Legendary spreadsheet software Microsoft Excel is officially an esport and it’s already made its remarkable debut on the tournament scene with the Microsoft Excel esports World Cup tournament.
The Microsoft Excel world championship — Financial Modeling World Cup
Eight spreadsheet wizards participated in the first Microsoft Excel world championship, officially called the Financial Modeling World Cup:
- Andrew Ngai (UK)
- Michel Jarman (Canada)
- Stéphanie Annerose (US)
- Jason Webber (South Africa)
- Gabriela Strój (Poland)
- Anup Argawal (India)
- John Lim (Australia)
- Siang Tan from (Malaysia)
The Microsoft Excel esports competition was held online, complete with shoutcasters Adam Callens and Danielle Stein Fairhurst on the side.
All players were given a case study in which they had to do revenue and production cost modeling using Microsoft Excel. This included sales, shipping, manufacturing, labor, and a summary of their models.
After a solid 40 minutes, Jarman was hailed as the champion of the Microsoft Excel esports tournament.
You can view the full Microsoft Excel esports tournament results here.
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How Microsoft Excel esports came to be
For any activity to be considered a sport, an element of competitiveness needs to be present. Microsoft Excel esports ticks this box by tasking competitors with creating a complete financial plan in the shortest possible time.
There are countless ways to create a spreadsheet based on a combination of different calculation commands. Users will have to really think it through to find the shortest and most effective way to optimize this office software. In other words, using Microsoft Excel requires quite a bit of mathematical understanding and quick thinking.
Could Microsoft Excel esports kick off a whole new genre of productivity-based esports? I for one am eagerly awaiting Microsoft Word esports.
What other unusual tournaments will spring in the future?
READ MORE: 5 esports with huge prize pools that you’ve probably never heard of
