Monthly Update March '23

Hi Reader,

As we take a look back at March the esports industry continues to evolve with some industry contraction but also exciting news coming through. Close to home we're delighted to have announced the inaugural Collegiate Challenge in partnership with GamerFest! We took some inspiration from the FA's Community Shield and F1's dual table system, one for the drivers and one for the brands behind each team.

So how does this work? In the Nativz Collegiate Esports Series each institution fields at least one team in one or more of the five titles we run competitions in (League of Legends, Valorant, Rocket League, CS:GO and F1). We allocated them points based on the standing for their top team in each title and then combined the points to give each institution an overall ranking – nice and simple!

The top two are Technology University Dublin (TUD) and University College Dublin (UCD), they're playing off in the inaugural Collegiate Challenge on day one of GamerFest (Saturday 27 May) in Dublin at the RDS, grab a ticket here if you want to come and check out what these events are all about!

Please do take a look below at range of updates we have for you as follows;

INDUSTRY

👉🏼 Feature article - check out Esports Insider's review of esports investment during Feb of this year, it headlines with Savvy Games Group (the Saudi Esports and Gaming vehicle) making more waves in the industry with a $265m investment into Chinese Tournament Operator VSPO.

Here's a few other topical articles to take a look into which focus on the state of play for the esports industry;

👉🏼 After 11 years of CS:GO, Counter Strike 2 is announced. The first party shooter game is one of the biggest in esports which is also one of the titles we offer in the Collegiate Esports Series. Notably its one of the few games out there where betting sponsorships are prevalent in semi-pro and pro teams.

👉🏼 The surge in AI adoption continues with Guild Esports entering into an R&D partnership for the discovery and development of professional esports players.

👉🏼 Heard of Rocket League but don't know much about it? Here's a review on the RL ecosystem from our friends at ESI. Another title offered in our Collegiate Esports Series, it's a really interesting twist on football - ideal for a football club as an extension into esports 🤔 we can help with that.

SUCCESS

🚀 Our Nativz Leisure Range which has been created with our partners Oxen is available now online, don’t forget that holders of a Founder Key save 20%, Resident Key 10% and Citizen Key 5%

🚀 Nativz 2023 Valorant team was announced with two changes to the team from the 2022 roster, the guys have had a strong lead up to the start of their campaign and went 5-1 in their first Beacon Major of 2023 (3rd Div for UK&I)

🚀 Spring Semester Finals have now been completed in the Collegiate Esports Series, it's just the Collegiate Challenge left to close out the 2022/23 Academic year. Our objective was to facilitate a stable transition for the series from Legion to us and we nailed that. Now to build better.

CHALLENGES

🎮 Complexity and lack of clarity of the Irish ecosystem keeps popping up as we open more doors to those unfamiliar with esports. After our recent (and extremely positive) conversations with Trinity College, both Sam Molloy (one of our advisory board members) and I are looking to increase our activity from a local thought leadership perspective - building on the success of last November's Irish Esports Industry event....more to follow

🎮 Investment continues to be a focus in esports (see the leading industry news piece above) and despite the current contraction we're seeing, we have a couple of exciting conversations in progress!

NEEDS

👀 We’re looking for more members, Nativz Key Holders to be specific….and they're free! Please do encourage anyone you know that is remotely interested in gaming to grab their own Citizen Key which is available to claim online here. This is all about the gamer in your lives and adding value for them!

METRICS

The following metrics are for the period of 28 Feb - 31 Mar 2023:

💯 Social audience on official channels = 8.4% lift in total audience

💯 Unique web visitors = Down 7% on March 2022

💯 Opted in marketing database = 1.5% increase in the month

COMING UP

Take a look at what we've got coming up over the next two months:

📣 Leisure Range photoshoot! Yep we're doing it. The range is that great we want to show it off properly and ensure you've all got every reason to buy an item for you or your young ones.

📣 Strategic review of the Nativz Collegiate Esports Series begins from this coming Friday 21 April, the 'brains trust' are descending on Dogpatch Labs for an afternoon of reflection and ideas!

📣 We're taking a look back at our Gaming + Esports + Web3 event across the coming weeks, keep an eye out for a series of short form segments from the evening across our socials, some real thought leading conversation.

📣 There's a new coach coming for the Nativz League of Legends First Team and we have the roster lock (confirm our starting 5 players) on 25 May for our 1st Division Summer Split campaign, game dates/times are also about to be released!

📣 Nativz Collegiate Challenge @ GamerFest’s Summer LAN Festival this coming 27-28 May at the RDS in Dublin, ticket information is available here.

Enjoy the week ahead.

Regards,

Kurt & the Nativz Team