Mentioned in this article
- Method is partnering with TakeTV to produce the upcoming World of Warcraft raid race.
- As a part of the production numerous other top guilds will also participate in the streaming effort.
- Method co-founder Scott “Sco” McMillan released a comment explaining why the organization has moved away from working with Red Bull.
The upcoming World of Warcraft 
raid race to world first will include a few more guilds streaming as esports organization Method works with TakeTV to produce 24/7 coverage of the grassroots event beginning July 16.
Method made waves last year when it broadcasted, and won, the first raid race of World of Warcraft’s current expansion, Battle for Azeroth, and in late January, the organization partnered with Red Bull to broadcast from the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London.
While other top guilds declined to partake in streaming their efforts during those raid races for competitive reasons, Method’s ability to win while streaming has managed to generate a marketplace for guilds looking to capitalize on the interest that fans have in watching all perspectives of the race to be the world’s first guild to complete a new raid.
“Red Bull had gone behind our back…”
Moving to a new partner, Method co-founder Scott “Sco” McMillan explained why Method was working with TakeTV instead of its previous production partner Red Bull. In a TwitLonger posted on his personal Twitter page, McMillan expressed that following the most recent raid race in February, Red Bull began to “pursue the route of trying to take ownership of the Race to World First events.”
“While dialogue remained open it was leaked to us that Red Bull reached out to [WoW guilds] Limit and Pieces to plan an event called ‘Red Bull’s World First,’” McMillan wrote. “Red Bull had gone behind our back, and after seeing their presentation to Limit and Pieces it was apparent that they had taken a lot of our ideas and concepts for expanding the RWF.”
Related Article: How the World of Warcraft Raid Race Turned into a Business Opportunity for Method
McMillan added that Red Bull will likely put on their own event featuring top American guild Limit and one of Europe’s top guilds Pieces, though the company has not yet announced any such plans. Method’s broadcast coverage will have seven other top guilds from Europe, Asia, and America including Alpha, vodkaz, and Big Dumb Guild.
“We will have a fully customised venue and significantly improved production, offering perspectives never previously possible,” McMillan said in a statement. “Involving other raiding guilds in the event has always been a goal for us and we are happy to be able to take the first steps here while beginning to work on a longer-term concept for the future.”
“We see the long-term damage of handing off the 14-year-old community run RWF competition to a 3rd party corporation.”
In his Twitter post, McMillan said that the health of the raid race to world first will rely on a grassroots, community-driven effort as opposed to the third-party ownership that he claimed Red Bull is attempting to take.
“We see the long-term damage of handing off the 14-year-old community run RWF competition to a 3rd party corporation. Only the community and/or Blizzard themselves should have ownership over the RWF,” he wrote. “The goal of the 3rd party corporation is to promote their own brand as much as possible (less incentive to bring on other sponsors as it dilutes their brand exposure), run the event at the lowest cost possible, while also owning the run of show and all other aspects (branding, marketing, event sales etc) surrounding the show which severely limits the guilds oversight and return from the event.”
McMillan wrote that the raid races are “massive” events and that “value should be realized by all guilds involved.” With that pursuit driving Method’s efforts, the organization plans to rev up this raid race by having an increased number of players on site at TakeTV in Krefeld, Germany. Additionally there will be public access to the studio where the race is taking place for the first time ever.
The Esports Observer has reached out to Method and Red Bull for comments and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
