eSports Industry - EsportsBAR Cannes 2019 Edition by Latam Media Group

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INTERVIEW

StĂŠphane Gambetta Director of Strategy and New Developments of the Entertainment Division of Reed MIDEM

INTERVIEW

Stéphane Gambetta Director of Strategy and New Developments of the Entertainment Division of Reed MIDEM since 2013 Stéphane is responsible for the division’s portfolio strategy and diversification projects, launches and acquisitions. The Entertainment Reed MIDEM division’s portfolio includes the key professional and international markets of MIPTV & MIPCOM, for television and audiovisual and digital content and Midem for music professionals.

o you think eSports fits perfect in this new entertainment era, where there’s a new consumer experience? It actually is our next edition’s main theme: why esports is the next stop for entertainment. We truly think that esports does not only fit in this new entertainment era but it is its future.

Esports is gaining a more and more important part in B2B business with a growing number of non-endemic brands and media taking part in the game. We have now reached a new turning point where esports is more than sports but plays a great role in entertainment with highly engaged audiences not only with the competitions and the games but also with esports stars, online content, live experiences with music and performances. It becomes a growing cultural phenomenon with a major outside reach and many possibilities.

Due to this need and close relationships between esports and entertainment, Esports BAR will, for this 5th edition, aim at helping non-endemic brands and media platforms understand how to embrace this great opportunity. Which Pro´s and Con´s do you find in eSports compared with traditional sports? It is not really a question of comparing the one with other; it is more about which links can be done between the two industries and how each one of them can learn from each other. Do you find exciting that there are no real business rules set to how eSport will evolve? It´s like a virgin land. Everything is possible. What is exciting about esports is not that there are not any real rules per se but that there is everything to build and to be part of this story is an amazing experience.

INTERVIEW

On the contrary, it is important to structure the sector to grow sustainability of the industry. We really feel like Esports BAR is contributing to something big and we want to bring our fair share. This is also why we work closely work with our Advisory Team, to be aware of all the changes and evolving needs to make sure we provide the best platforms to help the sector develop.

Creating the 1-to-1 Matchmaking was a way to build something really new and that was missing: - Entrance in the programme is only made by selection (you can’t access by just applying) - Pre-scheduled meetings based on your preferences are guaranteed, so participants part of this programme are sure to meet those of interest to them.

In the gaming industry we´re used to traditional events, like regular conferences or crowded events with lots of stands. How did you find this effective and innovative format, focusing on the 1-to-1 Matchmaking? Before we decided to enter the esports arena, we took a lot of time to make sure we could offer a unique brand, and a VIP offer.

Why do you think the most important companies and executives believe and want to be part of Esports BAR? Our unique positioning clearly makes the difference. Our VIP offer (with high level decision makers attending) and our non-endemic targeting (being a bridge between those who make esports and those who are interested in esports) makes Esports BAR an unmissable rendezvous.

We didn’t want to reproduce the same conferences that already existed, indeed you’ll never see the word conference in our events.

I would also add that our unique global reach with more than 50 countries is a key element as well.

What surprises can the attendees expect in EsportsBAR Cannes 2019? We have a lot of innovations this year. There will be an Investor Programme with a Keynote from Jens Hilger, Founding Partner of BITKRAFT and a special panel discussion on the future of esports investment with Matthieu Dallon, CEO of Trust Esports Venture, and Michael Cheung, Partner at Markers Fund. For the first time, Music is coming to Esports BAR Cannes. Attending the event for the first time is Esports BAR Game Shakers Awards Ambassador Christian Buttner (Aka TheFatRat) who has had his music synched-to-screen for massively popular Dota 2 and Rocket League. His presence will be reinforced by a keynote with ESL and universal Music to discuss the growing links between music and esports. And as usual now, impressive keynotes will take the stage during 3 days: Justin Dellario (Head of Esports, Twitch),

INTERVIEW

Carlos “ocelote” Rodríguez Santiago (Founder & CEO, G2 Esports), Alban Dechelotte (Head of Sponsorships & Business Development EU Esports, Riot Games), Ryan Wyatt (Head of Global Gaming & VR, Content & Partnerships, YouTube), and many more. Not to mention amazing non-endemic brands that have already joined the arena: Adidas, AirAsia, Axa, Best Buy, Daimler, Danone, Domino’s Pizza, Feed., Fiat, HSBC, Lotto, Nike, Porsche, Shell, Telepizza… to name only a few. How important is the support of The Advisory Team? The Advisory Team is an essential part of Esports BAR. They support Esports BAR on a regular basis and deliver constant advice and feedback to help us create the perfect event for our community. Their insight is capital to understand the latest trends and topics at stake. They also play an important role during each event; by their presence, they provide constant support to participants and by sharing their expertise, they help building this amazing community. The Advisory Team is absolutely a key element of the event. Would you like that Game Shakers Awards become The Oscars of Esports? Indeed, we truly believe in the mission of the Game Shakers Awards. To give you a few details and a better understanding of what they are: These awards are very specific as they are B2B awards, rewarding B2B projects helping the esports community to grow. Added to this, its strong international aura makes it very different and special from other industry awards, jury members and competitors come from all around the world. These awards are also very complete, they celebrate successes at all levels: media, brand

and sports. This year the outside reach is even bigger with two amazing ambassadors, Jean Alesi, the former driver and founder of the eSports Academy, and The FatRat, the German record producer and musician. We’ve already announced our Shaker of the Year, Jack Etienne, CEO of Cloud9, he will be honoured during the Game Shakers ceremony at Esports BAR. The Game Shakers Awards are bound to become a key event for esports! Tell me about your expectations of Esports BAR Miami 2019? We have great expectations for Esports BAR Miami 2019: On the heels of the great success we’ve reached last September, we’ve enlarged the formula of the event: 3 days of Forum with the keynotes (among them in 2018 Nate Nanzer, Commissioner at The Overwatch League, Chris Hopper, Head of Esports North America at Riot Games, Brendan Donohue, Managing Director at NBA 2K League…), plus the mentoring programme in parallel of the 1-to-1. The dates are October 2nd-4th. A lot more will be announced soon. And what about Seoul? Seoul is a Summit by invitation only Day, mixing Asian leaders with the international community. Following the inaugural edition was done last August, we’ll repeat the experience this Spring. Date coming soon.

Are you considering another type of event focused on eSports, where players or fans are involved? It is important to keep in mind that the essence of Esports BAR, and in larger way, Reed MIDEM, is the B2B market. But we listen to the needs of the market! Most of the eSports audience is millennial and centennial. What about those executives that are a bit older. Is there a space for everybody in this industry? Indeed, esports is a sector that counts both senior and younger talents… with various levels of needs and expertise: For ex: you can have young esports execs that have insights on how the sector works, but need to improve the way they approach brands. And in parallel, you can have others, like the non-endemics that may be more mature in their industry but much younger regarding their knowledge of how esports functions. They all of them need similar things: mentoring, learning and sharing to grow together. This what you’ll find at Esports BAR!

We talked about Cannes, Miami, Seoul. Is one of Reed Midem goals to take EsportsBAR to the 5 continents? We first feel that it is important to first increase the existing events’ influence, but yes eventually we could imagine having one major event and more local events on the 5 continents!

events

The Game

shakers Reed MIDEM announced the second edition of the Esports BAR Game Shakers Awards, which this year features former Formula One driver Jean Alesi, founder of the Jean Alesi eSports Academy, as their first Ambassador. The Game Shakers Awards are organised by Esports BAR in association with Rafe Productions.

eed MIDEM announced the second edition of the Esports BAR Game Shakers Awards, which this year features former Formula One driver Jean Alesi, founder of the Jean Alesi eSports Academy, as their first Ambassador.

endemic fans and reached mainstream audiences.

The Game Shakers Awards are the first truly international esports prizes and are part of Esports BAR , the world’s esports business arena, with events in Cannes, Miami and Seoul. The Game Shakers Awards will take place during Esports BAR Cannes, on 12 February 2019.

This year, the awards have even greater international scope to reach out to a wider audience. To mark this wider appeal, former F1 driver and one of the most iconic Ferrari drivers of all time, Jean Alesi, founder of the eponymous eSports Academy to foster fresh talent in the video game arena, is serving as Ambassador to The Game Shakers Awards.

With esports on the verge of reaching a globalscale economy, The Game Shakers Awards aim to help the sector gain wider recognition by highlighting business initiatives that have taken esports beyond

The first edition of The Game Shakers Awards was held in February 2018 in Cannes in front of more than 200 leading figures in the esports sector.

“I’m thrilled to be named as Ambassador for The Game Shakers. Esports is a great way to reach out to new generations of fans, and The Game Shakers is

Whether your business goals are, brokering a partnership deal, negotiating broadcasting licensing or gaining mentorship and business insights, Esports BAR Cannes suits suit you and your companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs. Photo by cannes.the-esports-bar.com

THE GAME SHAKERS: CELEBRATING MAINSTREAM SUCCESS Photo by reedmidemphotos.com

the ideal platform to recognize the most meaningful initiatives helping esports go mainstream,” says Jean Alesi. “Jean Alesi represents the commitment of a leading international sportsman to interact with fans and participate in the professionalization of the esports values of the Esports BAR Game Shakers Awards – to develop esports, to develop esports beyond its traditional fan base and to develop the esports competitors of tomorrow,” comments Esports BAR Development Director Stephane Gambetta. Combining the esport revolution with a legendary F1 coaching team, the Jean Alesi eSports Academy is the perfect mix of adrenaline and

entertainment. The Academy sets out to scout and coach talents of the future, forming the next generation of esport ‘athletes.’ This year’s Game Shakers Awards

Esports is The Next Stop for Entertainment Some companies, such as media outlets, brands, TV or event producers, still need evidence that esports is the next big thing, and that the esports industry is structured to meet its full growth potential.

cover four categories, including the Esports Shaker of the Year, which recognises the game changer of the year. There are also three projectbased categories - the Media Shaker, the Brand Shaker and the Sport Shaker - rewarding the association of esports with another business sector, each allowing esports to reach new audiences. The Game Shakers Awards finalists and the Esports Shaker of the Year will be chosen by a top-level international jury, comprising: • Christina Alejandre, former GM of ELEAGUE & VP of Esports, Turner • Moritz Altmann, Senior Director Esports, Lagardère Sports Germany

events

Jean Alessi is the first Ambassador FORMER F1 DRIVER AND ESPORT ACADEMY FOUNDER JEAN ALESI IS GAME SHAKERS AMBASSADOR

Photo by jeanalesiesa.com

• Jason Fung, Global Esports Director, Alibaba Group • Susie Kim, General Manager, London Spitfire (Overwatch Team) • Nate Nanzer, VP & Commissioner, Overwatch League, Blizzard • Ralf Reichert, CEO, ESL • Mike Sepso, cofounder of MLG • Wouter Sleijffers, CEO, Fnatic

• Arnd Benninghoff, EVP, MTG & CEO MTGx • Ed Chang, Director Business Strategy esports, EA Competitive Gaming • Matthieu Dallon, Strategy Advisor Webedia, General Partner, Trust Esport VC Fund • Leo De Biase, CEO ESL Brazil, Founder & Partner BBL • Alban Dechelotte, Head of Sponsorship & Business Development EU Esport, Riot Games

About EsportsBAR Cannes 2019 Esports BAR Cannes is back to unite the world’s best business minds in esports, actively hunting for new collaboration opportunities… A 3-day unique experience to help you develop efficient long-term businesses with peers and non-endemic partners. The Forum The Forum is a 3-day conference & networking programme designed to help delegates develop their business strategy in esports and grow their expertise.

