Professional Gamers = Professional Athletes?
Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel is the first gaming superstar. He talks about what it takes to succeed as a gamer – it’s not that different from succeeding as an athlete – and the “Fatal1ty” brand that he wants to build into the Nike of the videogame space. Ken Rutkowski interviews him for Digital Media Wire’s LA Games Conference 2008.
LA Games Conference Featured Interview
Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel
Interviewed by Ken Rutkowski, Host, Ken Radio
Johnathan is the most accomplished professional PC gamer in history. He has joined forces with the Championship Gaming Series, which is owned by DirectTV, as a spokesperson.
Ken starts talking about travelling through Korea with Johnathan, where he is a gaming superstar mobbed by gaming groupies. He’s a spokesperson now, and is no longer playing games at a competitive level, but for the right game, moment, and TV exposure will jump back in.
Succeeding in gaming is about focus, like any professional athlete. For gamers, a lot of skill sets are required: Discipline, timing, psychology, even math (for understanding the odds).
Johnathan believes that as CGS reaches hundreds of millions of homes worldwide, there will be more and more gaming stars in different countries. They already number in the hundreds, and increasingly are getting sponsorship from brands. They will be the new professional athletes.
The “Fatal1ty” business model is to pick the up coming athletes, pay them salaries, and build the revenue behind them. Andrew’s comment — It sounds a lot like the music labels until a few years ago.
Johnathan has moved from trying to split his time between running his business and gaming to just focusing on the business – it takes a substantial investment of time.
The “Fatal1ty” brand is a lifestyle brand for gamers. The keyboard, the mouse, the headset, etc., evolving from Johnathan as a celebrity to a brand for gamers, like Nike is to most physical sports.
What do you think about the Wii Fit? Very exciting. Johnathan is looking forward to using it. He woke after a Wii session sore, realizing that his work out was throwing punches with Wii. He’s a hardcore sports guy, football, tennis, and was a top 50 tennis player in his space.
Technorati Tags: LA Games Conference 2008, Videogames, Fatal1ty, Johnathan Wendel, Ken Rutkowski, Championship Gaming Series
