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Podcast: Game Changer - How the Esports Scene Got Big

2020-10-30T10:41:54.646Z


Formerly the killer game debate, now stadium events: Gamers have come a long way. Ralf Reichert from the tournament organizer ESL and his brother Tim, responsible for esports at Schalke 04, report on this.


Anyone who is a talented computer gamer can live well off his skills these days.

Esports professionals earn millions in prize money at major tournaments.

The salaries of the stars of the scene are now in the seven-digit range.

In the mid-1990s, when the gamer scene first networked for competitions, such numbers were unimaginable.

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Ralf Reichert

Photo: Stephanie Lieske / ESL

The Reichert brothers were there very early: Ralf, Tim and Benjamin.

With their friends from the neighborhood in Oberhausen they founded the legendary Schröt Kommando, still active today under the name SK Gaming and one of the most renowned esports organizations worldwide.

Despite their success, the Reicherts could not live on their talent at mouse and keyboard alone.

Tim and Benjamin were drawn to professional football, Ralf Reichert switched from the role of team manager to the tournament organization side.

With the ESL, he first brought players worldwide together online, and later developed live events with an audience from the competitions.

Today the ESL is the world's largest organizer of esports competitions.

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Sports-loving family: Father Rudolf Reichert (center) with sons Ralf, Benjamin and Tim (from left)

Photo: private

Tim also returned to the gaming scene after his professional career and made Schalke 04 a global esports pioneer among football clubs.

In addition to football-related titles such as Fifa, he has also established the club in the highest European League of Legends division.

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Tim Reichert

Photo: FC Schalke 04

In the new SPIEGEL podcast "Game Changer", we meet Ralf and Tim Reichert where they discovered their love for video games and founded their first Quake team: in their parents' house in Oberhausen.

We travel back to her childhood with sports and computer games, learn more about the development of the gaming scene and talk about reasons why video games have made it onto the stages of large sports arenas despite numerous opposition and despite the killer game debate.

Curious?

Scroll to the podcast player at the beginning of the article and listen to the second episode of our new SPIEGEL miniseries "Game Changer".

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Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2020-10-30

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