ESports Is Gunning For A Seat At The Fabled Table Of Traditional Sports

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LeBron James. Tom Brady. Clayton Kershaw. Sidney Crosby.

These athletes are household names to a cavalcade of sports fans around the world, but for eSports fans, they might as well be a grocery bagger at the local market. Because for them, it’s all about the likes of Spencer “Hiko” Martin, Seth “Scump” Abner, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, Zhou “bLink” Yang and a pack of other top-tier video game players.

Among American male millennials ages 21-to-35, six million eSports fans—among the 21 million that play today—do not watch basketball, football, baseball or hockey, according to an October study by Newzoo. Seventy-six percent of eSports enthusiasts say that their video game viewership is taking away hours they used to spend on sports.

Need more fun facts for context? More people watched the final round of the League of Legends World Championships (27 million) than the series clinchers for the NBA Finals (18 million) and World Series (23.5 million) in 2014. Whether or not eSports is considered an actual sport is still up for debate by traditionalists and those already invested in video games. But there is no question that it won’t be going away anytime soon.

Seattle Seahawks All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman
Seattle Seahawks All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman, far left.

There was a time when the only link between traditional sports and video games came from titles like Madden, FIFA and NBA 2K. No one needs to take a time out to realize that the writing is on the wall—eSports is quickly gunning for a share of the mainstream sports pie.

If an ESPY Award were to be given to the “Best Breakthrough” in 2016, it would likely go to eSports, because last year was its official coming out party. Some of the highlights on the TV side included Turner broadcasting the first season of ELeague on TBS, ESPN launching an editorial division dedicated solely to the vertical while still airing competitions, and the continued momentum in the rise of collegiate eSports, further evidenced by the Big Ten Network launching a League of Legends college season.

But if you want to have a clear view of what the future cross-pollination of traditional and digital sports will entail, look no further than a two-day stretch in late September when the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers became the first sports franchise to enter the business side of eSports by acquiring a pair of teams—Team Dignitas and Team Apex—and rolling them into the NBA organization’s structure. The following day, a “who’s who” list from entertainment (Peter Guber, Tony Robbins), sports (Magic Johnson, Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals and Wizards) and technology (Ted Case, Eric Lefkofsky) acquired a controlling interest in Team Liquid.

Since that day, a full-on domino effect has ensued that feels like a Gold Rush for gaming.

The Boston Bruins entered into a strategic partnership with eSports team Splyce. The Miami Heat invested in Misfits as well as a Vainglory team. Memphis Grizzlies co-owner Steve Kaplan became a majority shareholder of Immortals. Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wesley Edens is in the process of a $2.5 million acquisition. The Houston Rockets hired a director of eSports development. The San Francisco 49ers invested in Plays.TV. Owners of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys continue to pursuit eSports teams, too, just as a host of soccer clubs around the world already have.

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Former Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox, who won three championships together. Fox has previously said, “I’d love to pull him into Echo Fox. That’d be quite the coup.”

The leagues are taking notice as well. The latest in the series of significant proceedings came last week when the NBA and Take-Two launched NBA 2K eLeague, a professional competitive gaming league. Before that in December, MLB Advanced Media and Riot Games unveiled a $300 million streaming deal that will extend till 2023.

Granted, the Sacramento Kings, owners of Team NRG, were the first movers and at the frontline of this trend. They’ve recruited the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins as investors, and have put their money where their mouth is by designing their newly erected $558 million Golden 1 Center for eSports.

As the industry nears $1 billion and viewership grows into the umpteenth millions, eSports officially has become the next frontier for sports executives and athletes alike. The same goes for non-endemic brands like Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, Geico, Buffalo Wild Wings, Arby’s, General Mills and Quest Nutrition—just to name a select few—who’ve successfully surveyed and satisfied the thirst of eSports natives in short order with a fresh air of authenticity.

A bevy of pro ballers have entered the lucrative industry, too, with quite a few like Kobe Bryant sitting on the bench, scouting the scene, and waiting for the opportune time to jump in.

Here are some key players in the traditional sports realm who aren’t afraid to embrace a new age of digital competition.

Rodger Saffold | The Los Angeles Rams offensive lineman and entrepreneur is the proud owner of the eSports team Rise Nation. Rise Nation has competed in global Call of Duty competitions against major contenders like OpTic and Evil Geniuses and is branching out into other games like Overwatch as well.

Rick Fox | The three-time NBA champion ran a fast break into eSports and bought a team previously known as Gravity Gaming and renamed it Echo Fox. The team focuses on League of Legends, among other titles, and has already courted sponsors like Asus.

Mark Cuban | The Dallas Mavericks owner is literally betting on eSports through the startup Unikrn in which he invested. The billionaire, who also appears on Shark Tank, has invested in a platform focused on betting in the growing competitive gaming industry wherever it’s legal.

Andy Miller, Mark Mastrov | The co-owners of the Sacramento Kings are investors in the team NRG ESports, who specializes in League of Legends. Miller previously served as vice president of mobile advertising for Apple.

Jeremy Lin, Jonas Jerebko, Gordan Heyward | This trio of forward-thinking NBA veterans are involved in eSports in a variety of ways. Nets point guard Jeremy Lin created his own eSports organization in Team VGJ (along with investment in Plays.TV), Celtics forward Jonas Jerebko purchased the eSports franchise Renegades, and Jazz star Gordan Heyward, an avid League of Legends gamer who already has endorsements from HyperX and has penned pieces making a case for eSports, is looking to pursue the business side of the industry as well.

Demetrious Johnson | The UFC champion better known as “Mighty Mouse” loves to play video games and hosts live Twitch streams for a variety of titles, but the pasttime became more than a hobby when he partnered with Northern Gaming because he believed in the future of eSports.