1-to-1 Matchmaking Exclusive club mingling top esports tastemakers with non-endemic top management executives. This unique mix of industry leaders only grows more diverse: next February our BARtenders will welcome buddies from over 50 countries, a cosmopolitan menu with esports leaders from all over the globe. The Forum offers: Mentoring & Business Insight Sessions: To help you meet and be mentored by the people that are driving the future of esports. Demo Space & Showcases: Featuring a bunch of industry key players willing to showcase their latest projects. Unparalleled Networking Opportunities: The Forum is the place to network with the finest executives of entertainment.

Awards Official Partners

events

Ryan Wyatt, Head of Global Gaming & VR, Content & Partnerships at YouTube is confirmed to keynote on Tuesday 12 February 2019 at Esports BAR Cannes.

YouTube’s Ryan Wyatt to keynote at Esports bar cannes. 2019 central theme is ‘Esports is the next stop for entertainment’

yatt, will discuss how YouTube has become the largest gaming platform in the world as part of Esports BAR Cannes’ overall conference theme ‘Esports is the next stop for entertainment.’

The third edition of Esports BAR Cannes (February 12-14) will bring together more than 300 esports specialist, including representatives of endemic and nonendemic brands, game publishers, agencies, media and streaming platforms, sports and esports organisations, leagues and teams. Ryan Wyatt oversees two businesses at YouTube, both the Gaming business and the growing Virtual Reality business. As the Global Head of Gaming, Ryan leads a team from around the world to manage global Gaming Publisher partnerships, Top Gaming Creators, live streamers and Esports Leagues. In addition to his Gaming role, Ryan leads the Global VR business overseeing global strategy, VR first companies, content and operations

work, budget development, and crossfunctional work. Ryan Wyatt joined YouTube in 2014 to create the Gaming vertical, and has since lead Gaming at YouTube to be the biggest Gaming content platform in the world with 220 million daily users logged in daily to watch gaming, and has also done the same for the Virtual Reality video business on YouTube. Ryan Wyatt was named in the Forbes “30 Under 30” list in the Games category for Top Young Designers, Executives and Players. Ryan is also a New York Times best-selling author with his work on “OpTic Gaming: The Making of eSports Champions”. With Esports BAR choosing “Esports is the next stop for entertainment” as its central theme, speaker after speaker will focus on how esports is reaching out to non-endemic audiences and in the process attracting new sponsors, new brands and new groups.

Newzoo’s 2018 Report: Insights Into the Newzoo has made its annual Global Games Market Report available to subscribers. The landmark report, the industry standard for understanding and sizing the global games market, provides a detailed breakdown of the market in terms of revenue and gamer forecasts per segment. The report also explores market trends that are shaping and driving the gaming landscape and provides a detailed look at the latest developments per segment and region. The data is provided on a global and regional level along with detailed revenue projections and consumer insights for 28 countries.

There were more than 2.3 billion active gamers in the world last year, of which 46%, or 1.1 billion, spent money on games. The games market reached $134.9 billion in 2018, with digital revenues accounting for 88% of the market, or $118.7 billion. Mobile gaming contributed for 47% of all revenues, smartphone and tablet gaming grew +12.8% year on year to $63.2 billion.

Introducing Newzoo’s Game Enthusiast Segmentation Gaming has evolved into an all-around entertainment phenomenon. If you add

Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report is an annual subscription service that includes quarterly trend and forecasting updates, as well as access to an online dashboard with continuously updated gamer and game revenue forecasts by country and segment. The service is subscribed to by the majority of the world’s leading games, media, hardware, and entertainment companies.

up all playing and viewing hours, gaming is the world’s favorite pastime. Buying and owning physical products that are specifically developed for gaming adds to the possibilities for consumers to enjoy their passion for games. How a person divides his or her time and/or money over playing, viewing, and owning differs greatly. An additional overlying dimension is how actively people share or engage with gaming content and discussions on social networks and other (online) communities. Currently, a consumer with an interest in games might split his or her time between playing the game and reading about it online or discussing with other enthusiasts in an online community. Others might use their free time to watch their favorite streamer on Twitch or investigate the latest gaming mouse or GPU card products available. The act of playing a game no longer encapsulates all the ways people engage with game content. For example, there is a fast-growing group of millions of “lapsed” gamers who now

reports

$134.9 Billion Global Games Market watch esports to express their passion for gaming. The term “gamer” has become obsolete. To reflect this changing engagement in the games market, we are introducing a new way of segmenting game enthusiasts, regardless of platform and content. For this purpose, we performed extensive research in 28 countries simultaneously, allowing in-depth profiling of all segments. The goal of segmenting the market is to understand more than 2 billion people globally who engage with software, video, and hardware. Breaking down the gaming community by level of engagement offers valuable input to size potential markets, focus marketing strategies, and gauge the potential of a new product or service. By combining these levels of engagement, we can identify types among game enthusiasts. At the heart of these segments is the community that creates and shares gaming experiences. In total, the new segmentation allows us to identify

and size 64 potential types of game enthusiasts.

Selected Key Market and Industry Trends The Rise of Immersive and Competitive Gaming on Mobile In the past year, mobile skeptics were proven wrong once again as publishers managed to create games for mobile in genres considered too complex for mobile screens and controls. Several games were launched successfully, rivaling the immersive experience of role-playing games or the competitiveness of a multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA). Launched at the end of 2015, Tencent’s Honor of Kings was the highestgrossing mobile game in 2017 and boasts 200 million monthly active users in China alone. By limiting the time spent per match and the number of abilities flying on screen at one time, Tencent created a mobile MOBA experience that rivals PC MOBAs in competitiveness. Netmarble’s Lineage

II: Revolution offered an immersive massive multiplayer experience with stunning visuals, but limited the typical grind associated with MMO-RPGs with an auto-play mechanic that lets players focus on other tasks while playing the game. This year, Fortnite for iOS and PUBG Mobile show that Western markets are equally ready for core gaming experiences on mobile. Mobile Ports to Boost or Revive Popular Game Franchises Now that publishers have established that mechanics from PC and console games can be successfully adapted to mobile screens, ports to mobile are becoming increasingly popular. Games based on popular franchises or IP are launched on mobile to either attract attention for upcoming larger releases, such as Pokémon Quest in anticipation of two Pokémon games launching on Switch later this year. Publishers can also benefit from the popularity of their franchise in regions where mobile gaming is the preferred gaming platform. 19

INTERVIEW

MATTHIEU DALLON “School yard talk is no longer about Djokovic’s last match”

sports entrepreneur since 2000, Matthieu Dallon is the ESWC creator (Electronic Sports World Cup) and the founder of the platform Toornament.com, empowering thousands of eSports organizations worldwide. In 2016, Dallon also founded the nonprofit and federative organization France

Esports, along with the French Ministry of Economy and the major game publishers (SELL & SNJV) and became its first President. Matthieu Dallon is now managing Trust Esport, a venture capital fund dedicated to early-stage investments in esports startups, cofounded with FIMALAC, the holding of Webedia.

INTERVIEW

You’ve worked in e-sports for almost 20 years now. Would you say e-sports is less of a niche interest now and has taken off with the general public? Thanks to Fortnite and League of Legends, we now associate e-sports with multiplayer games, or games that have a competitive aspect. So, in this sense, yes, online and multiplayer gaming have become mainstream. It’s the advent of what we can call the “Esportainment”. However, the professional side of e-sports, its global leagues or major events, its core champions and clubs, have not yet reached all generations, neither general media as a fully-fledged content. I think after 20 years of e-sports growth, we’ve only completed about half of the journey. Where does Europe stand compared with other regions? In terms of investment (as venture capital or brands for communication), the United States dominates. For audiences, China dominates. Europe regularly has top players on podiums or engaged in top clubs. I think we have a role to play in two areas: regulation (by promoting e-sports supervising bodies and organisations that can serve as models for the community and the ecosystem) and innovation (by supporting visionary projects on the needs of e-sports titles and champions). This is the mission of the venture capital fund Trust Esport. You’ve just created Trust Esport, a venture capital fund for e-sports. Who is it for and what are its missions? With Trust Esport, we will invest about $25M over 3 years to launch 10 to 12 new companies whose goal will be to improve the viewing experience, to develop audience monetisation and to optimise the playing conditions. Improvement of the viewing experience is a core issue. E-sports competitions currently attract a certain type of

spectator who is familiar with these games; not so much coming from other communities of gamers, an almost no non-gamers. This is because the games are primarily created to be played rather than watched, even though they may have spectator modes. Unless a studio creates one day a universal game – equivalent to what football has been in the 20th century for the general public – I think it’s possible to improve existing games and their streaming experience, through content, data, innovation, interactivity, tutorials, second screens, etc. All this would obviously be done to increase audiences and to improve engagement.

The second mission focuses specifically on supporting solutions for the monetisation of these audiences. Recent studies show that a fan of “traditional” sports (a group receding in the 15-24 age group) spends more money than an e-sports fan. Game publishers, through in-game purchase, are already making direct revenue from e-sports audience. Based on these two findings, I think it’s imperative to develop platforms, services, apps and content that provide effective monetisation of fans outside the games. This may also reinforce the entire esport ecosystem in a sustainable way. Our third and final mission is to optimise playing conditions, in terms of interfaces (innovative technologies and/or accessories), security (anticheat measures, authentication) and connectivity (better pings, VPN gaming, server stability and deployment, etc.). Amateur/online e-sports still suffers

from too much inequality, mainly because of the playing conditions. Our aim is to reduce this. Are traditional game publishers investing in e-sports enough? Are they not missing the boat? No, e-sports growth is accelerating thanks to game publishers who have invested heavily, initially to develop good e-sports games and then to create spectacular events, professional leagues, student leagues and future amateur leagues. The issue right now is more about getting them to share their return on investment with the entire ecosystem, so that e-sports and independent stakeholders (clubs, platforms, agencies, media, etc.) can implement sustainable business models. What would you say to those who think the current enthusiasm of brands and investors will create an economic and financial bubble? The enthusiasm we’re seeing from brands is just a reallocation of money previously invested in traditional sports now being invested in e-sports. All studies are showing that consumers under 25 years old are shunning the television set, linear content and even sports broadcasts. It’s no longer in their DNA to live out their dreams through this type of content. School yard talk is no longer about Djokovic’s last match, or how their football club is doing in the league. They talk about Fortnite, Ninja, Fnatic, Vitality and the next GTA. As for investment, especially in pro teams or sports rights, we are still a very long way from the value of football clubs or NBA teams, even though the audiences and reach on digital media are already comparable.

2019 seems like the right time to enter the world of esports Author: Andy Fahey, Esports Lead, PwC

t is quite possible that the biggest esports organisation in two years time has not yet been founded or is currently operating in a different market. The speed of growth and pace of change in the industry is such that this is a near certainty in five years.

This rather bold statement derives from growth expectations, increased number of market speculators and diversification within the ecosystem. Add to this the burgeoning wave of popularity attractive demographics and global reach, and 2019 appears to be the time to enter the market.

Converging on the growing esports market PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2018-2022 shows significant global growth in esports over the next five years, from US$800m to US$1.5bn at a rate of 20% per annum. This growth is being underpinned by sharp upturns in revenue from media rights, sponsorship and funding of professional teams.

There is a conveyor belt of new market entrants and speculators waiting to dip their toes in. The pipeline is strong. Each new entrant grows the ecosystem either through financing and/or expertise. This increases the maturity of the market, which in turn attracts more market entrants. These forecasts and current trends are being driven by major innovation and increased reliability in technology, as well as a marked change in consumer behaviour.

