Sixty days to build a World Cup: How they did it | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00Welcome to the Esports World Cup, one of
2. 0:02the biggest events in professional
3. 0:04gaming. For the first time, it's here in
4. 0:06Paris. And we've had a chance to go
5. 0:09backstage, the places you don't normally
6. 0:11get to have a look at.
7. 0:18>> [music]
8. 0:22>> It's all quite calm at the moment, but
9. 0:25this is where the players are going to
10. 0:27be set up not long from now for the
11. 0:28competition. We've been given special
12. 0:30permission to get on the stage before
13. 0:32everything kicks off. And you can have a
14. 0:34look at these giant screens behind us.
15. 0:36This is where all the competition is
16. 0:38going to be broadcast so everyone here
17. 0:39in the room can watch it. And for the
18. 0:41players here, well, they've got all
19. 0:43their high-tech equipment right in front
20. 0:45of them. They've got their controllers,
21. 0:46screens. Uh they've got cameras here so
22. 0:48we can get the live reaction as they're
23. 0:50playing for those back at home and here
24. 0:52in the hall. And what they're going to
25. 0:54see from here
26. 0:56fans, fans, commentators, loads and
27. 0:59loads of cameras.
28. 1:00Quite an intense experience for them.
29. 1:02And so, while it's all quite quiet now,
30. 1:04not too long from now, this is going to
31. 1:06be a very stressful chair to sit in.
32. 1:08>> So, I'm Mike McCabe. I'm the COO of the
33. 1:11Esports Foundation.
34. 1:12>> How are you feeling? How's the
35. 1:13excitement?
36. 1:14>> It's amazing. I we still can't quite
37. 1:17believe that we're here.
38. 1:19Um everything's working. We've got our
39. 1:21first full day of competition today,
40. 1:23which is going to be incredible, and
41. 1:25we're
42. 1:26you know, really excited to welcome
43. 1:28Paris and the Esports world to uh to
44. 1:30this amazing event.
45. 1:32>> And of course, this is the first time
46. 1:33it's been in Paris. How's it going to
47. 1:35maybe feel a bit different because of
48. 1:37that?
49. 1:37>> I think because of the Paris Esports
50. 1:39ecosystem, I think it's probably one of
51. 1:41the most established in the world, and
52. 1:43having the big French clubs here, having
53. 1:46real French culture be part of
54. 1:49everything from our opening ceremony to
55. 1:51the operations to the dancers that we
56. 1:53have at the beginning of every event, we
57. 1:55really wanted to lean in and make it
58. 1:57authentic, not just to France, but to
59. 1:59Paris specifically.
60. 2:00>> When you're here, you realize that these
61. 2:02stages are huge. It's a really big space
62. 2:04that we're in. Just give us a sense of
63. 2:06how big this event is.
64. 2:08>> So, this venue, so this is our main
65. 2:11e-sports venue. This is over 45,000
66. 2:13square meters of space. We have seven
67. 2:16stages across this space and a whole
68. 2:18host of fan fest activations as well. Um
69. 2:22it's a massive undertaking. We have
70. 2:24enough cable powering all of these
71. 2:26incredible technical systems uh to get
72. 2:29basically from London to Birmingham and
73. 2:31back again. Um over 2 and 1/2 thousand
74. 2:34square meters of LED. This is our our
75. 2:37smallest main stage um that we have as
76. 2:39well and you can see it's a it's a
77. 2:41pretty impressive stage.
78. 2:42>> And this is the small one?
79. 2:43>> This is the small one.
80. 2:44>> The athletes obviously expect stuff that
81. 2:46is
82. 2:47uh the correct equipment. Um just give
83. 2:49us an idea of how complicated that is.
84. 2:51>> Yeah, I mean, we we try to do everything
85. 2:52that we can for the players to make
86. 2:54their competitive experience the highest
87. 2:57level. This is the highest level
88. 2:58tournament in the world. So, everything
89. 3:00from giving them ergonomic desks so they
90. 3:02can basically choose the height of the
91. 3:04desk that they want for their play. They
92. 3:06bring their own peripherals so that they
93. 3:08can play at the at the highest level. We
94. 3:11have the highest levels of integrity
95. 3:12with the PCs and making sure that
96. 3:14they're absolutely clean and everything
97. 3:17is is incredible from a competitive
98. 3:19standpoint. But from a broadcast
99. 3:21standpoint, we use the latest camera
100. 3:23technology. So, for the first time ever
101. 3:26in e-sports, we're using cinematic uh
102. 3:28camera technology uh to be able to show
103. 3:31the emotion, the way that you see in a
104. 3:32movie. We want to be able to people to
105. 3:34really feel that from the players as
106. 3:36well, which is another world first that
107. 3:38we've got here.
