During the last Defense Innovation Forumcentered on new military technologies, a rather surprising announcement was made. Florence ParlyMinister of the Armed Forces, said: “I am very proud to announce the launch of the LNX esports project”. Silence in the audience, who would not have believed that the world of video games and that of the army could one day collaborate other than in Call Of Duty. According to the Minister, the esports and gaming sector in general has “considerable potential for attractiveness and influence”.
The parallel between the army and video games? According to the Minister of Armies: “Tomorrow, driving a battle tank like the Griffon will not be so different from navigating in a video game using a joystick”. So quite “simply” the resemblance between the handling of armored vehicles in real life and in the game.
What is LNX?
It is a project led by theAID (Defence Innovation Agency), Young people IHEDN (association of military students from the Institute for Advanced National Defense Studies) and the Montpellier sports club MTP Esport. The main goal of the project? It is still quite vague. Nicolas Besombesfounder of the Association for Francophone Research and Studies on Esport, identifies the purpose of the recruitment of young talents… or just young people. “The army is constantly looking to recruit young people and wants to use esports as a membership lever and recruitment tool”he told the World.
On the side of Dorian PeteyLNX project coordinator, “the goal is not at all to recruit young people”. The aim would therefore rather be to explore new horizons, for once very distant. However, the French army has set itself very big recruitment targets for 2025, which (fortunately) esports and the arrival of new young people can help achieve.
What games will be streamed by the French army?
The French army esports sessions will be streamed directly to Twitch. On the program, all kinds of games and not only (as one might have expected) war games or shooting games. One of the first games played by the army will undoubtedly be the famous game Rocket League. The game, mixing football and car racing, has amassed more than 75 million players since its release and continues to attract public attention.
And that’s good! If there’s one thing the army will need for its streams, it’s visibility. Indeed, the Minister of Armies did not give more details about the streamers of the army, but without big names of Twitch at their side or really interesting gameplay, it is quite possible that the craze around the chain drops pretty quickly.
The French are not the first
Indeed, the american army has already done it. It has an official esports team and itself organizes tournaments between the different bases of the country. The Pentagon even funded a game called America’s Army, developed by Ubisoft and retracing the adventures of a soldier from the United States who, as one might suspect, goes to war. The purpose of this shooting game was above all to inform, educate and recruit potential soldiers. It was created in 2022 but its servers will close next May because the game is the source of much debate.
In Europe, the British and Dutch armies have their own esports team which they mainly use to recruit young talents for their “cyberforce”, a digital defense unit of the country. Like what, military forces and esports have gone hand in hand for several years, and the clash between these two worlds can sometimes be very beneficial for armies.
The surprising project is still in the structuring phase and we should surely learn more about future French army streams soon. The director of AID has announced that he wants to organize the first esports event by 2024. He will be called Eurodefense Battle and promises to be… amazing!
mmo
In parallel with the KTA and following on from the Zeste Cup, Sledax is organizing a new international tournament: the Dofus World Cup. 16 regions in play, come and support yours!