Ronaldo | The former Brazilian soccer legend joined a group of investors in January to acquire a 50 percent stake in Brazilian eSports organization CNB e-Sports Club. Apparently eSports is big in Brazil because fellow countryman and Puskas Award winner Wendall Lira traded his cleats for a controller when he made a career move from a real-life soccer star to FIFA eSports hopeful.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic | The Swedish soccer star has investments in Challengermode, an eSports startup that wants to bring competitive gaming accessibility to users world round, as well as a 12.5 percent stake in Isbit Game.

Trevor May | The Minnesota Twins reliever represents North American team Luminosity Gaming on his Twitch stream. “There is so much we can learn from the world of traditional sports,” said Luminosity owner Steve Maida. “And I hope that Trevor can pass on some of his experience to our players and management.”

Russell Okung | ESports startup company Matcherino found an enthusiastic investor in the Denver Broncos offensive tackle.

Hank Baskett | The former NFL wide receiver and husband of Playboy Playmate Kendra Wilkinson joined Denial eSports as a co-owner. The avid Twitch streamer told TNL Media, “I do believe that with the growth and awareness of eSports there will continue to be those that jump into the culture because it is seen as the thing to do.”

Cloud 9 | North American eSports brand Cloud 9 closed a Series A financing round with investments from Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, former 49ers great Joe Montana and NBA veteran Andrew Bogut, owners from the Warriors and Dodgers, among several other Silicon Valley execs.

There’s no question that there currently is a Wild West feeling in eSports and competitive gaming that’s creating a confused market. Do you go after the team, the talent, or the developer? Who’s going to hold the IP rights at the end? Which stage of the investment process will yield the biggest return?

For now, everyone is throwing their name in the hat and hoping for a March Madness-like shot at winning its way through the bracket.

Follow Manouk Akopyan on Twitter @Manouk_Akopyan

How ‘Dropzone’ Shakes Up Competitive Gaming

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Fast-paced strategy game fans got a big treat today with Dropzone launching on Steam Early Access today. The game is developed by Sparkypants, which is largely comprised of former Big Huge Games employees who made classic real-time strategy (RTS) games such as Rise of Nations. Dropzone is a RTS and MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) hybrid, with a particular focus on 1v1 matches that are limited to 15 minutes each.

There’s a clear scoring mechanism in Dropzone, making it an easy game for newcomers to understand. The fast-paced action should keep players hooked, as they control three heroes in fast-paced competition that feels like a cross between StarCraft and League of Legends. Whoever scores the most points in the allotted time wins. Other modes included in Early access includes 2v2 battles, contracts (daily challenge missions), and Infestation mode, where up to four players work cooperatively to defend a reactor against invading aliens.

Jason Coleman, president and studio manager of Sparkypants
Jason Coleman, president and studio manager of Sparkypants

The president and studio manager of Sparkypants, Jason Coleman, spoke with [a]listdaily about the Early Access launch and how Dropzone’s combination of both classic RTS and MOBA gameplay could make it the next big pro-competition sensation.

In talking about what inspired the creation of Dropzone, Coleman said, “we had a vision for the kind of game we would make that harkens back to our early loves, which were mostly classic RTS games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, and the game we loved developing, Rise of Nations. We loved playing and developing them, but we weren’t really playing them anymore. So, we were trying to figure out a modern version of that kind of game, which is Dropzone. One of the big pieces was coming up with a game that had a brief fix in a short time period but still felt satisfying.”

At first glance, one might think that Dropzone is a new MOBA game that’s struggling against established hits such as League of Legends or Dota 2, but Coleman explained how its gameplay stood out. “Dropzone looks like a MOBA, but when people play it, they tend to think that it feels more like StarCraft,” he said. “First of all, it’s 1v1, so it’s not team play. It’s all you against another player, which is a fairly dramatic difference. Second, everyone is controlling three heroes and map control becomes a really big deal. That’s the part where it starts to feel like an RTS and very different from a MOBA. Another thing is that the theory crafting is quite different. You have to figure out how you’re going to configure your heroes with abilities and how you’re going to play with them.”

When asked why the company decided to focus on small 1v1 matches, Coleman replied: “Primarily because this is the kind of game we like to play, and that’s what we loved about StarCraft, Age of Empires and Rise of Nations back in the day, where 1v1 was the core competitive scene. We do support other ways of playing in Early Access, where you can play casually with your friends, but we felt that this was a missing component and that people had gotten away from it. There’s a lot of virality with team play, but it’s a different experience. It’s a much more intense experience when it’s 1v1.”

As for why matches were limited to 15 minutes each, Coleman said, “a lot of that is because people are starting to move to mobile games–quick games that they can fit into their schedule. This was true for us as well.”

He continued by explaining that “we have families now, but we still love that competitive kind of play. It’s really difficult to start a game and not know whether it’ll last 30 minutes or an hour-and-a-half. We really loved having a game that could be played twenty minutes before dinner. [The time limit] also leads to some really cool stuff like tournaments, which we won’t have at the beginning of Early Access, but we’ll probably turn them on a week or two later. This sort of casualizes the tournament experience, because with a 15-minute time period, we could have a 16-person tournament in an hour or a thousand people in an evening. So, we can have these running regularly with tournaments going every day.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHfYFp_w6MM

With tournament support built into the game early on, we asked Coleman if he thought there was a strong chance of Dropzone being adopted as an eSport. “We think that it has all the hallmarks of being a very successful eSport,” he said. “We’ve always said that the community will decide that. But we were surprised by how quickly pros and high-level players took to the game early on. Our goal is to support that community as much as it wants to grow. It’s my personal goal to casualize the tournament play style. There’s this notion that only the most hardcore players will play tournaments, and there’s an opportunity in Dropzone for people to set up one-hour play sessions to see how far they can get in a bracket.”

We asked about whether or not it would be a challenge to maintain long-term engagement with a game that features short 1v1 matches. “In addition to the time limit, one of our goals was to avoid having the gameplay become stale, the way traditional RTS games sort of do–where there are a few styles of play and people tend to adopt them,” said Coleman. “One of the cool things about constantly introducing new abilities and gear is that there’s always experimentation to do. That’s an opportunity for fresh gameplay to emerge, with people experimenting and finding out new ways to play the meta and engage with the game.”

