eSport’s Growing Popularity Unveils New Ventures for Investors
The eSports market has grown at an impressive rate in recent years. Now, companies, eSports teams, and even eSports players themselves are worth millions. Overall, the industry is quite diverse and includes streaming, gaming itself, as well as associated brand deals. Just like traditional professional sports, eSports teams have owners, franchises, endorsement deals, cash prizes from tournament winnings, and more—all contributing to their annual revenue and total valuation. Furthermore, according to data provided by Acumen Research and Consulting, the global eSports market was valued at about USD 1.2 Billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 7.1 Billion by 2028 with a considerable CAGR of 25.1% during the forecast period of 2021 to 2028. Intema Solutions Inc. (TSX-V: ITM) (OTC: ITMZF), DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG), Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), UbiSoft Entertainment Inc. (OTC: UBSFY), Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: EGLX).
Generally, there has been a major shift in how video games are being perceived and utilized by the general public. In recent years, the industry has gradually shifted focus from at-home entertainment to a more public arena, as eSports competitions have created a new and fast-growing market. Similar to any segment in the online entertainment industry, the number of viewers and direct participants is crucial for success. Rick Yang, partner at NEA—a venture capital firm that invests in eSports—underscored this in a conversation with Insider Intelligence: “I actually think of eSports as the mainstreaming of gaming, or the pop culture instantiation of gaming versus the pure idea of these players becoming professionals to compete at the highest levels.”
Intema Solutions Inc. (TSX-V: ITM) (OTC: ITMZF) announced last week breaking news that regarding, “Parabellum Media Inc. (“Parabellum”), owner of Parabellum Esports and Northern Shield Academy. Intema recently signed a letter of intent to acquire Parabellum (see press release dated December 8, 2021).
On December 12, 2021, Parabellum Esports won a very significant promotion match to earn a spot in the highly coveted Rainbow Six North American Pro League. The team is planning to move to Las Vegas to begin training for the 2022 season. They will be joined by some of the biggest esports teams in the world, including Astralis, TSM and Spacestation Gaming.
The 2021 North American League saw nine teams compete for over US$400,000 in prizing plus the chance to compete at the Six Invitational, which has a prize pool of US$3,000,000. The league is played on Local Area Network (LAN) in Las Vegas, which will continue to be the case throughout the 2022 season.
‘We are gearing up to build a championship company and it’s only fitting that our competitive esports team is already picking up major accolades,’ said Laurent Benezra, President and CEO of Intema.
Rainbow Six Esports continues to see major growth in 2021. It is ranked in the top 10 most-played PC games based on monthly users and in the top 10 in earnings for competitive play.1
‘We are tremendously proud of our team and its accomplishment in getting into the pro league. But we aren’t here for participation trophies, we’re here for championships, and that’s exactly what we intend to bring home,’ said Ben Feferman, CEO of Amuka Esports, the parent company of Parabellum Esports.
The Parabellum Esports team was founded and managed by Chris Lamarucciola. The 4/5 Canadian roster includes P3NGU1N, Eskaa, SpiriTz, KoolAid and Melted. Parabellum has already won over US$100,000 in 2021, which includes two North American Challenger League Stage wins and a top 12 finish at the 2021 Six Invitational in Paris. The team’s next match will be in January 2022, as it is one of four teams to compete for the last spot in the Six Invitational, which will take place February 8-10, 2022, at Place Bell in Montreal.”
DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) and The New Hampshire Lottery and Filotimo Casino & Restaurant announced on October 18th that they are teaming up again to expand retail sports betting in New Hampshire. Manchester-based Filotimo Casino & Restaurant, which houses DraftKings Sportsbook at Filotimo, today opened a sister retail sports betting establishment in Dover under the same name located at 887 Central Avenue in Rollinsford. The Filotimo property is shared between the city of Dover and the town of Rollinsford, with the building located in Rollinsford. DraftKings Sportsbook at Filotimo in Dover marks New Hampshire’s third retail sportsbook; DraftKings Sportsbook at The Brook in Seabrook opened in August 2020 and DraftKings Sportsbook at Filotimo in Manchester opened in September 2020. “Sports betting has been a success in New Hampshire since launching nearly two years ago and we are pleased to continue working with DraftKings and Filotimo Casino & Restaurant to expand sports betting opportunities for our players,” said Charlie McIntyre, Executive Director, New Hampshire Lottery. “The new DraftKings Sportsbook at Filotimo in Dover will further cement New Hampshire as the premier sports betting destination in the northeast, and we know this location will continue to make a major positive impact on our ongoing efforts to maximize revenue for our schools here in New Hampshire.”
Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) reported last month that Call of Duty: Vanguard is available worldwide. Vanguard delivers an unparalleled depth of Call of Duty® content across a gripping single-player story, 20 multiplayer maps on day one, an all-new Zombies experience that further explores existing story canon. Vanguard also features the deepest integration yet with Warzone™, which will launch the new Warzone Pacific, including the new map “Caldera” on December 2nd. “Vanguard launch is just the beginning. This new release will deliver unprecedented breadth and depth of amazing content experiences for Call of Duty players,” said Johanna Faries, General Manager, Call of Duty, Activision. “Together with next month’s release of the all-new Warzone Pacific map, Call of Duty is set to create the most integrated and deepest live ops calendar we’ve ever had. Today is an exciting next chapter for our ever-evolving franchise.”
UbiSoft Entertainment Inc. (OTC: UBSFY) announced earlier this year its best performance to date for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Esports regional leagues, with record-breaking peak concurrent viewers and average minute audience results in each of its four regional leagues, including respective subdivisions. If Playday 1 of the Season 2021 European League saw a massive progression in viewership compared with last season, the trend was confirmed in Playday 2 with the league reaching new heights once again on March 22nd. The European League scored its best peak concurrence viewers (peak CCV) result to date for a regular playday: 110K peak CCV*, corresponding to a progression of 117% compared with the most performing playday of the European League in Season 2020 on that indicator, and breaking the records of all 4 regional leagues regular playdays in Season 2020. The peak was reached during an action-packed match opposing Rogue to Team Vitality, where Rogue managed to overcome Team Vitality’s match-long dominion to send them to the overtime and finally seize the win.
Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: EGLX) reported back in November that Unique Visitor traffic to its digital media property in the United States reached an all-time high in October 2021, based on recent digital media ratings from Comscore, a leading independent third-party measurement firm. The Enthusiast Gaming digital media property reached 47.8 million U.S. Unique Visitors for the month of October (Comscore Media Metrix®, Desktop 2+, Mobile 13+, October 2021, U.S.). The metric does not include additional under-18 mobile video traffic to the Company’s property, or viewership in the Company’s esports and entertainment division, including viewership of Luminosity Gaming. Enthusiast Gaming ranks between streaming platform Twitch, and game platform Roblox, as a top property in the overall Games category, which includes Gaming Information and Online Gaming sites. “This Comscore data shows the continued growth and attractiveness of our platforms to the coveted U.S. Gen Z and Millennial audience,” commented Adrian Montgomery, CEO of Enthusiast Gaming. “Gaming continues to take a greater share of overall Internet traffic, and we are proud to be next to companies like Twitch and Roblox in taking a greater share of overall gaming traffic.”
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