All Work All Play review – gaming reduced to corporate yawn

ESports deserves a better documentary than this dull and sentimental celebration of competitive gaming

ESports - competitive team video gaming played out in front of a stadiums full of fans - deserves its Hoop Dreams. Professional players, showing off their prowess in games such as League of Legends and Dota 2, vie for giant prize money in tournaments watched online by millions. Corruption and match-fixing allegations have dogged the sport, like any other. The subject has spice and drama aplenty. Yet All Work All Play ignores all that for dry praise of the sport's progress, peppered with the odd bit of soupy sentimentality. Gaming has inspired very good documentaries in recent years (Indie Game: The Movie, Free to Play), made by film-makers that understand character and plot. But All Work All Play makes for a dull, corporate documentary.