Monthly Update March '24

Hi Reader,

March went quick. That was driven by some momentum we picked up from steps we shared last month, reactions to the challenges we faced which paid off.

🚨 If you've not seen our latest news, take a look here at the GG Machines Partnership announcement. Robert and his team have built a great Irish business that is getting behind Ireland Collegiate with us. 🚨

👀 Another small but good milestone is looming, we've now broken 900 followers on LinkedIn. That community of ours has some really impressive professionals showing an interest in what we're doing which is very humbling. It's not too late to join either, just follow us here! 📈

Here's our selection of interesting industry news pieces and updates across our business successes, challenges, needs from March plus a look into what's coming up;

Tickets only €10 each per day and go on sale this coming Monday 8 April. Click here for full details.

INDUSTRY

👉🏼 Feature News - Feature - Riot Games’ business model shakeup for teams in its franchised League of Legends competitions will see a shift in focus from sharing league sponsorship revenue to sharing proceeds from in-game digital purchases. While this is great news for the top tier (the LEC here in Europe) it has no impact on the second tier, the regional leagues like our very own NLC which Nativz Esports Club participates in.

👉🏼 After sharing the news that British-Chinese org MNM Gaming went into administration last month, German esports organisation Sprout has now ceased operations too, team consolidation continues unfortunately.

👉🏼 PSG continue to explore esports having extended their existing partnership with Talon Esports to launch another joint-venture team, this time in Rainbow Six. Their expansion reinforces our belief that there is a great opportunity for sports rights holder to innovate by bridging with esports (drop me a line on that one if you want to discuss)

👉🏼 The Esports World Cup continues to build. Having announced in Feb that Dota 2, StarCraft II and Counter-Strike 2 are confirmed, Overwatch 2, EA Sports FC 24, Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8. Now we've heard that Riot has agreed for League of Legends and Team Fight Tactics have joined the party.

SUCCESS

🚀 Yes it was released on 1 April but we needed to sneak it in, we're delighted to have got this feature out with Silicon Republic thanks to the continued support of the team at Dogpatch Labs. The reaction to our confirmation of the event on LinkedIn has gained over 2.5K views amongst peers.

🚀 Finally launched nativzgaming.com, providing a much needed location to present the whole business which includes the ecosystem we’ve built (and continue to grow) while introducing our technology that will underpin our growth strategy.

🚀 From a business development perspective we're now building our pipeline for projects to bridge sports with esports. With five meaningful project conversations now going on we're off to a good start. We could always do with more so just let me know when suits you to get a call in or drop me a line via email!

CHALLENGES

🎮 Nativz Esports Club: we've worked hard to consolidate the First Team operation in reflecting on the direction of travel The NLC product has taken. We've since seen a decline in viewership for the competition, more insight on Riot’s shift in focus in regards to the ERLs and exploring the innovative approach taken by Ruddy (who finished second) - this is all pointing to change for the better, adjusting the business model.

🎮 Ireland Collegiate: There's been a steady decline in the Ireland Rocket League community's participation numbers which has fed through to Ireland Collegiate. As of 4 April Uni Rocketeers has confirmed its ceasing operations. We're keep a close eye on this one as we close out the 2023/24 Series, some off season conversations needed.

NEEDS

👀 Sponsorship: We're looking for introductions to brands with a focus on dipping their toe in the water so to speak. Our packages start at €5K so from an innovation perspective we're not looking for too much. This ask is timely given that we're building towards one of our high profile events so PLEASE do let me know if there's an intro you're able to facilitate via [email protected]

METRICS

The following metrics are for the period of 1 - 31 March 2024:

💯 Social community audience on official channels = up (again) by 3.4% 🔼

💯 Unique nativz.gg web visitors = Up 24% on March 2023 🔼

💯 Opted in marketing database = 2.7% increase in the month 🔼

💯 (NEW) LinkedIn followers = 901, up by 141.7% last 30 days 🔼

COMING UP

Take a look at what we've got coming up over the next 10 weeks:

📅 13-14 April - 2023/24 Ireland Esports Collegiate Spring Semester Finals Weekend in Dublin, guest list for the Saturday and open for students on the Sunday.

📅 18-29 April - League of Legends EMEA Masters for Spring featuring Lionscreed and Ruddy Corp representing the NLC.

📅 3 May - we're looking to organise a London network meetup, please let me know if you're interested in getting together at the end of the day.

📅 18-19 May - Ireland Esports Collegiate Challenge is coming along, the framework is there and we're moving at a good pace so stay tuned on this one.

📅 23 May - Amsterdam network meetup is work in progress with a couple of new contacts. More to follow on this one but if you are interested then drop me a line.

Please keep the faith, we're building and we love having you with us on this journey.

Regards,

Kurt & the Nativz Team