Chapter 378: Spreading the News
Flashback: "Alright, let's move into our post-match interview segment. Today's guest is K, who just secured NRG's opening victory. Let's hand it over to the interview desk."
The audience was surprised—there was a post-match interview? This segment hadn't been seen in other esports competitions before, but the thought of seeing their idol players made the crowd cheer immediately.
The scene shifted, and a tall, pretty girl was already preparing to interview this match's MVP, Black.
"Alright, welcome to the post-match interview segment. I'm the host, Nana. For this interview, we've invited NRG's jungler, Black. Say hello to everyone."
Host Nana handed the microphone to Black.
Black looked a bit shy as he spoke into the mic: "Hello everyone, I'm NRG's jungler, Black, Jiang Hao."
The live audience erupted in cheers again, shouts of "Black God" and "B God" ringing out endlessly.
Nana: "First question: Was the Level 1 invade to steal the blue buff followed by the top lane gank a pre-planned tactic, or was it improvised?"
Black thought for a moment: "Well, actually, the invade to steal the blue was a planned tactic, but we didn't expect the enemy Irelia to push the lane so far forward. So we just ganked him on the side, and unexpectedly got the kill."
"So it was just a 'side' gank, huh..." Nana said, a bit speechless. "Alright, second question: Give us your assessment of this match's opponents and your own performance."
Black paused: "Uh... the other team played well too, and they're very strong. It's just that maybe our teamwork was better."
Nana: "Alright, third question: There are many fans here supporting you today. Is there anything you'd like to say to them?"
Black looked at the camera: "Well, I'm very grateful for all the fans' support. Also, my parents came to the venue this time, and I really wanted to perform well in front of them."
Nana nodded: "That's right. Our organizers invited the families of all the professional players to the venue. Has the camera director found Black's parents' spot?"
The big screen shifted to the audience section. Jiang Hao's parents were sitting there, with his mother's eyes glistening with tears as she kept giving the big screen a thumbs-up.
Nana: "Alright, thank you very much to Black for accepting our interview. Everyone can take a short break now and look forward to the next match!"
...
This time, Chen Mo specifically instructed the organizers to invite the parents of all domestic players to the competition venue. For parents traveling from out of town, flights and accommodations were covered.
This wasn't just to motivate the players to compete harder, but also to establish an impression for the nationwide audience and all professional players' parents: esports is not an internet addiction.
Although the mindset in this world was more open than in his previous life, the esports industry had lagged behind. Many traditional families didn't accept the concept of "electronic sports."
Among the active professional players, many had fierce arguments with their families before turning pro, and some had even kicked down the door and run away from home to compete.
Chen Mo wanted to build a complete esports ecosystem. The first step was to overturn people's misconceptions about esports, and the best way to do that was through the World Championship.
Massive financial investment, a huge prize pool, a grand venue, a dazzling opening ceremony, teams from all over the world...
All of this could help parents with traditional views recognize that esports is an emerging industry with a very promising future.
The process of these parents shifting from disapproval to acceptance would also influence more people, including viewers watching the live stream. It served as a benchmark, helping more and more people understand that esports is also a competitive sport.
...
The competition schedule this time was basically set according to the S World Finals from Chen Mo's previous life. Sixteen teams would compete over a month to determine the overall champion.
October 5th to 8th was the first round of the group stage, 12th to 15th was the second round, 19th to 22nd was the quarterfinals, 28th and 29th were the semifinals, and November 5th was the finals.
The matches were mostly scheduled on weekend afternoons to make it convenient for viewers to watch, and also for audiences in other countries and regions to catch the live stream.
The atmosphere at the venue was already electric after NRG secured their first victory, and the popularity on major streaming sites was climbing steadily.
The official stream for the "League of Legends" S1 World Finals on the Moyu streaming platform had already reached over 2.3 million viewers. The barrage comments were flooding the screen, all saying "Congrats NRG" and "NRG is awesome."
After NRG's first win, the official "League of Legends" forums, various discussion boards, Tieba, and Weibo were all buzzing about the finals. This clean and decisive victory had players thrilled, and it drew more and more people to watch the live broadcast.
The players' reactions could only be described as "spreading the news."
"Have you watched the 'League of Legends' finals? NRG already won a game!"
"No, who were they against?"
"Forgot the name, some European team!"
"European team? Teams from other countries are here too?"
"They're all here! Teams from Europe, America, and Korea, plus four domestic teams!"
"Where, where? I want to watch them crush the foreign teams!"
Clearly, these international matches always sparked the strongest sense of pride. Teams that performed well in foreign matches easily won fans and resonated most with players.
NRG's clean first game attracted more and more domestic players to follow the competition. Even players who usually didn't watch matches or follow domestic teams started learning about these teams and star players.
...
In the audience, Chen Mo was scrolling through his phone.
The event organizers were compiling real-time statistics on the number of viewers watching the finals across all channels. So far, that number had reached 6.5 million!
Most of these viewers were from the domestic audience, with a small portion from overseas. The overseas numbers were limited, as this competition wasn't as significant for foreign players, and there were time zone issues.
The main channels for viewers to watch the matches were the major streaming platforms, with many also watching on the client or official website.
This number had already thrilled the organizers, Yanhuang Technology. This was a solid 6.5 million people, enough to crush any major streamer on any platform and surpass any previous esports competition!
If the opening match of the group stage had already garnered so much attention, what kind of heat would the finals bring?