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In the future, esports players with handles like 鈥淓ric Eruption鈥 and 鈥淗ypebits鈥 could be as big as sports stars like Steph Curry, Rafael Nadal, or听 Lionel Messi.
And esports itself, an empire that touches fashion, music, and lifestyle.
In this听B-Side听episode, Ferdinand M. Gutierrez, chief executive officer of esports company Ampverse, tells听大象传媒听Patricia B. Mirasol how mobile gaming lowered the barrier to entry for esports in Southeast Asia.听
Before founding Ampverse, Mr. Gutierrez was an advertising executive and, at one point, head of marketing at Twitch, an interactive livestreaming service.
This August, Ampverse announced that it would invest P100 million in its Philippine expansion.
TAKEAWAYS
Mobile gaming democratized esports in Southeast Asia (SEA).听
鈥淚n PC gaming, it depends on how good your PC and your connection is,鈥 Mr. Gutierrez said. 鈥淚n mobile gaming, [you] need less power, and more players can get involved with it.鈥澨
鈥淢obile gaming鈥檚 democratized e-sports in a sense where there鈥檚 more people who can get involved versus just maybe the middle to upper class getting access to high-end equipment that cost a lot of money.鈥澨
Brands that want to talk to Gen Z and Gen Alpha should get into esports.听听
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to build a culture around gaming, and that culture includes music and fashion. We have to build that engagement layer which I believe is important,鈥 said Mr. Gutierrez of Ampverse.
鈥淲e understand how to take players and everybody around the teams to become marketing tools for the next generation of audience, which is Gen Z and Gen Alpha,鈥 he added.听
Ampverse aims to build a gaming ecosystem that includes collaborations with Filipino celebrities who are esports enthusiasts and Philippine streetwear brands.听
This September, Filipino gaming creator Edgar 鈥淐hooxTV鈥 Dumali became an investor and brand ambassador for听Minana, Ampverse鈥檚 Philippine e-sports team and lifestyle brand.听
Esports is just like any other sport, it just so happens that it鈥檚 played on a screen instead of a field.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just as exciting as any other sports event I鈥檝e been at, and I鈥檝e been to some crazy ones. 鈥 It鈥檚 the same level or even higher,鈥 said Mr. Gutierrez, a football and basketball fan who compared the 鈥渆letric atmosphere鈥 of an esports world championship in Los Angeles to other sporting events he鈥檚 witnessed, among them a Liverpool match and a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.
The esports market is expected to register a compound annual growth rate of 20%听, and countries that are supportive of esports will have a slice of that pie.听
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