E3 will be opening its doors to the general public for the first time this year. They’ll also be opening their doors to esports in a way that the event hasn’t seen since its inception. E3 2017 will host the Twitch Esports Arena from June 13-15 at L.A. Live, right outside of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Players from "Street Fighter V," "Tekken 7" and "Injustice 2" will compete at the event for attendees and live on Twitch.
T-Mobile and Twitch Partner for Esports
Twitch will have a powerhouse partner in T-Mobile to help make the event happen over the course of three days.
The event will play out one full tournament each day for the three fighting game titles. T-Mobile customers will have added access to the VIP area for the event. Twitch also adds interactivity for fans who will be able to vote for the MVP for each daily tournament.
Kristen Salvatore, VP and commercial director of esports sponsorships at Twitch stated that E3 is moving from being industry focused to focusing on the fans and she also made note that the rise of esports had "upward momentum". She also made note of the importance of T-Mobile's partnership with the streaming service. Salvatore made clear that the event allowed the company to cater to their fans in person and move forward with the growing trend of esports.
The schedule for the event will be as follows:
- Tuesday, June 13 - Day 1 will feature matches on Street Fighter V from 12:00 - 8:00 pm PDT.
- Wednesday, June 14 - Day 2 will feature matches on TEKKEN 7 from 12:00 - 8:00 pm PDT.
- Thursday, June 15 - Day 3 will feature matches on Injustice 2 from 12:00 - 5:00 pm PDT.
Fighting Games on Exhibition
With the announcement of Twitch Esports Arena, fighting games will make a big statement as a representative of esports at E3.
The event will be joined by Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, who will demo their game for the first time, and "ARMS," the Nintendo fighting game who will also be holding a tournament at the event with names like Alex Valle in attendance. It does speak to the importance of esports for Nintendo since the company opted to have a tournament over a live E3 presentation.
For fighting games this will be a big moment. Salvatore has stated that companies like Capcom, Bandai Namco and Warner Bros. are key partners for Twitch and they are proving support by highlighting them at E3. With these three companies all having big budget circuits this year, they provide a wealth of content for the streaming platform
