Many people are aware of the fact that the esports industry moves a lot of money around, but it may come as a surprise to some that one team in particular is paying big money to boost its entry. The US Navyreportedly paid $2 million to a marketing firm to boost its entry into esports, further adding to theUS military esports controversy.
The US Army recently came under fire forcensoring mention of war crimes in its Twitch chat, and although their esports teams are mostly separate from the US Navy’s, many people associate both groups as being part of the “US Military esports” umbrella. Criticism of the way the US military is handling video game outreach right now is very high, and this new revelation will likely only add fuel to the fire.
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TheArmy’s Twitch presence came under firethanks to fake giveaways, chat censorship, and on-stream racist jokes, leading to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to propose a bill in the US House of Representatives to ban military Twitch recruitment of underage teens. Although the bill was shot down, there’s still plenty of resentment from fans, who spammed the US Army’s chat with references to war crimes and criticism of the military when the channel returned.
Unfortunately for the US armed forces, factors are combining as such so that many people view them in a negative light, although the esports teams continue to train and plan for competition. The US Navy’s contract with Young & Rubicam (now known as VMLY&R) implies that the esports initiative is centered around recruitment of youth, and references the Navy’s desire to get teens interested in the military, especially young people who are creative and innovative.
The US Navy is still grappling with the response to a recent stream on its Twitch account whereNavy recruiters referenced the n-wordand the bombing of Japan in World War 2 in a game ofAmong Us. Since many people are unhappy with the way the Navy is handling streaming and esports already, it’s likely that knowing how much the Navy spent on marketing for recruitment will just make these people more upset with the US military.
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