Esports Invitational

1. Overview

On June 24th, Sparkball held its first ever Invitational, featuring 10 of the top esport organizations in the world: G2, C9, TL, NIP, SSG, EG, NRG, Method, Heretics, and Fnatic, and casted by the legendary Rivingtonthe3rd.

Our goal was simple: demonstrate the competitive potential Sparkball has. Each organization was initially resistant or asking for very large sums to participate given we’re the brand risk. However, after convincing these orgs to at least play the game, we had 100% close rate (that is, every team that played agreed to participate). In addition to tournament participation, each organization has already contractually agreed to participate in future tournaments and form an ‘esports council’ to help establish Sparkball as a competitive esport in the future.

Full VOD of the event can be found at: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1854729319

2. Participant Feedback

Raw Data -Sparkball Invitational - Feedback Form Responses.xlsx

3. Key Takeaways

• Mass Appeal: Participants from the esport orgs were across the board in terms of their main game. We had pros from CSGO, Valorant, Rocket League, Smite, LoL, etc. but every single person enjoyed the game with our lowest rating being a 4. Sparkball has a little something for everyone.

• Fun even when you lose: The lowest scoring reviews we have are from either from scrim fill-ins who only played a couple games or from, funny enough, the two teams that both lost BADLY and went 0-4. The game is snowbally right now and skill gaps for the tournament were huge, but with proper matchmaking/better catchup mechanics, these should improve drastically. It's a great sign that you can get smashed that hard and still find the game fun.

• No content, no problem: Players were organizing games themselves the week after the tournament just because they wanted to play more and didn't want to wait until EA weekend. We had multiple folks sink 30+ hours into practicing for the tournament and still wanted more. Given we only have 8 heroes and limited content right now, it’s a great indicator for the depth of the core game loop (i.e. would you play League of Legends if it only had 8 champions?)

• Simple Learning Curve: The tutorial was not active yet, so every player was dropped straight in to learn on the fly in a 4v4 match. To score a 4.08 on Sparkball being easy to learn despite zero tutorial is a great sign.

• IP Attachments: Players absolutely love our world. Majority of first game comments went something like “wtf did I just get hit by a van” or “this lava guy is so cute I’m never playing anyone else”. When we revealed our cinematic trailer, we saw incredibly hype live reactions as they saw the characters they’ve been playing come to life. Our IP is recognizable, memorable, and already a huge hit with players.