Matthieu Dallon between DeLorean and Enterprise

Matthieu Dallon is back on track. He is the founder of Games-Services, the company which ran ESWC until 2009. With his new company Oxent, he took over the reins at ESWC again. This is why he is visionary, this is what he loves to do. Going bankrupt in 2009 has hurt him, but he hasn't given up lightly.

"So even if it is hard, and even if I have a handicap now, I don't want to do anything else". These were the words by Matthieu Dallon in 2009, and he repeats them three years later. It was hard. The brand ESWC has gone through rough times, from the founding in 2002, the record-breaking year 2006, the bankrupcy in 2009, the restart under the wing of Jean-Marie Coutant in 2010 to a 2011 show, even again produced by himself, though the brand was not yet owned by him at that time.

It was just in May 2012 that the founder was back in charge at the France-based Electronic Sports World Cup. The brand has suffered during these hard times for ESWC, this can hardly be denied: Prize money remaining unpaid from 2008, a so-so execution of 2010's event, minor eSport-countries buying the already scarce ESWC final slots. However, for Dallon, everything is back on track again: "I would say that 2011 marked the return of the ESWC. I was called on to produce the event. Nearly 80,000 people attended the matches over 5 days."

The strive to get back the 2006-feeling

So where does ESWC go to, 2012 onwards? This year's grand finals at the Paris Games Week are coming up at the beginning of November and the preparations are at full swing. "The important thing in 2012 is to consolidate our status as a major international tournament." The ESWC owner could just as well have said 'to regain our credit in the community'. It's about forgetting the years of the crisis and their aftermaths, it's about connecting to the old times of ESWC. That's why the French show us new reminder summaries of old ESWC events every week, from the time when Games-Services was still in charge.

It's about creating or regaining emotions. But it's always also about making money, or to be precise: Not to lose too much money. Being stigmatized, Matthieu Dallon expresses his kind of pessimistic view on eSport's business models: "Without wanting to give away too much, I feel that all of the eSport organisations in the world lost a lot of money in the 2000s, and are still losing money in the current decade." To be fair, ESWC was not the only organisation to go bankrupt in that decade, and he adds: "I would say that we have lost far less money than the rest."

Not only using opportunities, creating them

For him, it's about working on both sides to make this miserable situation more attractive: Thinking about the output, the effect of an organisation's efforts, and thinking about the setup of eSports as a business, as a sport, as entertainment. Dallon about the value of eSports: "Video game champions are true athletes, and watching them play is a real show that goes beyond the interest you might have in a game. My point of view hasn't changed."

And with the technical improvements since the last heights of ESWC, like working streaming platforms, his idea about making athlete's efforts visible might become more real than ever before. Even in 2012, ESWC has some problems left. Just this month, they have announced that the missing 2008 prize money obligations will be fullfilled under the 2013 budget: "Even though Oxent doesn't have to do this, I always felt that anyone taking over the project should do the same." Concrete details about this, however, will not be published before the opening ceremony at the Paris Games Week.


The present dependencies of organisations

Back in 2009, when Games-Services went bankrupt, Dallon warned about the dependencies between publishers and eSports start-ups: "The relation between games owners and eSports organizations is the most important question of all for the future." Three years later, with Valve, Riot and Blizzard actively interfering or supporting the eSports market, however you want to see it, this problem is more actual then ever before. And Dallon has to admit now that even he can't be independent. "There's no independence; but it's a necessary phase", he says about the whole scene. "Today we're starting a period where publishers are reconquering a potential engine for growth. So they're investing to the hilt, probably in a way that's inversely proportional to their past indifference."

Concerning ESWC, the question persists if you look at the amount of games from Nadeo, which will be played in Paris: two Trackmania competitions and Shootmania as a first-person shooter representative. "I generally share [Nadeo's] vision and I admire the sincerity of their approach", Matthieu Dallon admits. "Nadeo was the first publisher in the world to develop and distribute a Free-to-play for eSport with Trackmania Nations ESWC." Free-to-play has been majorly popularized with League of Legends and Dota 2 in eSports. "Shootmania Beta has only been around for a few months; I'm confident the final game will bring something new to eSports."


Looking into the future: The rights of the players

When it comes to the future, Dallon becomes visionary again. It's one of the few moments when the ESWC chief risks to become imperfect. But it's still not the "Revolution of eSports" kind of promise, which he describes as his vision, but instead a question which he raises and which he tolerates to be neglected on. "My long-term vision is simple: the players should hold the property rights to their performances, meaning in real terms to their match replays and demos."

This a proposal hardly linear with the present terms of use in any game, and would definitely be a legal mess to realise, but it's an interesting proposal anyway: "It's the product of their intelligence. [...] What makes a game worthwhile are not the pieces of the chessboard, but the strategic dimension, the surprise, the more or less conscious mistakes, the anticipation, the clash of forces. In short, it's the essence of humanity reflected in the game."

The visionary individual

This is where Matthieu Dallon leaves Oxent and gets a founding member of the eSports scene solely: "My personal project is to develop this idea. The day the players truly hold the rights to their performance, they will be able to transfer it to an organisation, like a singer with a record label or promoter; like an athlete with a club, league or association."

ESWC can decide on this, in their second attempt, if they want to build a DeLorean, and play Back To The Future, so to speak, or if they want to build an Enterprise, and go Where No Man Has Gone Before. They can decide if they want to recreate emotions that have been there before, and simply use the new options the scene is giving them, like broadcasting solutions, or if they try to go new risky paths. In any case, it will be difficult to convince the audience that they are doing the right thing, simply because the years have been so rough.



Official Games ESWC 2012:
Starcraft 2
Dota2
Shootmania Storm
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
FIFA 13
Trackmania Nations
Trackmania 2 Canyon
Counter-Srike : Global Offensive