Swedish game developer NAG Studios has secured a $1M USD investment in a pre-seed funding round. 

Early-stage venture fund London Venture Partners (LVP) led the round,which also attracted participation from early-stage VC firm Antler. 

NAG Studios says it will use the capital to hire more game developers, and that it plans to “alter the course of competitive gaming & esports” while building “role model studio in both development culture and brand.”

Emil “HeatoN” Christensen, founder of Swedish esports organisation Ninjas in Pyjamas, is acting as an adviser to the studio. 

Discussing the investment General Partner at London Ventures Partners, Are Mack Growen, said:

“Competitive multiplayer games are the backbone of the modern, online gaming industry, and have pushed games into mainstream culture as the dominant media form.

“Peter and Johan bring complementary backgrounds and unique insights – each having intimate knowledge of competitive games, their development and community – to provide the next generation of competitive, gaming entertainment. Their total entertainment concept and community approach sets them apart from anything we’ve seen in the space.”

While CEO and Co-founder of NAG Studios, Peter Stahl, added:

“This opportunity, to merge 40+ years of AAA game making experience with a deep expertise & network of competitive gaming professionals, is incredibly unique and strong. We aim to build competitive games with a novel format, like a digital super bowl that is as exciting to watch as it is to play.

“Today’s gamers aren’t just playing anymore. They are also watching. Streamers are the new superstars, but games are still only built to be played. Together with streaming and gaming professionals integrated into the studio, the game is to be truly made for the new gaming culture.”

LVP’s portfolio companies include games video chat app Bunch, social games developer Treehouse Games, and Vela Games. 

AYO.NEWS says:

This is clearly a big vote of confidence in NAG Studio’s and the team’s lofty ambitions, and we’re sure the company will attract plenty more funding in the coming months to enable them to continue to expand. Their focus on building games optimised for viewing as well as playing is very indicative of a shift in video gaming that, although seismic in scale, is still being ignored by many. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

The Global Esports Federation (GEF) has welcomed Japanese video game publishers Capcom, Konami, and Sega as its latest members. 

Despite being launched at the end of last year, Capcom, Konami, and Sega are the first video game publishers to join the Singapore-based federation – whose membership mainly comprises traditional sporting federations. 

The three publishers are also members of the recently announced Publishers and Developers Advisory Council (PDAC). 

Discussing the news President of the GEF, Chris Chan, said:

“Nine months ago, the Global Esports Federation was established with a collective ambition to convene the world’s esports community. Our mission is to bring together the diverse stakeholders on one, global, inclusive platform. As we have grown, we have continued to listen and adapt.

“We acknowledge the fundamental importance of the world’s publishers and developers, and welcome Capcom, Konami and Sega as members of the GEF and the PDAC. We look forward to continuing the GEF’s initiatives for the development of esports and setting the path for an even brighter future, together.”

While Chairman at Sega Group Corporation, Hideki Okamura, added:

“Esports is exciting, infinitely promising and rapidly growing – the potential for growth is immense. Sega shares the same collective vision with the Global Esports Federation, to harness the benefits of technology for good, and to explore new opportunities particularly where sport meets esports; elevating the future of esports, bringing the global community together.”

And, President, Representative Director, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd, commented:

“The world is taking note and collectively we are witnessing the tremendous growth of esports on a global scale. Konami is honored to join the Global Esports Federation, and together, we work towards accelerating the understanding and acceptance of the benefits, possibilities, and enjoyment that esports brings to billions of people around the world.”

AYO.NEWS says:

The GEF is something of a contradiction. One the one hand it is obviously well-resourced, being backed by Chinese conglomerate Tencent, its ranks are packed full of high-profile athletes, including Olympians, it has established relationships with many other federations and sports organisations, and it’s even formed a strategic partnership with Dentsu, one of the world’s largest advertising agency networks – but on the other is has still singularly failed to make any notable impact on the esports industry, and its branding and communications are abysmally dull. 

Is the GEF top-heavy, ponderous and out-of-touch, or is it simply still finding its feet? 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Chinese streaming and video platform Bilibili has revealed plans for a secondary listing in Hong Kong to raise up to $1.5B next year. 

In March 2018, Bilibili raised $483M USD in its initial public offering on the Nasdaq, with shares priced at $11.50 each. As of 8 October, Bilibili shares were trading at $47.67 – a 414% jump in under two years. 

Based on its current market capitalisation of over $16B, analysts estimate Bilibili’s secondary listing could raise between $800M and $1.5B. Bilibili now claims around 171.6 million average monthly active users, and reported Q2 2020 revenue of 2.6 billion yuan ($370.5 million) – up 70% year-on-year. 

With tensions between China and the United States still escalating, it is expected that US regulators might force Chinese firms to delist from US exchanges by the beginning of 2022, unless they agree to be audited by US auditors – something explicitly prohibited by Chinese authorities in Beijing. 

