Do you think Excel is boring? Think twice. During the weekend, the Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC) Open culminated, an eSports tournament that brought together the most prominent users of Microsoft's spreadsheet software; And of course a new champion has been crowned.
The Australian Andrew Ngai took the title of “Master of Excel” and the economic prize of 3,000 dollars, out of a total of 10,000 dollars contributed by the Redmond company to distribute among the best . The definition of the contest did not give rise to doubts, with the winner managing to prevail over Canadian Michael Jarman by a categorical 734-280.
But what was striking was not only the definition of the FMWC Open itself, but also the decisive instances were broadcast by ESPN through its application . In this way, according to the organizers of the event, there were more than 2,000 spectators simultaneously following the final.
Who said that an Excel game cannot be exciting?
It is clear that Excel is not the first option we think of when we talk about eSports. However, the Financial Modeling World Cup is an event that already has a long history and different modes of dispute. In the middle of the year, for example, a multiplayer “battle” was played in Excel with 8 representatives from different countries that also aroused a lot of interest.
On this occasion, the FMWC Open was held with the presence of 128 protagonists from different parts of the world . The qualifying rounds began in November, while at the weekend the prominence was on the knockout crosses of the quarterfinals, semifinals and the grand final.
A peculiar fact of this Excel “World Cup” is that it faces the best financial modelers to solve a series of complex exercises . The tournament regulations stipulate that players must solve “case studies” that present different problems. They can be from one to five pages in length; and include a series of questions that must be answered to advance to the next instance.
As we mentioned earlier, the FMWC Open was in the hands of Australian Andrew Ngai, but monthly events are also held under the same vein. But that's not all, since a world ranking by seasons is also made according to the points collected during the year. Currently the leader of the classifier is the American Diarmuid Early with 11,700 units. And the most striking thing is that on the Financial Modeling World Cup website you can see the protagonists on the leaderboard with their cards in the best FIFA Ultimate Team style ; plus a very exhaustive statistical breakdown in Excel spreadsheet format, of course.
Creating an unexpected eSport
It stands to reason that when Microsoft developed Excel it did not think that it would one day be used for an online sports contest. Perhaps the software does not engender the passion of the crowds, as video game competitions such as FIFA, Fortnite or League of Legends can; However, it has been shown that financial modeling is much more than boring office work .
That said, it is unlikely that the FMWC Open will ever capture millions of dollars of media or marketing interest. Despite this, competitions of this type can serve as an incentive for the common people to do a little more in learning the most important of a program as old -and necessary- as Excel . In addition, those who wish to try their luck can download the exercises of the contest and try to solve them at home.
