14 DAY TRIAL // Hi-Rez Studios, the developer behind the pretty popular Smite multiplayer online battle arena experience, believes that eSports and other competitive experiences will start thriving on consoles just like they do on the PC currently, as lots of factors are finally coming into place to support this growth.
The rise of eSports has been mostly tied to the PC platform, as lots of popular competitive games have been available mostly on computers, from StarCraft to Counter-Strike, Dota 2, League of Legends, and more. However, consoles have still been present in terms of specific games, such as FIFA or fighting titles.
Even so, nowadays most large eSport competitions focus on PCs, opting to cover popular titles like Dota 2, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and other such things.
Between them, Hi-Rez Studios wants to get its own creation, Smite, a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena that's pretty different from the likes of Dota 2 or LoL thanks to its third-person perspective and skill-based abilities.
Hi-Rez admits consoles need to catch up
While talking on GamesIndustry about eSports, consoles, and PC, Hi-Rez Chief Operating Officer Todd Harris has confirmed that the old consoles and the transition to the PS4 and Xbox One have really put a damper on the development of eSports on these platforms, besides the PC.
"The explosive growth of eSports as a legitimate industry and entertainment medium came at perhaps the worst possible moment for video game consoles. Pinned down by an awkward (but very necessary) transition to a new generation of hardware, the communities surrounding these systems could only watch as their comparatively steady PC brethren took the ball and ran," he explains.
Things are looking good, however
Even so, Harris explains that, thanks to a variety of factors, things are looking up. From the ability to self-publish a game and communicate better with players to the larger amount of freedom possible on the PS4 and Xbox One, eSports are certainly going to grow on consoles, according to him.
"In 2015, eSports on consoles will thrive because of the ease of self-publishing, embrace of free-to-play, and platform support for servers, streaming and spectating. We know how the game works now - it's time to start putting some points on the board," he adds.
Smite is already set to appear for the Xbox One in 2015 and you can expect some form of beta or trial to launch sooner rather than later in the year. The game will also host its first major tournament in early January, so you can bet that more news will appear at that time.