108. 3:39>> This would be complicated enough to put
109. 3:40together uh on a standard year, but up
110. 3:44till about 7 weeks ago, this wasn't even
111. 3:46the original plan. What's the process
112. 3:48been like moving this huge event to
113. 3:51Paris?
114. 3:52>> A lot of work, as you can imagine. We've
115. 3:54had a really busy 8 weeks. So, we've
116. 3:56gone just over 8 weeks now from the
117. 3:58decision to finding a venue, designing
118. 4:01it, and and really building this
119. 4:03incredible canvas for us to play on over
120. 4:06the next 7 weeks. And it's it's it's the
121. 4:09ultimate team effort, and not just
122. 4:11within our organization and our amazing
123. 4:12partners who help us build all of this
124. 4:15technology out, but it's also the
125. 4:17ecosystem. So, the clubs and the players
126. 4:20have leaned in as well. They've
127. 4:21understood that this is going to be last
128. 4:22minute. We've had to arrange visa access
129. 4:25for everybody into into France. Being
130. 4:28absolutely on point with that process,
131. 4:31having support from the French
132. 4:32government to be able to welcome us, and
133. 4:34maximize
134. 4:36how EWC shows up in the city as well has
135. 4:39been amazing. So, it really comes
136. 4:42everybody pulling together to to really
137. 4:44make it happen.
138. 4:45>> Did you run into any particular
139. 4:46challenges? Like, what was the most
140. 4:48difficult thing you had to overcome?
141. 4:50>> Time. Definitely time. 8 weeks was a
142. 4:53really short period.
143. 4:55Technology, and obviously there's
144. 4:58another major tournament going on at the
145. 4:59moment as well. There's a lot of camera
146. 5:01equipment over there, and if you imagine
147. 5:03all the other camera equipment in the
148. 5:05world is here. So, that is the other
149. 5:08piece that we're we're always working on
150. 5:09is making sure that we can get the best
151. 5:11technology.
152. 5:13Being able to get the
153. 5:15the biggest
154. 5:16the biggest grandstand that was possible
155. 5:18for us to build these bleachers at this
156. 5:20time and have it for 8 9 weeks as well
157. 5:23is is another thing. So, really the
158. 5:25logistics is is a hard one, but we've
159. 5:28we've been able to get it all together,
160. 5:30and everything is everything's ready to
161. 5:32go.
162. 5:33>> Loads of people watch these sports World
163. 5:34Cup online live streams, but you do
164. 5:37still need people here to watch it in
165. 5:39person to get that sort of atmosphere.
166. 5:41Have you been able to sell the tickets
167. 5:42in such a short amount of time?
168. 5:44>> Yes, it's It's amazing. And I think what
169. 5:46it's given is an opportunity for fans
170. 5:49who maybe weren't able to travel to
171. 5:50Saudi Arabia. It's a long flight. But to
172. 5:53be able to see those players, see the
173. 5:54competition here and just a train ride
174. 5:57away has been amazing. So, the ticket
175. 5:58sales have been really strong. We saw
176. 6:00huge demand from obviously from the
177. 6:03French clubs in really bringing their
178. 6:05fans here and they're some of the most
179. 6:07vocal and passionate esports fans in the
180. 6:09world. But we've seen from the UK a huge
181. 6:11number of people are coming over over
182. 6:13the course of the the next 7 weeks.
183. 6:15We've got clubs like Fnatic
184. 6:17and players like Boaster who they want
185. 6:19to come and see. So, it gives them an
186. 6:21opportunity to get on a a short train
187. 6:23ride or a plane ride to come over and
188. 6:25see those players.
189. 6:26>> But you feel confident it's going to
190. 6:28look busy in the hall.
