05.06.24 - Esports Weekly Digest

?? Esports Weekly Digest - News Recap: 04.29.24 - 05.06.24

This past week was filled with never-before-seen gaming collaborations, metaverse experiences, and more!

1. 沃尔玛 ’s Roblox world called ‘Walmart Discoverland’ is now able to sell physical goods directly to users in-game. As a result, users inside the pre-existing Walmart Discovered are able to have real-life items shipped directly to their doorsteps.?
2. Fortnite and Lucasfilm Star Wars partnered again prior to May 4th Star Wars Day! On May 3rd, the infamous Sci-fi series made its way into the Fortnite universe across the LEGO Group Fortnite, Battle Royale, Fortnite Festival, and Rocket Racing.?
3. Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland becomes the first playable video game character in Supercell Clash of Clans during a month-long football-themed seasonal event. Haaland has played Clash of Clans for more than 10 years and apparently reached out to Supercell to make the partnership happen.

Introduction of e-commerce in Roblox : Being the first mover on Roblox, Walmart is able to build a meaningful relationship with the next generation of digital shoppers and meet where millions of young consumers play on a daily basis. Truly a watershed moment in the retail sector and an additional revenue stream where currently all revenue will go directly to Walmart. This is the first pilot test of multiple e-commerce testing that Roblox is planning with different products, brands and shopping methodologies. For Roblox, the company’s expansion into e-commerce highlights its aspirations to transcend from a gaming company to become a full-fledged digital platform that offers added value to shop on the platform.

See the rest of last week’s brand partnerships, tournament news, and org/publisher news in the full newsletter below!

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?? Brand Partnerships and Product Launches:

The EA SPORTS Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) announced official partnerships with gaming PC brand Alienware , custom gaming gear company Battle Beaver Customs and furniture brand Herman Miller for ALGS year 4. The partnered companies will launch fan activations and provide ALGS competitors with equipment throughout the circuit. The Split 1 Playoffs happened this past weekend (May 2nd – 5th) in Los Angeles, California. (Source)

Fortnite and Lucasfilm Star Wars are partnering again prior to May 4th Star Wars Day. On May 3 with Fortnite update v29.40, the infamous Sci-fi series makes its way into the Fortnite universe across the LEGO Group Fortnite, Battle Royale, Fortnite Festival, and Rocket Racing. Here’s the features across its game platforms: (Source)

• LEGO Fortnite: Side with the Rebels by building up the Rebel Village and use tools to keep the Empire at bay: Lightsabers, Bowcasters, DL-44 Blasters, and more.
• Battle Royale: Rescue Chewbacca to have the ability to fight off enemies with a Wookiee Bowcaster by your side in Battle Royale.?
• Fortnite Festival: An area inspired by Mos Eisley’s famous Cantina will be coming to the Fortnite Festival Jam Stage where you create your own version of the famous cantina band by getting up on stage with your friends.
• Rocket Racing: Unlock a Podracer and Darth Maul Decal.

Saudi Arabian esports organization Team Falcons and The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) have both partnered with coffee brand Barns . Barn’s will become the exclusive coffee brand of the Esports World Cup with the brand hosting a booth to provide refreshments for attendees. Thus far, Barn’s logo has only appeared on Team Falcons’ player jerseys in social media content. (Source) (Source)

Energy drink brand G FUEL announced the launch of “G FUEL Energy + Protein Formula,” which combines “caffeine and metabolism-boosting protein” in powder form. G FUEL Energy + Protein Formula contains 0 sugar, 100 calories or less per serving, 15 g of whey protein, 140 mg of caffeine, and 1000 mg taurine and will initially come in three flavors: “Chocolate, Café Mocha, and French Vanilla Latte.” (Source)

• G FUEL states this new product line will have mass appeal for “anyone looking to kick-start their morning, power through an afternoon slump, get ready to exercise and fuel those late-night wins.”

?? Org, Publisher, and Platform News

Mobile Game developer Supercell News:

