#5 Addicted to a video game

FIFA 23 – released on Monday – is back for a new season… and so is Hello Esports. To kick things off, Maxime decided to take a look at EA Sports’ iconic football simulation. He talks to Orange eLeague 2021 Champion Ivanilson Lopéz and to one of the competition’s organisers, Gilles Faber, to dribble his way into Luxembourg’s most represented Esport. In a nostalgic episode, they make him rediscover his childhood game through competitive eyes.

Are Esports a sport? It's the burning question that has divided the world for years. Some countries like South Korea, the birthplace of competitive gaming, have already recognised it as an official sport. But others are still grappling with the idea. Maxime decided to dig deeper and find out what it really takes for an innovation to be recognised as a full-fledged sport. He sat down with Luxembourg's Minister of Sport, Georges Engel, who gave his opinion on the matter and shared insights into the process and criteria that are used to determine if an activity qualifies as such. He also spoke with Vincent Pereira, Head of Virtual Sports at the International Olympic Committee, as they freshly announced the first-ever Olympic Esports Series on March 1, 2023.

In a male-dominated arena, the female Esports scene is often overshadowed. But in this episode, we’re flipping the script and shining a spotlight on the fierce women who are making waves in the competitive gaming world. Join Maxime as he follows the journey of trailblazer Lena Rocca, the first and only woman to compete in a mixed CS:Go World Championship so far, and meets up with ESVÖ president and diversity representative Yvonne Scheer to talk about the current and future of female Esports. Beware guys… they’re coming!

In this episode, Maxime takes you on an adventure. On November 28th, Fit4Gaming – a multivenue project that aims to promote integration through video games – was launched in Differdange. Our host decided to go and have a look at it. In between FIFA games and interactions with the youngsters on site, he took the opportunity to talk to organisers Kevin Hoffmann – co-founder of forward – and Lisa Krecké – Integration Project Coordinator at the Ministry of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region – who explained how they plan to use the too-often-misjudged gaming universe for a good cause.

This time, Maxime dives into the world of streaming with GreenSnowDog, a swedish-luxemburgish streamer with over 800 followers on Twitch who holds several records in speedrunning – the art of finishing a game as fast as possible. Through the speedrunner’s stories and his expert Rene Treur’s, he discovers how streaming helps Esports grow as well as a discipline that is yet to have found a way among the biggest titles in competitive gaming.

In this new episode, Maxime tackles one of the Benelux Esports scene’s main challenges: the lack of sponsors willing to invest in a world that completely depends on sponsorships. Joined by Filip Langerock, founder of LowLandLions – the region’s longest standing club until September 2022 –, they discussed a genuine problem that will define the future of Esports. Luckily, some brands now start shedding light on competitive gaming. Let them be trendsetters!

This time, Maxime looks at the Business Model of big, successful Esports organizations in an episode featuring Berlin-based team Sprout, which is ranked world’s 32nd in CS:Go. From engaging with the fans to wearing special jerseys in support of Ukraine, there is much to think about. Daniel Paulus, their head of management, tells him about the identity and values of his club – growth, team spirit, sustainability – and reveals what strategy he and his partners went for to see their team grow into a big name of the gaming scene.

In this episode, Maxime sheds light on another, darker side of video games: addiction. He is joined by Stéphane, who, during his studies, became addicted to World of Warcraft and 12th in the game’s European ranking without ever being a pro. Andreas König, psychologist and psychotherapist at Ausgespillt, further discusses this often-overlooked disorder that is specific to gaming in the world of sports.

In this episode, Maxime looks at Luxembourg's Esports clubs and the ecosystem that surrounds them. Chris and Tim Miller, two of the three brothers behind amateur club Team Game Changers, and Joe Hoffmann, managing partner at 4Elements Esports – the only professional club in the country, although on hold at this moment in time –, tell him how a club works, identify the strengths and the weaknesses of the Luxembourgish gaming scene and suggest how it should evolve to help Esports organisations all over our small country grow.

In this episode, Maxime speaks with Esports researcher Chuck Tholl and Luxembourg’s first (and only) professional Esports athlete & Germany CS:GO Champion Max Kugener in an attempt to picture the lifestyle of a pro gamer as accurately as it gets. How do they train, what injuries do they have to deal with and how much pressure do they feel? This podcast is the first step to understanding that Esports is as much of a sport as the other, more conventional ones.