Microsoft Hear My Plea - Upping Support for Below-S-Tier Events, Emerging Casters/Creators & More!

I think that if we really want the grass roots of the games to grow and succeed there needs to be more support for the lower end of the TO (tournament official) and caster community. While yes, we could talk about MS or corporate esports partners actually hiring or sponsoring more TO and casters, especially those that have already taken steps to be casters/TO’s voluntarily and/or put their own money into tournaments. I think a good start that isn’t going to cost much or potentially anything is allowing for more promotion of non official/non-ms-sponored tournaments and broadcasters over the official MS channels (forums, website articles, official AoE discord posts). Especially for regional events. I would also like to know if it is a possibility for MS to look at the project Celeste Aoeo server as an investment in the series and genre and a way to reap company goodwill by also allowing for promotion of Aoeo on the official MS channels once again.

It’s not a secret that there have been half a dozen top 50 aoe4 players coming from the AoE title that lives in the most obscurity and has the smallest playerbase, and that the pre-public-release tournaments were dominated by them too.

While I do not wish to insult the “success stories” of aoe commentary such as T90 or Aussiedrongo, I do believe that their prominence actually hurts the social media reach of new generation casters both in their original titles and in aoe4. And I wonder if there could be more done to support creators such as Harrison, Widgie and Lionheart for aoe3 supremacy for instance, or say for the aoe2 and 3 Deathmatch communities, aom TOs and casters in either supremacy or DM (like Meta Plays, Boit and IronMaiden). Rising Empires in aoeIV, or even Project Celeste affiliated creators.

It’s nice to see support for the Deathmatch world cup in aoe2 from the top end, but what about Deathmatch in aoe2 the rest of the year round, or in other titles? Especially in AoM, which used to see events several times a year thanks to Nakamura and Meta Plays. Yet that’s all on hold until AoM retold, or an act of God encourages new growth in the format and community. They have also had to put their aoe4 presence on hold due to a lack of viewership and again I think whether or not MS gets financially involved, these implosions may have been prevented with better social media coverage from MS official channels or from the most established creators in the series.

I would like to know if it would be okay for people affiliated with Aoeo to try reach out to esports teams and tech companies for corporate sponsorship without concern that it’s going to cause a legal shitstorm with MS

I know I’m probably the biggest loudmouth to have any form of competitive or broadcasting profile in the series, but I do believe my concerns are valid and a way to encourage growth across every game and every format in the series.

Thanks,
Sean “Ardeshir” Christensen

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