Lastly, Coleman discussed how the team at Sparkypants was getting the word out about Dropzone and its Early Access launch. “A lot of the work we’ve done has been in closed beta. We’ve been in closed beta for quite a while, so we have a small but rabbit pool of players who will be part of the beginning community. We’re also doing a lot of marketing and press, which will be a big push. We think that the game is going to feel very polished for Early Access, but still be something that we can improve, which will help us build a community.”

Red Bull Media House Is A Content-Creating Machine

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When it comes to premium content and entertainment masked as marketing, Red Bull is arguably the brand that all of their peers want to be.

Through Red Bull Media House, the Austrian energy drink maker’s multi-platform media company that focuses on sports, culture and lifestyle globally, they’ve been at the mountain summit and planted a longstanding flag in the content and storytelling space that rivals the likes of traditional media companies.

The privately held company’s modus operandi proves a seriously cultivating notion for many brands that double as storytellers—anyone can be in the entertainment business today as a content marketer.

The scintillating action experiences they share, though, rivals no one. The jaw-dropping moments they capture in mountains, oceans and the wilderness complements their brand ethos—anything is possible with a pull of Red Bull. Images of the famous can, however, are almost always nowhere to be found.

Whether putting on concerts with Red Bull Sound Select, launching their own virtual reality platform, using drones to film shots for their live TV broadcast, procuring partnerships with Shutterstock and Reuters to align ideas editorially, or diversifying into non-sports movies, Red Bull has transformed itself from a sugary substance on the streets to an innovative and indomitable consumer brand-as-media powerhouse bringing serious content heat.

Lukas Cudrigh, senior vice president of digital at Red Bull Media House, joined [a]listdaily to detail how their standalone content arm has turned into a maxim for going well beyond a paid, interruption-based advertising model.

Lukas Cudrigh, SVP of digital at Red Bull Media House
Lukas Cudrigh, SVP of digital at Red Bull Media House

What is the message behind the Red Bull Media House? How are you using it to connect with consumers?

The story is at the heart of everything we do. The Red Bull brand is interdependent with experiences. Every story we do must reflect our brand value and brand principle. We want to bring inspiring stories to people who enjoy our content experiences and get them out there to a global audience. It’s a super exciting era right now. Everything is in motion. We are evidence that anyone can be in entertainment today. Technology has completely liberated us as traditional content producers, marketers and producers. The days of just a few media companies owning it all are long gone. Now anyone can create on the platform of the moment. We are constantly experimenting with new production tools, and new formats—but with one rule: does it advance the story and really make it better? When Red Bull becomes a traditional media player and content creator, where does this leave our audience? For us, the brand is the beacon. The best brands are instantly notable, accountable and credible. And they have a very clear message in knowing what the brand stands for. If we create these augmented experiences, then that becomes a relationship with our audience. When we hear from our audience that they want to get off the couch to go snowboarding or mountain biking after consuming our content—that’s the holy grail for us.

What is a new area of interest for the Red Bull Media House this year?

We are a full-fledged media house. We don’t need to be everywhere—but we need to be anywhere our audience is at any given time. So we need to make a pretty significant investment in building a network of consumer touchpoints, content management systems and analytic services to reach the audience with the experience they expect from us. There needs to be an agnostic approach in how we manage these platforms so that we are able to react when new ones come along. And when it works, you can really create global moments. Our heritage is in action sports and motor sports, and now, we’re branching out a bit to areas like music. ESports is an exciting dynamic. A project we’ve been focused on very much is Red Bull TV. With TV, we feel like we can reinvent the TV experience. When cable was introduced 30 years ago with HBO, MTV and CNN, they really led that innovation. Hopefully, we can be a part of that on the digital TV front. You have to know your audience, where they are and what gets them excited in order for you to become a part of their world. If you do that in new and unexpected ways, the stories become collective.

Why is eSports an attractive space for you? What kind of ownership are you trying to achieve as a non-endemic brand?

First of all, there is always a misconception that we are considered a sponsor. Look at our sports ventures. Red Bull Crashed Ice is a sport we created, own and produce. It’s our team. Just like we own our Formula 1 team. With eSports, you have athletes. There’s going to be a lot that happens with how these athletes will perform as the stakes get higher. We used to go to traditional event venues and produce it like a music show. There’s a lot of innovation as to how you produce eSports events. The same on the broadcast side. How do you actually create a media experience where you have the opportunities in an inherently digital sport with people from all over the world playing a tournament virtually? How do you make this a media experience? We see it as a lot of innovation opportunities for us to create a lot of awesome experiences. That’s our play. It’s a great opportunity to redefine television and help bring eSports along and develop it similar to when we went into action sports 30 years ago. It wasn’t as mainstream as it is right now. It’s the same with eSports.

What kind of content resonates most with the Red Bull consumer? 

We give wings to people and ideas with the unexpected and surprising. We take this concept of working with talented artists and athletes with unthinkable ideas that do incredible things and want to push the boundaries. We give them the platform to actually do it. The stories create themselves. If the stories stay true to these attributes, the audience expects it. Red Bull Stratos, Danny MacAskill or our Formula 1 car that was driven on snow is a premiere example of this for experiences that are completely out of the ordinary, yet, they are completely expected from Red Bull. The stories that stick most and inspire our audience are the mind-boggling ones that are beyond ordinary and never been seen before.

Follow Manouk Akopyan on Twitter @Manouk_Akopyan

Learn everything you need to know to invest in today’s fastest-growing media channel—Competitive Gaming and eSportson—2.16.17 in Los Angeles. Go to alistsummit.com for more info.

‘Major’ Marketing: Paramount’s Live-Action ‘Ghost In The Shell’

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On May 31, Scarlett Johansson will take over the big screen as Major Motoko Kusanagi—aka The Major—an augmented cybernetic human who leads an elite team of counter-terrorist agents in a Japanese dystopia. Paramount and Dreamworks’ Ghost in the Shell, based on the 1989 manga (Japanese comic book) and subsequent 1995 anime (Japanese animation) takes viewers into an alternate future in which humans mix freely with machines—a double-edged sword of technology that while awesome, leaves the public vulnerable against hacker attacks. (Looking at you, Internet of Things.)

