VFL Wolfsburg has announced its latest signing, and it’s a 22 year old from Wolverhampton named David Bytheway. If you haven’t heard of him and can’t find him on FIFA it’s because he’s on the other end; Bytheway is a professional gamer.
Wolfsburg became the first Bundesliga club to establish an esports division in 2015 and it quickly signed its first pro gamer, FIFA player Benedikt ‘Salz0r’ Saltzer. The club is proving its dedication to esports with this latest signing of Dave ‘DaveBTW’ Bytheway. There is also a partnership in place with specialised gaming and esports agency STARK Esports, whilst the club recently signed its first esports sponsorship agreement with NEEDforSEAT.
Discussing the industry Bytheway said: “Competitive gaming as a whole is absolutely huge, although FIFA isn’t as big as it could be. The fact that a team like Wolfsburg are getting involved… I’m hoping it’s going to create a domino effect and all of the other teams get involved as well. It’s a big deal for gaming and a big deal for me as well.”
VfL Sporting Director Klaus Allofs said: “We consider esports to be important and want to be a leader amongst Bundesliga clubs in this field.”
He added: “Our goal is to establish the connection between real football and the digital version. FIFA is becoming more realistic from year-to-year and is very popular amongst our players and the fans alike.”
This is far from the club’s first foray into competitive gaming. Back in 2013, a tournament for Virtual Bundesliga was hosted at the club’s home the Volkswagen Arena.
Bytheway was featured on BBC show ‘The Beautiful Gamers’ which aired in late January. On the topic of player wages he stated: “Clubs give out contracts to players based on how they value them, so if esports continues to be be a major market and has a lot of value in it for clubs then obviously wages will go up for players as well.”
Of his training regime he added: “I play about four to six games a day with two practice partners, one in Malta and one in Canada. You can’t really play against too many people though, because then you give your game away.”
(Story first reported on the Guardian)
Source: SBC News
