With major esports tournaments garnering sponsorships from multinational companies including Samsung (KS:005930), Mercedes-Benz (ETR:DAI) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), the esports market and gaming industry continues to skyrocket. Meanwhile competitive esports players can earn significant sums playing gaming tournaments.
Esportsearnings.com reports that over US$611 million in prize earnings has been won within the esports industry over two decades, based on available public records. The largest prize pool was worth over US$25.53 million for Dota in 2018.
Overwatch League (OWL), the largest esport league, has US$5 million its prize pool, according to Android Authority. OWL is Blizzard-Activision’s (NASDAQGS:ATVI) official esports league for their hit first-person hero shooter Overwatch. In 2018, it was the most watched esports league, mostly because of the sheer number of hours the league was broadcast.
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Down in Australia, the Australian Esports Association (AESA), notes that research on the esports industry in the country is fairly difficult to obtain. The University of Melbourne’s esports viewership study comes as an exception. In September 2018 it released a report entitled Esports Spectatorship in Australia, noting that it estimated world esports championships attracted at least 300,000 Australian spectators in 2016 and 2017.
It further highlighted that seven of the most popular esports games were Fortnite Battle Royale, Hearthstone, Overwatch, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Counter-Strike Global Offensive, Dota 2 and League of Legends.
On that note, here, the Investing News Network looks at three Australian esports stocks listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) for investors to watch within the industry. All are publicly traded companies in Australia that had market capitalizations of over AU$10 million at the time of publication as shown through stock screener Investing.com. Companies are listed in alphabetical order.
1. Emerge Gaming (ASX:EM1)
Market capitalization: AU$14.42 million
Emerge Gaming launched ArcadeX, its esports platform in 2016. Since its release, ArcadeX has hosted over 10,000 online tournaments. ArcadeX allows its users to compete to earn rewards and prizes, including digital assets and merchandise. The platform enables users to develop rankings through sponsored tournaments.
The ArcadeX Platform has extended through a number of markets since launching. In March 2019, Emerge Gaming partnered with Digital Circus to bridge its esports platform into North America. In April 2019, the company reached an agreement with distribution agent Netsport Media to broaden its platform to Africa and the Middle East. Netsport Media currently has a network reach in over 49 countries across these markets.
In addition, Emerge Gaming established an agreement with Australia’s iCandy Interactive’s global network of 350 million gamers. Together, iCandy Interactive will provide content while Emerge plans to develop a customized league platform that will be promoted to iCandy’s extensive user base, called iLeague. The companies plan to split revenues from the proposal equally.
In March, Emerge raised AU$1.8 million to launch ArcadeX across Australia and Africa, in addition to GameCloud, its mobile game streaming technology.
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2. Esports Mogul (ASX:ESH)
Market capitalization: AU$19.11 million
Esports Mogul has developed a tournament platform that focuses on the Australian and Southeast Asia markets. In February 2019, the company reported that its user base reached 1.5 million gamers.
Mogul Spotlight, its feature that allows users to watch and stream other notable and professional esports players compete, gives users the opportunity to bet on other players matches.
In addition, Esports Mogul launched its esports wallet, called Mogul Wallet, which allows users to store virtual rewards from competition, while also withdrawing and depositing funds.
The company further projects partnerships with Malaysia-based eplatform provider Razer. The proposed epayment platform will be able to accept over 130 currencies and numerous deposit forms, including methods for those who do not have traditional banking accounts.
In April, Mogul announced that it was launching the first Apex Legends tournament for Australia with AU$35,000 in prize money.
3. iCandy Interactive (ASX:ICI)
Market capitalization: AU$15.07 million
Originally founded as an investment holding company in 2015, iCandy Interactive develops and publishes games that have a combined audience of over 350 million players. Included within its portfolio of games are Garfield Games, Astro Boy Games, Ancient Secrets of the Mummy and Dark Dot, among others.
In conjunction with Emerge Gaming, iCandy is developing a new esports league entitled iLeague. The iLeague tournament will be hosted on Emerge Gamings’ ArcadeX entertainment platform. In addition, iCandy will have the ability to employ its mobile game developers to create new games for the iLeague platform.
In 2018, Germany-based eSports.com subscribed to over AU$1.3 million in iCandy shares in July as part of an investment agreement where it purchased 16.5 million shares of AU$0.08 per share.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Dorothy Neufeld, currently hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.