14 DAY TRIAL // Mike Morhaime, the president and the chief executive officer at Blizzard, says that his company invests as much if not more than rivals Valve and Riot Games in eSports, but does it without focusing specifically on offering huge prizes.
The developer tells Gamespot that, “We spend an awful lot of money in terms of travel, hotels, making it easy for all of these pros and people involved in putting on these tournaments are able to get to the places they need to be.”
“Maybe it’s not as flashy as putting all the money into prize pools, but it’s still significantly expensive, and, from what we’re told, that’s actually more helpful for the ecosystem than just the flashy prizes,” he adds.
The eSports segment has been growing year over year and the team at Blizzard will increase the profile of its own World Championships by linking them with BlizzCon during 2013.