The race to invest There are a number of major partnerships being struck throughout the esports ecosystem, almost weekly. These partnerships involve major global brands and investors, and will likely be the catalyst for larger numbers of partnerships 22

involving similar sized brands on a similar scale. For example, PwC’s Sports Survey 2018 found that 74% of traditional sports teams surveyed are likely to invest in esports teams—with 70% of traditional sports leaders considering it necessary to develop a strategy to enter the space. Therefore, can big names afford to wait before committing? Previously, deals were made on a micro level to test the market, or there has been a light-touch partnership to learn about the ecosystem. Recent deals have been far bigger and have a degree of longevity about them. Also, there are only so many major opportunities. There is a finite number of major globally recognisable teams, even fewer top titles, few major publishers, a handful of recognisable event organisers, and a finite number of global tournaments. Another element involves the highly valued local markets, which provide a

brands

little more uncertainty, while looking to back the next big thing in a competitive start up environment. As the industry grows, more opportunities for investment and sponsorship will develop through stimulated growth, which will bring further opportunities. So all is not lost for hesitant investors and there will likely be opportunities down the line. It may just cost a bit more to enter the market at that point.

Challenges that lie ahead All this good news does not come without challenges. This is natural for any growth business or industry, and these challenges may require the esports network and community to collectively take them on. Therefore, it is worth casting an eye over potential bumps in the road that may halt progress. Regulation There are benefits to some regulation: compliance with authorities, providing assurance, investor confidence and player welfare. Regulation can also create challenges related to administration, costs and lack of agility. When regulation does come, it should be challenged if not fit for purpose, but certainly not fought. Regulation, implemented wisely, will most likely enhance and stimulate growth.

Monetise the viewer Managed carefully, successful monetisation could lead to exponential growth. Failing to do so could risk stagnation. This could be through direct monetisation such as ticketing, merchandise and esport-specific subscriptions. Links to general gaming, mainstream media subscriptions and third-party involvement can help drive indirect monetisation. Diversity and perception Esports is a male-heavy environment and will need to work hard on increasing diversity and driving more inclusion. By doing this, the perception of the industry will start to change and unfair stereotypes will be broken down. Improving diversity and changing perception allows the market to open up to many more people, which will only encourage more investment and more

Andy Fahey Global Mobility Director and Esports Lead Based in London, I am the UK esports lead and I chair our global esports network supporting the esports ecosystem.

sponsorship. A win for everyone. Encountering new challenges demonstrates progress and confirms the market is moving forward. A lack of any new challenges could indicate the market is standing still. So what next? 2019 will be a pivotal year for esports. Non-endemic brands could increasingly enter the space, as could renowned major tech companies. With some guidance, they will find a market entry point that works for their strategy, brand and culture. This will involve a change in sponsorship programmes. Private equity, fashion & retail, consumer goods and automotive industries will all increase their market presence. You will see new market entrants from seemingly less relevant sectors—such as not-for-profit, energy and utilities—as well as an increased number of celebrity endorsements. The common goal would be moving from a saturated market—one that is very familiar and loyal to the company’s brand, its services or its competitors—to a new market that opens up a whole new demographic, many of whom may be new to the brand and services the company provides. In 2019, all of these factors could have a major impact on the future direction of global esports.

REGULATION

GLI & eSports ®

Keeping Integrity in the Game

Salim Adatia Vice President, iGaming & Canadian Services at Gaming Laboratories International, LLC

he 2019 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas underscores the rapid rise of eSports to mega-stardom. Some of the many eSports topics at this year’s CES tradeshow include “Esports: The New Playground for Marketers,” “The Technology of Sports and Fan Experience,” and “Esports: Powered by Technology.” There’s even a “CES Sports Zone” dedicated to the cutting-edge evolution of sports technology and emerging trends in eSports.

The meteoric rise of eSports and the resulting attention eSports is getting from the gaming industry comes as no surprise. According to a recent Goldman Sachs investor report, eSports is already outpacing some major league sports audiences, such as Major League Baseball. Goldman Sachs notes that the average monthly eSports audience size in 2018 was around 167 million and they predict that this figure will jump to 276 million by 2022. More people watch eSports events on YouTube and Twitch

than HBO, Netflix, and ESPN combined. Asia is by far the eSports Goliath, notes Goldman Sachs, with approximately 442 million gamers; contributing upwards of one-third of the industry’s total revenue. And Deloitte’s TMT Group predicts that the global eSports market will generate $1 billion in revenue in 2019. With the explosion of eSports globally, the potential for new revenue streams and the opportunity to drive more Gen Xers and Millennials to traditional

REGULATION

land-based casinos via eSports events has also not been lost on the gaming industry. Moreover, the propensity to wager on eSports events is growing exponentially. According to a report by Chris Grove, a gaming industry analyst, and partner with Narus Advisors and a senior consultant with Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, U.S. eSports fans wagered approximately $715 million on eSports in 2016. Grove notes in his report that there are multiple scalable entry points for gaming operators and suppliers to enter the eSports arena, including competitive events, skill-based gaming, and online platforms that drive opportunities for land-based operators to build a base of loyal eSports players. This revenue potential, says Grove, extends to competitive onsite eSports events and tournaments, including exhibition matches, and regional and national competitions. Additionally, various ancillary events, such as eSports conventions, fantasy camps, after-parties, and fan meet-and-greets are just some of the many avenues gaming operators could pursue to enhance their eSports revenue stream. Gaming operators are also looking to cash in on the rapidly expanding eSports phenomenon by developing venues and competitive arenas specifically designed for eSports gamers. In 2016, the Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino opened one of the area’s first eSports lounges by converting an existing highlimit table games area on the casino floor into what it calls the “Downtown Underground.” The lounge hosts weekly eSports tournaments with cash prizes, supporting 1v1 up to 6v6 competition. The area features several viewing screens and can even be used as a team “boot camp.” The Luxor Las Vegas on the Strip has made an even more significant investment in eSports with its high-tech

HyperX eSports Arena. This 30,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art multi-level facility features such amenities as a 50foot LED video wall, telescopic seating, unique food and beverage offerings, and a network-TV quality broadcast studio. It clearly demonstrates the paradigm shift that is taking place within the gaming industry as major gaming operators seek to establish a dominant foothold in the lucrative eSports market.

GLI’s veteran eSports team is not only passionate about the sport but also about ensuring continued integrity within organized competitions. They couple their video game experience with GLI’s unique position in the gaming industry, resulting in an unmatched skillset that helps the industry to self-regulate with technical acumen while also instilling confidence to stakeholders within environments where regulated traditional gaming takes place. GLI can provide eSports expert consultation in a variety of areas, including creating procedures for verifying eSports gaming equipment; controls to prevent locally installed cheats; procedures for documenting and vetting athletes; best practices for preventing match-fixing and ensuring the integrity of IT infrastructure; best practices for rules, controls, exceptionhandling, and anti-corruption; and certification of equipment for eSports wagering for compliance with sports betting regulations. Contact GLI’s eSports Team today and learn how we can assist you to provide stakeholders with assurance that your eSports platform is random and secure. For more information, please visit gaminglabs.com.

Gaming Laboratories International (GLI®) is the world’s leading provider of advanced testing, certification, assessment, and professional services for the global gaming and lottery industries. Our primary focus is ensuring the integrity of the game for operators, suppliers, regulators and – ultimately – the gaming public. GLI has nearly 30 years of experience in iGaming and sports wagering and is proud to have worked with some of the iGaming industry’s leading eSports operators for their testing in Europe and the Americas.

How esports is changing the way we consume sports The esports market is growing and innovating rapidly, with new games, teams, and competitions entering the market on an ongoing basis. On top of that, we are seeing new ways to experience, interact with, and monetize live, ultra-low latency esports streaming. Editor: Geert Faber

hen it comes to gamifying the viewing experience by combining trivia, predictions, betting, and shopping into a seamless experience, Ex Machina Group has a wealth of experience. A proprietary blend of live streaming, entertaining content, and interactive features in an ultra-low latency infrastructure has made the Amsterdam-based company a frontrunner in interactive esports entertainment.

While esports are rightly looking at the much more profitable traditional sport leagues, the NFL is making $14B a year with an estimated $350M for esports in the US. This shows that the leagues are innovating rapidly in enhancing the viewing experience, involving the viewers and creating

fandom. The esports market is also attracting a younger audience compared to traditional sport fans â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a group that is more likely to engage with the broadcast, the game, and the athletes as they watch. Meanwhile, platforms like Twitch are focusing more on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;multiplayer entertainment,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; bringing viewers and content creators together using tools like chat, interactive panels, and stream overlay extensions. Having specialized in viewer engagement for many years, Ex Machina Group has a wealth of experience developing interactive live streams and Twitch Extensions that allow game developers and content creators to add an interactive layer to the Twitch experience, changing the way we consume esports.

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to avoid any hint of influencing or fixing the game.

Investment Example of live predictions during the broadcast of an EA FIFA 19 Game on Twitch

Three ways to enhance the esports experience The first opportunity provided by this new type of sports entertainment is the personalization of the viewing experience based on viewer preferences. For example, Genvid Technologies offers a cloud-based game engine that runs in real-time, allowing the viewer to select their camera angle, change their interface, track players, and view a real-time map. FACEIT used this add-on during their CS:GO league in London as part of a premium pass that viewers could purchase. This type of extension makes the viewing experience more entertaining for the fans while creating a new revenue source for the leagues. The second opportunity is the gamification of the esport viewing experience and the opportunity to reward viewers for interacting with the stream. EA has already implemented this technology with their FIFA Global Series using a Twitch Extension that allows viewers to predict gameplay (‘Who will score the next goal?’), test their knowledge with trivia questions, and give feedback by answering polls. This way, viewers can score points, rank on a leaderboard, and even win prizes without leaving the viewing experience. Other uses include real-time game stats, tournament information, and

player lineups. Our experience shows that engaged viewers watch for longer periods of time and are more loyal to the content. The third opportunity is encouraging engagement by allowing viewers to pick sides and cheer for their favorite teams. For example, when Blizzard Entertainment collaborated with Twitch for The Overwatch League, viewers were encouraged to cheer using team-specific Bits inside a chat window. As a reward for using the feature, participants were able to unlock special emotes to be used in the chat, and the bits used to cheer for each team were displayed to increase friendly competition. It’s a clever way to drive fandom around teams and create competition between viewers.

As the esports market grows, major non-endemic brands are entering the market to sponsor events, with the goal of reaching young and involved audiences. The latest numbers from Newzoo show that the global esports economy was worth around $905.6 Million last year, with the majority of this growth coming from advertising. Brands see the value of interactive viewing experiences, along with the potential to reach a more loyal and engaged audience. Meanwhile, traditional sports teams are also investing in the market by signing up players and developing teams specifically for esports, bringing the two worlds even closer together. These investments will drive future innovation for the viewing experience. Over the years, Ex Machina Group has earned a proven track record as a reliable partner for brands, media, e-commerce, and esports companies. In 2009 Ex Machina supported Microsoft in launching 1 vs. 100 on Xbox, which turned out to be a big success as one of the first real-time, massive scale, shared experiences between players and viewers. Since then, Ex Machina has invested in tools for ultra-low latency live streaming, interactive entertainment, and live shopping experiences. Exciting gameplay, engaged viewers, and new digital platforms make esports the perfect area to develop monetizable viewing opportunities using our technology. This is currently transforming esports, which in turn will forever change the way we consume sports.

In the coming years, these developments are sure to evolve, and more leagues will start selling premium passes, launching loyalty programs, and supporting the broadcast with predictions and trivia. Currently, one of the most profitable (but challenging) opportunities is betting: predicting the outcome of a game and betting during a Ex Machina Group is market leader in broadcast is already popular innovative, interactive multiplatform (video) in China, but it’s still a tricky solutions for brands, media, e-commerce, and market in the US due to esports companies worldwide. legislation and leagues wanting More info: www.exmachinagroup.com or contact us: info@exmachinagroup.com.

