Giving millions of young talents an honest chance to thrive
There are millions of them out there today, young talented gamers, and they are increasing in number by an average of 12% annually, but no one is giving them the recognition and support framework that they so much deserve. These young gamers, that the whole world is actively neglecting, are our future and our kids, whether we like to admit it or not.
As of 2020, more than 25% of 2.81 billion gamers worldwide are under the age of 18. That totals to more than 625 million children globally, a number that is estimated to reach 921 million in 2023.
These kids are grinding videos games for hours on end, without anyone paying any attention to them. They are spending most of their time, during the most precious time in a human's lifetime, in front of screens, without having any form of clear path, goals, nor framework, in relation to what they spend most of their time on, and that’s “gaming”.
I remember growing up in the 1990s, playing basketball for a local team for more than 6 years, from the age of 10 until 16. My world, as a young kid, was built around that sport and my team. I still get goosebumps when I hear the names Rodman, Berkley, and Jordan.
I will never forget my teammates, my coach, and all the amazing moments we shared, and most importantly I’m still a fan of that team today. I’m also trying to convince the younger generation to start playing for them, but unfortunately without any success.
In 2008, my first child was born, and he just turned 13 this year. As a former gamer, I taught him how to play videos games at the age of 2. Mobile and tablet games dominated his daily life until he turned 8, that’s when he started playing console games (and now he is moving more towards PC games).
Console games opened up a whole new world of “social gaming”, he was now playing with his friends, both “real friends”, and new “digital friends”, from all around the world.
In the summer of 2017 Epic Games released their most successful game yet, Fortnite Battle Royale, and that basically changed the game for my son and basically all of his friends… and my bank account.
My son was 9 when FNBR changed the world for these young gamers, and still today, 4 years later, he plays that same game, more or less on a daily basis. That intense amount of continuous and consistent grinding is what sparked the idea behind Pluck.
I thought to myself, if I would have had that willpower and consistency as a young baller, I would probably have ended up in the NBA… maybe. If that would have happened, the only way it could happen actually, is via a growth, nurturing, and support system, also known as a “sports team”. So I had the chance to be a part of the NBA or the Swedish national basketball team, but what chances does my son have in the world of esports?
There is no clear path to pro, nor any growth, nurturing, or supporting systems within esports. Not a single tier-one esports team, in the whole world, can with a straight face tell you that they are building a supporting framework for thousands of young gamers, just like sports teams are doing globally. The reasons are too many to talk about in this post.
Sports teams and organizations are not only giving a support framework for young people, but they are literally saving thousands of young children's lives all over the world, on a daily basis.
With esports outgrowing sports, this task is to be taken over by “esports teams”. This might be the very reason why today’s sports teams, that move into esports (everyone is doing that now), will actually become the most successful esports teams in the near future.
In the early days of Pluck, I remember talking to many young gamers from LATAM, MENA and Asia, via Discord, telling me how happy and excited they were to finally be given a fair chance to grow and be recognized for all the hard work and time they invest into becoming better at what they love most.
One of these young gamers, a 14-year-old young kid from Brazil actually got a real esports athlete contract with a professional team in Scandinavia, thanks to the platform that we build. That opportunity eventually enabled him to help his sick mother with her expensive medications.
As an esports technology company, based in Stockholm, Sweden, with a core team coming from Fragbite, Ninjas in Pyjamas, ESL, EA Games, Dreamhack, Facebook, RedBull, PayPal, and Disney, we have established a very clear mission that guides us in everything we do:
Empower every gamer to achieve more.
All of our objectives and key results, on an organizational, department, and individual level, are always pointing towards that mission statement.
Our platform-as-a-service essentially works like WordPress, Wix, Ecwid, Shopify, and others, for the esports industry. We empower gamers indirectly by providing esports teams all over the world with the best technology that they need in order to build a nurturing and supporting system for millions of young gamers.
Our pilot program with an esports team from EMEA, which has been running since the start of 2021, has until the time of writing activated more than 10,000 young talented gamers. The average age is 12–16 and most of them come from unprivileged backgrounds, mostly from Brazil.
We are very excited and really happy that more and more esports teams are waking up, and reaching out to us with the primary purpose and will of providing a sustainable nurturing and supportive framework for millions of young gamers worldwide.
Our latest partnership with a large esports team from the GCC region reinforces our mission in MENA since their primary goal, for many years to come, is to provide a compounding growth solution for the millions of young gamers in that region. In their own words, “no one plays football anymore, everyone is gaming, so we need to give these kids an equal framework within esports”.
Pluck operates in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, if not the fastest, and we are all looking towards the future with great excitement for what is to come.
In conclusion, we at Pluck envision a future where every young talent is given an honest chance to thrive and become the best version of themselves, by providing them with a nurturing and supporting framework, via esports teams all over the world.
