The Godfather of competitive gaming - The CPL and gaming

Many regard you as the (god)father of competitive gaming and a pioneer in eSports. Looking back at your ventures in gaming, how do you feel about this? Do you think there is some truth in that?

There’s always been some controversy about that, but I think I’m a lot more comfortable with “pioneer of professional computer game competitions.”  This shows respect to the efforts made by Twin Galaxies in the 80’s in reference to arcade competitions, and to the other large prize tournaments that took place before CPL, like Red Annihilation.  We certainly did approach things differently, for example by standardizing competitions.  The CPL was the first large-scale organization that enforced all tournament computers to be identical.  What seems so logical today was virtually unheard of in 1997, and we had to convince the gaming community that standardization was an essential component of building a new sport.   

The new CPL management is walking a different path and focusing mostly on the Asian market. The glory days of huge prize funds and massive international events seems to be over for the CPL, would you do it differently if you were still in charge?

Times have changed since those glory days. We are now in a global recession, eSports is no longer grass roots and companies have tight marketing budgets.  I think that CPL’s new management is wise to adapt to the current times by focusing on the fastest growing market in the world: China, and by creating other value propositions for their partners and sponsors (like huge traffic numbers) instead of just huge prizes.

I am really proud of CPL’s new management; they took the brand over in a tough market and under tough circumstances and with tons of perseverance and hard work have made a significant impact in Asia.  I can’t wait for them to start releasing to the public all of the great things they are working on.

Looking back at all the ups and downs of the CPL in hindsight, is there anything you would do different? Would you do it all over again?

I turned 50 on March 6 and when you get to see life from a perspective of elapsed time, there’s little that given a chance you would not do differently. I would have loved to be a better son, a better brother, a better father, a better husband, a better friend, a better person and of course a better leader for CPL and the gaming community, but we get to play our role in the theater of life only once - so it makes no sense to entertain thoughts of what things we could have hypothetically done differently. What I can do now is apologize to those that feel I wronged them in any way, and take the lessons learned to my new endeavors and apply them to the best of my ability.  
 
Looking back at a decade of competitive gaming in the CPL we can, beyond any doubt, say that the CPL is responsible for laying the foundation of what eSports has become today. It has greatly contributed to the community and set an example for others to follow. What do you think was the biggest achievement that the CPL obtained?

I think our biggest achievement was making eSports viable. Others may have thought about it first, and yet others may have done some tournaments first, but CPL made eSports a real option for many people across the globe.  Thousands of people today make their living in or around eSports, from pro-gamers, media, organizers, vendors, to leagues, sponsors and corporations. And they all owe a bit of gratitude to the CPL’s groundbreaking efforts.

My hope is that one day the original management team of the CPL, Mike Wardwell, Tim Schuh, Monte Fontenot, Kimberly Vizurraga and the late Jerry Wolski get the industry recognition they deserve. They were pioneers that pursued a dream that seemed improbable if not almost impossible at the time.    

Angel Munoz posing with the rest of his CPL team in 2005.

Despite all the positives the CPL had to cease its activities. What do you think lead to this decision and what were the things that went wrong? Could it have gone any other way?

We ceased our 2008 tournament activities for a few reasons, but primarily because we were experiencing diminishing returns and our cash flow turned negative.  The only way to see this through was to cancel the tournaments and then to try to re-invent the CPL in an entire new way.

That’s why we were so amiable to the plans proposed to us by the current owners of the CPL brand.  They wanted to start fresh and told us that it would take them two years before they could start moving the brand forward again.  In retrospect, this proved to be the best decision for everyone and they were absolutely right about the timing involved.
    
When Sierra entered as partner of the CPL the Sierra games World in Conflict and FEAR were picked and a $500,000 prize purse was announced. Months later however, both games have been dubbed unplayable in a competitive environment and unsuitable for such large competitions and the turnout at events was at an all-time low. Many critics claim that this is what sealed the fate of the CPL, would you agree?

That certainly did not help but Sierra is not to blame. They were very proactive and received world promotion for their games, and the games sold a lot more than what they invested in the tournaments.  For CPL it was a lot tougher, we were trying to contain expenses and generate revenue, Sierra did not cover the full prizes and sponsors were starting to retract in anticipation of a tough market, and the decreased foot traffic definitely had a negative impact on perception.

Angel Munoz posing for a picture with Sheryl Huang from Nvidia, at that time sponsor of the CPL.

It’s a little weird because I did it for eleven years, but ultimately I feel pleased that the brand continues to expand, especially now that I’m now focused on other trends and possibilities.   

In a recent interview you said that you don’t follow the competitive gaming scene that much anymore. Did you still follow your successors the World Series of Video Games (WSVG) or the Championship Gaming Series (CGS)? What did you think of their concepts?

I consulted for CGS for over a year but they did not listen much :)  In the end I thought both were valiant attempts, but the market in North America just does not seem ready for primetime eSports, and new sports simply cannot be forced on people.

Back in November 2009 you seemed to be involved in the GXF gaming event in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where your personal roots lie. Could you tell us a little bit more about this event?  What was your involvement in this event?

I had no direct involvement in the GXF event and did not attend it. I did consult for the organizers for a few months, and their event was financially successful.  I no longer have the time to help them, so I informed them a few months ago that I could no longer consult or help run their operation as they had proposed.  They are a smart bunch and I’m sure they can manage on their own :)

Does this mean that over time we might see a return of Angel Munoz to the competitive gaming scene and the events business? Are there any plans afloat for future events?

Not really, although I have recently been invited to visit China for a CPL event. Now that could be very exciting for me :)