Since hacking is a major theme in Ghost in the Shell, Paramount debuted its first trailer footage in an unconventional way—by “hacking” commercials for the season two finale of Mr. Robot. A total of five, 10-second teasers revealed richly colored imagery of a robotic geisha, Johansson as The Major, Takeshi Kitano as Daisuki Aramaki and enough dark shadows to make Ridley Scott shed a single, joyous tear.

“The great thing about season premieres and season finales is that they’re like live sporting events—people want to watch them in real time,” Megan Colligan, Paramount’s president of worldwide distribution and marketing, told Deadline Hollywood. “Because of the social media explosion, there’s a fear of missing out or having a plot detail spoiled. We knew with the Mr. Robot finale we’d get that extra boost of people who would be sharing on social.”

And a boost they did—12.3 million views on the official Paramount YouTube channel within days of the activation.

Despite critic accusations of “white washing” The Major by casting Johansson, Ghost in the Shell footage thus far recreates the tone and visuals of its source material, often shot-by-shot. The Mr. Robot commercial takeover was just the appetizer for fans to see the first, full-length trailer that debuted a month later, which quickly amassed millions of views. A special viewing party was held in Tokyo for the trailer, where costumes and props from the film were on display. Cast and crew took to the stage and even Johannson herself answered fan questions on social media.

Of course, the most recent social media buzz resulted from Paramount’s spot during Super Bowl LI, generating nearly 30,000 new conversations, according to media-measurement firm comScore.

Together with a poster giveaway and a brand-new trailer debuting over the weekend, it’s unlikely that this tale of cybernetic espionage will be a “ghost” at the box office.

Akon Is Bringing His Energy Back To Music, All While Lighting Up Africa One Country At A Time

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Akon’s accolades and ubiquitous vocals are unmistakable. Whether it be as a rapper, songwriter or a producer, the American-Senegalese singer is responsible for some of the biggest beats and dance floor bangers of the mid-2000s.

But then the synths suddenly stopped, and his name disappeared from the Top 40.

“Where have you gone, Akon?”

It’s been a question asked by so many ever since the five-time Grammy nominee silently slipped from the spotlight of the mainstream music sphere. So much so that his narrative should might as well be remixed into Simon & Garfunkel’s famous line in “Mrs. Robinson” when they wonder about Joe DiMaggio whereabouts.

But this time, it’s Akon who’s turned his lonely eyes to not only a nation, but an entire continent.

Over the last few years, the 43-year-old artist and man of the future suddenly shifted his motivation from mingling with music royalty to a commendable one toward philanthropy and working with world leaders and drastically changing the state of solar energy and climate change in his home continent.

By the end of this year, Akon Lighting Africa estimates that it will provide electricity to roughly 80 million impoverished Africans in rural areas with its solar energy program.

Although Akon has been away from the spotlight while the likes of Drake, Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd have commandeered the radio waves, he’s still lent his name to numerous hits as a writer and producer while working on his benevolent solar energy program.

In the midst of his newfound mission to provide access to clean and affordable electricity, the itch to sing as a star soloist still stayed.

Nine years have passed since Akon released his last album in “Freedom”—and that’s about to change.

After teasing it for the last two years, he soon will be releasing “Stadium,” a four-part concept album that’s each rooted in a different musical genre—hip-hop, reggae, deep house and pop. “Stadium” is going to be a collective of 40 songs and will be released through a special app.

“I see music and entertainment as a marketing tool for doing things that you really want to do, and have a passion for. Ultimately, for the last five years, I’ve been more focused on my energy projects in Africa by bringing renewable and solar technologies there,” Akon told [a]listdaily in an exclusive interview. “I know a lot of people want to know when the next album is coming. It’s a matter of what month we want to release it. When I come with new music, it come’s big. You don’t have to worry.”

Although a release date for his fourth studio LP has yet to be announced, Akon says he just finished mastering the album and a single should be dropping soon. The album will also be paired with an official music tour.

“It’s not something you can purchase through iTunes,” Akon alludes. “You have to download the ‘Stadium’ app to actually have access to the albums. It will have a game format where users will be able to unlock each song from each album. Our biggest challenge is ‘how do we market this to the music levels?’ But we decided to focus separately on the music level so they can understand it, and market it to the gamers the way they can understand it. ‘Stadium’ is really more of a streaming platform that will be eventually white labeled for other artists to use.”

The musician has the chops to once again contend for No. 1 hits on the charts in any genre, as he has before with such songs as “I Wanna Love You” and “Don’t Matter.”

He has a total of 45 Billboard Hot 100 songs—including the distinction of being the first solo artist to ever hold down both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots at the same time on Billboard.

“You’ll definitely be able to hear the growth,” Akon assures. “It depends on what you like to hear from me, because I have a vast audience. It’s music that people in different territories haven’t even heard of. The album is on a whole other level. I can’t wait.”

Whether starring in the upcoming film The American King, a movie with a script that’s a flipside of Coming to America with Akon going back to Africa, or taking on the chief creative officer role at Royole, he’s staying busy on many fronts, including keeping an ear out for emerging artists by relaunching his Konvict Muzik label as Konvict Kartel Label—previously home to the likes of T-Pain, French Montana, Red Café and Colby O’Donis, among others.

The under-the-radar moves he’s making are not ending up on today’s TMZ-like news cycle—unless he opines about Donald Trump.

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“When working on the energy side of things, it fuses you into the tech side of things as well because there have to be applications created to manage that energy,” Akon says. “Everything that I’m doing has to have a musical or visual and film component. Whether that be gaming, movies or video, whatever it is, the combination of that creates what entertainment becomes. That’s what I’m most interested in. I’m a movie buff. When you look at films, if the audio is whack, you’re not going to enjoy it. If there isn’t a great soundtrack, you’re not going to enjoy it. Video games are also geared toward how the audio feels, along with the game you are playing.”

