We allocate a lot of our finger strength to writing about college varsity esports here at the Annenberg Esports Desk. It’s the main thing we do. But what’s a college varsity program without an influx of high school talent?
So far it’s been a bunch of kids who had some extra time on weekends. But competitive esports are starting to trickle down to high schools across America with a little help from PlayVS (pronounced Play Versus), who as of yesterday, officially partnered with Riot Games to expand the League of Legends scholastic scene.
A lot has already been said about the gaming platform for high school students that raised over $96 million in 15 months. PlayVS’s product is pretty straightforward: it provides the infrastructure for esport tournament scheduling and management, tracking player stats and optimizing the technical structure of running a league.
“I think compared to a lot of other countries, the U.S. is really unique in how scholastic esports in high school and college are supported and invested in and culturally recognized,” said Matt Birris, the scholastic director of Riot Games. “And our vision is to help League of Legends achieve that same level of support and recognition.”
Esports have gained traction primarily through grassroots leagues and communities, but as a platform, are “Definitely in a transition right now where there’s kind of a coexistence of some of the grassroots activity as these national programs are scaling up and gaining momentum,” said Birris.
This presents a conundrum for companies like Riot, who worry about the phenomenon of “Things that have started off as community experiences that are now slowly evolving into commercial entities.” High schools and grassroots organizations have been running leagues for years without any real publisher support, running a “3rd party IP without partnership or approval,” according to Delane Parnell, the CEO of PlayVS. In these situations, publishers lose out on opportunities for profit that could be obtained through the licensing of their game for commercial use.
Just about anyone can pick up a football and start a high school team without the fear of an Orwellian “Ministry of Football” hitting them with some fines for playing the game without a license, but it’s not necessarily the same in esports.
“It’s no different than why record labels don’t want anyone putting the songs of one of their artists anywhere online… if people were able to go out and create experiences and charge for them without any say from the publisher, that affects the long term health of their company,” said Parnell.
But Riot’s motivations right now are mainly to expand and simplify the ability for high schools and colleges to play League of Legends.
“I think first and foremost, we are focused on making sure that the students and players who are participating are having a great competitive experience and a great team experience, whether or not there is a viewership model on a sponsorship model that can grow out of that, I think it’s certainly possible in the future, but it’s not really our focus in the short term,” said Birris.
And they’re doing that with PlayVS, the company that aims to provide an easier way for esports to integrate with the well established landscape of state run high school leagues.
PlayVS works with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) (who knew there was an association for all the associations?) to create and manage varsity esports teams within a pre-established state high school organization. Only Rocket League and League of Legends are supported in the state affiliated varsity program.
Delane Parnell doesn’t have much personal experience with esports. He came to the industry with business in mind, seeing a vacuum in the scheduling and managing aspect of the tournament industry where a platform like PlayVS would thrive.
“What I landed on first was, you know, we should build out what high school esports looks like,” he said. “Most traditional sports originated in the high school, or in the college, environment decades before it ever went pro.”
Where esports are right now is a little different. The scene sees loads of young players without any coaching or structure being plucked from internet’s edge to play for massive orgs in front of stadium audiences.
Parnell doesn’t see the lawlessness of the current esports landscape as a suitable place to foster a kid’s passion, and his pitch to parents to let their kids play esports in school appeals to an acute fear of online debauchery.
“The alternative to not allowing your kid to play esports at school is allowing your kids to play online with strangers without any parental or adult supervision, and I don't think that that's a healthy alternative,” he said.
PlayVS caters and advertises as a platform to aid high school students and faculty, boasting an infrastructure that’s cheaper than traditional sports, and a management system that lets coaches “focus on what matters -- students,” according to their website.
PlayVS makes sure to open doors for publishers as well, shown most recently in this partnership with Riot Games. Parnell discussed what PlayVS could do with them, saying, “It [PlayVS] added value to the publishers who hadn't really figured out their amateur strategy. I want it to make sure that whatever we did in esports, we did so in partnership with the publishers given how vital they are to help build an ecosystem.”
Not all games would be good for high school esports, and publishers like Riot “Don’t start from the place of every Riot game should also be a varsity sport in high school and college,” according to Birris.
While League of Legends and Rocket League are supported by NFHS, other games are not, though PlayVS supports a club program where students can compete in tournaments not sanctioned by the state run program.
“Any state where we're not partnered with the state association, or even in the event that we are partnering with a state association, but there's a game that they don't offer, individual schools or players and still can participate outside of the school or state environment,” said Parnell.
Parnell sees a bigger future, one beyond just high school infrastructure.
“I think the vision is clear,” he said over a phone call last Friday. “We’re going to build a 100 million plus user subscription platform where people who want to play esports can do so.”