Heroes of the Storm competitive scene is largely made up of amateur tournaments. For most of these organizations, a prize pool is only a dream. But now Chair League is making that dream a reality.
Using a model similar to Valve’s Dota 2, Chair League will be attaching products to large games. This Friday, during the Team R2 vs Boyz II Chen game, Chair League’s official shirt will be connected to the match. During the game, every dollar made from t-shirt sales will go straight into a prize pool for the teams, winner takes all.
The sale starts at 5pm EST / 2pm PST, October 14.
Since launching in December 2015, the recreational league known as Chair League has seen a steady increase in the number of teams, and players, focusing on the once-a-week amateur matchups. Originally speaking with Gamespresso during the league’s second season, back over the summer, Paul ‘Superjova’, creator of Chair League expressed how people mistake recreational for casual. “Sadly, people take recreational and slap on ‘casual’, which is a very big stab to my heart. I never said this is a casual environment, I always said it was competitive. But it is recreational at the same time.”
A lot has changed since then, including the addition of the ‘Cheering’ feature. While watching matches in real time, viewers have the opportunity to click a star for a particular player, sending a notification to other users. The star is the added to a tally for that player. The feature is intended to let others know that you thought a specific play was worth noting. Chair League is looking to bring its viewers together, as Twitch chats are notorious for either being too slow, or too fast. “What I think has always been missing in video games, or what everyone’s calling it, eSports, is the fact that you don’t feel there is a crowd there with you. Even when that number says 18,000 people watching with you. That number is only as good as those who are actually talking in the chat. But then, the chat moves too fast so that number is useless.”
You can get more details on Chair League on their website.