The antidote to that collective problem comes by way of Royole’s special-edition Akon Moon, a 3D virtual mobile theater for movies and gaming that makes it feel as if you’re sitting in an IMAX theater.

“With all of that, visuals are the key. It’s only right to think about the future, and what that combination is going to look like, and that’s virtual reality. That’s the whole purpose of me wanting to get into that market with Royole so that I can engulf myself in it as it’s moving forward and be more cutting edge toward how things are going to be created. The biggest challenge we are going to face is moving forward too fast,” Akon warns about Royole, a “unicorn” company whose valuation grew to $3 billion this year.

The rapper who fortuitously signed one-time protégé Lady Gaga to his label in 2008 can rest financially off of that lottery ticket alone, but he chose to keep his fire burning with the benevolent project in Akon Lighting Africa.

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There are currently 600 million Africans in need of energy infrastructures, and the fast-growing solar-powered electricity initiative spearheaded by the hip-hop artist is primed to be at the forefront of fixing that problem.

“We’re focusing on new ways to innovate and create energy sources that are not normally thought about,” Akon says. “It’s just coming up with new ideas—and I have crazy ones, like creating kinetic roads.”

Crazy ideas aside, Akon aims to provide a concrete response to Africa’s energy crisis and laying the foundation for future development. It has already materialized with a gamut of solutions in 14 African countries, and as a result, remote villages have been connected to electricity for the first time ever.

To circumnavigate the political powers that be with such an ambitious energy project, the “I’m So Paid” singer admitted to having a $1 billion credit line from a Chinese-government owned company to further pursue his passion in impacting people’s lives.

He says he finds this phase of his career more fulfilling than the previous one that led him to selling over 35 million albums worldwide as a multi-platinum recording artist.

Whether it be his upcoming album, new tech or acting, the best part for Akon is that he’s using his music mogul muscle as a bridge to fulfill his true dreams and passions to influence the future of Africa.

“I haven’t been gone. I just have been hiding,” he reminds his fans. “I don’t think I’ll ever retire from music itself. This is stage two for me. Stage three will be hopefully enjoying it.”

Follow Manouk Akopyan on Twitter @Manouk_Akopyan

Why Gameband Will Be The Ultimate Smart Watch For Gamers

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Although smart watches haven’t exactly taken off, particularly among gamers, FMTwo Game believes that it can buck that trend with a new device called Gameband, which began its Kickstarter campaign today. Developed by Matter Global (a studio with a portfolio that includes Samsung, Google, Sonos, and Logitech), the crowdfunded device promises to be the most powerful smart watch on the market, but will be more affordable than anything currently available. That’s because the company is focusing specifically on features that will appeal to gamers and forgoing things like heart rate and step monitors.

Additionally, FMTwo has partnered with Re-Logic, makers of the hit indie game, Terraria, and Atari to offer to special edition Gamebands to fans. Gamebands will also come pre-loaded with 20 mini-games that include classics such as Pong, Centipede, and Asteroids. The Gameband will expand its library of games following its launch, which will be complemented by a collection of interchangeable watch bands and digital watch faces.

Feargal Mac Conuladh, CEO and founder of FMTwo Game, said that: “What’s joyful about doing something on Kickstarter is building something that you yourself would get.” He talks to [a]listdaily about how gamers will get to have the most powerful smart watch in the world at an affordable price.

FeargalWhat is Gameband, and what inspired it?

We looked at smart watches in the world today, and they kind of all look the same and do the same things. I think the market hasn’t quite taken off yet because most of what’s out there is too generic. We also looked at different groups, and one that we know well is gamers. So, we said, “what if we make a smart watch for gamers, taking into account what they want, and make it outstanding with the stuff that’s important to them?”

So, rather than putting in heart rate and step monitors, we focus on what’s really important. What led to the Gameband was the belief that we could create a powerful smart watch for gamers and build functionality that speaks to them. Previously, we had worked on a product for Minecraft, which was a band with a drive on it that let you play the game anywhere, and we learned a lot from that experience. We learned that despite cloud technology, people like having their games close and being able to plug into any computer to continue playing. We wanted to bring that functionality to a smart watch.

How does the Gameband compare to existing smart watches made by Apple, Samsung and Razer?

They’re all great companies, but we think we stack up pretty well. When you look at gamers, they’re pretty demanding. They want the best computer, screen and headphones, so why should this be any different? One of the things we wanted from the beginning was to make sure the processor, display and connectivity that we built into this would be the best, and that led to our partnership with Qualcomm.

We also went for a square AMOLDED display. There are a lot of round devices on the market, and that’s because they’re watches that do more. We not looking at this as a watch that does more; we’re looking at it as another window—another screen—into your gaming life. So, it stacks up really well against the competition in terms of specs and size.

The area where we’ve added something extra is an upgradable micro SD card slot. A lot of devices will just give you notifications. We built in this gaming drive that runs our software, PixelFurnace, which is launch, backup and storage software. You could put a game (such as Terraria) on this, and plug the Gameband into any computer wherever you go to play it directly from the drive. Or you could put photos, music and other stuff on it and access them through Bluetooth. This drive, which can go up to hundreds of gigabytes, adds a layer of functionality—it’s not just buzzing notifications from your phone. It’s doing a lot more.

Apple and Samsung also have massive mobile phone businesses, which are highly profitable. As a result, I think a lot of these brands aren’t thinking about how to build the best smart watch in the world. They’re expanding product lines. We don’t have a phone business, so the only thing we think about is how to build the best smart watch that there is.

Is the Gameband more of a wearable console or a gaming companion device?

In some ways, it can do both. You can put a full PC game on the micro SD and play from it. But the games that will actually run on the watch itself—you need to be careful with that to make sure you do it right. We have mini-games that will play well on that smaller screen and companion apps are things that we’re looking very closely at. We want bigger games to have an opportunity to have an app on Gameband, and we’re talking to a number of big studios about it.

