player when I was young. When I was a teenager, even when I was in college, I wanted to be a competitive CS player. I went to LANs, I grinded online, I was my clan leader and eventually just the shotcaller in-game.
I was the one drafting strategies strategies and deciding which players go into which roles, where to go when you’re on each side, what the different strategies are within a vacuum, and how they all kind of work together to form an overall game plan.
I really did want to be a competitive player — a lot of time and effort went into it. I also had parents who really pushed me to take my academics seriously and I think I subconsciously recognized they were also very important, so I never really sacrificed everything for gaming. I don’t know if I ever would have made it if I did make it to a professional level.
I highly doubt I would be the best. It’s hard to know because I never really gave it my all, but I did put a lot in. As I grew older, I didn’t have the time for it, it didn’t really look like a particularly viable career path and to be honest, when I started casting, I didn’t really consider it to be one either.
I highly doubt I would be the best. It’s hard to know because I never really gave it my all, but I did put a lot in. As I grew older, I didn’t have the time for it, it didn’t really look like a particularly viable career path and to be honest, when I started casting, I didn’t really consider it to be one either.
It wasn’t until after TI2 that I started to seriously consider it as a long-term future. During my time leading up to TI2, I met David Parker, who had found Beyond the Summit. There were other people casting these tournaments that he was organizing, and he didn’t want it on his own personal channel. That’s how it started — I met him at the event; we had worked together closely and I think we both came back from TI2 feeling really passionate about the idea of creating something new.
Something that wasn’t, I’ll call it, “just another online broadcast” — by that I mean, most broadcasts were a pre-show, a loading screen, and when the game started you would cut to the game play footage. You’d have some basic overlays for sponsors, talk about the game, and some text. No real camera shots, extra video content, production features, and we wanted to do more.
The other big thing for us, and I think the other impetus for Beyond the Summit becoming a real partnership after TI2, was that we wanted to bring Asian DotA2 to the West. Prior to that event, before DotA2, there were very few tournaments for Asian teams, particularly Chinese teams, and a lot of those teams were still not really transitioned into DotA2 at the start of the TD season and between TI1 and TI2. We wanted to build that scene, and as the tournaments sprouted up, we wanted to bring it to the West.

At the time, no one was really doing it; the only real broadcasting at the time for the West were scattered GosuGamers’ broadcasts of Western DotA2 tournaments, and JoinDota which was also focused on Western DotA2 tournaments. We approached Chinese organizers, and we told them that we wanted to bring their tournaments to Twitch — we would broadcast them, do all the work, provide the commentary, they just had to give us the right to do so. This was before DotATV. Slowly we developed these relationships.
I think a lot of people at the time were hungry for an alternative as far as pure casting goes. TobiWan was an amazing caster, but also the only caster. Purge had done a little bit of casting. Luminous had done a little casting, me and GodZ had done some casting along with Draskyl and others. Toby was an absolute giant in casting, and we were all standing in his shadow, but he was also one man, and could only cast and do so much physically, and he was mostly focused on Western DotA2, as was his project. We saw an opportunity, and I think for the community of those teams, as well as just in the market to bring this coverage to people and make it better and different.
A lot of what we did with our first big event, which was the G1 League, Season 4 for DotA1, was we brought something besides just the tournament coverage. I did this crazy XSplit production, where XSplit was limited to 9 scenes, and we had 20-something videos, and everything was done out of XSplit, so I was this one-man production crew. Editing these videos, toggling the overlays, doing all the observing, casting, social media promotions — all of this stuff was mostly a one-man production. David was still I think in school at the time, and he also had a really shitty internet connection because he was living in Melbourne, Australia, known for their less-than-perfect internet, so it sort of fell on me by necessity to do all the stuff.
I actually loved it, and I loved not just the casting, and not just the opportunity to talk about DotA2, but also getting to do a lot of the production. I fell in love with production, doing just more than the bare bones back then, and that’s when things really started to take off.
I actually loved it, and I loved not just the casting, and not just the opportunity to talk about DotA2, but also getting to do a lot of the production. I fell in love with production, doing just more than the bare bones back then, and that’s when things really started to take off.
We carved out our niche, and we ran a Kickstarter the following year. We had an amazing groundswell of community support. The community, casters, names that have gone on to do great things in the scene.
People like Bruno Carlucci, who now works for Valve, James Harding (2GD), Ken Chen (Hot_Bid), who is now working with us, as well as a lot of faces — I can’t even remember the full list, but the community was behind it, we were excited about it, and we moved out to Los Angeles to start a studio. The ultimate goal all this time was just to be an awesome casting studio producing great English coverage of DotA events.
