With his name registered in the Guinness World Records, Dennis
‘Thresh’ Fong (USA) is regarded as the first professional gamer in history. He
won every tournament he attended over a five-year period, a feat that earned
him the nickname, ‘the Michael Jordan of the gaming world’. He is best known
for his victory in the Red Annihilation Quake Tournament, sponsored by
Microsoft and held at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at Atlanta,
Georgia, USA. As the winner of the tournament, he was given a red Ferrari
328GTS convertible that had belonged to John Carmack (USA), co-creator of
Quake.
Besides being an ardent gamer, he is efficient as a businessman as
well. He is a co-founder of Xfire, an instant messenger and social
networking site for gamers, which was acquired
by Viacom for US$102 million in April 2006.
“When I started, it was the beginning,” Fong said in an interview.
“It was filling rooms with 100 people. Now we’re filling football stadiums.”
Fong may have retired from professional gaming, but he still plays. Some of the
games he enjoys include Overwatch, League of Legends, and Clash Royale, a
mobile game he proudly states he is ranked number six in the world, so he knows
he’s “still got it.” Fong is now the CEO of Plays.TV, which helps gamers capture
and share epic moments in games. “Video games are created and designed to
experience these moments,” he explained.
Despite the progress esports has made, Fong is keen to stress that
esports is still in its early stages. “The way I see esports is it’s really
early ultimately. Revenue generation per user compared to other sports is tiny.
It’s a good thing though, there’s potential for a lot of growth.”
Esports is currently a fragmented business, with a huge number of
competitions and games all being played at the same time. But he believes, “The
giant opportunity is one day, and it’s possible it won’t happen, is one giant
ownership structure and governing body for esports. That would be a
multi-billion-dollar opportunity”. His dreams are fascinating, only time can
prove it right!