But the mini-games that we’re launching with are also very interesting. What a lot of people have done so far is try to shrink games down to a smaller screen, and that doesn’t work. So, we’re re-writing the retro games that we’re going to launch with from scratch. We’re taking into account the screen size and gestures that work the best: sliding, tapping, moving your arm and pushing buttons. We’ve got some really smart folks working on remaking the gaming experience to make them enjoyable. I wouldn’t call it a console, but I think we’re doing something interesting that people are really going to like.

asteroids

People might imagine that it’s very awkward to play Terraria or Centipede on a tiny watch screen. How are you going to overcome this perception?

Re-Logic is a great company to work with, and they brought Terraria to multiple platforms. One of the reasons we have such a great relationship with them is because they quickly got how big this could be. But they also understood that this is a different tech and different context. I think a lot of people are waking up to that. If you look at Pokémon Go, you’ll find that there are a lot of different ways to game, and the physical and digital world are going to collide in ways they never have before.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff one can do so that it’s not just poking away at a small screen. It’s about what you’re doing in the world—the way you move your arm, and different gestures. The technology lets us bring in a lot of different stuff to how the games are going to play. We’re forming these relationships [with companies], doing a joint special edition approach like with Terraria and Atari, and we get a much closer relationship with them. They start bringing in their creativity on how to adapt their games to this technology. But ultimately, early adopters who talk about the Gameband will break the perception.

Gameband x AtariHow did you come to partner with Atari?

One trend we noticed about the gaming scene is that retro games are hugely popular. One of the things that attracted me to Atari was that you have huge audience that remembers it from the old days and has an affinity for that brand. It’s more than just gaming and it’s kind of like Apple. The brand transcends the product of the time. But the thing that blew me away about Atari was that younger players in their early teens know these games as well. That really opened my eyes. The level of education and knowledge that younger gamers have today about retro brands blew me away.

We went to Atari because they have affinity from all age groups, and we believe those games are going to play well on this format.

Given how mobile gaming is growing at such a significant pace, what audience are you trying to reach with the Gameband?

It’s pretty broad. One of the things about smart watches today is that they’re designed for an older demographic. People have said to me that teens and millennials don’t wear watches anymore. Well, we haven’t offered them anything that makes sense for them from a price, content and design standpoint. I also think that the younger demographic like to game, connect and message, but they don’t necessarily need the heart rate monitor or all this other stuff that people want to cram in. That’s why we went with two or three top-of-the-line components that let us come in with a price that’s more affordable than some of the other things on the market.

The target market we’re going after is gamers—a bit younger than what Apple or Samsung are going after.

How are you getting the word out about the Kickstarter campaign?

We already have a large base of people we’ve been reaching out to over email who are keen to get more information. We’re also active on social media, and partners such as Atari and Terraria (Re-Logic) are helping. The have a lot of fans and followers, and they’ve been putting out the message that something new is coming. Then, on Kickstarter, we’re offering the best deals we can. It’s really about getting to that fan base and driving through social media.

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Starbreeze Details Opportunities VR Arcades Open For Hollywood

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Lionsgate releases John Wick: Chapter 2 theatrically on February 10, but fans can step into the assassin’s shoes early via a pair of different virtual reality experiences from Starbreeze. The developer has created a highly-replayable, 90-minute first-person shooter game, John Wick Chronicles, for the HTC Vive. Additionally, it crafted a separate, shorter (7-12 minutes) and much more physical location-based game, John Wick Chronicles: Arcade Edition for IMAX VR Experience Centers (the Los Angeles location opens February 14).

Brooks Brown, global director of VR at Starbreeze, told [a]listdaily that virtual reality opens up experiences very different than classic console or PC games, where the player is disembodied from the character. “VR changes how you perceive the film world and characters,” Brown said. “We’ve been lucky working with Lionsgate to expand on the world and touch on story points from the film, dealing with Lance Reddick’s character, Charon.”

The game is set in the Continental Hotel from the films, offering players a non-stop wave of targets to eliminate. The game was created by Lionsgate and Starbreeze in collaboration with Grab  Games, Big Red Button and GameCo.

Brown said the development pipeline for this game was similar to a film pipeline. That opened the door to work directly with Reddick with voiceover. “VR is a nice bridge for people like Lance to flex their muscles in a place that’s comfortable,” said Brown. “It’s just far enough away from film, but not all the way to games.”

In this first Hollywood project for Starbreeze, it was a learning process for the team involved. The arcade-based version of the game was designed for a broader audience (players in LA have ranged from 8 to 90 years of age) and takes advantage of the advanced headset, which offers 5K resolution and a widescreen view that opens up more of the world. The arcade game also incorporates an MP5 gun, while the HTC Vive version uses that platform’s standard controllers.

The VR Arcade version also shares the same 12 x 12 base as the Vive room-scale set-up.

“We’re trying to establish a standard, but also give you some place to play,” Brown said. “I pride myself on thinking how in shape I am and then after 10 minutes of holding this MP5 and ducking, moving and shooting it becomes like cross fit. It’s a level of intensity that we found that both casual and core users are happy with, since location-based VR has to cater to everyone.”

While John Wick Chronicles was designed as a single player game, Brown said it features leaderboards and classic arcade tropes to encourage consumers at IMAX VR Centers to come back and try to beat their best scores.

With the films carrying an R-rating for violence, the game has been toned down to a Time Crisis-level of violence. That classic arcade shooter franchise from Namco received a Teen rating for its home console versions.

“We have guidelines letting people know about the violence,” Brown said. “We’re being watchful of things kids can play. Unlike Payday, our other major game franchise, even though he’s an assassin, John Wick is a good guy.”

Brown said Starbreeze has partnered with Lionsgate marketing to cross-promote the games and the new film globally. In certain territories, Starbreeze will have pop-up demos in movie theaters. In the US, HTC has selected John Wick Chronicles as a retail demo, allowing customers to play the rooftop level of the game in stores.

