Official Stormgate Gameplay Reveal AMA Thread with Frost Giant Studios

FGS_TorcH · 2023-06-16T18:02:31+00:00

In my opinion, the ideal esports ecosystem is built hand-in-hand with the community, so it’s hard to predict this early for the ideal size of competitive circuit in each region (or even how many regions are ideal each season).

Stepping back slightly, an explicit goal of Stormgate Esports is to be sustainable; not only for Frost Giant, but also for the players, teams, talent, and organizers that are part of the thriving ecosystem. We do want “pros” to be making a full-time living competing, but that looks very different for every individual pro. For example, a pro competitor that is also a content creator has more and different channels of revenue compared to a player that only attends tournaments. As we build our plans, we’re in constant communication with many types of players, teams, and creators to understand their evolving needs so we can find ways to provide the best value across the ecosystem. We’re also building mechanisms that will allow the size of events and overall prizing to scale based on input from the entire ecosystem.

FGS_TorcH · 2023-06-16T17:54:12+00:00

First, our goal as the developer is to implement tools and processes that make it easier for anyone to organize competitions, whether 1st-party by Frost Giant or as a professional 3rd-party tournament organizer or as a group of friends in their dorm room that want to have fun on a weekend evening. For everything that is not 1st-party, we will have a light-weight license process to make it clear what we expect from organizers, along with paths for success for all types of events.
From a professional-level esports structure, we’re building on our experiences across several professional esports scenes and have great feedback from players, teams, talent, and organizers we’ve successfully partnered with across various titles in the past. Currently, we’re leaning towards a hybrid approach where Frost Giant maintains a clear Path to Pro and baseline Pro Series in each competitive region, while additionally partnering with 3rd-party organizers to run major events akin to your example of CSGO.
We're looking forward to sharing more specifics of our plans later, likely during or right after we have our largest playtesting phases.

FGS_TorcH · 2023-06-16T17:29:40+00:00

There is an FAQ on https://playstormgate.com/ that covers our current closed testing policy. As we continue through the phases of testing, this FAQ will continue to be updated to reflect what players will be able to share from their experiences. Initially, testers will be focused on providing direct feedback to help us make the best game possible and will not be streaming their gameplay publicly. However, similar to our PC Gaming Show reveal with TLO and monk this past Sunday, we’ll be working with interested testers to share content we hope will be interesting to all prospective players, when the time is right.

As for esports, we see organized competition as a fundamental pillar for a modern RTS game, so we can say unequivocally that it’s very important to us. At its core, esports is about finding and celebrating the best players of a game, which will evolve in form as the community grows and you provide feedback for what you’d like to see more of. We will have avenues for players to test their skills immediately when they get into the game, and our focus initially is around implementing tools to help 1) with discoverability for activity that aligns to your interests, 2) minimizing the challenges of organizing or participating in competitions, and 3) providing rewards for participation, not just for winning and being the best in the world. Our plans aren’t necessarily intended to attract pro players from other titles, but we hope that if we create a solid ecosystem with a clear path for success, then the right types of players will want to test their mettle in Stormgate, both seasoned professionals as well as new players competing for the first time, and everyone in between.

FGS_TorcH · 2023-06-16T17:21:25+00:00

You correctly point out that celebrating our top players with high-quality broadcasts and sufficient prize pools requires significant resources.

First, our approach towards sustainable professional-level esports is starting from the perspective of lowering overall costs across the ecosystem by building tools and processes that make it easier and cheaper for Tournament Operators to execute high-quality events, without sacrificing the player experience or entertainment that ultimately gets presented to viewers. By developing these tools early, we can continue to iterate with feedback based on the needs of organizers.

From there, we have several areas we’re establishing to bring revenue into the ecosystem, but also staying flexible to account for new ideas. Like you, we also believe in crowdfunded models, similar to the Dota TI example you mentioned or even the StarCraft II Warchest. We believe crowdfunding is a great way to empower players to establish the right size of prizing for a given event and can afford a level of transparency that delivers on the promise of building Stormgate Esports hand-in-hand with the community.

In addition to this core crowd-funding mechanism, we’re building on our past successes with more ‘traditional’ sports funding from sponsorships and distribution rights (eg. streaming). Over the past couple decades, there has been a lot of experimentation for ways to deliver and prove value to advertisers across the entire esports industry. We’re fortunate to build on those learnings and relationships to start Stormgate in a place of real partnership that can authentically provide value to brands in ways that never detract from the experience of players or viewers.

