Ripstone, developer of games such as Pure Chess is making the big leap into eSports this weekend with its game, Pure Pool. The company is working with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and ESL to promote the Pure Pool Contender Cup, which takes place tomorrow, December 3. Competitors across Europe will test their skills to see who is the best pool player.
Ripstone’s head of PR and marketing, Michelle Turner, recently spoke to [a]listdaily about the event and how a Pure Pool (which has sold 300,000 units to date across PS4, Xbox One and PC) could make a name for itself in the eSports scene.
Turner explained that eSports was something that Ripstone has been considering for quite a while for several of its games, particularly Pure Pool and Pure Hold’em. Furthermore, the communities for those games were already setting up their own tournaments.
“Our account manager at Sony contacted us and brought Pure Pool to the table (excuse the pun) , so it seemed like a no-brainer,” said Turner “We’re using Pure Pool as the test-bed with the hopes of expanding this to more countries and more of our games in the future.”
Speaking about why the pool game made for an ideal eSports pick, Turner explained that “the popularity of Pure Pool shows that there is a real passion for pool and snooker games. We’ve already seen our players, especially on PlayStation 4, getting into the spirit of the game and starting their own tournaments, so for us, it was the obvious next step to set up official tournaments.”
With players already setting up their own tournaments, Ripstone did not have to force a tournament mode into the game, and eSports seemed like a natural progression. “In the ‘real world’ pool and snooker championships are televised and are hugely popular proving that the desire is there from people,” Turner continued, “so why not bring this to the gaming world?”
However, it’s tough to overlook how the eSports scene is currently dominated by MOBA games like League of Legends and first-person shooters such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. So where does a game like Pure Pool fit into that space? “Pool is a game that everybody knows, so it makes it a little more accessible to people that may find MOBAs or first-person shooters a little daunting, or if people want a relaxing alternative to those kinds of games ,” said Turner. “If you want something a bit more chilled or a different kind of intensity as to whether someone is going to make that shot or not , Pure Pool is a great choice for that. The audience isn’t going to be as big as those other genres but there’s still a great following of people who love the game and want to get involved.
When asked how Ripstone was working with SCEE and ESL on putting the tournament together, Turner said that “we have a great relationship with SCEE, having published our games on several of their platforms—PS4, PS3 and Vita. Pure Pool does really well on PlayStation 4 , as does the rest of the Pure series, which includes Pure Chess and Pure Hold’em. It was actually our SCEE account manager that came to us initially, and he introduced us to ESL. They’ve been great in handling all the setup and logistics of the tournament and guiding us through the process as it’s our first foray into eSports.”
According to Turner, Ripstone is interested in expanding the Pure Pool eSports tournament to North America. “We have a huge audience of Pure Pool fans in North America already so it would be great to expand the tournaments to include those players too so they can be part of the action,” she said. “Once we’ve done the initial launch in Europe we’ll see how we can expand it further from there.”
Turner also detailed how the company was generating awareness for the Pure Pool Contender Cup. “We’re trying to promote it as much as we can in the lead-up,” said Turner. “There are Live Tiles on the PlayStation Store, so all current owners of the game will see this in their dashboard. We recently did a price promotion for the game alongside our initial announcement about this partnership. It’s included in the PS4 Events App and on the ESL website so people can sign up there. We’re continuously sharing through our various social media channels and doing newsletter mail-outs to our fans, as well as practicing our own pool skills on our Twitch channel to help generate excitement.”
Learn everything you need to know to invest in today’s fastest-growing media channel—Competitive Gaming and eSports on 2.16.17 in Los Angeles. Go to alistsummit.com for more info.
