Isle video game aficionados should be in play, firm says

A trio of entrepreneurs is working to get Hawaii and its gamers into the worldwide limelight of online game play, with an eye toward the players in South Korea who earn six figures a year.

For the uninitiated, champion "StarCraft" players are national celebrities in South Korea.

No kidding.

Quincy Solano, Jordan Takemoto and Jon Kim have long observed Hawaii’s gaming scene as compared with the national and international gaming scenes, and decided it was time to nurture local growth, help some players "go pro" and maybe make some coin along the way, Solano said.

The guys created eSportsHawaii LLC and its website esportshi.com as a way to bring together online players of "StarCraft," "League of Legends," "Call of Duty" and other games for fun and potential profit.

The company challenges talented individuals and teams to take their gaming to the next level, given that competitive gaming is fun to play and watch, said co-founder Takemoto.

Video games can be addicting, and the widely held perception of gamers is that they remain holed up in their parents’ basements, "but we want to change the stigma," said co-founder Solano.

The trio plans various hosted competitions in which players will get to test their skills against the skills of others around the state. They staged a soft launch at last year’s Hawaii Social Media summit.

"Just like there’s the OIAs" in sports, Solano said, "that’s the kind of level we want to bring," hence the company’s name, eSportsHawaii LLC.

Hawaii sends all kinds of athletes to the national stage, Solano noted, so "why not gamers?"

One challenge the trio faces is helping to improve players’ rankings.

"The highest that we’ve found in Hawaii is around 1,900," whereas the rankings of competitive pro teams are in the range of 2,200 to 2,400.

The first game that has drawn the partners’ focus is "League of Legends" ("LoL"), a so-called MMORPG, or massively multiplayer online role-playing game, for which 16 teams have signed up to participate. Admission to the tournament is free, but the date has yet to be set in stone, said Solano.

Winners will receive so-called "Riot Points," redeemable for "skins" to dress up their players, and the like, Solano said.

California-based Riot Games Inc. created "LoL," hence the name of the points to be earned.

The team will next turn its attention to "StarCraft," following the March release of the "Heart of the Swarm" expansion pack.

There will be a "bounce" of excitement among players, and the team looks to "use that as a launchpad for a ‘StarCraft’ tournament," Solano said.

"StarCraft," "Warcraft" and "World of Warcraft" were created by California-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc., and a simple online search will result in tons of tournament coverage and images via the gaming press. Oh yes, there are trade publications for all things video gaming.

The eSports partners are looking at sponsorships by, or partnerships with, gaming-related companies in Hawaii, and hope to team up with computer labs for their tournaments.

They may make some money through "sponsorship packages" or at a minimum will structure such deals to "where we don’t incur costs"; they may sell merchandise via the website or perhaps strike revenue-sharing deals with players who get on well-known gaming site Twitch.tv.

Twitch.tv is a video game broadcasting and chat site that allows gamers to watch other gamers’ live streams and replays of recorded game play.

"The good thing is we have a lot of ideas. It will be good for Hawaii and will help a lot of young adults focus their energies," Solano said.

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On the Net:

» esportshi.com

» us.blizzard.com/en-us

» www.riotgames.com

» www.twitch.tv