Rise Nation is officially thefirst esports organization to take a major step into the Maddencommunity with the signingof Mychael “TRAW”Morales. The decision comes ahead of a big year for Madden, as itexpands into the esports scene with the debut of an officialtournament circuit
The Madden 17 ChampionshipSeries will be a hosted by Electronic Arts on the global stage.Challenger events will allow community members to host their owntournaments within the game, and Premier Series LAN events will behosted around the globe. A series of four majors, each with aprize pool of $250,000, is expected to motivate the vast Maddencommunity to compete at the highest level. Luckily, a variety ofhighly dedicated players have already been practicing foryears.
TRAW is no stranger to playingon stage. The 25-year-old has competed for money since 2013 andeven won the Madden 15 UltimateTeam Championship, wherehe also had the chance to lay a smackdown on Carolina Panthersquarterback Cam Newton.
Madden 17 was released on Aug.23, but TRAW had the opportunity to play the game ahead of everyoneelse. He says that Madden this year has a larger skill gap thanprevious titles and that it’s “probably one of the bestMadden’s yet.” Playing defense is better this year due to theability to counter “aggressive catch” by swatting theball away and zone coverage is better overall, he toldGAMURS.
In their signing announcement,Rise Nation called TRAW a “perfect fit.” This stems from thefact that the organization is owned in part by professionalfootball player Rodger Saffold, who has played for the Los AngelesRams since 2010.
“It was a nobrainer,” said co-owner Kahreem Horsley. “This is something that can appeal to fanseasily because it follows a traditional sport, so it will be easyfor them to cheer on and follow as they watch… This scenehas great potential to blow up, especially with a $1 million[tournament series] going down this year! “
Up until this point, Rise Nationhad been a one-esport organization. They currently own one of thetop Call of Duty teams and also recently expanded into the newshooter, Overwatch. The addition of TRAW could be big for them ifMadden takes off this year.
“Hopefully we can see someother big name [organizations] catch on and really get behind thisscene as well. It has a lot of upside,” saidHorsley.
With so much money now involvedin an already popular game, it’s highly likely he is rightthat the signing of TRAW will open the door for more signings oftop Madden players.
Will Madden become a hugeesport? Will other organizations now venture into the up-and-comingscene? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us @GAMURScom.
