Posted Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:37 AM
The problem with going pro right now is that there are so many gamers wanting to do it and so few companies willing to drop cash to those players. Much like the reasoning for my PR firm, I think there needs to be some organization with a bunch of gamers, like what Major League Gaming is doing, where companies can deal with one entity but reach 100's of sponsored gamers.
From what I have learned over the years, it is not a case of gaming companies not wanting to shell out money, it is a case of them not wanting to deal with 100+ contacts on a one on one basis unless you are posting unique views/reades/interactions with more than several million people a month (anything smaller is simply not worth their time to mess with).
Pro gaming, while in its infancy, can still grow quite a lot if there is some grouping of the players. Just like any professional sport, players don't just show up and say, hey, let's play. They have organization, managers, and behind the scenes people handling PR, marketing and getting sponsors.
Treat something like this as just playing games and that is all it will ever be.