Atlanta’s Booming Esports Industry, with Todd Harris, Skillshot Media
Todd Harris: [00:00:00] But at the end of the day, it is very big business. So, we have such a great film and TV business here in Georgia, but gaming, that is the video game industry, it’s larger than all of box-office movies and all of music put together. So, that’s kind of the first just level setting for people, is it is by far the biggest entertainment industry, that is video games.
Todd Harris: [00:00:28] And the fastest growing area of the video game industry is e-sports. So, people watching other people play video games. So, nationally, if you watch on a platform like Twitch, which is where most people will watch other people play video games, there’s more people watching daily and monthly than are watching ESPN or watching CNN already. And we’re just kind of getting started.
Todd Harris: [00:00:56] So, that’s the impact. And locally here in Georgia, gaming is about a $900 million impact already, thanks to companies like a Hi-Rez Studios, like a Blue Mammoth that was acquired by Ubisoft, like a Tripwire. These are all home grown Georgia companies that are making games. So, it’s very big economically here. And we’re just kind of getting started because Metro Atlanta has a lot of the ingredients that it takes to put this ecosystem together.
Todd Harris: [00:01:33] Just to to orient everyone to the different businesses, there are publishers that make games. An example would be Hi-Rez sStudios or Blu Mammoth. There are professional teams just like your Falcons or your Braves, and we have many in Atlanta that play those games. There are event organizers like my new company, Skillshot Media, that put on leagues and games. And then, those are, of course, supported by distribution, where people watch the games and also buy brand sponsors. So, a Coca-Cola might sponsor a team, so that consumers watch it on a platform like Twitch. So, there’s a lot of different companies involved, and we’re fortunate that we are seeing all of these companies be present in Metro Atlanta.
Todd Harris, Founder and CEO of Skillshot Media
Todd Harris (@toddalanharris) is an accomplished entrepreneur who has been leading video game and esports businesses for 15 years and involved with technology product startups for 25 years. Todd co-founded Hi-Rez Studios, one of the largest video game studios in the Southeast and is currently Founder & CEO of Skillshot Media, a leading esports infrastructure and production company, President of the North American Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF), and co-owner of esports professional team Ghost Gaming.caption id=”caption-attachment-137308″ class=”wp-caption-text”>
Skillshot connects leading brands to engaged esports fans. The company has hosted thousands of esports tournaments, paid out over $10M in prizing for competitive video games, and delivered over 1 billion views of esports content. Skillshot also powers the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) competition with member universities awarding over $16M in esports scholarships.
Ghost Gaming is an Atlanta-based professional esports team and gaming lifestyle brand that has won 13 tournament championships and cultivated a fan base of over 5 million.
NASEF is the leading scholastic esports solution for high school students, providing opportunities for all students to use esports as a platform to acquire critical communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.
Throughout his career, Todd has garnered industry recognition including “2019 Most Admired CEO” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as he works with partners toward advancing the esports industry.
Listen to Todd’s full interview on GNFCC 400 Insider here.
The “One Minute Interview” series is produced by John Ray and in the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link.
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