The ultimate goal all this time was just to be an awesome casting studio producing great English coverage of DotA events.
That’s what it was, and I think it wasn’t until a year later that vision evolved, when we decided to run our own events — live events. Those discussions that The Summit was for, was basically taking everything that was great about TaKeTV’s HomeStory Cup, and bringing it to DotA. That was the impetus for The Summit that took off.
I think from there, we really just evolved to be a DotA2 casting broadcast studio company, but more importantly, a production company, an entertainment company. Folks that are not just focused on one game. We’ve expanded into Smash, CS:GO, and I think we’ve created this unique flavor where we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We like to make esports fun. We like to be silly, and that’s why people loved it.
The Summit was getting to see how the players really are, sort of after-hours, what they’re like. That’s really our unique brand and focus, and something that we hope to do more of in the future.
Ultimately, we’re all here playing video games for fun, commentating them. Sure, there might be a lot of money at stake — it is business in that sense, but we all get to do what we love, and be excited about that. The initial goal was to make an awesome DotA2 studio, but today I’d say it’s a lot more that. It’s created amazing content for esports, for gaming, and have created productions that aren’t just about the games or live show. Rather, [BTS] is about the personalities and human elements — and fun. I think that’s always been our focus.
Rather, [BTS] is about the personalities and human elements — and fun. I think that’s always been our focus.
Which do I favor? Casting is a rush — I imagine it’s relative to what it feels like to take certain drugs. It almost feels like if you’re getting shot up with all this adrenaline, endorphin, the crowd roaring in your ears. It’s such a thrill, and it’s a very intense two-day kind of chamber that you just throw yourself into and give it your all, and then you’re exhausted. It could be longer, depending on the event, but then it is also a grind to cast day-in and day-out.
There were some days when BTS started where I cast for upwards of 18 hours, I would cast tournaments back-to-back and push myself to the physical limit. I think I enjoy casting.
I don’t really care so much about what I’m doing, although I love it — I care more about what I create. However I can help a project, my goal is to make content that makes people smile, that makes them feel love, excitement, and passion for gaming. For esports.
I don’t really care so much about what I’m doing, although I love it — I care more about what I create. However I can help a project, my goal is to make content that makes people smile, that makes them feel love, excitement, and passion for gaming. For esports.
If that means behind the camera, sell sponsors or something, if that means being the front man who is casting, if that means being the guy that wires the house for the first Summit, which I had slept literally zero hours the night before The Summit 1.
I was the guy that ran every single SDI cable, every single XR-run for all of our audio, the guy who programmed the board, so any technical issues you can blame me for at that event, and we certainly did have some.
I will just do what it takes to make that awesome content. I love it, and I want to be able to share it with people. I just favor whatever is necessary to get the job done.

What are your thoughts regarding Valve and how they have handled recent controversy involving lack of dedication and communication between the community and developers, and also to tie in with TI7 coming up soon, who do you have your eyes on?
My general thoughts are, Valve knows how to make an amazing event as far as TI goes. In the public’s eyes, TI is always a spectacle. It is always the biggest event of the year for Valve, and the single biggest gaming event period. Other events may get more viewers in certain markets, such as LCS in North America, CS:GO with the Western audience with their majors as far as raw Twitch numbers.
If you look at the overall impact that a single event has, TI is the Super Bowl of esports. The prizepool, the mainstream media attention, and it’s also where Valve makes their biggest announcements and releases. Not just for DotA — Steam VR, Steam Broadcasting — bigger products and features they have rolled out, a lot of them get their release party at TI.
It’s [TI] a marketing vehicle in many ways, not just for DotA, and not just for esports, but for all things Valve. It’s almost seems to me, that we have as a sort of “ValveCon “ — Valve does an amazing job with that.
It’s [TI] a marketing vehicle in many ways, not just for DotA, and not just for esports, but for all things Valve. It’s almost seems to me, that we have as a sort of “ValveCon “— Valve does an amazing job with that.
I like their direction a lot this year. They’ve made some changes to the format. They have more teams participating in this event. They’ve done away with the wildcard, so instead of having two teams show up and get eliminated after one day, all 18 teams get to play through the entire group stage, where the bottom team in each group is eliminated and the top 16 progress to the main event.
As always, Valve does everything quite late in the game, from an outsider perspective, whether it’s inviting talent or releasing details about the Compendium or merchandise — and that’s just because they’re not an event company. They are a software developer, and they’re an amazing software developer [development company].