191. 6:29>> Yes, absolutely. I mean, if you're here
192. 6:31and you see Valorant over the course of
193. 6:33the weekend, you'll see you'll see this
194. 6:35stage one full and we've got over 7,000
195. 6:38seats in stage one, which is the biggest
196. 6:40venue we've ever
197. 6:42operated. And then we're in the process
198. 6:45of exploring how we can get even more
199. 6:47space because there's a lot of games
200. 6:49that have have sold out already.
201. 6:50>> And I know you said before the plan is
202. 6:52for the Esports World Cup to be back in
203. 6:55Riyadh next year. Is that still the
204. 6:56plan?
205. 6:56>> Yes, absolutely. Riyadh's our home. And
206. 6:59so, what we're excited about though is
207. 7:01how we can take some of the learnings
208. 7:03from this experience and actually bring
209. 7:05it to to Riyadh next year. This is the
210. 7:07first time we've ever been able to
211. 7:09operate all of the stages under one
212. 7:11roof. Generally, we're we're distributed
213. 7:13across multiple different venues. So,
214. 7:15this is going to be an incredible
215. 7:18learning experience for us, but it's
216. 7:19amazing to have people moving from a fan
217. 7:22fest experience to an influencer to a
218. 7:24club to a stage to be able to watch a
219. 7:27competition.
220. 7:28>> But do you think it makes it more likely
221. 7:30or less likely that you will do this
222. 7:32again and go somewhere else that's not
223. 7:34Saudi Arabia?
224. 7:35>> I think
225. 7:36our excitement has always been to take
226. 7:38the IPs on the road. So, EWC will
227. 7:41definitely rotate in in a variety of
228. 7:44forms in the future, but probably before
229. 7:46that will be the Esports Nations Cup,
230. 7:48where already we're working with host
231. 7:51cities who are bidding to take the 28
232. 7:54iteration of the Esports Nations Cup on
233. 7:56the road. So, having these these
234. 7:59tournaments be able to go to different
235. 8:00parts of the world is is a critical part
236. 8:03of the growth. And our one of our core
237. 8:06pillars is about supporting the growth
238. 8:08of the ecosystem, the Esports ecosystem.
239. 8:10And the best way to do that is to
240. 8:11distribute it around the world.
241. 8:13>> Lots of things are different this year.
242. 8:15One thing that's not different this
243. 8:17year, uh and that has had criticism in
244. 8:19the past, is not having as many events
245. 8:22specifically for women at the Esports
246. 8:23World Cup. I'm wondering if that's
247. 8:25something that might change in the
248. 8:26future or kind of what your response has
249. 8:28been when people have maybe said that
250. 8:29they would like some more women in this.
251. 8:31>> Yeah, we would love more events. And
252. 8:34it's something that we've worked hard
253. 8:35on. Um we have obviously MLBB is the
254. 8:38tournament that we have this year. And
255. 8:41we're working with the publishers in
256. 8:42partnership. And what we need is we need
257. 8:44an ecosystem to be able to have an event
258. 8:46at the end of that ecosystem. And so,
259. 8:49what we our our push and our request to
260. 8:51the publishers is help us build that
261. 8:53ecosystem. Help us build those pathways
262. 8:56because we want to create um these
263. 8:58incredible stage opportunities and build
264. 9:00those life-changing prize money moments
265. 9:03for more young women players who are
266. 9:05competing in the biggest games in the
267. 9:07world.
268. 9:07>> Uh this is more of kind of an emotional
269. 9:08one, but when you see people in here
270. 9:11when it finally all kicks off, how does
271. 9:13that how does that feel as someone who's
272. 9:15put so much into organizing it?
273. 9:16>> It's honestly, it's just pride. It's
274. 9:19we're so proud of the work that
275. 9:21everybody's done to get to this point.
276. 9:23And it's the team here. There's 500
277. 9:26people behind that big black curtain
278. 9:28over there who are working on broadcast
279. 9:29behind the scenes. We have hundreds of
280. 9:31people in other locations. We have a
281. 9:33full broadcast operation center in
282. 9:36Riyadh as well. Um so, we're just proud.
283. 9:39We're proud to bring it
284. 9:41bring the event here to Paris. And when
285. 9:42we speak to the fans here and spending
286. 9:45time with the club GMs from some of the
287. 9:47big big French teams over the last
288. 9:49couple of weeks, they're really excited
289. 9:51to have it in their city. So, we we love
290. 9:54it. If we're having a hard day, all we
291. 9:55need to do is walk downstairs and walk
292. 9:57around for a few minutes and you you see
293. 9:59the smiles and you see how much joy
294. 10:01we're able to bring to people and it
295. 10:03makes it all worth it.
