A few days ago it broke that NRG Esports just posted 15 million dollars for the round b funding. What I skipped over when reading the article was who in fact was dropping this money. What I found out today to my surprise is some legitimate athletes and a little bit of star power were behind it. Marshawn Lynch, Jennifer Lopez, and Michael Strahan were some of these backers.(espn.com)
This is huge news in the world of Esports as more and more people are seeing it as a legitimate place to invest their money. Right now NRG is supporting teams in CS:GO, Overwatch, Smite, as well as a few others. People might be wondering with a team being so new how are they getting all of this star power investment, which includes Shaquille O'Neal in 2016. The main reason is obvious when you find out the co-founders of this team are the same people who own the Sacramento Kings, Andy Miller and Mark Mastrov. These two along with Gerard “Atlas” Kelly who comes from Team Imagine have created another franchise which people are starting to recognize out of what seems like nowhere.
What I think we are seeing now is the explosion of Esports starting to show some flame. Sure we have had teams like Team Liquid and Fnatic who started organically from long ago but now we are seeing more and more teams popping up and solidifying the model of what an Esports team is. While most sports teams concentrate on one specific field, Esports teams are more of a hodgepodge of the game that is popular right now and I really think this model is starting to work. What's more is it is starting to work in the United States as it has worked across the seas.
Two examples of companies getting into Esports long before are Samsung Galaxy Pro-Game Team originally founded in 2000 and SK Telecom T1 founded in 2002. The teams have been at the forefront of Esports and have created a history of success that it looks like western companies are ready to start copying. For example Steve Aoki's acquisition of team Rogue last year. We are seeing a steady rate of growth, which I go into a little more detail in my post about Esports in the Olympics.
These revelations excite me because I feel like this is only the beginning. We are going to start seeing wider coverage, which means wider acceptance. The long lost dream of mine to play video games as a profession is now becoming a reality for so many and I couldn't be more excited. I will be even more elated once it's teams from the US taking home the titles.
This is huge news in the world of Esports as more and more people are seeing it as a legitimate place to invest their money. Right now NRG is supporting teams in CS:GO, Overwatch, Smite, as well as a few others. People might be wondering with a team being so new how are they getting all of this star power investment, which includes Shaquille O'Neal in 2016. The main reason is obvious when you find out the co-founders of this team are the same people who own the Sacramento Kings, Andy Miller and Mark Mastrov. These two along with Gerard “Atlas” Kelly who comes from Team Imagine have created another franchise which people are starting to recognize out of what seems like nowhere.
What I think we are seeing now is the explosion of Esports starting to show some flame. Sure we have had teams like Team Liquid and Fnatic who started organically from long ago but now we are seeing more and more teams popping up and solidifying the model of what an Esports team is. While most sports teams concentrate on one specific field, Esports teams are more of a hodgepodge of the game that is popular right now and I really think this model is starting to work. What's more is it is starting to work in the United States as it has worked across the seas.
Two examples of companies getting into Esports long before are Samsung Galaxy Pro-Game Team originally founded in 2000 and SK Telecom T1 founded in 2002. The teams have been at the forefront of Esports and have created a history of success that it looks like western companies are ready to start copying. For example Steve Aoki's acquisition of team Rogue last year. We are seeing a steady rate of growth, which I go into a little more detail in my post about Esports in the Olympics.
These revelations excite me because I feel like this is only the beginning. We are going to start seeing wider coverage, which means wider acceptance. The long lost dream of mine to play video games as a profession is now becoming a reality for so many and I couldn't be more excited. I will be even more elated once it's teams from the US taking home the titles.
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