There’s stuff behind the scenes they could do better. At times, does it feel like they aren’t paying attention to community needs and wants? Is it annoying they [Valve] don’t have community managers, or the equivalent of a Jeff Kaplan-like figure for Overwatch who is constantly engaging with the community and being that voice for Valve? Yeah, it’s frustrating, but a lot of us are used to it, so it doesn’t really bother me the way it did 2 or 3 years ago.
I think an outsider coming in would find it very bizarre, but Valve has a lot of understandable reasons for doing things they way they do. I think too much style is bad for a developer. The more you talk, the more likely you are going to make promises, and some of those may be promises you just can’t keep. Sometimes, no matter what you do, and whether it’s with the game balance, merchandise, digital goods, tournament format, someone is going to be unhappy. It doesn’t matter what the decision is. Someone is not going to like it. No amount of dialogue is going to fix anything.
No amount of dialogue is going to fix anything.
Recently, I believe Valve has shown recently that they have gotten better at understanding when they need to respond, such as with the merchandise. It was an absolute train wreck — shipping charges were 5–10x the actual raw cost of the product(s), they were packaged poorly. There was reddit thread after reddit thread, tweet after tweet, just a deluge of negativity regarding their merchandise partner.
Valve made a very thought out but at the same time logical post on their blog saying they hear the community, and they dropped and fixed the distribution of merchandise. I think they handled that super well.
I think on paper at least, the announcement of the Minors and Majors for third-party events and a lot of the changes they made to the system to show that they’ve been listening to various community figures whether it’s myself, TobiWan who really spoke out about the issues he saw with the current Majors system concerning what third-party events could do. Valve, by all accounts, seems to be listening, and seems to be trying to find better solutions moving forward.
I think they actually listen than what people give them credit for. People get annoyed, because they don’t say “hey, I’m listening,” — you only find out they’re listening when they decide to act. Valve lets their actions speak for themselves, rather than reminding the community they are listening. It’s not that they’re [Valve] not dedicated, it’s just that they’re not going to tell you they’re dedicated — they’re going to wait and act upon it.
It’s not that they’re [Valve] not dedicated, it’s just that they’re not going to tell you they’re dedicated — they’re going to wait and act upon it.
As far as TI7, that’s a tough question. Top 3 teams for TI7? I think Evil Geniuses looks strong going in — that’s an obvious team to go with. Liquid is also a threat. As far as a dark horse, I would say LGD. They had a great run at MDL recently — a huge star player in Maybe who can deliver on the main stage. I think the reality with TI is that people will have predictions, but you really just won’t know — people are not playing matches while showing strategies, and each and every TI has their own meta. Regardless of current meta or what teams look strong, a meta will emerge; time will tell which teams are able to climb that meta. The ones who set the trend or adapt to emerging trends are going to be the teams that go deep. No matter how the teams look going in, you really won’t know.

What are your thoughts on the tournament saturation in DotA2? As we may remember, within the StarCraft 2 scene, that was an extremely large issue, and Blizzard caught heat for their management and scheduling of tournaments on top of third-party tournaments overlapping constantly.
People have different opinions on this. I know there are a lot of opinions within the DotA community and other games — I think CS:GO is dealing the most with this right now. The theory behind this is that if there are too many tournaments, featuring too many of the top teams and players, and they’re all too accessible or repetitive, those matches all of a sudden are not special. It’s hard to keep track of the tournaments, the structures, and everything just, because it is not scarce anymore, loses some of its value to viewers.
I am of the opinion that of the short-term, that is indeed a problem. However, I disagree with a lot of people who feel that a very heavy amount of top-down pressure and control is the solution. Personally, I believe that the healthiest esports scene is one where if you have a game that is experiencing over-saturation, assuming that there is enough prize money and tournaments that top teams aren’t required to play to pay the bills (which is certainly the case now with every Majors or scene that has a third-party scene), the reality is that teams will naturally become selective. I think the only thing that prevents a team from becoming selective, is what we used to have in DotA2, where people would not know how to get a TI invite.
I think the only thing that prevents a team from becoming selective, is what we used to have in DotA2, where people would not know how to get a TI invite.
Which because of its prize pool, was worth everything else, and was the most important tournament of the year. So, teams would attend and do their best at every event, not knowing when they would qualify. They didn’t know when they hit critical mass, or when the light bulb went off in the Valve brain trust. As long as the money is there and its spread across tournaments evenly, teams will naturally be selective.
A team that is tired of traveling too much will not go to events unless they have to qualify, or its for the money. There is a natural pressure that emerges in any game with a “over-saturated” scene, where the top teams will be in demand for everything, and they can be more selective.
There is a natural pressure that emerges in any game with a “over-saturated” scene, where the top teams will be in demand for everything, and they can be more selective.