Leo De Biase BBL Founding Partner and ESL Brazilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO

YES: We have eSports in Brazil

ith 3.5 billion fans on several continents, soccer is the most popular sport in the world. But that position is now threatened by esports which, in 2018 alone, engaged more than 395 million viewers globally. This number is

expected to rise to 456 million by 2019. Still, in 2018, the segment handled more than US$ 900 million, up nearly 40% from 2017, according to data advisor Newzoo. Revenues are expected to total US$ 1.7 billion by 2021. Within this perspective, the Latin American market has stood out as one

of the great powers in the gamer universe â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Brazil being its major player. Currently, Brazil is the third largest country in Esports consumption in the world, behind only China and the USA. The country has 75.7 million gamers, with 18 million of them being Esports viewers. In 2018, the Brazilian gaming market generated revenue of US$ 1.5 billion. With such significant growth, it is no wonder that many companies are looking for ways to connect with this audience, but it is clear that in order to fully explore this potential and to achieve objectives, proper guidance is necessary. After all, this market is still new and brands may fear navigating these waters. However, the treasures that await those successful in reaching the promised land are more than worth the effort.

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up of six studios, broadcast control room, 300-person arena (with a VIP section), pizza oven and social space dedicated the eSports experience. BBL’s headquarters, nicknamed BBLair by the staff, has already hosted major tournaments, such as the Valor of Series regional finals, the finale of the LA League CS:GO, and the Superliga ABCDE championship.

BBL Arena

“Companies no longer know how to talk to millennials. TV no longer talks to them and movies are not interactive enough. This generation heavily uses AdBlock, which makes it even more challenging to impact them. At BBL we have created innovative solutions with differentiated formats that make that impact possible - even if they are using AdBlock”, explains Leo DeBiase, BBL Founding Partner and ESL Brazil’s CEO. Leo is also an advisor/mentor to Esports Bar and a jury member for The GameShakers. BBL came into being precisely for this purpose, to bridge this gap between advertisers and their target audience. BBL makes the communication between the various cores that make up the gamer universe possible. Brands are able to reach their target audience through leagues, tournaments, content channels, events and influencers, all facilitated by BBL. BBL holds the exclusive ESL license for Brazil and produces all of its shows and content for local audiences. In November 2018, BBL inaugurated its new headquarters in São Paulo. There are 1,600 square meters of space, made

Jovem Pan Radio (“JPR”), the largest radio station group in Brazil, is BBL’s partner. Not only does JPR have a huge presence in radio, it also has a large internet foot print due to its Youtube channel, with more than [one hundred] million views. BBL and JPR together bring the production and transmission of radio and internet programs focused on eSports, interviews, analytical and didactic content, humorous sketches, selection of best and worst plays and much more.

Zeva is an eSports narrator in Superliga. He is a natural comedian and with his typical good humor, Zeva unexpectedly visited different digital influencers (once per transmission). After surprising the influencer, the two sat down to talk about various topics while eating Burger King sandwiches and desserts. “The Burger King / Uber Eats activation with Zeva was a success and generated a lot of impact in the community. In fact, it had such an impact that it even increased the sale of sandwiches”, says Leo De Biase. “By monitoring social media, we have seen that the championship’s audience started to consume Burger King more often especially while watching the games and/or the livestream of the influencer surprised by Zeva.” This case is just one example of the creativity allowed by eSports and brought into being by BBL.

Case Study The Success of Superliga

The future of the Brazilian Market

Superliga ABCDE, a League of Legends tournament, brings together the most prominent teams in the Brazilian scenario for a fun, fan focused and lighthearted experience. Superliga was created as a gift to the community which supports League of Legends. They get the super competitive CBLOL as their National Championship and Superliga as their lighthearted, meme maker, competitive fun championship that works as an official off-season tournament. The strength of this approach was validated by the partnerships with NET (largest Brazil ISP), Burger King and Uber Eats. BBL created for Burker King and Uber Eats an activation called “Invasão do Zeva” (“Zeva’s Invasion”). Nothing like this activation was ever seen the in the Brazilian gaming market. Inspired by old TV shows and adapted for an eSports approach and language, the idea was a perfect fit for the brands.

Brazil is known for dedicated and passionate fans and this is also true in eSports. A great example of this was ESL One BH (in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais) in June 2018. Even though the championship started on the same day the Brazilian National Squad debuted in the World Cup, almost 15,000 people went to Mineirinho stadium, watched matches, cheered and had a great time. The Brazilian audience in eSports is projected to surpass 30 million people by 2020, according to Newszoo. In the battle for audience, the future heavily favors eSports. According to the data consultancy, there are currently more young Brazilians, aged 10 to 20 years old, interested in eSports than in soccer.

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Player One Player One has a full dedicated website, daily content on livestream and two weekly TV shows.

Back in 2013, the digital responsibles at TyC Sports –the major sports TV channel in Argentina- saw there was an opportunity around videogames and esports. Fabian Minotto and Pablo Monti decided it was time to start publishing some news on the channel’s website and covering local events. ix years later, Player One –the new sub brand for this contenthas a full dedicated website, daily content on livestream and two weekly TV shows. After all this, TyC Sports became not only the first big media company to bet on esports, but also the most involved now, winning prizes as best videogame TV show three years in a row and even organizing their own competitions. Also, TyC Sports has an international signal that is available in all Latin America and Spanish speaking United States.

Esports industry in Latin America keeps growing and in Argentina the scenario looks the same. TyC Sports made the first big contract with a non endemic brand to sponsor a competition. Their FIFA tournament had the truck manufacturer IVECO as main sponsor and the tournament became the TyC Sports IVECO League. The commitment

with the competition and the players let them earn the right of being the first ever to qualify for the World Cup. As a Global Series Qualifier, it gave slots for the EA Sports FIFA eWorld Cup and had the best players of Argentina on the roster. Things were not that ideal back in the beginning. Although there were many competitions, there was not a serious and sustained offer for players to fully dedicate. That is the main reason why Player One decided to organize events. As a media company, the logical thing to do would have been acquiring broadcasting rights of third party events, but there were not any trustable. Organizing their own tournament not only gave them secure content, but also helped the hole scene to bet on doing things right. EA Sports FIFA was a logical firt experience since football is the most

popular sport in Argentina. But TyC Sports also had Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Hearthstone tournaments and plans for 2019 seem to add more esports to their content offer. The quality of the product made them gain the trust of most of the publishers, letting Player One be invited to many big events around the globe: E3, FIFA eWorld Cup, Pro Evolution Soccer League, Hearthstone events, EA Showcase, PlayStation Experience, Xbox tournaments and more. TyC Sports and Player One will continue to work with videogames and esports since they became the first traditional media company to have a specific Gaming and Esports Department. Their goal is not only to help esports industry explode in the region, but also to be part and continue as a media leader around this content.

Esports. Latin America

A growing market A sports TV channel Esports content Regional reach

The major sports TV channel in Argentina

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Southeast Asia The esports world’s fastest growing region. Gaming Population in Southeast Asia.

The gaming and esports market in the Asia-Pacific region is the biggest in the world, generating about 52% of global game revenues with over $66.2 billion in 2018. With a total gaming population reaching over 1.2 billion last year, Newzoo expects even higher numbers for the region in 2019. significant part of that is due to Southeast Asia, one of its most active regions in esports where it’s popularity has exploded in recent years, leaving local and international companies seeking ways to tap into the market.

According to research by Newzoo, Southeast Asia is the esport’s fastestgrowing region, with nearly 19 million esports enthusiasts, and will experience a surge in growth in the next years driven by its constantly growing audience (over 31.9 million in 2019), as well as the addition of new leagues and tournaments. Part of the gaming boom comes from last year’s announcement that esports

would become a competitive sport at the 2022 Asian games, and the inclusion as a medal event in the 2019 SEA Games, which will be held in the Philippines starting in November. Revenue from PC games alone was projected to reach $1.1 billion by the end of last year, and then surpass $2 billion in 2021, while revenue from mobile games already surpassed that of PC games this year and is projected to grow exponentially.

This is probably the main reason behind why the ASEAN market could be easier to penetrate contrasted with countries like China for example, representing a huge opportunity for local and international companies. However, each country’s different culture, regulations, spending behaviours and gamer preferences means that there is no single approach for the entire region, and that each esports strategy must be carefully considered and wisely prepared.

Southeast Asia’s jump into the global esports market can likewise be ascribed to the region’s familiarity with English, where it’s already an official language in countries such as the Philippines or Singapore.

Mineski Corporation The premier Southeast Asian Esports ecosystem.

MET (Mineski Events Team) A world-class

esports organizer !

eing the premier esports organization in Southeast Asia, Mineski Corporation, as a whole, is committed to bring innovation and encourage the growth and quality of esports since more than a decade.

Sensing the potential of esports as a sustainable industry in the region and armed with its high knowledge and experience, Mineski looks to lead the charge towards elevating esports from all possible angles, be it through competition, infrastructure, or fan support. This it does via example, from event production and coverage, tournament support, cybercafe operations, and professional gaming management. The Mineski Group is present in 7 countries in Asia with 1,500 employees across esports, internet café, high-end production and run several hundred events per year from small gathering to Arena events, for official events and organizers all across the globe (Valve, Riot, Blizzard...) and is currently focusing in several business units: MET Events (major esports organizer in Asia, AAA esports production company) Mineski Infinity (more than 150 cybercafe branches in SEA) Mineski Professional Team (Total prize money earned: $1,491,684.72) MET Entertainment (Mineski TV, Mineski Studio, Talent management)

he events branch of Mineski, MET, South-East Asia’s only AAA esports production company, provides some of the best and the biggest gaming events in the esports industry, developing a new era of entertainment for a savvy, digitally focused millennial audience throughout the whole of Asia in order to raise the bar of the esports industry.

MET creates and promotes gaming experiences the same way world’s biggest sports leagues create and promote their games, helping to grow the esport industry all over Asia being able to fully manage them from scratch and through all possible angles : Esports strategies - Event Management - League Operations - Marketing Production Services - Post-Production services – Medias – PR - Social Media Promotions - Talent Management…

With more than 300 employees around Asia and four “AAA” production teams (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand) with the most senior esports executive in each country, MET is able to operate throughout the majority of Asian territories be it through owns and partners office (Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Myanmar, Cambodia, India…). Being one of the preferred partner of various game developers and international brands in SEA such as Valve, Blizzard, Riot, Asus, Singtel, GO-JEK, etc, MET has organized more than three hundred (300) events all across Asia, from small gathering to major arena events such as The Manila Masters 2017 (40 million views – audience peak : 3,7 Million viewers), Vainglory World Finals 2017, The MPGL Asian Championship, Garuda Cup by Tokopedia, PUBG SEA Finals…, with the majority of mega events and national championships broadcasted on TV.

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Preparing $2 million (IDR 30 Billion) investment in Indonesia for 2019, Mineski is committed to bring esports industry in Southeast Asia to the next level through all possible angles. Proving its commitment, MET has planned to conduct its own massive

The Manila Masters 2017 MET Events $250,000 USD prize pool 40 million views Overall reach of 750 million

In 2019, MET is planning to run The Masters Series in two countries, the first being the Jakarta Masters in Indonesia, where Mineski has built strong partnerships to create unlimited esports ecosystem, including Telkomsel, GO-JEK, and Tokopedia to present the best experience for gamers and esports enthusiasts across the country. ”We are very pleased build partnership with Mineski in Indonesia whose vision

events in Indonesia, such as Garuda Cup, Indonesia Professional Gaming League (IPGL), and The Masters Series. The Masters Series was adopted from the successful Manila Masters 2017 ($250,000 USD prize pool) in the

Philippines, staggering a total of 40 million views and an overall reach of 750 million and more than 15 000 visitors on site over 3 days, securing a spot among Dota 2’s flagship tournaments, on the same level of spectacles as the Valve Majors.

