Free to Play

The documentary follows three professional players. All three are preparing for the same tournament: a game company has announced a large prize and the winning team will take a million dollars. No prize on that scale had been offered before. One is from Ukraine, one from America, one from Singapore. None of their families takes the work seriously; one has left school, one cannot find a job, one is under family pressure. The tournament begins and all three are in the same hall. The documentary dates from 2014 and was made by the company that publishes the game. The event behind it is real: that tournament is counted a turning point in the professionalisation of electronic sport and the prize changed the industry. The matter at the centre is not the game but legitimacy; none of the three can explain to their family that what they do is a profession. Its limit is independence; the production was financed by the company that owns the game and there is no critical distance. The match sections are well placed in the narrative; tension is built even for a viewer who does not know the game. The personal sections are its strongest side; the family scenes take up more room than the tournament. It was distributed free over the internet. Who it is for: anyone curious about the history of electronic sport and about sports documentary. Who it is not for: the narrative is promotional, some sections are closed to anyone who does not know the game, and it is short.