Much more than the dispute between the teams of Loud and paiN Gaming, the event brought together music, entertainment, cosplay performances, among many other elements of pop culture. In addition to having an opening along the lines of Cirque du Soleil with presentations by BNegão, Rincon Sapiência and Katú Mirim.
This year in an unprecedented way, Riot held, for the first time in the world, the Half Time Show at halftime with presentations by Cat Dealers and Haikass along the lines of what the Super Bowl has been doing for years with Pepsi. In the case of CBLoL, the partnership was with Heineken.
“After three years without face-to-face events, the community meeting was a great expectation for players, and therefore, we created more activations, content and entertainment for all those who chose the game and eSports as their identity and passion. Together with our partners (sponsors and teams) we also invest in stands, stores, experiences that take the CBLoL Final to a new level of event, which manages to entertain more and more people. in addition to strengthening the industry's ecosystem as a sustainable business,” emphasizes Carlos Antunes, head of eSports at Riot Games.
Brazil is the largest game market in Latin America with an estimated revenue of R$ 11 billion (US$ 23.1b) in 2021 and a growth of 6% expected for 2022, according to the consultancy Newzoo, in addition to the consumption of games, the country is also a highlight in hiring of specialized professionals for the industry.
The 9th edition of the Game Brasil Survey (PGB), the main survey in the sector, revealed a growth of 2.5 percentage points this year, compared to 2021, with 74.5% of the sample of the Brazilian population claiming to play. In other words, Brazilians consider themselves more and more gamers.
Ten years of Brazil
CBLoL took place this year in front of Riot's tenth anniversary celebrations in Brazil. Since arriving in the country in August 2012, the company created in 2006 in Los Angeles, California, has already held several championships across the country. Of them all, the most emblematic took place in 2015. That year, the company brought together more than 12,000 people at Allianz Parque, in São Paulo, and drew attention, especially from big brands, to the potential of Brazilians to consume games and eSports.
The potential of eSports
An important vertical in the games industry, eSports generates more than US$2 billion a year, according to Newzoo. In this segment, the professional competitive scene brings together several tournaments based on titles such as Free Fire, Fortnite, Valorant, Counter Strike and League of Legends itself.
According to PGB, there was a 32.8% increase in Brazilian gamers who declared they knew about eSports. In addition, the survey also shows that 76.5% of gamers point to electronic games as the main form of entertainment. In 2020, even before the pandemic, that number was almost 20 percentage points lower.
“The consolidation of this type of game, however, does not mean that the novelties in the segment are over, Brazilian gamers are increasingly open to new experiences, technologies and innovations,” explains Carlos Silva, partner at GoGamers.
Loud: an entertainment powerhouse
In this year's edition, the big winner of CBLoL was one of Loud's teams. The eSports organization, which is already considered one of the largest in Latin America, broke recent records in its history, including being the first eSports organization to reach 1 billion views on its YouTube channel.
Bruno Oliveira Bittencourt (PlayHard), one of the founders of Loud, was Forbes Under 30 in 2020. According to him, “only in Brazil, where we operate, are we already seeing eSports penetrate mainstream culture. We are seeing university programs, professional leagues and even Olympic recognition in the upcoming games,” he highlights.
Source: Forbes