The Masters Series was adopted from the successful Manila Masters 2017 ($250,000 USD prize pool) in the Philippines, staggering a total of 40 million views and an overall reach of 750 million and more than 15 000 visitors on site over 3 days, securing a spot among Dota 2’s flagship tournaments, on the same level of spectacles as the Valve Majors.

is in line with Telkomsel’s to support and advance the gaming industry in the country, or specifically in accordance with our commitment to building a digital lifestyle entertainment ecosystem for the people of Indonesia(…)” said Auliya Ilman Fadli, General Manager Games and Apps Telkomsel. Directly reaching 200 million gamers in 2018, with an average monthly reach of 5,000,000+ unique throughout websites, social media, and streaming

properties across Asia and due to its trackable successes and experience, its huge network and relationship with brands, game developers/publishers, media agencies, professional teams and communities in Asia, but also its priceless experience in working with government and ministries in different countries in Asia, MET is without any doubt the best way to penetrate the most promising but very specific Asian esports market.

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All Eyes on the Middle East Depending on how long youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been in esports you associate the word with different things and different places. Europe has always been seen as the dominant force in PC shooters while RTS and MOBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have seen a string of Koreans and Chinese sitting on the throne. The Middle East is regularly forgotten even though it has produced some of the top talent in a variety of games. he FIFA18 World Champion hails from Saudi Arabia, CS:GO player ISSAA is from Jordan while Miracle- and GH, top DOTA2 players, can trace their roots back to Jordan and Lebanon respectively.

Esports in the Middle East is a few years behind the rest of the World but things are about to change with government and cultural reforms shaping the region. The UAE is working towards their 2021 vision and Saudi Arabia has introduced cultural reforms such as women being able to drive and the opening of cinemas all in support of the 2030 vision for the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is taking the lead in a lot of esports areas with the creation of SAFEIS, a semi-government federation specifically for esports, and companies like SARENA building tournament capable venues across the Kingdom. Recent reports from the Ministry of Statistics and Portas suggest that of the 35M population in Saudi Arabia 6.8M of them play games and roughly 2.6M are involved in esports either playing or watching. It is not uncommon to have 1000 players register and play in a FIFA tournament and SAFEIS is looking 38

to nurture the esports ecosystem by creating a coherent tournament calendar for 2019. The first part of the puzzle is a FIFA league similar to what we are seeing in Europe with eLigue1 and eBundesliga. ESPL is the Electronic

Saudi Professional League and will feature all 16 football clubs from the Saudi Professional League recruiting FIFA players on PS4 and Xbox. Also included in the calendar is a structured league for League of Legends

with a nod to Riot, who recently set up a regional office in Dubai. There are also plans for Overwatch, Tekken, Fortnite and a handful of other game titles during 2019. Though it isn’t all about playing with major smartphone penetration and content consumption supporting the growing trend of Influencers. Ninja made the global headlines throughout 2018 with constant growth in viewership and size of audience on Twitch but in the Middle East the preferred platform is Youtube. Multigamers, a small group of gaming content creators, lead the way

having amassed millions of subscribers and hundreds of millions of views of their videos. Elsewhere in the Middle East we’ve seen the Insomnia Festival from the UK licensed for use across the region with the first Insomnia branded event taking place in Cairo last October. For Professional Teams there is Nasr Esports from the UAE who have some of the world’s best fighting game players and in other parts of the ecosystem there are companies looking to set up content studios, academies, university leagues and regional tournaments.

A lot has changed since ESL hosted their exhibition event in Dubai at the end of 2015 and the future looks bright for gamers, talent and esports companies in the Middle East.

About the Author Philip has been involved in esports for 18 years with experience that includes management of the world’s best esports teams back in the early 2000’s, working for EA SPORTS on FIFA 10 and FIFA 11 and managing brand campaigns for Intel, Microsoft and Telefonica. He has been based in Dubai for the past 3 and a half years and is actively working, via his esports agency Cheesecake Digital, to build the infrastructure across the Middle East.

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Qwatti Taking African esports Off the Bench: esports Promotion Company Qwatti Betting on Africa As Their Next Star Player This booming esports industry has been benched for seasons due to lack of infrastructure, but Qwatti’s common strategy goal might be just what this player needed.

he multifaceted esports promotion and media production company, which works with game publishers, tournament organisers, esports teams and the like, is no stranger to the industry. Having been amongst the first players in converging traditional sports and esports, and having brought some of the most reputable European football clubs to the esports industry, Qwatti is now looking for its next star player market, and it appears the African esports industry might just be looking for the right coach to steer their already existing talent into international waters. Whilst still young, the industry is slowly gaining international recognition for its emerging talent, but the lack of appropriate sponsors and structure is hindering this player. With fierce, stopat-nothing new talent, Qwatti is making the first move in identifying Africa as the next esports continent.

When it comes to infrastructure the current world of esports in Africa resembles many individual athletes working alone towards the ultimate goal: a chance at competing in international, well-known tournaments. This absence of a common strategy is hindering these players who, instead of working together as a team, are working against each other in a 40

counter-productive manner. Companies in different African countries are working alone, focusing on a regional strategy. But it seems that a common strategy could be in the horizon for these aspiring smaller players, with promotion company Qwatti’s recent interest in their talent. Their aim: to promote teamwork so that these companies shift their focus from competing against each other, to competing at the “olympics” of esports. Qwatti’s Guilherme Fraga adds that their “goal is to contribute to the growth of esports in Africa. We need to find the right partnerships to help organize the entire region and work together. If this succeeds, African esports will find a way to move forward”.

“We need to find the right partnerships to help organize the entire region and work together. If this succeeds, African esports will find a way to move forward.” The first step in preparing this aspiring player for success and giving it a chance to step off the bench seems to be improving, or in some cases introducing, local servers. One of the biggest obstacles for the African world of esports is the lack of local servers,

with the current situation resembling both the chicken, and the egg. Qwatti’s Fraga adds that for game publishers it is a matter of having a big enough scene that would justify the investment, whilst adding that if the region is given the servers it requires, the community would grow and therefore become more competitive and inviting. Qwatti, who is ready to invest time in figuring out the needs of this new player, is currently facing the challenge of assessing the true dimension of the esports scene in the region. In the upcoming months the company’s focus is on perfecting and implementing the strategy, one which they believe will help the ecosystem develop without a major investment from game publishers. The company, which also has a white label gaming portal suited for a growing esports audience, is ready to deploy it in other countries. Their goal for the future is to centralize it and connect them all to promote their goal of a connected esports community.

“This entire esports industry has to be built from the ground up.”

Qwatti’s pilot project, which will be running in Angola with their partner Angola Cables, is the company’s first step towards their goal of a common strategy. Fraga reminds that “this entire esports industry has to be built from the ground up,” and it is therefore important to start with a pilot project to accurately track progress. As part of this pilot project, Qwatti will be launching a gaming portal to help organize the community and a centralised calendar to keep track of events. They will also be developing the grass roots and entering in partnerships with schools and universities to make this opportunity available to one of the youngest esports populations in Africa. This partnership with Angola Cables is no coincidence; this partner already has big projects in place to connect African countries to each other through fibre optic cables. Angola Cables already connect the continent to the United States and to Brasil through submarine cables, which can also prove to be a big advantage. Whilst this pilot project may seem like a small step, it could be life-changing for the future of esports in Africa. Fraga highlights that the “partnership [with Angola Cables] could be essential to tackle one of the biggest problems in the region, the lack of infrastructure.”

“This pilot project may seem like a small step, [but] it could be the life-changing for the future of esports in Africa.” For now, Qwatti continues to focus its energies on making this pilot project work. For this movement towards a common strategy, actors need to join forces and resources. With the future of African esports in mind, Qwatti is currently looking for local partners in other African countries in order to hopefully establish similar projects and slowly reach this goal. From telecoms to esports organisations and teams, any partners interested in this common goal should look to join forces with Qwatti so that, together, Africa can become the next esports star player.

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2018 LVP’s best year to date • The company ended the year with record growth. • Its broadcasts were watched by a total of 28.6 million viewers. • LVP (Liga de Videojuegos Profesional, Grupo MEDIAPRO) organized 21 live events across Spain and Latin America with more than 130,000 participants attending. 018 was a watershed year for esports, on all levels. From the continuing professionalization of its competitions and record numbers of viewers and new fans, to the hosting of leading events in large stadiums broadcast around the world. And LVP, the leading esports organization in the Spanishspeaking world, was a part of this huge growth.

more than in 2017. The total number of minutes watched last year also increased: 856 million (up 10%), the result of a significantly greater number of streamed events (531 live programmes, 201 more than last year) and broadcasting hours (4150, up 14%).

Without a doubt, 2018 was LVP’s best year to date. With a presence in more countries than ever, and having organized the largest number of finals held to date, the company ended last year with some very satisfactory figures.

And it is not just about an increase in scope or quantity, but also quality. Last year, in Spain alone, LVP organized leagues for four different disciplines (League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Clash Royale and Call of Duty: WWII), which continue to be well supported by spectators and have made Spain a leading region in terms of deployment and recognition.

Its first great success was in the area of broadcasting, having recorded more than 28.5 million spectators in 2018. This was 64%

Three of these regular competitions held their finals at Gamergy (Madrid, June 2018), the leading esports and videogames fair in Spain

Bilbao Arena Bilbao Arena, with more than 3000 attendees and more than 140,000 spectators.

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created jointly by IFEMA and LVP, which in this, its ninth edition, recorded more than 50,000 attendees over the course of the weekend. On the other hand, for the first time, the League of Legends Orange Super League finals were not held at Gamergy. However, this only increased the value of the competition itself. The Teatro-Circo de Murcia, which sold out all 800 of its seats and had more than 100,000spectators watching the broadcast, and the Bilbao Arena, with more than 3000 attendees and more than 140,000 spectators (both record numbers for a national final), hosted two events that will go down in history. These were two of the 22 finals that LVP organized throughout 2018 in six countries (Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Chile). All these events were attended by a total of more than 130,000 people. In terms of esports broadcasting in Spanish, LVP has established itself as a leader. Twitch is the main platform for online broadcasts, both for video games

(surpassing YouTube) and for esports. Of all the content in Spanish consumed on Twitch during 2018 (160 million hours), 8% corresponded to LVP. The figure is even more striking when the range is limited to esports streaming: of the 21 million hours of esports in Spanish consumed in 2018, 63.7% was through LVP’s channels. And in Spain the percentage increases to 84%.

Expansion has been the hallmark of the company’s recent history, but in 2019 it intends to consolidate itself in regions such as Latin America and the United Kingdom. Although LVP already has leagues in these regions, the organization wants to consolidate the esports sector there and generate a sustainable ecosystem both at the level of sports and at the economic level.

But streaming platforms such as Twitch are not the only platforms on which esports competitions gain visibility; their audiences and participants are also very active on social media. As a result, LVP’s social media platforms, with 505,000 total followers, received more than 500 million hits in 2018, 47% more than in 2017. It is worth highlighting the growth of League of Legends (17%), Clash Royale (112%) and CS:GO (198%).

One of the main developments for Latin America in 2019 will be the hosting of Gamergy. The tenth edition of this event will be special, of course, but not only for Spain. LVP intends to export the Gamergy format to Latin America and provide local followers with a great place to meet. In this way, the Latin American community will be able to enjoy esports on a whole new level.

New challenges for 2019 Although the results obtained in 2018 seem unbeatable, LVP maintains its firm commitment to growing its offer and expanding across borders in 2019.

In addition to improving the infrastructure of its competitions and continuing to be ambitious in the area of events, LVP intends to move forward in the production of audiovisual content. This will affect national competitions especially, with significant product innovations for 2019.

