The Beginnings
"Why not start a professional gamers' league?" That was the essence of the email that Joe Perez sent to a number of executives of the Total Entertainment Network (TEN) in late 1996. According to Web Week, Perez, originally hired as a temp, saw professional gaming as the logical extension of the subscription gaming service TEN was then running. TEN charged gamers a flat fee to enable people to play games over the Internet; elevating the best players to the level of professional seemed like a logical move to highlight the burgeoning online market. It also was a new strategy for TEN, which was undergoing layoffs and refocusing its business model. Premium gaming services had been under pressure from free competitors for a while, and the idea of organizing a professional league was seen as an added value that competing services couldn't match. Initially, participation in the PGL required membership in TEN, but this requirement was later dropped.
pullquote: Computer games had long been seen as a frivolous pastime. Here was a league that promised to make this pastime pay serious money.
Backed by $2 million from sponsors such as AMD, AT&T, Logitech, and US Robotics, the Professional Gamers' League was established with much fanfare in the fall of 1997. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell came on board as the league's commissioner. Dennis "Thresh" Fong was its star player. The league hosted its launch party at San Francisco's 3Com Park. Perez became TEN's online events manager, and the league attracted a lot of mainstream attention simply because of the concept of "professional gaming." Computer games had long been seen as a frivolous pastime. Here was a league that promised to make this pastime pay serious money.
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At about the same time, with considerably less fanfare but no less determination and purpose, someone else with the same idea was plotting a similar course of action. Angel Munoz, a thirtysomething ex-investment banker raised in Puerto Rico, understood that competitive instincts are no less evident in computer sports than they are in their physical counterparts. Furthermore, Munoz felt that it had become apparent that "the talent of many gamers had exceeded those of a casual gamer," and that these talented players would naturally seek a high level of competition. This was obvious, Munoz says, from "the proliferation of LAN parties and informal 'for fun' competitions" that were springing up. Finally, there was a considerable amount of challenge in the sheer novelty of it. "No one else seriously thought that professional gaming could become a sport. These and a few other issues provided me with the impetus to launch the cyberathlete concept, later to formalize as the Cyberathlete Professional League." Munoz founded NewWorld.com, and the CPL was launched as a division of this new company. Almost three years later, it's still going strong.
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Angel Munoz, co-founder of the CPL's parent company, NewWorld.com |
As for the PGL, in September 1999 TEN changed its name to Pogo.com (a name that "doesn't mean anything, and that's the benefit," company spokesman Garth Chouteau was quoted as saying) and shifted its focus to family games, cards, and the like. Last month it sold the PGL to GX Media, Dennis Fong's Internet venture. As of now, the PGL has suspended operations indefinitely.
