esports.gg speaks to Monica Dinsmore, Head of Esports at Electronic Arts, at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh.
Monica Dinsmore has been busy since becoming Head of Esports at EA, most recently signing a historic two-year deal bringing the ALGS Championship back to Sapporo. This deal gave the ALGS some much needed stability, indirectly confirming that the ALGS will return for Year 6.
The ALGS also found itself front and centre at the Esports World Cup, with this years event being an official step on the ALGS calendar rather than a separate event. That means as the Esports World Cup kicked off, all eyes were on the ALGS.
esports.gg spoke to EA's Head of Esports, Monica Dinsmore, at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh.
Signing Sapporo deal was a pinch-me moment for Monica Dinsmore
Monica was in Sapporo in person to sign the historic deal, alongside the Mayor of Sapporo. The deal was as a result of mutual interest from both sides, from the back of the hugely successful Year 4 Championship event.
Ceremonies like this aren't common in esports - and to travel across the world to seal a deal of this magnitude for the ALGS was a huge moment for Monica both professionally, and personally she explains.
"I am always in pinch-me moments in this career of mine, and that was definitely one of the highlights of my career so far. Just the importance, being able to feel how important it was to both the ALGS team and the Mayor of Sapporo, President of their Esports Association, President of the Premise Dome, all there talking about how incredibly important this deal was and coming off of such an incredible experience at our first champs there.
"It was a little surreal, to be honest. We got lot of press asking, why Sapporo? Why Sapporo? I was able to answer quite truthfully. We had such an incredible experience. There's so much support from all of those entities. You'll remember, we felt so special there!
"The entire city knew who we were, why we were there, they were excited about it. It was just this fully immersive fan experience on both sides and so I think from a personal perspective it was just really, really incredible to sit there and and know that also the messaging that we were going to send to our fans that we're coming back for the next two years just was a really really great message to send as well."
Two year deal is a "very loud signal" about the future of the ALGS
The two year deal was a notable aspect of the deal - seemingly putting to bed the rumours that ALGS Year 5 would be the final instalment of the esport. As Sam Turkbas also reiterated to esports.gg, the EA team were delighted to show the world that Apex Legends Esports is here to stay.
"I think [the deal] says a lot. It sends a very loud signal that we're not going anywhere, that we're continuing to invest in the ecosystem. We're continuing to prioritize fans in that region and bring Apex Legends to as many fans as possible and continue to grow that trajectory.
"We saw such great numbers coming out of that event, and we just want to keep getting bigger and better. I think it gives us an opportunity to learn and grow and everyone in that room is like totally committed. As I said, the city the association and and the dome are all in it together and so I have no doubt that it's going to be bigger and better than before. Building off last time is super, super exciting.
"I think it sends a pretty loud signal that we're not going anywhere!"
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Deal is part of a larger strategy at EA to announce events earlier
Those rumours about the ALGS were in EA's mind when considering how to announce this deal. As was an ongoing criticism of EA for announcing events sometimes at pretty short notice. This makes life a bit more difficult for some fans, who need to book time off work and set money aside to travel to the event.
"We started to hear some rumblings in the community about if this will be the last year. So, it certainly felt good that we were able to say, hang on, no it isn't! But it's also been a constant priority for us to get better at planning and to give our fans more notice and get to the point where everyone can hang their hat on the fact that I'm going to Sapporo at this time and I know I can plan for that.
"So it's part of a larger strategy of how do we get better at knowing where we're going when and being able to announce things earlier so that people can plan. So just the fact that we were there with the mayor and with the city and a two-year deal is better for everyone.
"We don't have anything else yet to announce, but we at least know that those two things are happening and we can hopefully fill in the blanks sooner than later this time around."
Monica Dinsmore reveals thinking behind aligning the EWC and the ALGS
This years Esports World Cup saw an official ALGS event, rather than the standalone competition that took place in 2024. This means a much closer relationship between the Esports World Cup and EA, with EA SPORTS FC also holding an official event at the tournament in 2025.
What was the thinking behind this?
"I've said this a lot, that the Esports World Cup has really done a lot for the esports ecosystem, showing up in such a big way, so committed to the industry and so committed to the players and the clubs and the publishers.
"It's like a new frontier in esports. I'm going to coin my phrase again, the esports spring, and maybe it's now the esports summer, because here we are in the middle of summer here. But I think, similar to our deal with the City of Sapporo, doubling down on a really important partnership and making it part of our ecosystem was an important driver for us to integrate it into the competitive calendar. And I think, we've kept the prize pool the same, so opportunities are still available, and we don't really think about it as one less LAN, we just think of it as one more great partner."
Could the BLGS return later this year?
The earlier than usual announcement of the Year 5 Championship dates revealed that like last year, there will be a bit of a wait to return to Sapporo. The second split of the Pro League ends in mid-October, with the Championship not until mid January. While there is often a break for the holiday season, that does leave 92 days without any ALGS competition.
This is not a new situation, with the ALGS having an even longer gap last year ahead of the Championship. EA chose to fill this with a new competition, called the BLGS. Fronted by NiceWigg and Greek, this was a popular addition to the calendar. Could this return before we head to Sapporo again?
"Absolutely. It's super, super critical to keep our fans engaged, and to keep our creators engaged, and our streamers engaged and give them something to interact with from a competitive perspective. So, that's critically important to us, and also very important to the franchise. We're absolutely considering what we can do again, whether it's BLGS or some other form of competitive entertainment.
"The team is always talking about what we can do to sort of keep that engagement and that momentum going. But I don't have anything specific to answer - it's on the radar and was on the radar as soon as we saw the success of that type of a competition. It's just making sure it's entertaining, it's engaging, players want to play and working with Respawn to being the best possible competitive entertainment experience that we can throughout that time."
The next ALGS instalment is the second split of the ALGS Pro League, which returns on August 31. Stay tuned to esports.gg for full coverage of the ALGS and all things Apex Legends.
