On Friday, April 5, 2024, the first theme-focused event on the road to the jubilee, already the 20th edition of the SPORTO conference, was held at the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre as an overture to the opening of the largest gaming festival in our country, the Game Gang Show.
Shahin Rasti, Commercial Director at Giantx, offered a deep insight into international esports team and also into global trends in the gaming industry. After the merger of the British team XL with the largest Spanish team Giant, the Giantx is successfully pursuing its goal: to grow as a global gaming brand. It boasts exceptional statistics: 24 million fans and the exceptional reach of its online content on social media channels with as many as 87 million impressions and 10 million engagements monthly.
Moderate phase after the initial boom
Rasti presented the indisputable facts: esports and the gaming industry are an integral part of popular culture and a gateway to Gen Z and Millennials. 47% of their community are 18–24-year-olds and 39% 25–34-year-olds, 30% of them are female, and esports ranks as one of the largest category in sports globally, worth as much as $577 billion USD, whose growth is currently in a moderate phase after the initial boom.
The rising trend of the industry was relatively quickly recognized by some global brands, such as Gucci, Uber Eats, Luis Vuitton, but – like any other, also this industry faces challenges. As Rasti pointed out, a long-term presence of a brand (at least 3 years to his opinion) in the industry by building a unique purpose, and above all empowered by knowledge of a very flexible and agile industry and target audience, is necessary. Millennials and Generation Z are averse to “bare” exposure of products, but they are eager for content that focuses on them: their needs, habits and above all – that their voice is heard.
GIantx’s ecosystem is thus building through community and fandom; content is adapted and spread across many digital platforms, but all have a common ground: play, socialise, and watch. Also, to raise the awareness, for example, about gender equality like EE’s “Power up” programme.
The gaming market in Slovenia is interesting from a commercial perspective
The situation in Slovenia and its neighbouring region is slightly different, as the maturity of the market lags behind the leading Euroepan countries, but – as emphasized by the speakers: Gašper Kovač, Sport Media Focus, Matjaž Butara, Big Bang and Aleš Petejan, Mastercard Slovenia, the organization of the Game Gang Show festival is a step towards understanding the industry, which is key to its development and a unique opportunity to approach young generations. Exchange of knowledge, support, awareness of responsible gaming and spreading the message about the necessity of maintaining good physical fitness and mental health.
According to Matjaž Butara, Big Bang, the gaming market in Slovenia is interesting from a commercial perspective, but more crucial is the awareness that its community is growing and has a different media consumption. Therefore, by negating it, we are leaving out an important segment of people whom we want to address, but our content will never reach them through the mass media communication channels (television/linear), so we must adapt to the audience rather than trying to transform their habits.
According to Aleš Petejan, at Mastercard Slovenia they focus on providing priceless experiences (global platform priceless) – always focused on the individual and his/her needs for whom the experience is intended. They use the same approach in gaming community. Internationally Mastercard became the first global sponsor of the most widespread competitive game League of Legends in 2018, and they especially support and encourage women in the gaming field through the Gamer academy.
Content creators building community based on trust
Young content creators, enthusiastic about creating video content for streaming, better known in the community by their pseudonyms Wortex (Anže Novak) and ScorpLZ (Žiga Lah), also shared their perspective. They are advocates of the creation of in-depth content as the number of views of longer content with the possibility of simultaneous engagement and commenting during streams is of greater value to them than the significantly higher number of impressions of shorter formats on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
Despite their big success in the Slovenian market and the ability to make a living by creating contents, they promote the balance of the time spent behind the screens and school education among young followers. At the same time, they also emphasize the criticality of addiction, especially gambling in digital space, and avoid such content by themselves, as they place a key emphasis on building a community based on trust and credibility.
