The Future of BIG
I should really have written this 3 months ago. For those who might have seen it, there was an announcement made back in March at the launch of the Scottish Esports League, that BIG would be joining Esports Scotland. This took place on the launch stream where I was interviewed about my upcoming role with Esports Scotland. After talking it through with James Hood, BIG is to become the local events brand for Esports Scotland. I should probably talk through how this came to take place.
After BIG Smash x Anime in February, it became clear that the event was no longer sustainable for a number of reasons. BIG started as a team project between myself, Farhan Majid, Thomas Dyregaard and later Craig Barclay. There was a team of further volunteers beyond that, but we 4 made up the core of the BIG team.
Thomas has since moved to Denmark, where he has a new career. He also runs some Nintendo events there and is generally doing well when I get a chance to speak to him. Both Farhan and Craig now have work commitments that don’t allow much free time. I’ve been relying on a lot of support from my family to keep these going, but it has been too much.
In early 2018, I had a chance to meet James Hood and the majority of the Esports Scotland team in person. Originally intending to join as a volunteer to run Splatoon, I have since started managing 3 games personally and am a key member of the team in regards to league operations. Despite the workload though, I’m part of a team of dedicated individuals that all have the same goal: to promoted and grow the esports industry in Scotland.
Grassroots events make up the majority of the competitive market in Scotland. We have no major teams and only a handful of notable players. Similar size countries such as Sweden have huge events and large numbers of notable players across different games. There is no reason Scotland cannot catch up, we could fill the Hydro one day if the work was put in to get there.
But first thing is first, when I spoke to James about BIG, we both saw the potential in taking it further. Not just as a Glasgow based event, but a whole series around Scotland that could feature multiple genres. I’ve also wanted to run a school league since before BIG even started and “BIG Jr” could well become a reality due to the work I’m doing now. Gaming was a huge positive part of growing up for me and I’d like to build what I didn’t have for future generations.
So what does this all mean for the future? The first thing is that “Battles in Glasgow” is no longer in use. “BIG” <event> <location>: <date> will take its place, allowing the name to live on. Next is that there are early plans in place and wheels starting to turn, but it will take time to make sure future BIG events are done right. BIG is something I care about deeply and I know it means a lot to many people, so I hope it can continue to exist in bigger and better ways!
For those interested in following the lead up to future BIG events, I’ve started over on a new Twitter account just for professional work.