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Giochi Elettronici Competitivi GEC, the Italian acronym for Competitive Electronic Games, is the largest Italian esports network. EC gathers all the different stakeholders of the competitive gaming scene and offers a one-stop source for all esports needs providing services to players, team, tournament organizers, and companies interested in the ecosystem.

Today at global level esports are one of the fastest-growing industry: in the last three years, it grew more than 40% year on year, reaching nearly 1 Billion in revenue in 2018., with a forecasted growth for the next three years of nearly 30%. Shocking numbers who infected also tournaments prize pools: for instance, the 2018 Dota 2 International prize pool broke the Guinness World Record with more than twenty-five million dollars. GEC was born on October 30 of 2014, after an extraordinary year for esports with the Sangam Stadium of Seul full of forty thousand people for the League of Legends Worlds finals. At that time, the Italian scene was present but still not developed and surely not organized. GEC founders have therefore created a network that could gather and regulate tournaments and other activities of the various associations and company present in the country. Since then, Italian competitive gamers are treated as equivalent to athletes who practice sports in an amateur and nonprofessional way.

Over the years, GEC lived a real evolution, dealing not only with promotion and regulation of Italian tournaments but also streaming in Italian the most important international events, pushing the entire Italian industry forward. Boost given also with the direct organization of a national tournament Lega Prima, the toptier official GEC League of Legends championship: an important milestone for hundreds of players and dozens of teams that participated at the three editions of the championship. Among GEC goal also the creation and training of new professional profiles and gamers. At the end of 2018, indeed, it launched the first Italian course to become an esports coach: a necessary path for those who aim to obtain a certification of their skills and the needed know-how to work in the industry. The course lasted more than forty hours and it was a great success with more than fifty people enrolled. Future gamers, competitive or not, have instead the opportunity to learn all Pro Players secrets with GETPRO.gg, the e-learning platform launched in October 2018 about gaming training courses and coaching sessions, where Pro players share their knowledge, experience and tricks to less experienced gamers. To date GEC exceeds 110 active associations, 65.000 members and more than 1.500 tournaments organized across Italy setting GEC as

the cornerstone of the Italian Esports ecosystem.

A recent past on the front line and an even brighter future, as explain Giorgio Pica, CEO and co-founder of GEC: â&#x20AC;&#x153;GEC was born to develop the sector of esports in Italy through a series of activities, products and services that we make available to all who want to operate in this market. With over 100 organizations, esports is present in all regions of Italy: in the first 3 years we have had an average annual growth of members and tournaments of 100% and over 95% of any esports that is carried out in Italy is connected to GEC.Â We are the undisputed leader of the market. Our primary objective is to export our products and services even abroad, starting from GETPRO.gg, the platform with which players can learn directly from professionals and which is only the first of a long series of products that we are planning to develop in the future.â&#x20AC;?

ESPORTS IN ITALY THE LARGEST ITALIAN ESPORTS NETWORK

110+ CLUBS

65.000+ ATHLETES

1.500+ TOURNAMETS

95%

ITALIAN MARKET PENETRATION

NEWS

COURSES

EVENTS

COMMUNITY

MANAGING ESPORTS SECTION OF MAIN SPORT NEWSPAPER

CERTIFIED COURSES FOR COACHES, REFEREES AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS

LIVE NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS & COMPETITIONS

MILLENNIALS ARE OUR FAMILY

THE PLATFORM WHERE YOU CAN LEARN FROM THE BEST PLAYERS Improve on the game you love At your own pace Learn Pro Players secrets

www.gec.gg

info@gec.gg

BECOME UNBEATABLE THE PLATFORM WHERE YOU CAN LEARN ALL SECRETS OF YOUR FAVOURITE VIDEOGAMES FROM THE BEST PRO PLAYERS

IMPROVE ON THE GAME YOU LOVE

AT YOUR OWN PACE

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FIND YOUR GAME CHOOSE THE COURSE BECOME UNBEATABLE

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Gank Academy Helping millions get better at games they love.

Inclusivity

Promoting tolerance and harassment-free spaces.

New Ground

Making Chicago our home and expanding to South East Asia.

To partner or invest, email alex@gankstars.gg

SPOTLIGHT

Gankstars

AGAINST ALL ODDS was in a fetal position on the floor, crying harder than I ever cried before. “It’s going to be okay,” my romantic partner kept repeating, kind as always. Vy was on her knees next to me. But all I could hear were the raging voices in my head. “Gankstars is done!” “You’re a failure like your dad said you were!”

My phone was lying on the floor, next to my head, with Discord still open - a free chat app that many of us in gaming use to communicate. A message from Luke, my COO, was visible on the screen. “I can’t take this anymore. I am packing tomorrow and I’m out! Don’t try to convince me to stay.” Below that were three “You called Luke” status messages;

First Critical Ops World Champions, Amazon Mobile Masters 2018

he didn’t pick up. It wasn’t just that Luke was leaving; it was the timing of it. When it rains, it pours, and Gankstars was in the middle of a monsoon.

It was October 2017 and we were in the final stretch of a business accelerator in NYC organized by R/GA and Verizon. Everything went wrong that year - from Vainglory (the game we started in) losing market traction, to our Clash Royale efforts failing, to a big tournament we were favored to win getting canceled, to Twitch delaying the signing of our sponsorship deal, to even our pre-seed investment running months late. We had plenty of opportunities to make big jumps in esports that year, but we lacked the money. We were burnt out and cooked up in a small

SPOTLIGHT

Elevate & Ceice, Fortnite Champions, WSOE 2018

studio in New York; for three months we took turns sleeping on the bed because sleeping on the couch meant waking up with back pain. I let my emotions run their course until I couldn’t physically produce any more tears, and I went to the restroom to clean up. Then I stood for a long time in front of the mirror, asking myself why I’m doing this. Why should Luke be doing this? Why are any of us doing this? We’re all making far less than at our previous jobs, if anything at all, and we’re all far more stressed out. I thought of the fans we met over the years, from Seoul to London to Los Angeles, whose eyes were full of excitement and inspiration. I thought of the players we had, whose faces betrayed the kind of happiness you can only feel when you win a world championship. I thought of the pride that we, the staff, felt in those moments. As always, I remembered why we were doing this: because we had no other choice. Some people have dreams; others are had by dreams. Gankstars was a gathering of such hopeless dreamers. The crazy ones. Crying on a floor in a fetal position, or whatever your moment of despair looked like - that was hard… but not trying, not giving it all you’ve got, and having to think of what could have been - well, to us that was simply unbearable.

And on December 30th, our Fortnite player Ceice won WSOE, the last major Fortnite tournament of the year! Our dream of proving we can win on PC finally came true. It wasn’t just our individual dreams; we had dreams as a collective, too. We’ve been waiting for over a year for Critical Ops to put on their first big tournament; we couldn’t wait to see our players become the first world champions in the game. And with H1Z1 and Fortnite we wanted to prove that we could win not just on mobile, but on PC, too! We had 99 problems, but a dream wasn’t one. We preached that nothing is impossible, that those who reach can touch the stars. We had to live what we preached. We had to. Somehow I convinced Luke to stay a day longer so that we could talk in person; he ended up staying a year. Twitch sponsorship came through as well, and the pre-seed investment hit the bank soon after. 2017 ended on a good note, but it was 2018 that really delivered. We were invited to H1Z1 Pro League (RIP), where Gankstars-branded in-game items outsold most of Tier 1 teams’. We became Critical Ops world champions. Our players were featured in Game Informer, on Fox Business TV, and on Cheddar Esports. Our revenue doubled, our YouTube subs grew by 235%, and our video views grew by 500%.

The cherry on the cake? Ninja watching a clip of a mobile player and saying ‘No way’. Well, that player is our newly-signed Fortnite mobile pro AdamXLegend. Adam responded with proof - a handcam video which got him 1.3M views in a week. For 2019, we have a new dream: to teach millions of people how to be better players. We’ll be resurrecting Gankstars Academy and are looking for partners who want to be a part of the effort. With all the hype esports industry is getting right now, it’s easy to forget what it’s really all about: each other’s dreams. And the long, windy journey towards them, together. Damn, it feels good to be a Gankstar.

Alex Novosad, Founder alex@gankstars.gg +1-276-494-9623

Robel Efrem CEO & Co-Founder

he crowd of people claiming that esports is not a â&#x20AC;&#x153;realâ&#x20AC;? sport seems to get smaller by the year. As more and more impressive events are hosted, as the prize money and viewership is surpassing that of traditional sports, and as professional gamers start to look more and more like athletes in traditional sports, most people have realized that esports is a cultural force to be reckoned with. And yet esports is still a very young industry growing so quickly that almost no one seems to be able to keep up. The challenges and problems the industry is facing are growing as fast as the opportunities it enables.

Challengermode Empowering the future of esports by building competitive infrastructure from the ground up. Website: www.challengermode.com Contact: partner@challengermode.com

brands

Esports today vs. esports tomorrow But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Let’s get back to basics: It’s worth remembering that esports are not one thing. Many games that are played competitively as esports are night and day from each other and new genres will continue to emerge. Because of this, there’s a lack of standards and reliability. Some even question the applicability of the word esports itself. But consider for a moment a sport like Snooker compared to Snowboarding, they have very little in common with each other but are both sports nonetheless. When you have people competing in an activity and watching it, why not call it a sport? Granted, esports may evolve to look very different in the future, as will computer games (VR anyone?), yet we can be quite sure that people will continue playing competitive games (for fun or profit) and developers will keep creating digital games for many different platforms and technologies, some of which we can’t even imagine today. The point is that regardless of which kind of games make it as esports in the future, or what technology we use to play them, a few basic things are always going to be needed – and are needed – for them to thrive as (e)sports and for players to be able to compete and invest in them, reliably and easily. We believe the following aspects are vital: 1. Esport as a societal phenomenon must get widespread acceptance among the

public and among governments on a national/regional level. 2. Esports needs solid competitive infrastructure, built for hundreds of millions of players - not just a few thousand - that enables: a. Any organizer or company to easily create, host and scale up esports competitions at every level and in a standardized way, especially online. b. Current and future game developers to make their games easily accessible as an esport to not just gamers, but also organizers, brands, broadcasters, and audiences for the games to reach their full potential as esports. 3. Competitive gamers and aspiring esport athletes need a reliable and accessible way to take their hobby to the next level. To those that are willing and able, there must be a clear path to the top. Gamers must have the ability to turn into Athletes. 4. Esports as an ecosystem must enable its constituent stakeholders to monetize each other and external stakeholders in a non-zero sum way, which in turn grows the ecosystem as a whole, sustainably. Challengermode’s project as a company is to solve for 2, 3 and 4. 1 will be accomplished as a result, and from generational shifts. This is why we have built one of the most scalable and automated competitive gaming platforms to date. The platform and its apps are solutions to the

challenges of running large-scale esports competitions and for gamers and organizers to participate in and/ or organize around esports. Through this (and many other projects), it’s our mission to structure the esports scene from the ground up.

Making esports truly accessible We started Challengermode to provide a more accessible competitive gaming experience to regular gamers. As we’ve grown alongside the industry in recent years several new challenges and opportunities have emerged. In particular, we are intent on empowering non-organizers to become organizers with little to no effort, and regular gamers to compete at a skill level that is appropriate to them. By bridging the gap between the non-professional and professional esports worlds on the one hand, and traditional PC-based esports and mobile/console based esports, on the other hand, we want to bring digital esports infrastructure into the 21st century. Built for game developers, brands and tournament organizers, the Challengermode esports platform - available across multiple devices - is connecting a disjointed esports ecosystem from the bottom up. To this end, we’re inviting anyone who wants to scale up their esports efforts to join us on this journey of making esports truly accessible, paving the way for the next generation of esports competitions, games and athletes.