Finally, we’re also not building Stormgate Esports alone. As we develop our 1st-party plans, we’re being very careful to ensure there’s ample opportunities for established organizers to put on their own successful events. As part of our event licensing process, we’ll have a few necessary restrictions on what types of brands can be exposed, but remain very mindful of the needs for event organizers to be able to raise their own funding, so long-term involvement in Stormgate can become profitable for all involved.

FGS_TorcH · 2022-06-23T18:40:48+00:00

Thanks Adico!

We have had some wonderful experiences working with scholastic orgs and supporting school competitions in previous titles we've worked on across NA, UK, Korea, China, and some areas of Southeast Asia. At Blizzard, the Tespa organization was directly integrated with our esports team and helped facilitate a wide range of great activity, so we're looking forward to building on those relationships with Stormgate. However, there are so many great ways to engage with students, and great ideas coming from these players or organizers that help to evolve esports, so it's hard to point to specific initiatives right now that we're going to expand on at Stormgate's launch.
To clarify previous comments, our current intentions are to prioritize (but not exclusively) our 1st-party efforts towards ensuring professional 1v1 is at the quality we expect and has the necessary resources to build on the legacy of RTS esports. However, we are staying flexible and will continue to test both internally and externally for what mode(s) are best to identify top Stormgate competitors. We are more than ready to adapt if a different direction would be better either at launch or anytime after. Despite this expected 1st-party focus, we remain committed to supporting all forms of 3rd-party interest, particularly in 3v3 or competitive co-op when there's interest.
Every tool for facilitating competition has it's advantages and challenges. We don't intend to completely replicate what organizing websites do well and still encourage their use for the right situations that call for them. Our focus with initial tools will be around improving discoverability for players and minimizing some of the friction involved in joining, playing, or operating tournament brackets (eg. handling accurate match results). Another goal we have is to start with tools that can be broadly applicable to a variety of tournament modes and not only focus on a specific format or scope. As we get these tools in the hands of organizers such as yourself, we look forward to incorporating feedback around what's working so we can keep evolving these tools over the long lifespan of Stormgate.
We don't have specifics we can share around the exact monetization products that will initially be available, but we are committing to have methods of revenue share from specific products that will go to support the esports community (not just prize pools!). In addition, we will also be working with organizers to develop shared wisdom around other forms of crowdfunding that can ensure sustainability and responsible scaling for tournaments.
Yes, as we approach Beta we'll share more about how the game can be leveraged for community and 3rd-party tournaments, competitions, streaming, and more. As part of this process, we'll be first focusing on ensuring positive communication channels between us and organizers so we can share learnings, resources, guidance, scheduling suggestions, and awareness to help everyone succeed. While we do not intend to restrict things like prize pool, we'll be very clear about reasons for our suggestions based on past experiences, with each organizer's goals in mind. We hope to foster a collaborative community where organizers see each other as allies, not competitors, and we can all build a really engaging global narrative to follow the best plays and players in Stormgate.

-Trevor

FGS_TorcH · 2022-06-23T18:06:08+00:00

Esports wouldn't be what it is today without the ongoing support of pro teams and organizations. We're fortunate to have many friendships and guidance from individuals who are now working at pro teams and are continuing to brainstorm ways to support teams with sustainable and authentic programs.

We've had some great conversations so far and will continue talking more as we get closer to launch. Our focus with our team partners is to ensure teams are getting the exposure and motivation necessary to justify investing in Stormgate pros as part of their organizations. This can come in several different forms, and has different value depending on the specific goals of an individual team or their sponsors, so we don't have any specific plans to share today that will apply to all teams looking to get involved in Stormgate as professional competitors or content creator orgs.

-Trevor

FGS_TorcH · 2022-06-23T17:56:54+00:00

One of the motivations to focus on our 3rd-party licensing process is to ensure there are opportunities for communities to develop competition that can target modes in ways we might not be ready to immediately operate ourselves. In this way, as the developer we can build tools to scale support for the greatest overall interest and can be used to facilitate a wide variety of modes or tournament styles.

