Delivered at Casual Connect Europe 2016 American football wasn’t a sport when it was invented; it was a game created by one man and played by just two teams. Today, indie games built by small teams have the power to become tomorrow’s most popular eSports. This session will explore the history of eSports, tactics for designing and building competitive games, and what it takes for indie games to become tomorrow’s sports.

1. The Importance of
Indie Games to eSports
Andrew Paradise, CEO & Founder of Skillz

2. Game
Players &
Competition
Distribution
& Fans
Example: American Football
1869
Rutgers
and
Princeton
play first
ever game
1876
1920
1956
Pro Football Hall
of Fame
opened to
honor heroes of
the game
1999
Super Bowl is the 6th
most watched program
in U.S. T.V. history with
127.5 million viewers
2015
Advertisements
generate $3.95
billion during the
NFL regular season
How a Game Becomes a Sport
NFL is founded and
formalizes
competitive
schedules with
8 teams
First rules for
American football
are written
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3. 1970’s 20161990’s 2000’s1980’s
Gaming Almost At 50 Year Mark
Video games
popularized with the
release of Pong
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PCs and early gaming
consoles give rise to at-
home gaming
New gaming genres
FPS, RTS, and MMOs
are born
ESL begins hosting
European National
Championship
Spurred by mobile,
daily gamer population
exceeds 2.1B

4. eSports Experiencing Rapid Growth
Console & PC Mobile
Reach 800M 2.1B
Studios/Devs ~9,000 670,000 in U.S. alone
Streamers 1.5M on Twitch
Viewers 36M at 1 event 35% of Twitch viewership
Prizes ~$65 million in 2015 ~$16 million in 2015
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5. What Make Sports (& eSports) Popular?
1) Competitive gameplay
2) Tournament technology
3) Viewing & spectating technology
4

6. 1) Competitive Gameplay
Easy to Pick Up, Difficult to Master
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7. 6
Gameplay Variability
1) Competitive Gameplay

8. 7
Strategy
1) Competitive Gameplay

9. 2) Tournament Technology
Tournament Lobby Match History
LeaguesLeaderboards
8

10. 9
Player Matching
2) Tournament Technology

11. 10
Fairness
2) Tournament Technology

12. 3) Viewing & Spectating Technology
Live Streaming & Commentary Tools
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13. Instant Replays
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3) Viewing & Spectating Technology

14. Streamer Network
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3) Viewing & Spectating Technology

15. 14
Anti-fraud, Anti-cheating &
Payment System
Geo-located practice and professional leagues for free
or prize-based competitions
Player Matching &
Player Rating
Random Seed
Heartbeating
Tournaments
Broadcasting
Tools
Fair/efficient matching based on player abilities
Full stack enables streamers to auto-snip and broadcast
highlights and instant replays during in-game live
tournaments
Successfully enabling eSports competitions requires a
complete technology stack
Remove random elements/chance in the game
Intermittent gameplay data capture enables auto-
detection of important moments
Streamer Enablement
eSports Tournaments
Payments and Player Fairness Layer
Payment processing for entry fees and prizes &
customer service
eSports Technology Stack

16. Indies Have Always Led the Way
19931984
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1999 2014

17. Indies CAN Drive Mobile eSports
43% of top 100 App Store games are from indies
Source: AppAnnie Top 100 U.S. App Charts, Jan. 2016
43% of the top mobile eSports
should come from indies too
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18. Build the Next Great Mobile eSport
Genres PC Console Mobile
MOBA
FPS
Racing
RTS
Sports
Fighting
Arcade/Other
?
?
?
?
?
?
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19. Questions?
Andrew
Paradise
CEO
&
Founder
of
Skillz
www.skillz.com
www.developers.skillz.com
aparadise@skillz.com
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