14 DAY TRIAL // ESPN was apparently delighted with how the coverage of The International, the Dota 2 international championship, went, in spite of many people expressing confusion and anger regarding the sportscaster' decision to cover video game content.
The success of ESPN's International coverage has apparently led to the broadcaster looking to expand its coverage of eSports in the future.
The popularity of the Dota 2 International on Twitch would imply that eSports doesnt' really need mainstream outlets' "approval" in order to be huge, but ESPN covering such digital sports might certainly help expand its reach to viewers who would otherwise not even know the magnitude of such events.
While ESPN did not disclose any viewing figures, the company stated that its expectations were exceeded, and revealed that the top viewing platform was the Xbox, which does sound a bit strange, considering that Valve's multiplayer online battle arena game, Dota 2, is a PC exclusive title.
This isn't ESPN's first dalliance with the world of eSports, as the company had previously collaborated with MLG, for a Call of Duty event at the Austin X Games, which, paradoxically, was not broadcast on ESPN's platforms.
Now, thanks to the success of the Dota 2 International, this might be subject to change in the near future.
"They are in advanced talks to bring that product to both ESPN web properties as well as their TV stations, and they are in the preliminary stages of looking at other games," said a source close to the broadcaster, as reported by The Daily Dot.
Even if ESPN does start regularly covering eSports events, this is unlikely to translate into mainstream coverage dwarfing established streaming outlets such as Twitch any time soon, as eSports are usually driven by their communities, and the feeling of togetherness you share when watching a Twitch stream and participating in the comments section is unlikely to be replaced by TV broadcasts any time soon.
ESPN could attempt to replicate the sense of community that these web platforms replicate on its own online platforms though, which might turn out to be more successful than simply broadcasting coverage the old-fashioned way.
ESPN's decision to broadcast Valve's The International was seen by many people in the industry as a sign that video game competitions were finally starting to receive mainstream recognition, as not only was the tournament broadcast through ESPN's online service, but a documentary was also broadcast on its cable channel ESPN 2.