However, next year Bilibili will meet Hong Kong requirements of having at least two financial years of good history on another exchange, and be able to list there. Several other major Chinese companies, including Alibaba, JD.com, and NetEase, have also gone ahead with secondary listings in Hong Kong in recent months. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Given the toxicity of US-Chinese relations right now, this move is hardly surprising, and we expect others will follow suit. Once again, the threat to delist Chinese companies from US exchanges, shows how tech and gaming companies are becoming pawns in the new age of economic warfare. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Danish esports organisation Astralis Group has announced a partnership with sponsorship and analytics company Cavea.

Cavea will provide Astralis Group with social media analytics across all its media channels, and joins Bang & Olufsen, CS.MONEY, GLHF, hummel, Logitech G, Lunar, OMEN, and Secretlab as commercial partners of the organisation.  

As previously reported, Astralis Group recently merged all its activities and teams, with its Origen and Future FC rosters joining its CS:GO team under the Astralis brand. 

Commenting on the collaboration Co-founder and CCO of Astralis Group, Jakob Lund Kristensen, said:

“Our vision is to create a globally recognized and iconic gaming brand. In this connection and to push our commercial partnerships forward working systematically with the best insights and analytics in the industry is paramount.

“When working with commercial metrics, we base our decisions on facts rather than feelings, and working with Cavea gives us insightful knowledge about the vast fanbase and millions of viewers around the globe. This enables us to pinpoint exactly which activities drive the most commercial value for us and our partners.”

While CEO of Cavea, Mircea Gabriel Eftemie, added:

“Working with the people at Astralis Group is such a pleasure. It is a top professional organization with a clear vision for their business and the future of esports. They keep on challenging the existing, which benefits us as well, and I am really looking forward to us working together with the organization and providing our services.”

Cavea is also partnered with British esports organisations Fnatic and Excel Esports, Swedish organisation Ninjas in Pyjamas, and tournament organiser DreamHack. 

AYO.NEWS says:

With esports now big business, it’s never been more important to have access to reliable and detailed analytics, especially when it comes to gauging the success of social media campaigns. We’re sure that this collaboration will help Astralis attract even more high-profile commercial partners. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Hong Kong-based organisation Talon Esports has completed a $2M USD seed financing round. 

Led by the Korean Hana Digital Transformation Fund, the round also saw participation from Widus Strategic Investments, New Wave Esports Corporation, Sprout Investments, EMC Capital, Animoca Brands, the Gavekal family, Sean Hung, United Esports founder Felix LaHaye, and other family offices and individuals. 

Talon says it will use the new capital to fund its expansion into new territories and game titles, and pursue merchandising opportunities. 

The organisation currently fields rosters in League of Legends, Arena of Valor, Clash Royale, Overwatch, Rainbow 6: Siege, Tekken 7, and Street Fighter V. It has commercial partnerships with Logitech G, Twitch, Carnival, Noblechaairs, and ViewGear. 

As previously reported, Talon’s League of Legends team entered a partnership with French football team Paris Saint-Germain FC before the Pacific Championship Series (PCS) Summer Split 2020, rebranding to PSG Talon in the process. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Once again we see that esports businesses are still managing to attract health investments at a time when many industries are facing ruin.

Only last week, ReKTGlobal, which also owns an organisation currently competing in Riot Games’ League of Legends World Championship in the form of Rogue, announced it had raised $35M. Even more impressive was last week’s news that Swedish startup G-Loot, parent company of online esports platform Global Loot League, had raised $56M in its latest funding round. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.

Gamesquare Esports Inc., has commenced trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange. 

The parent company of the Code Red Esports agency, Gamesquare Esports Inc., has recently completed a reverse takeover with Magnolia Colombia Ltd. and restructured its executive board. 

Former director Neil Said has resigned and taken on the roles of Corporate Secretary and General Counsel, while former director Chris Eben has also resigned. 

Gamesquare Esports’ new board of directors will be made up of Craig Armitage, Kevin Wright, and Maruice Colson. Wright will also serve as new CEO, and Paul Bozoki has been named as CFO.

The company is planning to continue to build its agency and talent management service through Code Red, expand its roster of global brand relationships, and develop its pipeline of potential acquisitions. 

Discussing the developments CEO of Gamesquare, Kevin Wright, said:

“This is an exciting time in esports as viewership has never been higher and the attention that the industry is attracting from major brands is incredible.

“Code Red has built a leading talent agency and esports is in their blood. I see tremendous potential within the agency business by expanding relationships with top talent and with leading global brands trying to reach an important group of consumers that are loyal to authentic gaming and non-gaming brands. Furthermore, there is a tremendous opportunity to acquire companies serving the esports market that we believe can benefit greatly from access to capital as part of the Gamesquare group of companies.”

Code Red’s list of clients includes Valve, Blizzard Entertainment, London Spitfire, ESL, Esports Industry Awards, Bloomsbury, Grenade, Ginx Esports TV, Dark Zero, and CSmoney.

AYO.NEWS says:

Yet again we start the week with positive news from the world of esports, which is continuing to power ahead despite the wider economic climate. With the race to scale well and truly underway across the esports space, we expect to see Gamesquare announce acquisitions in short order. 

Earlier this month, across the Atlantic in England, David Beckham’s Guild Esports completed a £41.2M GBP London Stock Exchange (LSE) listing.

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020.