As more VR Arcades are rolled out around the globe, Brown sees a future in which there will always be a technology gap between what can be experienced in location-based environments and what gamers at home can play on HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.

“Our partnership with Acer has given us access to ridiculous computers and our headsets go beyond anything available at home, which allows us to create amazing experiences with more lighting effects and particle effects.”

John Wick marks the first Hollywood collaboration for VR at home and in the arcades, but Brown said it’s just the beginning for the company.

Op-Ed: Super Bowl Video Game Ads Pass Audiences Back To Digital

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The Super Bowl is one of the only events where crowds that tune in are almost as excited by the commercials as they are the Big Game. This year, Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas made history with a stunning 34-28 overtime victory by the New England Patriots. Although many probably began tuning out after the Atlanta Falcons established a major 28-3 lead early in the third quarter, the famous Super Bowl ads, which viewers often regard as 30-second mini-movies, may have been enough to keep some people around. But while ads for Budweiser, Honda and Skittles may have become a kind of mainstay for promotional entertainment, video game companies have gradually looked to take advantage of the huge audience over the past few years. Given how each 30-second ad costs $5 million dollars, the obvious question for game makers is whether the cost is worth the investment.

Fox announced that the history-making game drew in 111.3 million people to its broadcast channel, an average streaming audience of 1.7 million and another 650,000 on Fox Deportes. This shows a slight decline from last year’s TV viewing audience of 111.9 million and is still well below 2015’s record-breaking peak of 114.4 million. However, that’s still a tremendous audience by any standard, which is why some have argued that $5 million is still a bargain despite a decline in viewership and how returns from advertising are difficult to track.

According to surveys of Super Bowl audiences, between 80 and 90 percent of ads have no impact on their purchasing decisions. Studies have also shown that a brand such as Coca-Cola might see a lift in sales if it happens to be the only soda company to show a commercial, but that is negated if Pepsi also airs an ad during the game. On the other hand, Buick saw 50 percent increase in traffic to Buick.com on Game Day last year, and then had a 100 percent increase the day after, despite a multitude of car commercials.

So, what does this mean to the handful of video game companies that advertised during Super Bowl LI? Four video game brands had Game Day commercials: Nintendo, Mobile Strike, Battle for Evony and World of Tanks. Wargaming, which makes World of Tanks, decided to get the most for its money by airing two 15-second ads during the game and added two more on its digital channels. Meanwhile, the newcomer Evony made a huge impression with an epic commercial that paid tribute to historical kings and leaders from around the world, which is actually a shortened version of an amazing two-minute digital ad.

While a commercial for Nintendo’s upcoming Switch console might make sense, given how the company is looking to reach beyond the traditional gamers and recapture the casual audience that brought the Wii to success. What better way is there to advertise a gaming system designed for parties and gatherings than with one of the biggest party events of the year?

However, it’s a different story when it comes to games. Although Wargaming’s director of marketing, Erik Whiteford told [a]listdaily that the inspiration behind making the World of Tanks ads came from how past free-to-play games saw success with their Super Bowl ads, he also stated that “a lot of exposure comes from pre-game and post-game activities.”

Pre-game and post-game activity on social media discussing the featured commercials is what a lot of companies are banking on, whether they involve video games or not, which indicates that each ad is a $5 million way to draw viewers to digital channels. Additionally, “success” is a very relative term when it comes to Super Bowl advertising, given its high price tag. As observed by mNectar’s CEO, Wally Nguyen, TV is the “island of last resort” for high profile game publishers. These companies have already maxed out all the existing digital channels for reaching an audience, and so they turn to television advertising. In fact, being able to spend $5 million on a single ad suggests that companies such as SuperCell (Clash of Clans; Clash Royale) and MZ (formerly Machine Zone) had already found great success before airing their Super Bowl commercials.

Those observations were confirmed in an interview where MZ CEO, Gabe Leydon, told [a]listdaily that “we didn’t go to television because we were excited about television. We went to television because we had pretty much maxed out the mobile digital market. What we found is that television is really bad. Most people lose money on TV because it’s not trackable, the ratings are questionable whether they’re actually correct or not, and there’s a lot of confusion in the space just in general.”

Despite how Leydon considers TV an “immature market,” MZ still went ahead with a new Mobile Strike commercial starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which aired during Super Bowl LI.  That’s because the company is still relying on the effect television has on its digital channels.

“What we found is that while most of your television ads don’t do much, what they do have is a tremendous effect on your mobile digital ads,” Leydon said in the same interview. “When people see Arnold Schwarzenegger on television, and they look down at their Facebook app and they see Arnold Schwarzenegger on a video ad there, they make that emotional connection from what they’ve seen on TV and it legitimizes the product in a lot of ways.”

So, it appears most video game companies agree that TV advertising during the Super Bowl is a big and expensive way to draw viewers to digital channels. While Super Bowl ads continue to demonstrate how big free-to-play games, particularly on mobile, have become, there’s little doubt that the real audience more interested in sharing these ads online, where they have presumably always been.

Fox Lets Super Bowl LI Live On In Virtual Reality

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Super Bowl LI in Houston delivered a historic overtime thriller that many people missed because of the blowout 28-3 lead the Atlanta Falcons established early in the third quarter. But those who stuck it out watched the New England Patriots complete the greatest comeback victory (34-28) in Super Bowl history to earn its fifth world championship in 15 years.

Fox Sports partnered with LiveLike to take the highlights from the epic game and deliver them across virtual reality platforms using a virtual stadium suite. Michael Davies, senior vice president of field and technical operations at Fox Sports, told [a]listdaily that fans can choose from six different angles (two cart cams, two goal cams, two goal posts with one high/wide and one low slash).

Users can choose their vantage point from six 4K cameras spread across Houston’s NRG Stadium, including on-field perspectives that put viewer’s right on top of the action. The package of VR content includes the 20 most exciting Super Bowl highlights showcasing the four most important plays per quarter and a timeline for fans to choose amongst the game’s top plays.

“Also, we have been posting different 360 content from the week for people to enjoy while not working on highlights for the game,” Davies said.

