Broadband World News - Fiber Connectivity: the Wheaties of E-Sports

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Fiber Connectivity: the Wheaties of E-Sports Fiber Broadband Association, , 3/27/2019 Email This Print Comment 24 comments Login 50% 50% Video games are no longer 8-bit side scrollers played on a living room television. Today, they are online, played by millions of gamers across the globe -- including my son. Online gaming also launched the phenomenon of competitive organized gaming known as "e-sports," and it's quickly become a billion-dollar industry. Players across the globe compete at Fortnight, Madden, Call of Duty and many other games, via their residential Internet connections. Investors, broadcasters and brands want to get in on the action, something they see as a major opportunity. But one overlooked piece of the e-sports puzzle is the infrastructure required to transmit all this data while simultaneously creating a seamless experience. Because gamers demand uninterrupted connections, they need ultra-fast, symmetrical access with low latency and high quality of service. Right now, only fiber really delivers. Who is watching? Who is playing? Any time, almost anywhere in the world, gamers log on to platforms like World Gaming Network to compete or turn to Twitch and watch players. The fan base for e-sports is rapidly growing: Nearly 400 million people worldwide watch e-sports Newzoo estimates, and over 165 million of those are dedicated esports enthusiasts, the researcher said. High school and college-level teams continue to form; professional teams compete for huge cash prizes. While most esports fans view competitions online, some pack stadiums to watch events in person. "Overwatch," a competitive multiplayer shooter game, filled the Barclay Center in Brooklyn close to max capacity for their league championship. Over 500 major e-sports events were held in 2017 and generated over $59 million in ticket sales. What's next? E-sports opened the floodgates of new investment opportunities as investors, broadcasters and brands look to get in on the ground floor of this emerging new market. Several e-sports leagues have adopted the city-affiliation model of professional sports as they seek to find a home audience: Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. all have professional teams. TV networks, including ESPN, are acquiring TV broadcasting rights to various e-sports events. Even traditional sports brands are getting in on the action -- Nike, for one, recently produced jerseys for the popular e-sport "League of Legends" in China. Fan favorite? Fiber Whether at home or at stadiums, gamers need low latency and high throughput to compete. Most games require Internet speeds of at least 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps. That bare minimum is simply not good enough for e-sports participants. Gamers are likely to abandon games if they experience the smallest amounts of network delay or lag. Danish ISP Stofa made a hilarious ad showing this very thing. They pranked six young gamers by purposefully slowing down their Internet connections during a particularly intense game and filmed their reactions. The results? Take a look. (Hint: Frustration. Tears. Anger.) Simply put, low connections kill the game and kill the sport. Fiber connectivity -- both in the home for gamers, and in stadiums and convention centers for e-sports athletes and spectators -- is necessary to grow the e-sports industry to its full potential. Our research with RVA shows fiber is faster and more reliable than cable, DSL and cellular. If fans want to play or watch their favorite competitors live without lagging or buffering, they need a high-speed fiber broadband connection. Fiber's All-Star future Fiber will provide the muscle behind the e-sports industry. But more broadly, fiber will also support the growing Internet of Things and accompanying devices and applications. Fiber connectivity will provide the backbone for everything from connected cars to our smart home devices to 5G. Fiber: It's the Wheaties for e-sports and our entire connected future. Related posts: A Tale of Two Broadbands: Global Fiber Use Is Mixed Fiber Kicks Super Bowl Communications Out of the Stadium Digital Transformation Cuts Capex, Opex & Adds to Bottom Line – Report — Lisa R. Youngers is President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), the only all-fiber trade association in the Americas. Follow them on Twitter @fiberbroadband. comments		More Blogs from Fiber Broadband Association The future of broadband and fiber as infrastructure Since the 1970s, the idea that the telecommunications network would one day serve as an information superhighway has been part of our culture. Coronavirus and connectivity Lisa R. Youngers, president and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, says the benefits of fiber access infrastructure become even more pronounced during times of crisis. Cutting the red tape for fiber broadband deployment Lisa R. Youngers, president and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, says US fiber rollout can be accelerated further by lowering private and public barriers to deployment. There's no wireless without wires, no 5G without fiber 1 Comment Operators such as Verizon have committed to investing in thousands of miles of fiber to support their 5G infrastructures, a vital component of this next-gen cellular technology that's expected to transform the world. Climate Change Cries Out for Infrastructure That Withstands the Storm The strength of natural disasters like hurricanes is worsening, scientists say, and it's imperative that broadband infrastructures can withstand or be speedily repaired post-catastrophe, writes Fiber Broadband Association President and CEO Lisa Youngers. More from Fiber Broadband Association Webinars ARCHIVED Wednesday, September 14, 2022 1:00 p.m. New York / 6:00 p.m. London More Complexity. Fewer Problems. How Proactive Support Boosts the Broadband Subscriber Experience When your broadband business adds new services and connected devices, do they also add complexity, slowing customer support teams as they navigate multiple data sources to uncover connectivity issues? We’ve worked with hundreds of support teams to help them implement a subscriber experience management platform that gives greater visibility into subscriber issues. They can proactively troubleshoot amid complexity—improving the subscriber experience and raising customer satisfaction ratings like Net Promoter Scores. Join this webinar with experts from Calix and global research leader Omdia who will share exclusive research about how you can: Simplify management of numerous data sources with end-to-end visibility Clear 90 percent of trouble calls in 24 hours and boost NPS +71 using predictive analytics, real-time insights and customer success practices Avoid common bottlenecks when upgrading to proactive support to ease disruptions to subscribers during implementation More Webinars Webinar Archives Information Resources >> Is Network Security Keeping You Awake at Night? >> Does Your Fiber Plant Have What It Takes To Support 10G Services >> Customer Support Blueprint: Your Guide to Key Performance Indicators >> The Marketer and the Broadband Service Provider: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities >> eBook: Three Steps to Plan, Fund, and Design a Solid Broadband Network >> How regional ISPS are bridging the digital divide through innovation >> IPv4 Cost Estimator >> The Customer 360 Playbook >> Heavy Reading Whitepaper: Monetizing 5G with B2B2X >> Drive Down Costs, Drive New Services Forward: Discover the Freedom of Disaggregation in Your Network All resources