THUNDER BAY -- Competitive video gaming is booting up in Thunder Bay this summer.
Morituri eSports set up for a day of hardware testing at Thunder Gifts and Games Saturday, ahead of its scheduled Call of Duty Black Ops 3 tournament set for June 25 at that same location.
“Right now it’s a novice tournament,” said Morituri eSport spokesman Ryan Landry.
“We’ll hopefully get a professional team out of Thunder Bay and continually host tournaments in Thunder Bay to get the esports scene going.”
The first local tournament will feature eight teams of four. The price is expected to be $20 per person, or $80 per team, and there will be a prize pool.
In an effort to appeal to both competitive and casual gamers, Landry plans to have some prizes set aside that will be awarded for feats outside of wining matches.
“You don’t have to be the best,” he said. “There may be prizes for things like best kill cam, or a wildcard prize for anyone who isn’t in the top three.”
Ultimately the goal for Morituri eSports is to establish a serious pro team in the city that can compete on the provincial, national and eventually international stage.
“I hope we get eight full teams and find, possibly from that first tournament, finds players or a team … to have a solid foundation for a (professional) four-man team for Call of Duty,” Landry said.
Morituri eSports will start with Call of Duty, but future events could feature other titles like Counter Strike, League of Legends and Dota.
Esport is a massive and growing market. Some of the most popular games being played competitively feature annual prize pools that total into the tens of millions of dollars US.
As for the viewership, a recent ESPN magazine feature found that League of Legends – a single game on the Major League Gaming circuit – brings in nearly as many viewers as the World Series and NBA Finals combined, or five times that of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Esports is in the midst of rapid growth, and it’s widely speculated that the period of growth will not end in 2016.
Interested gamers can sign up at Thunder Games and Gifts on Red River Road in the near future, or visit Morituri eSports online here for more information.