Microsoft is interested in having developers use its Xbox Live platform to facilitate the creation of eSports and pro-gamer scenes. At GDC today, the company said it is building this feature into is online gaming platform for developers.
Xbox product manager Jason Ronald, detailed how it is that Microsoft plans to Xbox development more friendly to developers. Basically, with this new feature, developers should be able to create a tournament inside their game and hook it into Xbox Live. This is a big move by Microsoft, and we see it working out greatly in the future.
The eSports market is expected to generate $463 million this year, according to PC Gamer, and Microsoft wants in on that pie. The company's new Halo game was designed with eSports in mind that is not going to change any time soon. Microsoft is hoping to boost the appeal of eSports on consoles seeing as most tournaments are usually PC-based.
Should developers take advantage of what Microsoft has to offer, players will be able to see future competitive events directly from their Xbox One. Furthermore, it may even be possible for Xbox One owners to enter a tournament from the dashboard as well.
"Esports is not a new trend. It's not a new fad. It's very clearly here to stay," said Ronald to Venture Beat. "If you're a developer that's already used to running your own tournaments, you can run your own tournaments. Everything from small, community-driven events up to large-scale pro events."
When it comes down to when the first games with this feature will hit store shelves, we're hearing this will happen sometime in 2016. Furthermore, the report did not state the name of the titles, but we're almost certain a First Person Shooter and a MOBA title is on the list.
Microsoft is embracing eSports in a big way, a gamers and developers alike will no doubt benefit. Competitive gaming is here to stay seeing as each year the prize money gets bigger. People are traveling from all over the world to compete in tournaments, so if that is not sign enough of the future, then we must be living under a massive rock.