A week of news covering the intersection of business and gaming / esports, all in about one minute – everything you need to know from the “profit of esports” himself.
010 – August 9, 2020
From the keyboard to the boardroom, this is the Business of Esports Minute! Every single week, I, Paul Dawalibi, the prophet of esports, will be bringing you my hottest takes from the week, basically everything you need to know about the business of esports all in about one minute. Let’s go.
This week, Tencent made headlines when leaks indicated that they were driving discussions to merge China’s 2 biggest game-streaming platforms Huya and DouYu. Tencent owns 37% of Huya and 38% of DouYu but sources familiar with the deal indicate that Tencent is seeking to become the largest shareholder in the combined entity. This deal would create an online giant with more than 300 million users and a combined market value of $10 billion, cementing Tencent’s lead in Chinese games and social media. Right now, it seems Tencent is making all the right moves and carving out a very dominant market position.
In a bit of news that flew under the radar, Ubisoft signed a multi-year partnership with cloud gaming provider Parsec this week. While that doesn’t seem like a groundbreaking announcement, it actually is. Let’s all go back to the Google Stadia launch event from 2019. The future of gaming. At that time, Stadia announced that one of its most significant developer partners was Ubisoft. If Ubisoft is now in bed with another cloud gaming provider, then it means the death of Stadia is more certain than ever. Clearly Ubisoft realized how bad Google’s offering is, and jumped ship. Rest in peace Google Stadia.
Finally, in some sad news, Blizzard has not only canceled BlizzCon 2020, but announced that BlizzCon 2021 will be a virtual event only. For many, BlizzCon was THE gaming event of the year – the place where lovers of PC games came to show love to the company that defined PC gaming for decades. While the current pandemic has driven many in-person events to go online, the outright cancellation of BlizzCon this year is likely because the company simply has nothing to show or announce. To make matters worse, committing to never doing BlizzCon in person shows that the company is more out of touch with their userbase than ever. While Activision Blizzard continues to generate massive profits, you can’t help but wonder what the company will look like 5 or 10 years from now without any innovation in new games or new IP, or any of the heart and soul that made the company what it is today. How far the mighty have fallen.
For far more detailed insight and discussion into the business of esports, as well as the most exceptional line-up of guests, please tune in every week to the Business of Esports podcast and every Wednesday evening into the Business of Esports after-show livestream. Also make sure to follow us on Twitter @bizesports and on YouTube at The Business of Esports.
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