INTERVIEW

Luckbox

Luckbox is a new esports betting platform promising to offer players a “unique, immersive and safe place” to bet on their favourite games. The team have spent the past year working tirelessly to develop a unique product, built from the ground up to perfectly meet the expectations of the modern esports fan. With full launch on the horizon, CEO Lars Lien looks ahead to what will be an exciting 2019 for the company

hat makes Luckbox special? Lars: When we set out on building Luckbox, we identified some areas the esports betting space was lacking. At one end of the spectrum, there were authentic sites tailored to esports fans that didn’t have the regulatory compliance to protect players. At the opposite end, there were big bookies with all the regulation and licensing in place but which were failing to offer an attractive experience for esports fans.

It’s been our goal from day one to combine the regulatory compliance that big, traditional bookies have with a genuine, authentic experience that esports fans will love. Of course, we’re not the only company thinking like this and it’s great for fans and wider esports that others are seeing this opportunity. But, by starting from scratch from a development point of view, we are confident we

have been able to build an industry leading-product that’s agile, modern, scalable and, most importantly, great for users to experience. What were the key milestones for Luckbox? Where to start? There have been many big moments for us as we’ve grown from a team of just two (co-founder Mike Stevens and I) to employing more than 45. We’ve managed to build an amazing team and hired some people we could only have dreamt of bringing on board, all because they bought into the idea and philosophy of what we’re doing. Our CMO is Vadim Soloveychik, the former marketing director at PokerStars. Our COO is Quentin Martin, again another significant hire from PokerStars. We have Frida Ericksson, formerly of Pinnacle, as our Director of Operations. Sujoy

INTERVIEW

Lars Lien CEO Luckbox

Roy joined as Director of Esports after leaving ESL. Some serious talent and gambling industry experience combined with the passion for and knowledge of esports that will ensure Luckbox succeeds. Getting Paul Chaloner - Redeye - in as an ambassador and advisor was a big moment for us. I think that was the point at which people in esports really started to take notice of us and that has helped us build a community who have played their part in shaping Luckbox and who now cannot wait to see the full version. We also made sure the third-party partnerships we made were perfect for us and I’m really happy with those but, I guess, the most important milestone was getting the OGRA licence in the Isle of Man. This was central to our plans as it’s the highest-level gambling licence available and ensures full

player protection and safety. From the business’s point of view, being fully regulated, means that we can access mainstream marketing channels and launch in mobile app stores. Why aren’t other more mainstream betting operators involved? Many are but the concept is outside their normal comfort zone and very few approach it in the right way in terms of benefitting either players or themselves. They may have a token esports offering but they are yet to invest in understanding its depths and nuances. Most have simply bolted esports onto their existing menu. The reality is it’s too different, requiring too much diversion from their existing business, traditional sports. The esports bettor expects a different user experience - one that is more familiar to a ‘gamer’ - and this is what

we are building at Luckbox. Beyond the big-hitters, there are esports-dedicated operators in the market but most don’t understand gambling and aren’t taking advantage of more than two decades’ worth of learning from the traditional gambling industry. Luckbox merges the best of both worlds, an authentic esports-centric product that is built on the foundations and practices of a traditional bookmaker. What next? The countdown to launch is on. It’s been very hard work over these past months but we are getting ever closer and I have to thank our community for not only their support throughout but also for their role on shaping our launch product, with their feedback, suggestions and ideas. It is my sincere hope that they love what we have created. Of course, the proof will be in the product and I’m tremendously excited to show the world what we’ve built. 57

BRANDS

UltraPlay the leading eSports odds and platform provider eSports betting is becoming more significant than ever before lready extremely popular around the globe, eSports is the fastest growing industry that is engaging Millennials like never before. This industry has been growing for the past 15 years recording a tremendous boost in the last 4 years. Now, eSports will be at the 2022 Asian Games in China and could be a medal event in the Paris 2024 Olympics, which strengthens the significance eSports and the betting part of it will have over the gambling operators around the globe in the following years.

Catching the wave at the right moment and with the right knowledge, UltraPlay has established itself as the pioneer in betting on eSports solutions provision. In 2014, UltraPlay was the first company to offer live betting on eSports and now it provides the leading betting brands with the widest eSports betting coverage on the global iGaming market. Betting on eSports is considered as one of the key iGaming trends to be expanded further in terms of technology innovations, playersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; engagement,

and revenue. The main reason for its success story is the fact that eSports betting is offering thrills, entertainment and superb gambling experience to the new and very attractive audience of tech-savvy Millennials.Â

Even though the top 3 eSports titles (CS:GO, Dota 2 and League of Legends) are responsible for more than 60% of the betting volume, extensive coverage is vital. With UltraPlayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s multiple-times award-winning product

Perfect match: crypto betting on eSports

ODDS.gg used as a revolutionary eSports match-predicting system, the iGaming professionals and organizations worldwide are enhanced to reach the best level of gaming experience and offer it to their players. The eSports betting suite of UltraPlay collected 5 awards in 2018 including the Best B2B digital product solution for ODDS.gg from G2E Asia – the leading exhibition taking place in Macao. ODDS.gg can power the sportsbooks with unprecedented number of games, pre-match and live odds. 25+ Games, 3000+ eSports events per month, 1500+ LIVE eSports events, 200+ markets in one feed - this is the revolutionary eSports matchpredicting system ODDS.GG. Wide coverage will continue to be a must and operators would need to adapt to the broader portfolio of game titles Millennials need to see on their websites, like the super popular NBA 2K in the North American market, as well as King of Glory in Asia. Innovative concepts will further penetrate into the live betting segment as well, grabbing the attention of both players and operators. It’s a key aspect responsible for more than 60% of the overall eSports volume finding similarities with the sports betting sector.

Having the right partner with extensive knowledge and experience as well as technological excellence, is a must. As eSports is targeting a completely new audience, betting brands need to adapt their offerings having in mind the following aspects according to UltraPlay: • Rarely do we see crosssale between eSports and other sports. Latest data shows that many sportsbooks need to answer properly to the eSports fans’ expectations not only with coverage but also with on-site features, promotions, etc. • In eSports there are changes in the game rules and mechanics every few months. This requires a deep understanding from the traders about the ins and outs of the game in order to stay on top. UltraPlay traders have between 5000 and 10000 hours watching and analyzing the eSports events, players and tournaments specifics. • When enough game titles and live markets are present, volumes go high. Very much like in regular sports, live betting is responsible for more than 60% of the overall volume. UltraPlay covers more than 1500 live eSports events montly offering 200+ markets players can bet on.

Going beyond the eSports hype, we cannot miss the cryptocurrency impact over the iGaming industry. Experts say that altcoins will be more used in the betting brands in the following years. For example, 55% of the Millennial video gamers own cryptocurrency. So that UltraPlay has been amongst the crypto pioneers with an early Bitcoin adoption as a wagering method back in 2012. Now, the company offers the #1 crypto payment gateway with over 50 cryptocurrencies (and growing) for wagering.

About UltraPlay UltraPlay is a modern technological company, founded in 2010, with the core ambition to offer an innovative approach to the online gaming industry by providing advanced betting solutions, focused on sports and eSports betting, live betting, white label, online casino and blockchain technology. Assembled by a team of iGaming professionals with vast experience in betting product development, operations, eSports and marketing, UltraPlay is a trusted partner for delivering superior sports software and odds products to its customers.

Contact 159 Tsar Boris III Blvd., Floor 13, 1618, Sofia, Bulgaria E: sales@ultraplay.net Mob: +359 893 689 999 www.ultraplay.co

The Real Money Esport Platform Our online platform delivers competitive gaming experiences on both PC and Mobile. We offer complete scalability, and our platform can be connected with any competitive game. Simply put - we give all gamers the opportunity to compete for real money.

Competitive Mobile Gaming Through our partnership with mobile gaming studio Turborilla, we offer an integrated and unique experience for players to compete for real money online in the game Mad Skills Motocross 2.

Our goal is to make esports and competitive gaming accessible to everyone. Empowering every player to feel the thrill of competition from anywhere, at any time, on any device, giving them the opportunity to compete for real money in the games they love.

By clicking on the “esports tournament” button in the main menu of the game, players are redirected to our fully integrated competitive platform, where we offer a variety of pay-to-enter competitions, available 24/7 with varying prize pools.

Competitive PC Gaming GLL is our largest gaming community dedicated to PUBG on PC. Here professionals and amateurs come together to compete in leagues and tournaments on our PC platform: play.gll.gg

We can create a custom white-label solution that is fully integrated to any competitive mobile game, where we arrange online competitive tournaments with real money prizes. We handle all transactions with our safe and secure payment system.

We offer a variety of ways to play and compete for real money in PUBG on our platform. This ranges from 24/7 matchmaking - where anyone can start playing with the click of a button, to small scale daily cups, we also offer larger leagues with weekly Twitch broadcasts viewable by thousands, this is complete with open qualifiers so that anyone can join.

Esport Tournaments We produce state of the art esport tournaments for a variety of games. Our most prominent brand in this space is GLL, where our latest $100,000 Seasonal Grand Finals attracted millions of viewers from around the world.

As an example, any player can participate in our leagues and fight their way to the top to be part of our Grand Finals that’s broadcasted to millions of viewers, essentially becoming an esports star. GLL players can upgrade to become Premium subscribers getting exclusive benefits and rewards including boosted prize pools, Twitch integration, social media integration, exclusive on-demand map functionality, detailed personalized stats and much more.

We’ve also pioneered the mobile esports industry with the first ever studio production for a mobile racing game, Mad Skills Motocross 2 World Championship. Visit our company website, www.gloot.com for more information about G-Loot Experience our PC platform live on play.gll.gg To try our Mobile platform, download Mad Skills Motocross 2 by Turborilla on App Store and click on “esports tournament” in the main menu.

Would esports be better without advertising? w

hat’s with unskippable ads? Is sponsorhip making my favourite streamer self-censor? Is that mechanical keyboard the best... or is this paid content? And why are there so many RT + follow giveaways on Twitter? (Who wins those?)

An Adobe survey found people consider advertising and marketing among the least valuable occupations for society. (There’s a problem Don Draper can’t fix.)

Imagining an esports utopia... No brands, no sponsors. The only ones making content are teams, leagues and event organisers—less FOMO, more homogeneous storylines. Memes are dank. Trash talk isn’t limited by brand safety guidelines. Pro-players just play. No partnership obligations, branded content, mandatory meet-and-greets. Performance skyrockets. No ads, no pre-rolls, no interruptions. Forget ads mid-replay. Go ahead—delete AdBlock!

Offline events? Non-stop entertainment. Event organisers go hard: Concerts, drone races, 3D projections. Indoor fireworks are now the norm. (Make sure your outfit’s flame-proof.) Fans living the dream: Unadulterated esports. The only problem? No access. Esports is for rich kids whose parents buy Fortnite coaches. Your favourite streamer doesn’t exist; she can’t afford it, so she’s an accountant instead. Pro-gaming is small, homogenous, racehorsecaliber and inaccessible. (Forget LCK in streaming. Unless you’ve got a premium account.)

Everything has a cost. Advertising means money. No sponsors: Fewer pros. Cash prizes, teams and players are co-financed by sponsors. Without them, going pro gets less stable. Would we even have Faker? Ticket prices skyrocket. Who’s paying for that dragon hologram? Fans: Ticketing and paid premium become the main revenue sources. Bye, free-to-access platforms! Twitch is subscription-based, making esports— like most sports—a paid TV

BRANDS

hustle. If your favourite competition doesn’t have a local broadcasting deal, sucks.

Fans subsidize everything. Merchandising costs skyrocket. Content bears a monthly fee. Also, say hello to the “pay-to-meet-pros” model.