296. 10:04>> We forget about those last eight weeks.
297. 10:07>> And even even bigger picture. So,
298. 10:10a lot of people find the prize pool very
299. 10:13eye-catching, $75 million
300. 10:15combined.
301. 10:16But how big is kind of the esports
302. 10:19ecosystem at the moment? Like how big is
303. 10:21it becoming? Not just the esports World
304. 10:23Cup, but generally across the world.
305. 10:25>> It's it's growing and it's growing in
306. 10:27There was a huge boom a few years ago
307. 10:29and then there was a bit of a
308. 10:30correction. Now we're in a period of
309. 10:32much more sustainable growth. So, for
310. 10:35our tournament, for the road to EWC, we
311. 10:37had over a million and a half players
312. 10:39compete it to get to this point, to be
313. 10:42one of those 2,000 plus players. There
314. 10:45was over 330 tournaments that they
315. 10:47competed in across the world. So, it's
316. 10:50it's a very healthy ecosystem and it's
317. 10:52something that we're playing our part
318. 10:54on, the publishers are doing theirs and
319. 10:56the clubs are are doing that. So, we're
320. 10:58all pulling together to to build the
321. 11:00model in a sustainable way. I'm going to
322. 11:02show you the the player lounge and
323. 11:04you're going to see we want to treat the
324. 11:06players the best possible way we can to
325. 11:09give them the best experience and help
326. 11:11them compete at the highest level. So,
327. 11:13we feel really positive about this. And
328. 11:16the combination of the esports World
329. 11:18Cup, which is club-based, and then the
330. 11:20esports Nations Cup, where we'll have
331. 11:23nation-based representation, that really
332. 11:26for us then unlocks a a new group, a new
333. 11:29fan that we see at the moment with the
334. 11:32FIFA World Cup. We see national fandom
335. 11:34is is on a different level and we know
336. 11:36that that's just just there for esports
337. 11:39and we feel now is the moment that we
338. 11:41can we can really capitalize on that.
339. 11:43>> There's also more open space now that
340. 11:45some tournaments now aren't happening.
341. 11:47There's not going to be the
342. 11:49Olympic esports games as we were
343. 11:50expecting. So that also potentially
344. 11:52presents more of an opportunity to fill
345. 11:53that space.
346. 11:54>> It does, but we always felt that these
347. 11:56events were going to be complementary.
348. 11:58Our our dream and our vision was always
349. 12:00that there was one nation-based
350. 12:02competition every year. That would be
351. 12:04the ideal scenario because it would help
352. 12:07organizations like British esports have
353. 12:09a major banner event to compete in every
354. 12:11year and it would help them from their
355. 12:13sustainability. But for us, it's really
356. 12:16important. Those organizations have
357. 12:17existed for many years, but for us this
358. 12:20gives them a platform and a target and
359. 12:22it gives them the visibility to the
360. 12:24British public that they wouldn't have
361. 12:25necessarily had previously. So we're
362. 12:27really excited about that. We're working
363. 12:29very closely with partners across the
364. 12:32world representing countries and
365. 12:34territories from all over the the globe
366. 12:37and yeah, we're excited to welcome them
367. 12:39in November.
368. 12:41>> And last quick-fire question.
369. 12:43I'm sure it's very hard to pick a
370. 12:44favorite, but what event are you most
371. 12:46excited to watch?
372. 12:48>> That's a tough one.
373. 12:49Um
374. 12:50I I have a few, so I'm I'm going to I'm
375. 12:53going to cheat. Um excited to see League
376. 12:56of Legends. Counter-Strike final is
377. 12:58going to be our last last game, last
378. 13:01match, last final and we hope that the
379. 13:03club championship competition goes down
380. 13:06to that point. Um but I also love chess.
381. 13:09So I I'm excited to to watch chess as
382. 13:12well. So
383. 13:14and Fortnite, my old game and EA FC, my
384. 13:16old game as well. So yeah, I've I've got
385. 13:19many many favorites.
386. 13:20>> Well, you're just going to have so much
387. 13:21to watch.