Sponsors in Video Games

[Steve Hayes]

Video games have become more prevalent in todayâEUR(TM)s culture. Many people see video games as a work of art, a new way of expression, as a form of entertainment, and a new avenue in the business world. One thing that video games have really been known for is its competition side. During the days of old, people would gather in the local arcades to challenge one another to get that high score, or defeat that one awesome unbeatable dude in Street Fighter. Now with online gaming, people are challenging each other online all over the world with people that makes that awesome unbeatable dude at the arcade seem like a chump. It even comes to a point that it has become a full time job for these people to keep their ranking online, and even traveling around the world to win tournaments. These tournaments are becoming bigger and believe it or not, even becoming sporting events. But how do these people get the money to keep doing what they do? Just like any individual player in big sporting arenas, they get sponsors.

Sponsors tend to focus on clash of clans tips, such as the people who participate in Major League Gaming or League of Legends tournaments. Some also sponsor fighting game tournaments such as Fighting Game Evolution or SoCal Regionals. Monster and Rockstar energy drink always seem to be the key sponsors in these events, which makes sense since hardcore gamers have a tendency to stay up for a long time, and they need all that surgery caffeine mixed with B vitamins to keep them up. Then there are also sponsors from within the game industry, such as MadCatz that makes occasional appearance in fighting game tournaments, and actual publishers such as EA sponsoring the top players in their published games. MLG, Fighting Game Evolution, and League of Legends always have a list of sponsors on their websites.

Of course the big games will get all the sponsors, but some mobile games do get sponsors. The ones that have leaderboards, or some sort of competition online, get the sponsors. People, who play games like Clash of Clans, do get some sort of sponsorship, and if you donâEUR(TM)t believe me, check out SupercellâEUR(TM)s forum. One particular member, PlayClashOfClans, goes into detail about how he gets sponsors to pay for his work online. He has ton of videos on YouTube that goes in depth about playing the game. These videos are probably the main reasons he gets sponsorship, a public display of knowledge and a following that the sponsors can advertise, and thus gain more money from his audience. The forums also goes into depth that other people who try the same thing in Clash of Clans donâEUR(TM)t even get sponsors, and barely make pennies on playing the game.

Getting these sponsors can be really hard to get. Reading the Supercell forums for Clash of Clans, and one from Gamespot, one has to be a great seller. They have to sell themselves to a company, and just explain to them why they should invest so much money on the player just to play video games. ItâEUR(TM)s a hard feat. Try to tell someone why you should get paid to do something everyone else does for fun. Some players do get paid some money, but the sponsors will mainly pay for the flight ticket, hotel, and some percentage on t-shirt sales. So not only do these players have to be salesmen to these companies, but they also have to be salesmen on the tournament floor. It seems the best way to sell anything about being a player is just showing off their skills. Like an athlete, their skills on the court, ring, or field show how valuable they are. The best person with the best skills will get the best sponsors, as long as they keep winning, keep having people watch them, and those people will most likely buy those products from the sponsored company, even if itâEUR(TM)s a small game like Clash of Clans.