Nativz new esports platform, Esports World Cup impact, new Ireland Collegiate website and shop, challenges, needs and metrics!

Dear Supporter,

August was a tad quiet so we took the month off our newsletter, now we’re back. Emerging out of the Summer Holidays there was one thing on our minds, the looming 2024/25 Ireland Esports Collegiate Series and the improvements we planned for year 3.

One significant change was to launch Ireland Collegiate on our new competitive gaming platform Nemesis. Launching this proof of concept wasn’t an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. Come the end of August we were quietly confident, come 7pm this evening the team will take a well earned deep breath as we we kick-off the new series.

In case you missed it, just last week we announced our new purpose partnership with PlayAid. Take a look at the coverage here. 

INDUSTRY NEWS

🗞️ In Focus – well we couldn’t look back at August and September without taking a deep dive into the inaugural Esports World Cup now couldn’t we. The Esports World Cup (EWC) 2024 brought together the most diverse and expansive competitive gaming experiences under one roof, boasting over 20 tournaments and hundreds of players across various games. With standout performances from titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which attracted a staggering 2.38 million viewers, and League of Legends, with its solid 1.1 million peak, the EWC demonstrated the thriving global appetite for esports. In terms of sheer scale and viewership, the event held its own, particularly in mobile gaming, showcasing its relevance on a global stage.

However, the event also faced significant challenges. The decision to host the tournament in Saudi Arabia led to a notable boycott from parts of the community, primarily due to concerns over the country’s human rights record. Moreover, some games like Rennsport and Fortnite saw viewership numbers far below expectations, calling into question whether the event truly succeeded in engaging the broader esports audience across all titles. Balancing the triumphs of some games with the disappointments of others, the EWC 2024 raises important questions about the future of esports mega-events.

Here’s a few other news pieces that we found interesting from across the esports and gaming media;

🗞️ Match making platform asserts? Esports tournament organiser PGL has acquired several key assets of esports matchmaking platform Esportal.

🗞️ Guild Esports were in trouble. Saved with only £25K left in the bank, the David Beckham backed UK esports

🗞️ Bayes Esports, a supplier of official esports live data, services and products, has partnered with Genius Sports as it looks to expand globally.

SUCCESSES

🚀 All new IrelandCollegiate.com is the latest release in our digital overhaul, in addition to this new home we’ve secured a number of new suppliers to deliver a dedicated team range. NativzGaming.com has also had a refresh now Nemesis is live.

🚀 Nemesis is now live with 1.2K users from Ireland Collegiate. This white label solution is designed with Sports Clubs, Esports Orgs, Educators and Brands in mind. The data outputs are designed to enrich existing supporter data and unlock further fan insight.

🚀 We shifted the 23/24 Collegiate Challenge to September, why you might ask? Having it a month out from the new academic year was a great way to start building up. We even managed to deliver as a popup at TU Dublin, they finished top of the leaderboard.

CHALLENGES

Our kit partnership deals to date have focused on Nativz Esports Club. Leading into the 2023/24 Ireland Esports Collegiate Series we launched a team range of merchandise which included a bespoke Players Jersey. While we missed the build up to the new series we generated ~€7K in sales validating the opportunity.

Unfortunately Brexit and production timelines have limited our ability to maximise this opportunity so, we sought to revisit our supply chain leading into the 2024/25 Winter Series. This is where we’ve got to…

🕹️ Secured a supplier for bespoke shirts reducing our production time down to two weeks (down from 8-10 weeks) while retaining the level of quality

🕹️ Set ourselves up with a drop shipping leader for leisure items who can pick, print, pack and post an individual item within 72 hours (down from +2 weeks). We also have flexibility to design a new leisure item and launch it within 24 hours

🕹️ Each team has a Players Jersey, Team Hoodie and a Team T-Shirt to get going. We’ve also created our own Ireland Collegiate “Three Leaf Collection” which is now live and includes a Men’s, Women’s and Kid’s T-Shirt, Sweatshirt and Hoodie

🕹️ Not only built a dedicated online store in Shopify, the flexibility of that technology enabled us to create the first ever Collegiate esports website - creating an integrated website and online shop in one that also launches Ireland Collegiate’s own brand gaming platform

NEEDS

👀 We’re now preparing to launch our new corporate series, starting with Dublin. Due to go live during Q1/2 of 2025 we’re now in the final stages of preparing to go live. For those of you with a business in Ireland please let us know your thoughts to the following question.

METRICS

The following metrics are for the period of 1-30 September 2024:

COMING UP

Take a look at what we've got coming up:

📅 7 Oct - 2024/25 Ireland Esports Collegiate Series, Winter Semester commences

📅 2 Nov - League of Legends Worlds Final, including a performance from Linkin Park @ The O2 London

📅 7-8 Dec - Winter Semester Finals Weekend @ Dogpatch Labs

Thanks for your continued support.

Regards,

Kurt & the Nativz Gaming Team

OFFICIAL PARTNERS OF NATIVZ GAMING