Paris (AFP)
The French esport team Vitality is about to open its headquarters, a large space dedicated to esport in the heart of Paris, in order to "develop" a stronger link with its fans and "fill" thus "a real lack ", explains the co-founder of the team Nicolas Maurer.
Q: What motivated you to open this new space?
A: "We are like football clubs, we have fan clubs, it's something that is growing, but historically esport has mostly been linked to communities on social networks. has been very important in the development of the esport, today Instagram and Twitch.There are all these ways to interact but there are quite a few moments when we meet our fans, where they can feel a club membership (This place) comes to fill a real lack which is the link of the fans to the club, We miss to have a link much more developed So we want a place where the fans feel at home and feel the belonging to the club This is one of the bricks to build the Vitality brand. "
Q: What are your other ways to build rapport with your fans?
A: "What is specific to esport is that there is not only the competitive side, there is also the entertainment side.The so-called streamers, the influencers, who will stream that is to say, to broadcast games of video game but not necessarily on a competitive axis, rather on a fun axis to entertain communities.We Gotaga for example, which is by far the largest streamer in Europe. It can stream in front of 100,000 people when there are important events, they have a lot of power, they help us build this report to our fans, it's something that is growing more and more. France knows Gotaga. "
Q: Is there anything in common with a traditional sports team?
A: "We look a lot like a sports club in our organization, whether in business or performance, the major difference is that our players play on PC, console, maybe tomorrow on mobile, instead of running on a field, but basically, we do the same job, we're there to win trophies, to represent our brand and our club. "
© 2019 AFP