Esports Industry Newsletter
Week of June 21, 2021 Edition
A round-up of the biggest news from in-and-around the esports industry over the past week
Grassroots Esports Infrastructure Expands
Belong Gaming Arenas announced this week that it will be opening hundreds of locations across the U.S. to substantially build-out the local grassroots esports scene. The official release from parent company Vindex can be read here (link), and according to it the first-ever U.S. location for Belong Gaming Arenas will be opened in Houston, TX. The company plans to establish 500 gaming centers overall in the U.S. in the next five years.
While the professional esports industry has been building out infrastructure in the U.S. for the past several years, this marks one of the first times that the amateur, grassroots scene will be getting a focused boost through geo-targeted, physical locations.
Chipotle
Chipotle is not new to gaming, but this week it went further than it had before by launching its own (free) video game called “Race to Rewards Exchange” that provides redeemable rewards to players. This is part of a larger rewards program refresh by Chipotle, and the game is integrated within the brand’s larger marketing push to ensure that consumers who connect deeply with gaming are engaged by the brand. The full release is available here (link), which provides more details.
While many brands pursue integrations with gaming publishers, esports organizations, and content creators, this initiative represents an alternative way to connect with consumer who enjoy gaming by giving them something unique (and that only exists for a limited time) that connects back to a real-world payout (rewards points).
Investment in Mobile Gaming & Esports Continues
The continued rise of mobile has been covered here before, and two announcements this week contribute to this ongoing narrative and trend.
First, EA, a publishing behemoth, announced that it was purchasing Playdemic, a major mobile games publisher, for $1.4 billion. Mitchel Clark covered this for The Verge, and in his piece (link here) he notes that EA also purchased mobile developer Glu in February for $2.1 billion.
On the esports side of the mobile gaming equation, Andbox, New York’s flagship esports organization announced this week that it was introducing its first-ever mobile team, set to compete in Call of Duty: Mobile. This also marks the first time a Call of Duty League franchise has a pro Call of Duty: Mobile team associated with it. Call of Duty: Mobile has been downloaded more than 500 million times globally.