By
March 14, 2019
Dylan Beck can do amazing things with blenders. Better known by his online alias ‘Rudeism’, Dylan has transformed everything from his electric guitar to a plastic spatula into controllers to play games online. Dylan is one of a growing number of Kiwis becoming part of what is forecast to generate US$108.9 billion in revenue worldwide this year. Long gone are the weird people with thick glasses and unwashed hair. Online gaming is now mainstream and for some, quite lucrative.
The world’s biggest eSport, League of Legends, has around 70 million players worldwide with top gamers competing in teams on an international circuit with prize pools topping $20 million. Back home, New Zealand’s game development industry earned $88.9 million in the year ending March 2016. Almost all of that revenue (92%) was from exports of interactive software and online services. Our world-class broadband is also attracting developers from all over the world. Dean Hall, creator of top selling game DayZ, returned to New Zealand to open his new Rocketwerkz studio in GigCity Dunedin. Two other international studios, Climax and Artrix, have also opened offices here.
Creative controller lover, Dylan doesn’t just repurpose the cutlery quietly, he broadcasts his antics worldwide via video game streaming site Twitch and has nearly 30,000 followers watching his every move. In fact watching others play games is big business. US-based player, Jericho, is one of the most popular with almost 1 million followers and over 18 million views. Popular streamers, named Twitch Partners, receive a share of advertising revenue and subscriptions to their channel and in March, Twitch introduced a new way for its streamers to make money by selling games directly to their fans. With 9.7 million daily active users, Twitch has developed a whole new bunch of celebrities.
Gaming is pretty social too. Nearly all new-release games allow you to play against other people over the internet, using services such as Steam (which has 65 million users) Xbox Live (48 million) and PlayStation Network (20 million fee-paying members and countless more signed up to the free service).
Like anything else, greatness in the gaming world doesn’t come without a lot of practice. It’s reported that professional gamers will practice up to 10 hours a day. And a great broadband connection is critical to gaming world domination. Lightening quick reaction time is key so anything slowing players down could be the difference between being knocked out in level one, or getting to 100. Because he lives in Dunedin, the first city in New Zealand to get gigabit fibre, Dylan has been enjoying a Fibre Pro connection for some time now. Faster fibre plans not only allow users to enjoy high definition graphics and faster loading times due to low latency, where they really come into their own is when a few people in the house are online. Gamers can play away while others in the house can stream TV, video chat, work, play or do their banking with nobody slowing down. If you’ve got a few people online take a look at our broadband checker to make sure you’ve got the best broadband available at your place.
Take a look at Dylan’s blender antics on the video below. And if your partner or children are disappearing into their rooms to play online games, or watch their idols take on an imaginary enemy, take heart. With gaming only becoming more lucrative, it could be your retirement fund in the making.
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