Tournaments will have to compete to have those teams compete, by increasing prize money or conditions at tournaments. Giving them business class flights, single rooms, better food, gift bags — whatever it takes to get those players there. Formats they like better, nicer PCs — all these tournaments are competing to get the same level of top teams, and the ones that offer the best accommodations and packages, are the ones that will get them.
Maybe those teams will play a handful of other events, but will turn a lot of them down. The tournaments not good enough to attract them will have to turn towards the next tier of teams. Maybe the less-popular, less-proven teams that have to play more tournaments to get the TI invite. I think in the short-term, teams will get burnt out. In the long-term, teams will eventually push back.
I think in the short-term, teams will get burnt out. In the long-term, teams will eventually push back.
They’ll act in their own best interest. CS:GO has some, the Legends system the Top 8 teams they know they’re in and they know how to qualify for the Majors due to the Minors system — teams turn down events; a couple turned down The Summit. As we know, Astralis mentioned publicly about attending less events. I think that is a perfect example of how over-saturation in the long run is a myth. In the short term, it’s not a real long-term issue. The way over-saturation is solved, is that you let natural forces play out.
The way over-saturation is solved, is that you let natural forces play out.
I think DotA2 had this weird case that you didn’t know when you qualified for TI, and you just let things play out. That doesn’t exist in DotA2 with the new system. We kind of hand an unspoken system before, where if you win a really big event, you’re getting invited. Top 2 at the Majors, things like this. There were kind of rules, somewhat hidden rules, sort of unpublished ones, that most people figured out. I think over-saturation is a myth in the long run. It is a short-term problem.
I think over-saturation is a myth in the long run. It is a short-term problem.
Overwatch League has drawn criticism regarding Blizzard’s proposal, some praising the idea, while others comparing it to the infamous Championship Gaming Series (CGS) for Counter-Strike. Critics include Marcus Graham and Richard Lewis, two people who were directly involved with CGS, and parted ways hastily.
Both Marcus and Richard, along with many others, are worried that this will essentially be CGS 2.0. What are your thoughts on that, and overall regarding Overwatch as an esport, as someone who has casted it, and recognizes the obvious lack of “esports mechanics” such as a functioning scoreboard and lack of spectator tools?
I really don’t know how I feel about Overwatch League. What I see, is a league that is being built and kind of designed internally by Blizzard to be completely different from everything else — they want to build their own thing, they don’t just want to make an LCS. Blizzard sees on the horizon the potential for every major sports team and all these Venture capitalists and investors to come in and basically.
I do believe the leadership at Blizzard who works on OWL truly and honestly feels that Overwatch will could be bigger than or as big as the NFL, NBA, MLB. I get that vibe from them. Do we know that for sure? No. Do I think it is or will be that? No. It depends on how you define success.
I do believe the leadership at Blizzard who works on OWL truly and honestly feels that Overwatch will could be bigger than or as big as the NFL, NBA, MLB. I get that vibe from them. Do we know that for sure? No. Do I think it is or will be that? No. It depends on how you define success.
I see a lot of people say this is bound to be a failure and it really depends what you define as a failure. If the goal is, it has to be as big as the NFL, then yes — I think it will be a failure, it won’t be as big as the NFL. Do I think it can be super financially successful for Blizzard and a sustainable league? Yes. I do think there is a lot of room to improve spectator experience — it can be improved, and there can be practical steps taken. Even if it is not the best spectator experience, it is a game that has an incredibly huge player base. It’s a game that has sold 30,000,000 copies.
The floor on Overwatch viewership is incredibly high — even if they are casual and don’t really care about competitive Overwatch, there are still a lot of people even watching qualifiers. You’ll get 30,000–40,000 people watching Overwatch, and Blizzard has many conduits through which they can get to the people directly, such as the Battle Net client, in-game, and through Twitch. The North America viewership is quite high, even at night. If the definition of success is “will it be bigger than CS:GO or LoL,” then I’m not sure about that. As someone who has casted it, I found it very tough.
If the definition of success is “will it be bigger than CS:GO or LoL,” then I’m not sure about that. As someone who has casted it, I found it very tough.
As a spectator, their tools lack and they’re getting there, but just aren’t there at. CS:GO is a perfect spectator sport in that it is incredibly easy to access, the pace of the game is great, and there is a score that matters — something that LoL does not have, something that DotA2 does not have. Overwatch sort of has a score to follow, but so much crazy stuff at once, that it’s overwhelming. I don’t think Overwatch will lose Blizzard a lot of money — could these owners that are investing into it not turn over a net profit? Sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s a failure for Blizzard. I don’t think it will set esports back to the stone age, because I don’t think we’re all in. Esports was a little bit all-in on CGS.