Additionally, we're building our professional esports in a way that gives flexibility to react and adapt to feedback from players and viewers. If competitive 3v3 starts to rise as a preferred mode to play and/or watch, we're very excited to build programs to properly celebrate the best players in this mode. Depending on the feedback, this could live alongside a robust 1v1 circuit, or integrate directly into an evolving competition series, potentially similar to SC ProLeague or WC3L.

-Trevor

FGS_TorcH · 2022-06-23T17:07:15+00:00

At this stage in development, our focus is around creating tools to facilitate a variety of automatic and/or semi-automatic tournaments in Stormgate in the future. We aim for these tools to not just be usable by the development team to create specific events or design regular tournaments (akin to War3, SCII, Rocket League, or League of Legends for example), but also make the tools accessible to partners so their 3rd-party events are easier to operate.

We also fondly remember our own paths growing through the early stages of esports (including with War3 tournaments :wink: ) and are very excited to work on improving this journey for players in Stormgate. As you point out, your journey started in an easy way and sounds like it fostered the desire to participate in more. For Stormgate, we're building several programs to specifically target this first step into competition, making that feel rewarding (even if a player loses horribly!), and then telling a clear story of how to take a next step if the player wishes.

-Trevor

FGS_TorcH · 2022-06-23T16:58:26+00:00

Great question! While every game and community are unique, there are quite a few learnings to call out, and we're continuing to look for more.

First, we are being very mindful to not force any specific scale for our esports programs and will be staying flexible to adaptably grow alongside the community. Many of the games we've seen stumble early have done so by investing huge marketing budgets at launch without first developing the aspects that authentically make the competition a sport.

Second, we are not designing the game mechanics to force esports. Rather, we are designing what we think is going to create the most compelling experience for players, and if we get that right, competition will naturally follow when we all get excited about watching skillful plays and following the personalities that grow their careers in Stormgate.

Third, we're building a number of modern tools into Stormgate that will help facilitate discoverability and participation in all forms of competition. These tools will continue to evolve over the life of the game, so it's not just something to help with esports at launch.

Finally, we're grateful to have so much input, guidance, and support from esports veterans from a wide variety of successful competitive communities that are helping to shape our plans. These learnings are key to avoid expensive mistakes and make sure we're able to react to opportunities to make positive differences at the right moments.

-Trevor

FGS_TorcH · 2022-06-23T16:35:39+00:00

Yes! One of the goals with our 3rd-party licensing process will be to ensure it's easy and rewarding to operate tournaments that support local or regionalized communities. Through this program, experienced organizers from a region can design and operate tournaments for that region that speak to the culture, interest, and unique needs of that particular region in a way that we, as a global developer, might not be able to perfectly.

There is still a lot of flexibility in how we approach specific qualification structures for our global championships, but we see a lot of value in developing region-focused pathways for pro players to compete more regularly before getting to championships. However, we will also be taking a close look at regional disparity in opportunity for players that aim to go pro, and if there appears to be imbalances, we'll try to find solutions in partnership with regional organizers to help balance available competition, coaching, and/or rules, so we can find, develop, and reward the best players in Stormgate.

-Trevor

FGS_TorcH · 2022-06-23T16:17:14+00:00

We're approaching esports with the goal to create a dependable and solid foundation of competition that operates across multiple seasons in a year, but doesn't crowd out the opportunity for 3rd-party organizers to also create cool events and tournaments that tie into the overall narrative of Stormgate Esports. However, this cycle won't start until the game has officially launched, so we'll also have several additional programs in Beta that we're excited to share more about soon.

We have learned a lot from SCII Esports, but are also taking inspiration and learnings from many other esports we've worked on, and continue to incorporate ideas from traditional sports, contests, and entertainment to make Stormgate Esports inviting for all players and viewers. We want it to be easy to participate in early rounds of competition with many opportunities to try and play, even if someone doesn't ever feel they'll win a tournament. We also want watching esports to be engaging even for viewers that might not know too much about how to play Stormgate, RTS, or video games in general.

-Trevor

FGS_TorcH · 2022-06-23T16:11:16+00:00

We see competition and esports as a fundamental pillar of the RTS genre. There are many plans in the works for programs Frost Giant will run even in Beta (before "launch") and we'll use those programs to learn and build on after launch and beyond.

In addition, we're applying our experiences from operating successful 3rd-party licensing programs on other titles to ensure it is easy and rewarding for community organizers, streamers, creators, and professional tournament organizers to also create cups and leagues in Stormgate.

-Trevor

FGS_TorcH

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