Veteran Counter-Strike commentator Anders Blume has been working on new software that he believes will change the way we observe competitive gaming. Anders appeared at the Los Angeles BLAST Pro series CS:GO tournament today to talk about the the new product and what he thinks it will do for the pro gaming industry.
The software, called Skybox (not to be confused with Skybox Labs, co-developers of Halo: Infinite), is ostensibly a tool that helps teams and tournament organizers get a birds-eye view of the game. According to Anders, however, Skybox is much, much more than that.
In the interview, Anders explains that Skybox is "a lot of different things" and that though it has been demonstrated previously as an analyst tool, they've only revealed a little bit of what Skybox can do. Anders calls Skybox "a platform to elevate the ground level of esports."
Skybox was created to help replicate the "structure of regular sports" in esports, which Anders believes is missing. A demonstration shows Skybox in action: a recording of a match is loaded into the software and the entire map is observable using a free-roaming camera. The buildings are all removed to get a view of both teams as they start the match and begin to move around.
The impact this perspective has on the viewer is immediately apparent: being able to see the entire match play out from this omniscient angle allows for a sense of spacing, timing, and action that we haven't ever seen before in esports. As Anders explains:
"Normally we end up watching a very focused point on the map. We're just looking at one thing and we forget about everything else that's happening. When you do that, you miss a huge part of the action."
Anders believes that the problem with watching competitive Counter-Strike is that casters keep telling us the story of a particular match from the point of view of "micro-examples," focusing on one encounter or one round rather than what is happening over the course of many rounds. With Skybox, he's hoping to change that.
The tools that Skybox offers may indeed provide an advanced level of observation and understanding for fans and casters, as well as a detailed way for teams to analyze their game play.
This observation tool is only part of what Skybox is, and Anders teases some stat tracking functions that will be revealed soon that sound pretty sensational: "Let's just say, all of the stats you know now, Kill/Death ratio, head shot percentage, all these things will be never talked about again afterwards. They'll just be gone, not even a factor."
A nuanced approach to understanding player impact in any given game (or series of games) is an exciting proposition, especially if you aren't the person on your team always getting the most kills. If Skybox ends up delivering on all its promises, a lot of us with potato aim might finally get some well deserved validation.