Discussing the H1Z1 Pro League With Jace Hall and Stratton Sclavos

The H1Z1 Pro League begins its inaugural season today, as the first two matches of the first battle royale esports league will be taking place at 7:00 PM PDT at the Twin Galaxies Esports Event Center at Caesars Entertainment Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada. Two of the minds behind the creation of the league, Twin Galaxies Co-Chairman Jace Hall and Vision Ventures Partner Stratton Sclavos, spoke at a press conference and gave attendees a look into the motivation behind the league's "player first" focus, why H1Z1 is the perfect title for the first battle royale esports league and many other topics of discussion.

(Editor's Note: With no "official video" being taken of the press conference, we captured the event on a mobile phone and apologize for the shakiness of the footage.) 

Many have pointed to H1Z1's recent decline in popularity as a factor in the league possibly not being successful. While Fortnite Battle Royale and Player Unknowns Battlegrounds have pushed into the top spots in the genre at the moment, the H1Z1 Pro League will not be relying on H1Z1 alone for its success, as it will be focused on a "player first" approach. Jace Hall went on to explain the importance of this "player first" approach for the H1Z1 Pro League. 

"Everyone is very used to esports being a particular way. Most of it is effectively tournaments and organizations riding the popularity of a game, until the popularity ceases and everybody sorta moves on, but that is not sports. That is not a sustainable thing. Why? In that universe the most important thing is the game. That is the point of interest. I'm watching Fortnite because I like Fortnite. It's all about Fortnite. That's great. However, why do we watch sports? We watch sports not because of the Wilson football or the Spalding basketball. We want people to watch for the players," said Jace Hall. 

"The game is great. The game is fun, but we need a game that is something people can easily understand, follow and immediately get into the drama without an instruction manuel or without having to ever want to play it. There is alot of people who want to participate in esports, but they don't necessarily want to play a game," Jace Hall continued. "They want to be involved with all of this cool stuff that everyone is involved with. You do that through people, and the emotional journey that all of these players go through to get here. Esports 2.0 is when the primary centerpiece of interest is the player and not the game."

Discussion the moved onto how the league would go about implementing the "player first" approach, especially when it comes to telling the stories of the players that are the centerpiece of the league. Stratton Scalvos went gave an inside look at how the league is preparing to accomplish this task. 

"There are 75 players in this league. Between now and the end of the second split, every single player will have a profile up with high quality content production. You will be able to hear from the teams they are with and the same people who are producing the league. This is a player driven league. I can't wait to see the rivalries and the trash talking, but also the great stories that will be lifting people up." 

Expanding on the league's plan for the implmentation of the "player first" approach, Jace Hall dove into a few of the avenues that the league will be using for this content production. "There is an active league production effort to feature all of the different things about the league. There is a magazine show and whole bunch of other things planned to be produced on a weekly basis to make sure these stories are told. We also supported the team themselves to create content on their own and when these teams produce content, they will be able to plug it into our league system, and the league can help promote it too." 

With the general population of the H1Z1 playerbase having decreased significantly with the rise of other titles in the battle royale genre, the press conference moved its attention towards what part the league will play in addressing this matter. 

"More people do not know about H1Z1 than do. That is a huge untapped opportunity for people to come into H1 and because it is free to play, the barrier for entry is very low," said Jace Hall. "As the league broadcasts to as wide of an audience as possible, there is going to be people who do not know anything about battle royale, and the first thing they see is this, and they are like 'Oh I want to try that', and they can just download it there, and they can start to come in. There is a whole joe to pro pathway for them that exists." 

These topics were only a few of the highlights of the press conference, which you can view in its entirety in the videos above. 

You will be able to catch the beginning of the H1Z1 Pro League festivities tonight at 6:15 PM PDT on the league's official Facebook page. For more information on the H1Z1 Pro League, visit the league's official website. 

(quotes have been edited for clarity and length)

(cover photo courtesy of H1Z1 Pro League)