FEBRUARY 2020FEBRUARY REPORT PLAYVS, GOOGLE AND MORE AND GOOGLE PLAYVS, V2.20 PATCH NOTES |BOLD | SPRING/SUMMER PHOTO: ATLANTA BLACK STAR BIG TAKEAWAYS —―———→ PAGE 3 A quick summary of what stood out to us CONTENTS TRENDING —―—————→ PAGE 4 Trends we saw in the past month and the impact we expect them to have BRAND ACTIVATIONS —―———→ PAGE 9 TABLE OF Interesting activations from some nonendemic brands OTHER IMPORTANTS —―——→ PAGE 12 A hodgepodge of information from data to missteps Page 2 BIG TA KEAWAYS The fight for streaming rights continues to heat up as larger partnerships form. Esports is making its way further into local communities and schools. Established brands look to expand their service offerings with new business groups. FEB 2020 Top organizations continue to seek diversity in FEB 2020 leadership and partnership moves. PHOTO: EPIC GAMES FEB 2020 FEB 2020 Page 3 TRENDING NO.001 SECTION WHAT’S INCLUDED A collection of new and interesting things that caught our attention last month. PHOTO: WALLPAPER ACCESS ` ACTIVISION INKS GOOGLE DEAL P H O TO : BL WHAT HAPPENED IZ ZA RD In a continued escalation of the streaming wars, Google and Activision Blizzard have completed a deal that will move all of the gaming giant’s esports competition, including the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League, to stream exclusively on YouTube. While the focus of competition between streaming platforms has mostly been individual content creators, this is the first instance at this scale. 001 —―→ WHY IT MATTERS NO. Many of the major benchmarks for the success of esports are based on how it compares to similar milestones in traditional sports. Networks buying the rights for sports content is one of the last remaining gold mines for live TV. Seeing a similar battle beginning to happen with esports content is a good sign for the industry as a whole. On a smaller scale, this is a huge win for YouTube in its attempt to steal some of the massive viewership Twitch possesses. TRENDING Page FORTNITE IN HIGH SCHOOLS 002 —————―→ PHOTO: ONE37PM NO. WHAT HAPPENED WHY IT MATTERS Epic Games continues its quest toward dominating While Fortnite definitely continues to expand, the real catalyst for this move is Delane the gaming world by partnering with PlayVS to Parnell, the CEO of PlayVS, who has recognized the opportunity to fill the gap in esports bring an official competitive circuit for Fortnite to competition at the high school and college levels. At a time when everyone else was looking U.S. high schools and colleges. The circuit will be at the national and global levels, PlayVS has continued to bet on local, realizing that it is the nationwide and is the first time Fortnite has had battleground where amateur players can take the inspiration they find from professionals TRENDING official competition at the high school level. This online and put it into action against their classmates and colleagues. marks a significant step in Epic Games’ pursuit of formal competition for Fortnite. PHOTO: ONE37PM POKEMON´ WHAT HAPPENED GO-ING STRONG In 2019, Pokemon Go made $894 million, resulting in its biggest financial year ever, even bigger than its launch year in 2016. The franchise isn’t slowing down either. In April, Pokemon Home, the cloud-based app, will unite Pokemon games, a National Pokedex WHY IT MATTERS and a judging feature that lets players see how strong their Pokemon are. This also follows last year’s Detective Pikachu movie, which grossed over $400 million worldwide. The Pokemon concept was first introduced in 1996 and still remains a relevant and dominant force today, mostly by embracing the notion that constant innovation and expansion are critical to long-term success. When Pokemon Go was first introduced it became an overnight sensation, but could have easily fizzled out as a fad. Instead, it has taken an approach similar to Fortnite of recognizing fans’ desire to find new ways to personalize and explore new avenues within a familiar landscape. PHOTO: POKEMON TRENDING NO. 003 ——―→ PHOTO: POKEMON PHOTO: POKEMON Page 7 ` 07. Razer Launches New Accessories Razer used CES 2020 to announce a variety of new accessories that target two very different audiences: hardcore PC gamers and mobile gamers. With an ALSO NOTEWORTHY established PC presence, mobile is a good next step. 08. Ninja’s Firm Seeking Diversity ALSO NOTEWORTHY Loaded proactively seeking to diversify its client base is a smart move in a space that has dealt with its share of diversity issues. As streaming continues to grow, ALSO NOTEWORTHY more viewers will want to see themselves represented. ALSO NOTEWORTHY ——―—→ 09. Apex Tricks Fans During Reveal PHOTO: EPIC GAMES Data miners have been a pain for most game developers trying to hide future content and surprises. Respawn building an entire marketing campaign to throw people off the scent provided some sweet revenge. 