Esports needs brands, too. Advertising is patronage: Brands bring mainstream recognition, transform scruffy players into pros. They come packing progressive values—diversity, teamwork, access, responsible stewardship. They widen the playing field. But gamers and esports fans are among the prickliest communities. They’ll trash anything that offends, with zero remorse. That’s scary. In an ideal world, brands are seen as partners. They earn community trust while making esports feel more open to more people.

Trust comes hard-won. Mistakes were made: Quid pro quos formed, activations slain, hashtags lost or born too soon. But if half of Super Bowl viewers are just watching for the ads, we know we can make stuff people don’t want to AdBlock. So when not watching clutch compilations at lunch, we’re blending fiber-rich brand DNA into esports’ untamed jungle soil. Think of us as the lead in-game: There’s a plan. It’s not mandatory, but if you want to win, buckle in.

And forget the pure brand stuff. Mastercard’s Priceless Experiences? Sanquin’s Blood for Skins? Citymobil’s Esports Taxis? Lion Cereals’ Wildest Fans? Never happened. Brands underwrite amazing stuff: Free loot. Passionate people— streamers, casters, observers—who make great content full-time. Training for rookies. Huge stadiums, cool venues, increased production value. It means anybody with an internet connection can watch the Korean championship, anywhere, free.

Hurrah’s job? Building esports for both. We’re a misfit crew of broken toys: Fans, gamers, ad pros, artists, memecollectors. Brands need esports: It’s how kids bond, learn teamwork and find their people. It’s how colleagues relax because the boxing studio closed at 7. It’s why your spouse suddenly speaks perfect English (and sometimes angry Russian).

Advertising’s not perfect. Neither is esports. Together we can get a little closer. Are you with us? Then whisper it, shout it, drum it, type it out: Hurrah.GG

BRANDS

Play the Game Everyone knows it, esports are perhaps the most attractive bet at the moment. But we all also know, they are complicated.

At Play the Game, as a marketing agency specialized on esports and videogames, we want to explain a recent case that may be interesting for future activations. Burger King, one of the most relevant and important international companies on its sector, had one clear objective, reach a target that can be sometimes too difficult to be reached by former digital means. Generating impact, getting followers, obtaining leads ... Sure yes but please stop. This action goes beyond and will reach the heart, and most important, our final costumer heart and soul generating what any brand would being looking for, the desired result, engagement. Once this is done, the good quantitative results will come along!

As a specialised agency on esports and videogames, we created a whole immersive tournament using the game that counts until today with more than 200.000.000 current players, Fortnite. The place? The biggest videogame national event in Spain, Barcelona Games World, with more than 138.000 attendees. But as it has been said, it was not a simple activation based on 12 PlayStations with the game being played over and over. The gaming community is by far one of the most difficult targets to impress with new ideas (videogames consequences), so a simple tournament was something the gaming community already knew and quite outdated indeed. Have you ever been inside a videogame, we tried to get the target in. Real cosplayers and characters created ad hoc, a genuine setting for the ambience,

gifts carefully designed for the community, influencer campaign with a genuine challenge... And even more, changing the key visual and corporate image of the brand so as to get even closer to the target generating the connection to the audience. Did we succeed? If your objective is merely qualitative and you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the means for surveying the target at the event, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be difficult to give an answer. But if the strategy is based on qualitative actions with the objective of reaching quantitative results, here you the outcomes: a 5-figure increase of users on Instagram, beat the goal of the total number of leads with more than 80K obtained, more than 25K minutes played, almost 3K Fornite players, 2

hours queuing, +400 prizes distributed, +90K impacts during the event. We wonderâ&#x20AC;Ś Would you wait 2 hours for a videogame event to play Fortnite when you have it free at home? Would you take a photo with the logo of a brand like Burger King? The answer represented the very main goal of the action: connecting the target to the brand. And this is one of the main pourposes of Play the Game, a marketing agency specialized on esports and videogames which mission started by 2017 in Barcelona, and we can now say we have been positioned in the Americas with great acceptance. It is now clear that esports understood as a marketing tool represent a huge impact that would not be able to achieve

by other kind of means. We know it and we work every day so as to help the esports ecosystem by playing our own role to help to strengthen the electronic sports community. From this very point we had eSmarcon, the first eSports conference of Europe focused on marketing that was born with the objective of bringing esports to Marketing Directors and Sponsorship Managers in a comprehensive way so to understand the main role esports are playing now, and will play tomorrow. With some of the leading brand companies of the market during the previous edition like CocaCola, Movistar, Play Station, ESL, Philips, Asics, BBVA, Disney, Toyoya, and many others, eSmarcon is nowadays one of the first and leading conferences where marketing and esports converge at a single professional meeting. Next edition (February 21st) will come with many interesting approaches, will you miss it? We must and should encourage everyone to understand the gaming target, a complex market where the patterns of its understanding can lead into a successful strategy, or a completely irrelevant result to the community if wrongly executed.

INTERVIEW

eMASTERS

A big innovation for eSports The eSports market is growing very fast. The whole industry is in a transformation process and the main reason for it are the new companies, mostly startups, that are offering top of edge technology that is enabling more tournaments, content, products and, of course, more visibility. eMasters is one of those startups. We interviewed Marcus Ataide, Emasters founder and CTO, to know better what are eMasters innovations and how they enhance the eSports industry 1. How did you come up with the idea of creating eMasters? I’ve always been a gamer and like all gamers, I spent hours of my life in my room playing, competing. I was a good player. However, when I arrived at the University, I had to abandon what I loved to focus on a regular career. The eMasters came out from this frustration. After I sold my company, years after my undergrad, I had free time to play again. I discover that eSports are fun but have mutual problems. So eMasters is a project that took me 3 years to develop, Its not only a tournament management platform, I want that it becomes a home for all kind of players, casual, fun and pro players, tournaments for everyone. 2. What are the main challenges for eSports? I believe that there is inefficiency in the market when we analyze the relationship between publishers, brands and community. The connection of these three stakeholders is still expensive and hard to measure the results. We are an alternative for that. 3. How can we achieve this goal? In order to make several tournaments at the same time possible, it is necessary to have a 100% automatic platform that allows any tournaments organizer to manage competitions of any size without needing an expensive structure to support their players. This 66

automation is not only in the regular processes of a tournament, such as brackets organization and game schedule, but we also need to automate all the processes a tournament needs to succeed. User validation, fraud control and prize management are also part of this package that allows us to offer a safer environment and a better experience to the players. I believe that the development of the market goes through the complete elimination of any friction between the player and his willingness to compete online. Only by automating everything that we will be able to simplify the tournament management process enabling that any gamer can play any time he wants against any players or teams respecting their game skills. eMasters already has this full automation. 4. What are eMasters innovations? Platform fully automated: our main differentiation is that the tournaments are totally managed without manual action by the organizer. It’s possible to create or sponsor a tournament as easy as creating a Facebook post. Security and prize management: our security system – Blockchain (Smart Contracts), Face ID, IBM Watson avoid cheaters and guarantee the game result. Also, the top of the notch technology allows 18+ years old gamers to play real money games with cash

withdrawal anywhere in the globe. Real-time analytics: full data analytics is provided for each match. 5. Which games eMasters is already integrated? Today we are integrated with League of Legends, Dota 2, Rainbow Six. Due to our unique integration process, we offer a better experience for the player and event organizer. It very simple: 4 steps to build a tournament and 3 steps to join. 6. Tell us a little bit more about the IBM´s partnership. eMasters was selected for IBM’s acceleration program. In this program we forged a partnership with IBM where we can use their software and services and also have support from their best specialists . We are building one of the best security and anti-fraud system with IBM Watson. We also use the Blockchain technology to provide a layer of transparency where users, event organizers, publishers and sponsors will always have a strong source of truth. 7. What are the challenges for 2019? In the year 2019, we will consolidate our presence worldwide. We will launch new integrations with more titles and devices. I believe that we will bring great innovations to the market. We are committed to making dreams come true and we will not give up until we can make it happen for young gamers like I once was.

Interview by Rafael Costa, Good Game Marketing&PR

brands

Grunex “We began as a small website organizing tournaments, and we have grown into the leader of the local gaming market,” says Martin Liberský, CEO of Grunex agency

brands

ounded in 2009, Grunex started as a small gaming website with online and offline eSport tournaments. Over the course of 10 years the company managed to grow into the biggest gaming and eSport agency in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We were able to secure an interview with the founder and CEO, Martin Liberský.

Hello Martin, let’s start with a simple question. What should we think about when we hear the words: Grunex gaming agency? Well it’s simple, in case you are interested in gaming and eSport activities on the Czech and Slovakian scene, we are your guys. We have a well assorted media portfolio, so our own online reach is great. We work with the biggest local influencers regularly and we are great at organizing tournaments and events, both online and offline. We have successfully conducted tailormade gaming campaigns and events for IT brands such as NVIDIA, Acer, Lenovo, HP, BenQ, SteelSeries and many others endemic brands, but also for nonendemic brands. Grunex agency rose from a fairly small business to a leader in its local field, what enabled this successful growth? We have an internal motto: “Delivering results with happiness”. We always put the wellbeing of our clients first, and thanks to our experience, social media strength and passion about gaming, we produce great results, which we are always very happy to present to our partners. Our biggest asset has to be our media portfolio, which includes the biggest local gaming websites, facebook pages and other gaming social media. On top of that we own the Re-Play TV show, which allows us to get our clients into the television, and gives us access to fanbase of the show, including the biggest local Facebook gaming page.

Can you name a few of the most successful gaming campaigns you conducted last year? Last year was full of great and interesting campaigns, but if I had to pick specifically, two come to mind. Firstly the Hasbro Fortnite campaign, which created a unique blend between board games and gaming, as well as showcasing a unique marketing campaign consisting of TV coverage, influencer content and promotion on gaming websites. The second one would have to be the biggest yet FIFA tournament in our region, which appealed to the gaming community via Grunex and the casual community via the biggest sports news portal in the Czech Republic.

goal, to elevate gaming to the level of professional sport. Lastly, we should not forget about our FIFA community, which is on the rise, partly because it is one of the simplest ways how to introduce gaming to the general public.

What are the most popular games in the Czech Republic and Slovakia? The popularity of games mostly seems to be correlating with the European trends, in games such as LoL, Fortnite, CS:GO, however, there are two notable exceptions: PUBG and WoT. Especially PUBG seems to be a very popular game locally, just last year we organized over 50 PUBG tournaments, and all of them were completely full (the usual capacity is 96 squad teams per tournament). All the final stages of these tournaments were streamed by the biggest local influencers. Additionally we developed a special PUBG API, which allows the viewers to see a lot of stats and numbers that they would normally be unable to find. It’s a pretty sensational and unique feature, not only locally, but also regarding the worldwide perception of gaming, as it is another step that leads eSports to be on par with traditional sports. And that is our

makes our acquisition of the Re-Play TV gaming show crucial, because it is the most exposed casual gaming local content by far. However, gaming marketing seems to be one of the few ways how to appeal to younger target audience and as such holds a huge promise regarding the future.

Putting aside the differences in individual game popularities, how is the Czech and Slovakian gaming scene different from the rest of the world? As in the other parts of the world, interest in gaming is on a steady rise, more people play games, more people visit gaming websites, more people watch influencers, sales of gaming hardware are rising. However, it is important to realize that there are a lot of casual gamers, who don’t watch tournaments and influencers. This is usually the case of older gamers, who in the same time are an excellent target group for gaming products. This

Lastly, what can we expect from Grunex this year? Right now we have a lot of planned projects for this year, but we are particularly looking forward to celebrating our 10th anniversary, which will be accompanied by many interesting and unconventional events not only for gamers, but also for our clients.