Farming Simulator Going Full E-Sports With Proper League & Sponsors
The developers of Farming Simulator have decided to turn their game into a proper e-sport. They’ve just announced the Farming Simulator League, with around a dozen tournaments, high profile sponsors and everything else an e-sport has to have nowadays. Gone are the days of first person shooters, RTSs and MOBAs hogging the competitive limelight. It’s time to start counting down to the day when bale stacking becomes an Olympic discipline.
Giants Software tested the waters last year with Farming Simulator Championship, which basically consisted of nothing but competitive bale stacking. It was obviously well received, as they’ve decided to push forward. The transition from championship to league brings with it a change in template as well. There’s no word on what exactly it will look like, but it’ll be a 3v3 affair which combines “real field work like harvesting with fun and challenging game elements”.
The league will play out over 10 tournaments at various locations across Europe. The sponsors include Logitech and Intel, and the prize pool is 250 thousand euro (and 280 thousand US dollars). The winning team will go home with 100 thousand “in prizes” – it’s unclear whether there’s any cash involved, or if it’s just pricey rigs, peripherals and gaming chairs. Here’s what Christian Ammann, CEO and manager of the e-sports division had to say about the whole thing:
We have a unique opportunity. Competitive farming is something people enjoy for years now, but it hasn’t been done in eSports so far. We have lots of eSports enthusiasts in our company who can’t wait to show the world that farming can indeed be fun and competitive at the same time. We believe we found the right mix of real farming and fun to play game elements to ensure everyone will find it entertaining.