04. Ninja Gets Fortnite Skin ——―—→ It was only a matter of time before Fortnite created skins for their most influential competitors. Ninja’s brand has grown so vast that it is hard to guess where he will appear next. 05. Riot Enters Tabletop Space PHOTO: APEX LEGENDS Riot’s massive success with League of Legends allows them to take risks that other game developers don’t have the luxury of even considering. Why not try to conquer the world of tabletop gaming next? 06. Twitch Reveals Hype Train —-—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—―—→ They say competition breeds innovation and it appears to be accurate in the battle for the top streaming platform. Time will tell if Twitch’s attempt to gamify donations and subscriptions will lead to more revenue. PHOTO: TWITCH BRAND ACTIVATIONS NO.002 SECTION WHAT’S INCLUDED Nonendemic brands that decided to get in on the esports action last month. PHOTO: RAZER BENEFIT COSMETICS PARTNERS WITH GEN.G ACTIVATION NO. 001 WHAT HAPPENED PHOTO: BENEFIT COSMETICS Benefit Cosmetics has partnered with Gen.G for a weekly video series “Find Your Game Face,” which WHY IT MATTERS highlights all the different aspects of being a female professional streamer. This isn’t the first gaming partnership for Benefit. Last year, they sponsored the Gen.G continues to focus their partnerships on female-friendly brands and initiatives. Last year they announced the first all-female GIRLGAMER festival in Sydney, Australia. Fortnite team, as well as a partnership with Bumble. This allegiance is a good example of two organizations with strong brand positions recognizing commonality in each other and coming together to create meaningful content and (hopefully) inspire others to do the same. In a category that has long been criticized for its lack of female representation it’s great to see another step in the right direction. Page 10 OTHER BRAND ACTIVATIONS RAZER APPLIES FOR ACTIVATION 02 BANKING LICENSE ACTIVATION 02 Gaming company Razer has applied for a digital banking license to establish the Razer Youth Bank. It will provide loans to entrepreneurs and microenterprises and look to resonate with its younger audience base. ACTIVATION 03 ACTIVATION 03 TREND NO. 002 ————―→ PHOTO: ARENA OF VALOR COLONEL SANDERS NOW IN ARENA OF VALOR Fresh off the buzz from their “I Love You, Colonel Sanders” —―→ NO. dating game, KFC takes another step to solidify themselves 003 within the gaming scene by adding a much more chiseled PHOTO: RAZER colonel to the MOBA game cast of characters. Page 11 OTher Importants NO.003 SECTION WHAT’S INCLUDED The other things we didn’t think deserved their own section, but do deserve your attention. PHOTO: EPIC GAMES MISSTEPS HERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT DIDN’T QUITE GO AS PLANNED LAST MONTH. Kentucky bans Fortnite It’s thermal paste, not drugs ―———―———―———―———―——— ―———―———―———―———―——— Not so fast Epic We feel for you, Cooler Master Fans troll PS5 logo Tarkov devs refuse to add women ―———―———―———―———―——— ―———―———―———―———―——— Looks verrrry familiar You should probably rethink that PHOTO: EPIC GAMES Page 13 PHOTO: SONY O TWITCH MIXER MOST WATCHED MOST WATCHED SUMMIT1G - 7.4 SHROUD - 1.0 BY THE NUMBERS DOTA2MC_RU - 5.8 NINJA - 0.7 METHOD - 5.8 MONSTERCAT - 0.6 DREAMLEAGUE - 4.9 PALADINSGAME - 0.5 XQC - 4.3 PONOMAR - 0.1 YOUTUBE FACEBOOK MOST WATCHED MOST WATCHED LOL ESPORTS - 3.5 MAHERCO GAMING - 1.4 NOBRU - 3.3 G2G - 1.1 VEGETTA777 - 1.9 NAM BLUE - 0.7 LOL ESPORTS BR - 1.1 LOLITO FDEZ - 0.7 CALL OF DUTY LEAGUE - 1.0 JOE GAMING - 0.3 NUMBERS ARE MILLIONS OF VIEWS DATA THROUGH 2.2 Page 14 ALL ABOUT DATA —————―→ ON THE HORIZON CALL OF DUTY LEAGUE Activision Blizzard’s new league kicked off in Minnesota in late January. Twelve teams paid a reported $25 million each to enter and will compete throughout the next several months. PAX EAST Kicking off on February 27 in Boston, the ever-evolving gaming festival and conference will feature speakers, arcades, tournaments and cosplay events for the thousands of attendees. GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE The GDC will once again be in San Francisco and focus on all things surrounding game development, including interviews with popular game makers and new tech entering the space. Page 15 BOLD FUTURE COLLECTION 2019 ThANK YOUA lookbook is a collection of photographs ThANK YOUcompiled to show off a model, photographer, ThANK YOU © 2020 McGarrah Jessee. The contents of this document belong to McGarrah Jessee. Such content shall not be reproduced or used in any form without Page 33 express written authorization..