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When Gage Bachik was growing up, him and his friends would host video-game tournaments, tracking their progress with pen and paper. It was a comparatively slow process, but it was their only option.
To many gamers' chagrin, according to Bachik, not much has changed – but that doesn’t have to be the case.
Bachik is the co-founder of Skive, a platform for automated tournament hosting. With Skive, Bachik hopes to give aficionados of games like Hearthstone, FIFA, and Magic: The Gathering a free, efficient way to keep score.
Unlike its competitors, the Boulder-based application targets the “everyday gamer,” rather than official organizers, Bachik explained.
“Other websites are focused on building management tools for tournament organizers,” Bachik said. “Skive is modeled after the classic sit-n-go, providing complete automation, and bringing everyday gamers together for exhilarating competition.”
Skive is designed to be game-agnostic, meaning it’s compatible with any Web-based game. In its present form, the platform supports one-to-one tournaments; however, the startup is “rolling out a better system for team-based tournaments,” Bachik said.
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Co-founders Bachik and Carpenter.
The process of creating a tournament is simple: a user determines the tournament’s settings, where she can establish rules and privacy, then activates the tournament. She registers for the tournament, which, if it’s a public tournament, is accessible to other users on the homepage. Once another user registers, both participants can communicate in a chat box and submit results, with all other changes updated automatically.
Supported games (in addition to the aforementioned) include Starcraft, Street Fighter, Yu-Gi-Oh, Duel of Champions, NBA 2K, Madden's NFL, Chess, and Go (a Chinese game also known as Baduk or Weiqi). Live game-play isn’t hosted on Skive, Bachik explained, though players will have the option to stream game-play to the website.
Currently in beta, Skive is run by Bachik and co-founder Mikael Carpenter and subsists on revenue generated by the website. (Though hosting for users is free, Bachik noted that Skive “currently runs a fee-based revenue model, taking a small percentage from payouts.”)
Before its anticipated launch in "mid-Q3," Bachik envisions a complete front-end redesign “for a more 8-bit feel,” as well as an automated testing suite for tournaments with more than two parties.
Ultimately, he hopes to provide a hub for gamers, devoid of logistical vexations. “We envision future gamers being able to generate a living solely off of our tournaments,” he said.