I don’t think it will set esports back to the stone age, because I don’t think we’re all in. Esports was a little bit all-in on CGS.
At the time there was Counter-Strike stateside, and StarCraft in Korea. There was nothing on the scale of those two at the time, and literally CGS killed the original CS community. It pushed everyone to CGS, everyone in North America stopped playing it, and it was such a seismic shift. OWL is more so building a system of their own, they are not dismantling the framework of teams.
People are buying slots, OWL is buying those organizations, and then deciding how their operations continue, nor do they own their brands or control what they do outside OWL. I don’t think it will be CGS 2.0, I don’t think it will kill esports or set us back years. Could it hurt our potential future growth in the short-term? Yes.
I don’t think it will be CGS 2.0, I don’t think it will kill esports or set us back years. Could it hurt our potential future growth in the short-term? Yes.
If OWL is a failure in the eyes of investors, people like Robert Kraft or Jeff Wilpon, they may be less-inclined to invest in the next esports venture. Sponsors may be a little hesitant. I think esports gaming and streaming culture has reached critical mass and has created a snowball effect. People these days come home and turn on Twitch, much like how before, people turned on a television.
That is just such a huge and ingrained part of culture ages 15–30. I think the doomsday talk is a little overblown, but I am also not convinced that OWL is the next CGS 2.0 or anything of that level.
I think the doomsday talk is a little overblown, but I am also not convinced that OWL is the next CGS 2.0 or anything of that level.

What are your thoughts on Blizzard’s approach to mimic Valve’s DotA2 Compendium system for Blizzcon this year, but modifying it and charging upwards of $25 for all three StarCraft races, while locking each race behind a $10 pay wall?
This has raised eyebrows and created controversy within the community in regards to checkpoints needing to be earned to get minimal rewards.
Reading about this War Chest idea from Blizzard, I believe this is a cool initiative and a step in the right direction. They still have a lot to figure out and learn. If you look at Valve, they’ve learned a lot of lesson over the last 6 years, where they had figured out how to have the community view it as a valuable product, as well as drive up the prize pool and unlock everything. There’s a natural community movement to support it and get excited about it. Sort of like the Steam Summer Sale, or how Amazon wants Prime Day to be.
Initially reading about this, I don’t believe that’s going to be the case as far as reception goes towards Blizzard. People are going to buy what they want to buy, and I don’t feel like people are going to spend more money just to fund the prize pool — part of the reason is that there is a cap on the amount they will add to the prize pool. While people are fans of Blizzard games, and willing to spend money on products, I don’t think the average fan is willing to donate just to donate money to the company.
Ultimately, the vast majority of players, view Blizzard as a business. Due to the cap on the prize pool addition, I would say that’s probably where the bulk of the negativity is going to come from.
Ultimately, the vast majority of players, view Blizzard as a business. Due to the cap on the prize pool addition, I would say that’s probably where the bulk of the negativity is going to come from.

A large reason in regards to people wanting to buy the Battle Pass (Compendium) for DotA2 each year, is they know no matter what, from every $1.00 spent, $.25 goes to the players, the prize pool, and indirectly goes to making the event better each year. Is Blizzard going to publish the budget and show how the money is being spent? No, probably not, and I don’t expect them to as a business. That also means people are not going to react to it the same way. Blizzard can take a page out of Valve’s book to see how their system works. The rest of the industry will catch up; it is a very powerful model, and a great way to market the game.
The rest of the industry will catch up; it is a very powerful model, and a great way to market the game.
In the long run, I believe that this is a great step in the right direction, but this particular case could use some work.

If you could convey or spread a message to everyone, what would that message be?
I hope what gaming and esports brings to everyone is a feeling of community. I love what I do, the people I work with, and sharing that with people around the world. Especially with Twitch, every competitive title and the fun casual streams. It’s my hope people continue to always dream bigger, whether it’s for esports tournaments, how people spend their free time, how they have fun.
I love how this industry has evolved. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of it; it’s brought me a lot of joy within my personal and professional life. More importantly, it is a way for a lot of people who were once outcasts or people that felt excluded, to be a part of a community.
I love how this industry has evolved. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of it; it’s brought me a lot of joy within my personal and professional life. More importantly, it is a way for a lot of people who were once outcasts or people that felt excluded, to be a part of a community.
I truly do believe that esports and gaming will only continue to grow, and as it grows, everyone gets to be a part of that journey, and that it translates to more acceptance within the mainstream society.
Again, I urge everyone to dream big. For themselves, the community, and overall for the industry. The little hobby and sector of the world we know and love. I’m excited to doing more, making people laugh, and bringing great content to the public.