• Manchester City Football Club superstar Erling Haaland becomes the first playable video game character in Clash of Clans. It’s the first time a real person has been added to the game, and footballer Haaland will become the Barbarian King character during a month-long football-themed seasonal event that includes Challenge levels, Skins, Sceneries, Events and more. Clash players will be able to recruit the Norwegian striker or raid his village and ruin it. Haaland has played Clash of Clans for more than 10 years and reached out to Supercell to make the partnership happen. (Source)
• Supercell-backed HypeHype Inc. ’s games platform has introduced monetization for creators who build content for the platform - paying them 100% of net revenue based on playtime and in-app purchases (for now). The mobile-first platform has been available in early access to audiences in the Philippines, Canada, and Finland. Although its audience is currently limited to three countries, creators can apply to build games from anywhere in the world to start earning too. (Source)
• Supercell’s Squad Busters mobile game reported that it has already achieved 20 million pre-registrations ahead of the game’s imminent launch on May 29th, 2024. The goal for this new game title is 30 million pre-registrations. The game is described as a “love letter to Supercell’s IPs.” (Source)
• Supercell’s Brawl Stars has made quite the comeback, with its eighth consecutive month of growth meaning a new revenue record for the game in April. Additionally, Brawl Stars’ 2024 earnings thus far total $236.4 million - far exceeding 2023’s $154.8 million spread across the whole year. (Source)
• Supercell invested into Web3 game startup Games for a Living (GFAL) in a seed funding round that included?Mitch Lasky and other investors for a total of $3.2 million raised. Barcelona-based GFAL has done a soft launch of its mobile game Elemental Raiders and it is steadily growing the Web3 game’s audience. The GFAL team includes leadership who had previous roles at leading industry players such as King Entertainment, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Netflix and Digital Chocolate. (Source)

LinkedIn’s Daniel Roth (Editor in Chief, VP) announced in a blog post that the company is weaving 3 “thinking-oriented games” directly into the LinkedIn experience. With the goal of giving professionals a way to exercise their brains while taking a quick break, but also give people a reason to connect with others, he hopes that these games spark banter, conversations, and even a healthy bit of competition among professionals around the world. (Source)

• The 3 games — Crossclimb, Pinpoint, and Queens — are available within the News module on the LinkedIn homepage or the MyNetwork tab. Each game is playable once a day and you can see other connections who have played that day and engage in some friendly rivalry with leaderboards.?

?? Metaverse (UEFN) News:

沃尔玛 ’s Roblox world called ‘Walmart Discoverland’ is now able to sell physical goods directly to users in-game. As a result, users inside the pre-existing Walmart Discovered are able to have real-life items shipped directly to their doorsteps. After trying out the virtual items on their avatars, players will be able to load an e-commerce experience that takes the form of a browser window inside Roblox imitating the experience of shopping on Walmart’s website — essentially a virtual laptop set up inside Roblox to access Walmart.com (only users aged 13+ in US can access commerce feature). (Source)

• Walmart collaborated with three Roblox creators — Sarabxlla, MD17_RBLX and Junozy — to design ‘Robloxified’ versions of three physical Walmart products: No Boundaries festival hobo bag, a TAL stainless steel tumbler and Onn wireless headphones.

Esports holding company GameSquare Holdings Inc. has partnered with dairy advocacy group Dairy MAX Inc. to launch a UEFN world-building map campaign in Fortnite’s Farm Tycoon. Developed by Moonlight Studios, a GameSquare subsidiary, lets players role play as a dairy farmer who is aiming to build and manage their own farm. The players perform activities that simulate real-world farming operations such as claiming plots of land and upgrading the infrastructure of their farms to gain in-game currency. (Source)

• Fortnite creators such as Maria ‘Chica’ Lopez, SanchoWest and Preston ‘TBNRFrags’ Arsement will feature on the campaign to promote the map across multiple platforms.

??? Tournament News:

The Christian McCaffrey Foundation announced that NFL pro Christian McCaffrey will be hosting the second annual Logan Bowl, a Madden NFL 24 tournament with a plethora of NFL stars competing (Greg Olsen to serve as co-host). The Christian McCaffrey Foundation has partnered with Ohio-based esports company eFuse to help facilitate the event.?

• The Logan Bowl is part of the Logan Project, which honors Christian McCaffrey fan Logan Hale, who lost his battle with childhood cancer in late 2021. The goal of the Logan Bowl is to raise funds for children’s hospitals in the United States, with a focus on cities that have a local NFL team. In 2023, McCaffrey and fellow NFL players successfully raised over $150K USD and provided gaming consoles to six new cities across the nation. (Source)
• The competition was broadcasted on May 3rd at 12pm EST via Twitch and YouTube. For more on how you can donate to this cause, visit christianmccaffreyfoundation.org.

Tournament operator GGTech Entertainment announced that it partnered with the Coca-Cola Company-owned brand Costa Coffee for UNIVERSITY Esports and GAMERGY events in Mexico. Costa Coffee will be featured in brand activations and a custom map in Fortnite , with specific details to be announced at a later date. (Source)

• UNIVERSITY Esports is a collegiate-level esports circuit with participation from more than 100K students in over 2,000 universities, in 26 countries spread across four continents—Europe, MENA (Middle East and North Africa), Latin America, and North America.
• GAMERGY is a gaming and esports event that first launched in Spain and expanded to Mexico and Argentina in 2022.