FIFA or Madden NFL Have Bigger eSports Potential than Shooters, Says Virgin Media

Wim Stocks, an executive at Virgin Gaming, believes that sports simulations like Madden NFL and FIFA have a bigger potential appeal for eSports watchers than titles in the first person shooter or the strategy genre.

The executive is quoted by VG247 as saying that, “people who watch sports understand what’s happening in these video games. They might not if they’re playing a game of Call of Duty or StarCraft II. Laymen are not going to understand nearly as well in that kind of a competition compared to a game that is sports related.”

Stocks also sees monetary awards as very important because a big potential prize will create more interest among eSports teams and will draw a bigger audience to any event.

Virgin Gaming is working with Sony and EA Sports to organize a challenge with an overall prize pool of 1 million dollars (748,000 Euro) one of the biggest offered for professional video game teams.