'Esports won't go mainstream until teams take it seriously'

Dom Sacco, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 07/11/2012

Esports will never break into the mainstream unless professional teams take competition seriously, says pro Dota 2 player Jimmy Ho.

“Esports will never go mainstream unless teams start taking competition seriously,” Ho (also known as DotADeMoN) told Leet in this interview.
“Teams can’t keep forfeiting matches for fun. This makes us look very unprofessional. If you’ve scheduled a match for a specific time, I believe you owe it to the fans and your opponents to show up.
“Frequent forfeits hurt the reputation of not only the teams and players, but also the reputation of the entire tournament. Quality games always bring in more spectators.”
His comments come after Team Dignitas and Curse were disqualified from a League of Legends tournament earlier this year for collusion.
DeMoN – who plays for Evil Geniuses’ pro Dota team – also said that he wasn’t sure whether esports will become an Olympic sport in the future, but does want esports to make it to the small screen.
“I feel our main goal should be to try to get on television, specifically on mainstream networks like ESPN or CBS,” he added.
“I think we should start there first, before we make the jump to the Olympics.”
Picture courtesy of The International’s Flickr Album

Dom Sacco, Senior Editor

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025. As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late '80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.

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