I’ve been attending the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which opens today in Los Angeles, since it calved off the Consumer Electronics Show in 1995. Last year, E3 attracted a record 68,000 attendees, including
15,000 fans, the first time regular consumers could buy tickets to the sprawling industry-only trade show.
This year, to further connect with that newly consumer-filled crowd, E3 partnered with Big Block Capital Group and big brands such as Volkswagen Jetta to launch Subnation. Owner Big Block said Subnation will provide “a series of brand experiences, live performances and immersive entertainment celebrating gaming and esports culture” during E3 and at a nearby afterparty called Subnation Live that will featurs a performance by DeadMau5.
“Subnation is an omni-channel media platform bringing together gaming and esports with lifestyle brands,” said Big Block Capital CEO Seven Volpone. “Subnation’s mission is to elevate this global trend, celebrating the creators, innovators and consumers who are defining today’s gaming culture while providing brands a new forum to connect with these important and influential audiences.”
The idea, Volpone said, is to better engage and connect brands with the expressions of culture and lifestyle that have emerged around the gaming and esports sectors. Together, PwC estimates those sectors generated a combined $23.4 billion in the United States last year.
Gamer fans are buying jerseys for esports teams such as the new Overwatch League, now wrapping its first season with franchises on three continents. And those fans are showing up in droves to events such as the ESL One/Intel Extreme Masters championships, where 165,000 watched tournaments for five different games over two weekends in Katowice, Poland.
And on an average day on Amazon’s Twitch.TV online service, 15 million fans watch esports tournaments, game trailers and playthroughs, and the work of 2.2 million online streamers who play games while interacting with their audiences.
But they’re also collecting sneakers, making street art, listening to EDM and hip hop and much else, all components of gamer/esports culture that the Subnation events will try to capture at E3, alongside several brand-connected events and experiences.
Game industry champions like to note that last year’s $23.4 billion take is more than double the $11.2 billion the film business said it collected in 2017 domestic box office. And unlike the comparatively stagnant film business, games are growing like gangbusters, up almost 54 percent since 2013.
That growth has come from everywhere — in PC gaming, consoles, online titles — but especially in social/casual games. According to PwC, the social/casual game category generated almost $9.4 billion in the United States last year, up 18.9 percent in just one year.
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