well mark gres is joining me now to discuss some of the highlights of eSports mark is hard to imagine 36 million people I think May said tuning in to watch this tell us what the draw is here well it speaks to the Millennials you know this is a clearly a millennial movement I think what has happened is they have grown over the last 25 years with the proliferation of technology inside the video gaming consoles you can now play against people around the world that creates a bigger audience much like you see in team sports people
want to mimic what they see in television and what have you and I guess what you're seeing right now is this is growing because these guys have seen people play video games they've learned how to play them and it's just become a phenomenon that's unbelievable so it's gone from like million-dollar prizes and 6/5 and six-figure salaries now for playing video games from when you know I think I played and I'm dating myself here pac-man back a long time ago yeah I'm from that pac-man centipede Galaga generation myself so you're right it has changed a great
deal because you can compete and not in situations like this you got people who are gaming that are gaming you know if you're in New York you can game with somebody in San Francisco if you're in San Francisco you can game with somebody in Beijing it has created this international audience and there's a worldwide technological sports explosion and this event has really taken it to the next level and what you know mesmerizes me about it is the interest online when you can outdraw major championship competitions like the World Series that Stanley Cup in the NBA
Finals oh this is something to be reckoned with and I would expect it to even expand more so the riot game operators League of Legends they're on by Tencent obviously this Chinese company China in general has begun to purchase some ease for companies and games what is their role and what's their stake it's just a hot trend and it's a hot trend it's a revenue stream you know the more people see this type of competition the more people are inclined to go by the video games in the United States it's and phenomenon back when Tiger
Woods was hot it was the Tiger Woods phenomenon with the PGA Tour golf thing when you see masses of people it draws even more and as we saw Malee's report it's a younger generation that is easily influenced at earlier ages and so they're practicing and where we used to go out and shoot baskets they're sitting behind these consoles and that's what I want to ask you about I'm gonna throw you I use a sports analogy and throw your curve ball here but you know you hear parents trying to get their children away from these games
because they say that if you know doctors have said that it might cause ADHD in children you know they become lazy they're stuck on these video games as opposed to playing outside where does the rubber meet the road on this that's a very good question I mean it really comes down to the individual discipline of the people who are competing at this level I mean you have a lot of kids around the world we see that are being raised by these video games so on the one hand it does for the elite level I can't
believe I'm saying it's the elite level pro gamer that's one level of athlete if you will that can be looked upon as an expert however you got people that will be influenced who aren't as good that it could lead to the obesity the health issues and the things that you talked about so it's gonna be interesting to see I know in the United States there is a push to get kids out and active and outdoor activities you know keep Jim in school things like that I'm not quite sure if that's going on around the world
and that's something that's gonna have to be dealt with in various places on the planet all right well Mark GREs thank you so interesting to watch and I've witnessed it as well and it's it's a phenomenon something else for sure
