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Magic Leap's John C. Gaeta interview on blending esports and Mixed Reality

What's the future for Mixed Reality and the esports world?

Ozzie Mejia

November 20, 2018 5:45 PM

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The esports realm has mainly consisted of traditional 2D games across different genres. However, as time has gone on, newer technologies have been looking to get into this competitive side of gaming, as well. Virtual Reality has spent the past few years seeking to get into the esports world. During this year's View Conference, Magic Leap's John C. Gaeta spoke about the potential of Mixed Reality getting into esports, while also noting that the transition won't be an easy one.

"Esports as it exists today and the games that are already ruling, we can't break this sort of method of play that is succeeding," said Gaeta. "It will take some time to figure out how to translate certain types of esports play to the real world. And they need to be customized around the real world and abide by the context of the space that things are playing out in. Like if someone devises a game that takes place in Central Park, New York and it becomes the most amazing thing we've ever seen, that's one matter. But it's not going to be so simple to translate League of Legends as it is, at the speed that it's played and the way that you play it, easily to mixed reality."

Having said that, Gaeta does see a potential future for mixed reality and esports.

"Absolutely, having a God's eye ability to see things and to be volumetrically in places, where remarkable play is occurring, that could be astounding," Gaeta added. "VR will be great for that, but I think Mixed Reality is going to be much more accessible in groups to do that, because esports is a community type audience. You want to be with people to do that."

Gaeta further breaks down the potential for social moments, game analysis, and for enhancing the personal viewing experience. For more videos like this, be sure to subscribe to Shacknews and GamerHub.TV on YouTube.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?