Your Gaming and Esports Update
Deals
Rheo Closes Seed Funding
Saksham Keshri, cofounder and CEO, Rheo, said that the company has raised $2 Mn in seed funding. The investors include “Sequoia Surge, Lightspeed, and angels such as Gaurav Munjal of Unacademy; Prashant Mallik, advisor, Zomato; Phanindra Sama, founder, RedBus among others.” The funds will be used towards product development, creating new content, expanding the reach, and hiring talent. Founded in 2019 by Keshri and Prakash Kumar, Rheo is a “game streaming platform where gamers can create channels to monetize their passion for playing video games. The gamers can live stream their games such as PUBG and others and interact with the live viewers.” The company said that it wants to create an entertaining ecosystem for mobile gamers. At present, the platform is game agnostic, allowing more than 100 different games to be streamed. The most popular games include PUBG and Free Fire.
Midnite Closes $2.5M
Midnite, the London-based esports betting startup from the same team behind daily fantasy football app Dribble, has raised just over $2.5 million in funding. The “strategic” investment is led by the gaming-focused venture firm Makers Fund. Previous investors in Midnite include London VC firm Venrex Investment Management, as well as unnamed “founders and executives” from leading gaming companies, including Betfair and GVC. The new round brings the total raised by the 2016-founded company to around $4.5 million.
Vindex And IMAX Launch Exclusive Esports Partnership
IMAX has inked a partnership with Vindex (vindex.gg), an esports infrastructure startup formed by Major League Gaming co-founders Mike Sepso and Sundance DiGiovanni, under which Vindex will create esports events and experiences exclusively for Imax theaters worldwide. According to Variety, “For now, the companies aren’t providing details about what games or esports events will be featured in IMAX’s big-screen venues (much less what the ticket prices maybe). The parties are aiming to kick things off in the first half of 2020. Under the pact, Vindex expects to broadcast esports content and events across IMAX’s worldwide network through its newly launched Vindex Studios division, which is working with esports publishers and leagues.”
Maincast acquires ESL Pro Tour broadcast rights
Kiyv-based broadcasting company Maincast has won tender for the Russian language broadcasts of ESL events. While it hasn’t been officially approved, the estimated deal is set to be between $11 million to $15 million. It will be a three-year contract. The tender includes broadcasts’ rights for all ESL Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events for 2020, 2021, and 2022 years, including The Rio Major.
Updates
Sea of Thieves Passes 10 Million Players
Rare executive producer Joe Neate announced today that Sea of Thieves has had over 10 million players. Sea of Thieves released in March 2018 for Xbox One and PC. The game gas players working together as pirates who sail ships and hunt for treasure. 10 million players does not mean 10 million games sold, though. Sea of Thieves is available through Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service that gives access. However, this is still an enormous accomplishment and should absolutely be celebrated.
Misfits Gaming hires Vas Roberts as VP of Partnerships
The Misfits Gaming Group (MGG) announced the appointment of Vas Roberts to the position of vice president of partnerships. Roberts will lead the outfit’s commercial team in Europe while working on global partnerships. The move was made in an attempt to bolster the development of MGG’s European business footprint, according to the company.
Envy Gaming hires Sheri Simonson as Director of Sponsorship Activation
Texas-based esports organization Envy Gaming has appointed Sheri Simonson as Director of Sponsorship Activation. Announcing the news via LinkedIn, Envy said that Simonson has an extensive background in marketing, entertainment, sports, and gaming. Previously Simonson was with GameStop, the world’s largest video games retailer, as Manager of Merchandise Marketing, and also spent a decade with The Walt Disney Company as a National Media Sales Executive. Interestingly GameStop has partnered with Team Envy previously.
Facebook Gaming grows 210% in 2019
According to GamesBeat, “Facebook Gaming had an increase of 210% in hours watched in December 2019 compared to December 2018. That was enough to give it an 8.5% share of the overall hours-watched market. That’s up from 3.1% during the same period last year. The video service also saw the average number of viewers per hour streamed jump 78%.” I’m slightly skeptical of the accuracy of these numbers after the revelation that Facebook is notorious for “[inflating] the average time users viewed video on the platform.” But, if these numbers are accurate, Facebook truly could be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.
Pokemon Go Generated $900M in 2019
Pokémon GO from Niantic had its best year yet in 2019 after generating an estimated $894 million in gross player spending, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates. This marks the location-based mobile blockbuster’s best year since it launched in 2016 when it grossed $832 million after taking the world by storm. 2017 represented a down year for the game, although it still accumulated an estimated $589 million in player spending. The title rebounded and proceeded to rack up approximately $816 million in 2018.
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