How one company is hoping to revolutionize eSports broadcasts
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Traditional sports broadcasts include cameras scattered across stadiums so that viewers can have access to multiple angles. But how does this concept play out in the expanding world of eSports? Up to now, eSports broadcasts have typically employed jus one camera angle of the competition. The view is more to give the players what they need to compete, rather than what the fans will appreciate the most.
Genvid Technologies has realized this issue and have begun working on a solution.
One of the first steps for the New York-based company was raising $1.5 million from investors like March Capital Partners and OCA Ventures. The upstart believe eSports broadcasts have room to grow by providing multiple camera angles and extra interactive features to better fit the eSports audience.
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With eSports growing as quickly as it has, it’s time to start focusing on the spectators. The sport already receives an estimated $325 million in sponsorship and marketing revenues so the creation of Genvid’s new technology is hoping to attract a wider audience. “We could enable a developer to set up a 24/7 channel that connects to the most interesting match that is happening based on viewer interactivity and feedback,” Genvid CEO Jacob Navok said in a statement. “We could automate the camera controls based on popularity or have the developer control that itself.”
Genvid has already created a demo that was used during the new Unreal Tournament 2016 Alpha and is being made available to developers. The demo has been used during live matches on Twitch.tv and allows viewers to interact with the game directly.
When it comes to watching tournaments, there is always so much going on and a viewer may just be interested in how one particular player is performing. This will give them the opportunity to stay fixated on what (or who) exactly it was that caused them to start watching the broadcast in the first place.
“The game industry has been circling around this segment for years,” Yoichi Wada, former CEO of Square Enix Holdings, said in a statement, “but Genvid is the first company positioned to bring engagement to the massive market that is non-players of games.”
