How it unfolded
Red Annihilation opened with online qualifiers in spring 1997 that drew more than 2,000 Quake players, and the survivors converged on the E3 show floor in Atlanta that June for a live final. The final matched Dennis 'Thresh' Fong against Tom 'Entropy' Kimzey. Fong had already systematized concepts that are now baseline pro-shooter fundamentals: timing armor and health respawns to the second to monopolize map resources, and firing predictive rockets at spots he calculated an opponent would reach. The final was effectively one-sided. Fong racked up frags while controlling both resources and position, and his opponent never found a foothold, even losing points to self-inflicted damage. The trophy was reportedly a Ferrari 328 put up by id Software co-founder John Carmack, and the image of Fong driving it away became the single most-cited illustration in articles introducing esports for the next two decades.
Why it still matters
This was the first time a video game competition drew coverage from sports journalists. The prize being a sports car rather than a magazine subscription or arcade tokens single-handedly reset perceptions of what competitive gaming could pay, and alongside the Cyberathlete Professional League, founded that same year, it established the idea of a circuit built on prize money. The template for the professional gamer as a job was set here.