505 Games: “You can’t build an eSport”

Laser League’s publishers on the competitive aspects of the game.

The competitive element in Laser League is immediately obvious, with timing, team work and clever strategy all being crucial to sucess in a match.  Therefore the upcoming indie game has been tipped as a potentially hot new e-sport.  However, publisher 505 Games aren’t getting ahead of themselves just yet – because game designers don’t get to decide what gets considered an eSport, according to 505’s Rodrigo de la Pedraja.

Speaking in an interview with The Indie Game Website at a recent press event, the brand manager said:

“We did notice the competitive element straight away, and we have spoken ESL and the community, and to us it’s clear that you cannot build an e-sport. We are concentrating on making the best game that the community will enjoy, and if they stream, if it becomes popular it could become an e-sport, but for now we just want to build the best game that we can.”

Community feedback seems to be at the heart of the decisions made by developer Roll7 and publisher 505 Games.  This looks likely to continue into the future as well, with the upcoming Laser League open beta on Steam.  The guys behind the game are keen to learn from the community what they love about Laser League and what the players want to see more of, such as new classes and arenas, as discussed in the interview.  This sounds very promising, as there’s already a huge amount of content in Laser League’s beta.  Read the full interview here with 505 Games here.