Monthly Update February '23

Hi Reader,

Since we sent around our wrap up from the 2022 calendar year it's certainly been busy. We're now nearing the end of the League of Legends NLC 1st Division Spring Split, our Collegiate Series Spring Split is well underway and the Valorant First Team are about to be announced before they get going in the Beacon Series....the games have begun in earnest.

'Off the pitch' (I do like a football reference) its been just as hectic as we push forward with our pre-seed raise, progress with sponsorship conversations and release our 2023 Nativz Key memberships plus launch our new retail range this week!

Please do take a look, there's some really interesting updates for you as follows;

INDUSTRY

👉🏼 Feature article - check out these must see esports documentaries as profiled by our friends at Esports Insider, closer to home RTE released this doco featuring our friend Ben Finnegan at Epic Global Agency - we're told he's working on getting us into the sequel!!!

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

👉🏼 The esports industry in 2023…is it game over or game on? This insightful article from SportsPro Media illustrates the significant opportunity the esports industry has but also the lack of profit being generated.

👉🏼 It's certainly tough at the top as Forbes take a look at FaZe Clan circling the drain, while closer to home we said goodbye to innovators (and respected rivals) X7 who went into voluntary liquidation citing the decision by Freaks4U to downgrade the NLC having had a significant impact on the organisation.

👉🏼 The Olympics have recently announced their new ‘Esports Week’, while many are unhappy with the titles chosen (we'd be one of them) it is a huge step for the industry nonetheless.

SUCCESS

🚀 Midway through the League of Legends Spring Split we made some changes to the First Team, to use the second half of the split for trialing new players and testing new combinations in prep for the Summer Split. Last night saw the team pick up their first win over UniQ, the final game of the regular rounds is against Domino tonight - view here

🚀 Our new apparel partners Oxen have stepped in to not only fill a gap but provide us with the style and quality of leisure product we've been searching for. They've even been able to offer the Collegiate Series teams an opportunity to create their own branded kit 🔥 Big thanks to Conor Peyton, Latham Tawhai and the team as we set up for launch this week - keep an eye out for the email (on Thursday)!

🚀 We're launching a new annual Collegiate Challenge which will see the top team for each game earn points that will give an overall rank for their College or University (much like the Constructor Series in Formula 1). The top institution for the current year will play against the previous year's defending champion - best of all, this is being hosted by our partners at Gamerfest this coming May.

CHALLENGES

🎮 The biggest challenge this year has without doubt been Freaks4U's decision to downgrade the NLC and as rumoured, seek an exit from their 3 year deal to run the competition. Our decision was to retain our place but significantly reduce team costs for the Spring Split. While that's seen us prop up the bottom of the table so far, our preparations for the Summer Split have begun to not just avoid relegation but build for 2024 when we hope this uncertainty will be resolved.

🎮 In addition, we chose to sunset our Talent Team which was tough but the right thing to do. Our talent development now focuses squarely on the Collegiate Series. We were also able to sell our NLC 3rd Division place to Jessie Lingard's esports business JLingz.

NEEDS

👀 We need your help to get our retail range out there in front of as many people possible 📣 and grab something for yourself if you fancy 👕

METRICS

The following metrics are for the period of Jan 1 - Feb 28 2023:

💯 Social audience on official channels = 14.6% lift in total audience

💯 Unique web visitors = Up 14.9% on same period from 2022

💯 Opted in marketing database = 4.3% increase to date this year

💯 2022/23 Collegiate Esports Series cumulative participants = +500 students

COMING UP

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

📣 Our Nativz online store goes live this week thanks to our partners at Oxen. We've got a really exciting range of leisurewear for the remaining cold weeks. We're even doing a photo shoot the range is that epic!

📣 Commencement of the Valorant First Team campaign in the Beacon Series begins with the Leages.gg event on Saturday 15 April and the competition runs through to the Circuit Finals across 22-26 May.

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

📣 Collegiate Series Spring Split Finals take place in April 👀

Enjoy the week ahead.

Regards,

Kurt & the Nativz Team