Stepping up the FIGHT: expansive opportunities in the esports ecosystem

This post is sponsored by FIGHT Esports.

Esports, a competitive video gaming event watched by spectators, continues to grow as a popular and profitable form of entertainment. Over the past decade, it has gone from an underground movement and niche activity to mainstream pop culture adoption.

There has been a significant spike in viewers since 2016 – both occasional viewers and enthusiasts. According to Newzoo’s previous standards, between 2018 and 2019, there was a 12.3% increase year-over-year. The market research and intelligence platform then adjusted the figures in 2019, reporting there were 200.8 million occasional viewers and 197 million enthusiasts, making the total audience 397.8 million.  

The hype surrounding esports persists until today and its growth is not dampening anytime soon, especially since the market’s revenue is forecast to reach US$1.62 billion in 2024. FIGHT Esports, a global esports marketing agency, is at the centre of the fanfare in Southeast Asia, stepping up its game by heralding “the next big thing” in the industry in the golden age of Esports.

Building empowered gaming communities over the years 

FIGHT Esports has helped build an ecosystem for the gaming community while supporting the development of the industry through live-streamed tournaments and gaming content since 2019. To date, FIGHT Esports has organised more than 80 tournaments in seven countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines. 

In the early years of its inception, FIGHT Esports was set in motion as the esports arm under Forest Interactive, a Kuala Lumpur-headquartered tech company that develops scalable mobile platforms.

As an esports entertainment platform then, FIGHT Esports focused on building the gaming community across East and Southeast Asia through various localised community-focused online tournaments, featuring multiple game titles, including the Arena of Valor (AOV) tournament in Taiwan; Dota 2 Paradise Cup in Indonesia; Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) tournament in Cambodia; Apex Legends tournament in Thailand; as well as the VALORANT tournament in the Philippines. 

Bringing tournaments to new heights across SEA 

Along the way, FIGHT Esports garnered partnerships to organise tournaments, including Garena for Level Up KL 2020; TikTok for #TikTokGGPH Creator Cup; and KITAMEN for Level Up KL Junior Cup 2021.

Last year also marked FIGHT Esports’ first-ever regional multi-title tournament, FIGHT Campus League/Legend (FCL), for university students in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.  

“In the past two years, we have collaborated closely with game publishers and partners from various industries to organise events and tournaments in our effort to celebrate the modern gaming culture and empower grassroots esports communities,” said Matthew Ho, head of FIGHT Esports, in an interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

“Our team has pushed ahead with our initiatives to not only build and grow gaming communities around the world, but also create value for partners such as non-endemic brands and products, as well as government agencies.”

The multi-title varsity league was recognised with the bronze title at Marketing Events Awards 2021 for the Best Consumer Event – Esports category.

The tremendous growth of FIGHT Esports eventually led the global esports entertainment platform to establish itself as its own business entity by the end of 2021. 

Connecting businesses to gamers from all over the world

This year, FIGHT Esports shifted gears towards fully fledged esports PR and marketing services, expanding its portfolio beyond organising events and tournaments to meet market demands.

As an agency, FIGHT Esports now offers game marketing, esports public relations, merchandising, community building, short and long-form gaming content production, content and broadcast localisation, as well as regional tournaments in the region. 

Today, FIGHT Esports serves as one of the official agencies for PR, KOL management, and community management for one of the world’s biggest mobile game publishers, and is actively looking to expand its clientele across all regions. 

What’s more, after tapping and setting a strong foothold in the esports world, FIGHT Esports is planning to penetrate into the burgeoning cryptocurrency market, with plans to launch a multifunctional crypto platform called Nypto. Slated to first launch in Thailand, the platform would include choices such as watch-to-earn, play-to-earn, exclusive NFT collectibles, custom tournament creation, exclusive esports membership, and more.  

In FIGHT Esports’ approach, Nypto capitalises on blockchain technology to create a platform that allows gamers to fully experience the benefits of blockchain with esports. Its features include secured price payments, cross-border payments, connecting gamers with crypto, and the most interesting yet, is it functions as a gateway for gamers whereby publishers can utilise Nypto without having to directly invest in crypto.

What’s next for FIGHT?

In its pipeline, FIGHT Esports will, among others, launch exclusive NFTs and an esports NFT marketplace. The move to tap into non-fungible tokens is timely given how it allows blockchain innovators to create unique and one-of-a-kind digital assets. As a result, gamers can collect in-game assets that are securely stored on a blockchain.  

“This convergence of crypto, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), esports, and gaming may sound appealing to many key players in the industry as it brings a huge potential to drive higher engagement as well as reach new audiences,” Ho said.

“However, the technology is relatively new. We will continue working closely with our partners to figure out ways to incorporate it into our platform safely and securely.”

To collaborate with FIGHT Esports, drop a line at info@fightesports.com, or visit fightesports.com for more information.