MENA continues lead with esports infrastructure, our traction builds further, Schools Series on horizon, growth metrics update and more...

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Hi there,

We certainly hit the ground running in January. Wrapping up 2024, set up for the Collegiate Series Spring Semester, arrangements for our next Academy Team trials, development print for Nemesis commenced…and of course we started ramping up our push for Office Showdown!

Those were the obvious ones. The traction. Combination of revenue, database growth, validation and so on.

We also got off to a good start in our preparations for building the Ireland Esports Schools Series. Meaningful conversations and planning are now underway with a 2025/26 academic year launch in view (will this excite local brands?).

We’re back with our short reads, long reads, successes, challenges…well you know the rest 👇🏼

INDUSTRY NEWS

🗞️ In Focus – the MENA region’s aggressive investment and strategic focus on gaming and esports are reshaping the global landscape. As Europe maintains its steady course, it will need to innovate and possibly reevaluate its strategies to keep pace with MENA’s dynamic growth in this sector.

Europe’s gaming ecosystem, while mature and well-established, is witnessing comparatively modest growth. The European esports market was valued at $1.72 billion in 2023, with projections to reach approximately $3.96 billion by 2030, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.65%.  While these figures are impressive, they are overshadowed by the MENA region’s aggressive expansion strategies.

Not only has Saudi Arabia taken a leaf out of China and South Korea’s book by taking an infrastructure first approach, Abu Dhabi are building their own $1bn esports island and the Dubai Future Foundation are aiming for a place in the top 10 cities within the global gaming sector…more to come there we think.

Here’s our selection of short and long reads from across the esports and gaming media;

🗞️ Razer Project Ava: would you pay an AI to help you get good at games? (The Verge, 3 mins)

🗞️ UK esports organisation Into The Breach winds down operations following embezzlement scandal (Esports Insider, 4 mins)

🗞️ Olympic Esports Games delayed until 2027 with a six member committee set up to decide which games will be on show (Reuters, 4 mins)

🗞️ Start.gg splits from Microsoft after 4 years with founding team to resume control (XboxEra, 1 min)

🗞️ Esports Insider sold to new owner, Founder and MD Sam Cooke announces departure (The Esports Advocate, 3 mins)

SUCCESSES

🚀 Out network is having an impact as we connect with educators. We’re now live with Trinity College’s SWENG project and have four on work experience from Belfast Met!

🚀 Nativz Esports Club’s reset has got off to a good “restart”, our League of Legends Academy team qualified for the Four Nations 2nd Div, two levels below the NLC.

🚀 Adam O’Sullivan joins the team in a Business Development capacity with an initial focus on Office Showdown as we build the Ireland Esports Company Series.

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CHALLENGES

We’ve got a plan for our local esports ecosystem from collegiate esports and up. What we don’t have is a solution for the significant number of young people at school level.

Ireland Esports Schools Series has a good ring to it right? We want to build a tournament structure for gamers within the school system an opportunity to compete.

So we’ve looked at the challenge of building this new initiative with four key areas in mind, and the goal of delivering a phased national rollout in the 2025/26 academic year;

🕹️ Our network of universities are the heart of this vision, the opportunity to connect them with their local school cluster through esports is enticing.

🕹️ Not only do we need to look at this extension with a sporting lense, the education parallel is immense - digital innovation, STEM support, soft skill development and more.

🕹️ Reach will further strengthen our push for a sustainable business model, the reach potential here is massive - hopefully enough to excite local brands.

NEEDS

👀 Office Showdown is the priority at this moment in time as we build for the Spring Tournament. We need your help, there’s a few different ways you can do this:

1️⃣ Follow Office Showdown on LinkedIn here, we want to boost the following grow coverage.

2️⃣ Help amplify our LinkedIn content by liking, reposting and even better still, commenting on a repost! Maybe this one?

3️⃣ Share this article with contacts you have in Irish business - they don’t need to be into esports, we just need their help to share our opportunity internally.

Our LinkedIn content is building, workplace wellbeing and the prevalence of tech professionals competing in esports have led the charge 📰

METRICS

The following metrics are for the period of 1-31 January 2025:

COMING UP (& UNDERWAY)

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

📅 10 Feb - Collegiate Series resumed for the Spring Semester

📅 13 Feb - Valorant trials for the Nativz Esports Academy begin

📅 7 Mar - Annual Ireland Esports Student Survey deadline

📅 11-13 Apr - Spring Finals Weekend

Thanks for reading, now’s the important part - PLEASE share with your friends and family.

Regards,

Kurt & the Nativz Gaming Team

OFFICIAL PARTNERS OF NATIVZ GAMING