Andre Lorenceau, CEO of LiveLike, told [a]listdaily that on top of the Big Game itself, users can view pre-game and post-game content via both 360-degree video and normal videos. “Our interfaces also still have plenty of information about the game so users can look up their favorite players and team stats,” said Lorenceau.

The Super Bowl VR experience was designed as a live complement to the actual game with new content uploaded after each quarter and epic plays being uploaded just a few moments after they happened on the field.

“We built a new push notification system so that whenever a key highlight becomes available, users will receive a notification letting them know that there is new content available,” Lorenceau said before the game. “We also built a new system to jump to a specific highlight, which we absolutely plan on reusing in the future, even in full games. This is particularly interesting since it’s immediately the best way to re-live any moment from the game, complete with the crowd going wild.”

Davies said Fox opted not to work with broadcasters for this content because for the highlights, the video and the natural sound are what is important. Fox Sports has been experimenting with VR content around football and other sports for a couple years now.

“We have found that certain camera positions work better than others,” Davies said. “The cameras that ride along with the cart are the great angles for football as they follow the action. The other thing we are doing with LiveLike is that this is the first time where all cameras will be encoded at Ultra High Definition (4K).”

The reality today is that many people will be checking out this VR content post-game, especially given the unexpected fourth quarter comeback. This first-ever Super Bowl VR experience does not feature any sponsors within the content or inside the virtual suites, but the suite was split between Falcons and Patriots content.

“In general, VR and 360-video is an amazing opportunity for advertisers,” Davies said. “Especially in the LiveLike environment. It is possible to incorporate branding and activations all over the experience in a variety of different ways.”

With more brands exploring 360 content, one potential future is 360-degree content developed in tandem with Super Bowl or other commercials, including making-of content that could take viewers onto the sets of those spots. With companies spending a record $5 million per 30-second ad during the Super Bowl, the cost of capturing some of that content in 360 is very small.

“Anyone who downloads the Fox Sports VR app can view this content without any need for an account, password, or otherwise,” Lorenceau said. “It is completely open.”

According to Neilsen, Fox’s Super Bowl LI drew a 48.8 household rating and a 72 share, which represents about 70 percent of the country. That’s slightly lower than CBS’ Super Bowl 50, which pulled in a 49.0 rating and a 73 share.

‘World Of Tanks’ Invades Super Bowl LI With Two TV Spots

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The Super Bowl has become home to several big free-to-play video game franchises in recent years, and Wargaming is taking the very expensive plunge into the Big Game. The publisher will promote World of Tanks through two different 15-second spots that will air during the fourth quarter of this Sunday’s match-up between the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots.

Fox has been charging companies between $5 million and $5.5 million for 30-second ads this year according to Variety, although Wargaming did not reveal the price it paid for these spots. Last year’s game between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers attracted 114 million Americans and an even larger global audience. Furthermore, a recent survey by Prosper Insights and Analytics, found that 17.7 percent of adults find that commercials are the most important part of the broadcast.

Erik Whiteford, director of marketing at Wargaming, told [a]listdaily that they decided to focus on the Super Bowl to expand the presence of the brand, which is available on all viable platforms.

“The Super Bowl provides an incredible vehicle to reach a huge audience before, during and after the game,” Whiteford said. “It felt like the right time, as the products are in great shape for 2017 with new services and features coming throughout this year. We want to expand our awareness and reach into another level of consumer in North America. Although there’s a global impact with the Super Bowl, this campaign is being driven by the North American market.”

Wargaming will release some of the commercials early throughout the weekend. All four commercials focus on humor and make real tanks the celebrity. Only two will air during the Big Game. While humor is a driving force for Super Bowl commercial discussion, previous free-to-play games such as Supercell’s Clash of Clans have turned to Hollywood celebrities like Liam Neeson to promote their games.

“For us, the celebrities are the tanks,” Whiteford said. “When you see a tank you’re immediately impressed with the magnitude they carry. It’s different from a Hollywood celebrity, but we feel tanks will make a memorable mark on people watching commercials during the game.”

Whiteford said the fact that past free-to-play games have had success on Super Sunday gave the company confidence in making this marketing investment. The four spots aren’t focusing on video game graphics or poly counts, but are parodies of pop culture like The Real Housewives TV shows—only with a tank crashing the party. Whiteford said the goal was to make these spots entertaining so they resonate with viewers whether they’re gamers or not.

Many recent Super Bowls have come down to the wire, but by gambling on fourth quarter slots there’s also the potential for a blowout game.

“We’re not scared of the fourth quarter,” Whiteford said. “People plan their whole day around the Super Bowl. If the game isn’t close, the ads become a bigger part of the overall entertainment composition. We think audience will be there even if it’s a blowout. Plus, if the Patriots win, everyone will want to see Goodell hand the trophy to Brady, so that’s a nice insurance policy.”

Whiteford said that by being part of the Super Bowl, Wargaming will receive a lot of downstream activity.

“A lot of exposure comes from pre-game and post-game activities,” Whiteford said. “We’re confident our investment will pay out with the amount of eyeballs viewing the spots based on our investment. If the game is nail-biter everyone will be paying close attention. And being in the fourth quarter also puts us in a better position for people to remember the spots at the end of the game.”

Wargaming will also use all four spots post-Super Bowl across different mechanisms. Whiteford said the idea with the 15-second spots is they can put together short compelling stories perfect for sharing.

“That’s a real strength of the 15-second format,” Whiteford said. “People want to share things that are funny and speak with their friends about them. People have shorter attention spans today.”

Whiteford said this is the kickoff of the World of Tanks campaign, which will roll out throughout the year as new features are revealed for the mobile, PC and console platforms. The game has close to 150 million registered players across all platforms today globally.

The World of Tanks demographic varies by platform, with the PC version skewing older and the mobile version attracting a younger audience, while the console versions are in the middle. “The Super Bowl makes sense because we have product that covers all of those age demographics that the game reaches,” said Whiteford.