Last weekend, Daybreak Games flew me out to Las Vegas to check out the H1Z1 Pro League Invitational tournament. 15 eSports teams, each with five members, gathered to fight one another in the inaugural battle royale competition. As someone with little (read: no) experience with eSports outside of EVO, I wanted to learn everything I could about this modern phenomena. So while I was only there for a couple days, I learned quite a bit about eSports and its many, many players.
After waking up at a crisp 2:30 AM to get to the airport, I flew out to the City of Lights, ready to see just what made eSports so great. When I arrived, I met my boss and good friend William Saw (Editor in Chief of MonsterVine) at the Rio Hotel that we were staying at. Will and I had a few hours to kill before the pre-event presser, so we wandered around Vegas and took in the sights. We had both been to Vegas previously, so we focused more on finding novelty slot machines. Were you aware that Ellen Degeneres has her own slot machine, for some reason? There’s certainly something strange about Ellen happily telling me to spend money and win big. Only in Vegas, right?
Eventually we ran out of weird machines and time, so we headed off to the presser. After meeting with some of our wonderful PR contacts and other members of games media, our group headed to the Comedy Cellar for a short briefing and Q&A from Jace Hall and Stratton Sclavos. The basics of the Pro League (and of H1Z1 itself) were laid before us, preparing us for the next day’s match. Since the invitational was taking place at Twin Galaxies, Billy Mitchell was inevitably mentioned and put aside, which was relieving since you could tell everyone wanted to ask about it.
Then it was off to the nightclub on the top floor to celebrate the upcoming Pro League. Mingling with other journalists from outlets like Dualshockers and Hardcore Gamer was a highlight of the trip, as it’s always fun to talk games with other experienced enthusiasts. I personally don’t often have the chance to really talk in-depth about games with others in-person, so talking about games and the industry over drinks is always a delight. Shortly after, Will and I grabbed the best udon and onigiri in America. The two of us talked about the event, Las Vegas, and sports manga, which is an A+ dinner in my books. At that point I had been up for 22 hours or so, so I was pretty ready to crash.
The next day was when the event really kicked-off. First on the agenda was a press conference. Professional players and Daybreak devs answered questions from various media outlets, with topics ranging from H1Z1’s scoring system to eSports as a “real” sport. I managed to ask about how aspiring players can break into eSports, which was pretty monumental. Saying “Spencer Legacy with MonsterVine” for the first time was certainly an experience I’m unlikely to forget.
After some announcements and developer interviews, Will and I headed back to our room to kill time before heading off to the H1Z1 Pro League tailgate. We worked away for a couple hours and grabbed the shuttle to Caesar’s Entertainment Center, the venue for that night’s match. The tailgate had food, drinks, and oversized board games. You can tell Daybreak is really invested in making eSports break into the mainstream, which is certainly admirable. The tailgate was a solid couple hours though, which felt a bit too long. Most of us had done everything there was to do within the first hour of the party, which meant a lot of us were just sitting around and waiting for the main event to start.
Finally, it was time for the battle royale to begin. As the media group found their seats (metal bleachers, a thing best left in high school), we were treated to some interesting videos about the lives of the H1Z1 players we would be watching. These are people who came from other cities, states, and even countries, all to play H1Z1 competitively. This profound dedication to eSports helped me understand why people enjoy things like Overwatch League, and even gave me another perspective on why I myself find EVO to be so exciting. While I’ll still probably only watch EVO and speedruns, I can completely see why others would enjoy watching battle royale tournaments and other eSports frequently.
The matches themselves were quite enjoyable to watch, at least from the perspective of a battle royale newbie. I quite liked watching a match go from slow and uneventful to frantic and lethal in the blink of an eye. I’m not good at battle royales, but I can see why people enjoy them so much. There’s a real tension that’s present throughout the entirety of every round, as anyone can die at any time. This is all pretty basic, and it probably sounds rudimentary to most readers, but the permanence of death in each match really adds an anxious excitement to the game.
The steam and flashing lights added to the atmosphere of the event, especially since the steam was lit to look like the toxic gas from H1Z1. The stage was set up so all 75 players were in a huge circle while the commentators sat on a giant skull in the middle. The announcers did a stellar job of keeping things from getting boring during the slower starts that both rounds had, which anyone with podcast experience can tell you is no easy feat.
After the event was done, there was a small afterparty for media and players. Will and I both had early morning flights, so we couldn’t stick around long. It’s a shame, because the contacts we made at the event are some genuinely great people to talk to. Now that I’ve been to a few events, I’ve come to realize that one of the best parts of flying out to these things is the connections you can make. That and the video games, those are always a highlight.
All in all, I came out of the H1Z1 Pro League with a better understanding of eSports and their appeal. I met some great people, ate some great food, and watched some great matches. If that’s not a successful event, I don’t know what is.
