That's how Johanna Faries, a vice president at gaming company Activision Blizzard and commissioner of Call of Duty League, described the environment at the Call of Duty playoffs and other major esports events on Cheddar's Business of Sports special on Thursday. While the coronavirus pandemic has put a damper on this sort of in-person experience, Faries noted that the industry's growth in 2020 has been a bright spot.
"It's been amazing how much new attention and fandom there has been in light of a very challenging year," she said.
The increased attention has also paid dividends on Wall Street. Activision Blizzard's stock was trading at close to 2020 highs, closing at $83.11 per share at market close on December 10, and showed gradual growth since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. For reference, Activision Blizzard's highest close in 2020 was $86.84 on August 6, at a time when pro sports leagues such as Major League Baseball and the NBA were just beginning to return to action.
Faries also commended the esports community's ability to adapt to a stronger presence on online platforms such as YouTube as a way to connect with fans and other gamers. When discussing the shift in strategy, she said, "Esports has always been a kind of ecosystem, an environment where our players know how to be resilient. They know how to pivot very quickly. They're digitally native."
Looking ahead to 2021, Faries sees the combination of esports' growing energy when it comes to attention and fandom, as well as seeing more engagement on platforms such as YouTube, boding well for the future of the industry.
"To be able to be powerful in both spaces and to continue up and to the right engagement with not only existing fans but new fans is exactly where we want to be," she said. "We feel well-positioned."
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
