Special Report: Emerge Gaming has forged a new partnership with Europe-based affiliate marketing company Tecnología de Impacto Multiple S.L. (“TIM”) to bring its online esports and casual gaming platform to 15 countries and 150 new markets.

Under the licensing agreement, TIM will market Emerge’s (ASX:EM1) proprietary gaming tournament platform to its sales affiliate network of more than 10 million members. The platform will allow gamers to compete in online casual gaming tournaments with prizes up to USD$250,000 on offer over the first 12 months, as well as another USD$250,000 grand prize at the end of the year.

TIM has guaranteed a minimum of 100,000 subscribers in the first six months, which will be charged a monthly subscription fee of USD$8.50 (~AUD$12) to access the platform. If TIM doesn’t meet this target, it will pay out 50% of the total prize money on offer. Emerge will be responsible for operating the platform, while TIM will take responsibility for marketing the platform.

Interest in cloud gaming is at an all-time high, following the launch of Google Stadia in November last year and US-based venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz this week saying that cloud-native games will completely transform “the gameplay experience itself, as well as how those games are marketed and sold”.

By hitting the 100,000 subscriber milestone, Emerge’s platform stands to rake in monthly recurring revenue of USD$850,000 (~AUD$1.2 million). The resulting monthly recurring revenue translates to an annual recurring revenue potential of $US10.2million (~$A14.4million). Emerge will earn 64.5% net revenue from the platform.

“Emerge has successfully demonstrated its ability to monetise its proprietary eSports tournament technology and expanding through a global technology-enabled sales network has the potential to generate significant revenues and shareholder value,” said Emerge Gaming CEO Greg Stevens.

“We have been encouraged by TIM’s belief in our product underpinned by its guarantee to deliver 100,000 subscribers in six months.”

The platform is expected to go live on 14 November 2020 under a new brand.

 

Future plans

With the first phase of the licensing agreement complete, Emerge and TIM have made their objective known that they plan to build the world’s largest online casual gaming community by leveraging TIM’s 10 million affiliate-strong network. In particular, Emerge is looking to capture a large chunk of the mobile gaming market, which is now worth USD$68.5 billion and encompasses 2.4 billion mobile gamers globally.

Emerge also revealed that the tournament platform launch will serve as a precursor to the second phase launch of its Cloud Game Streaming solution, an all-in-one gaming and entertainment platform that streams games to a player’s device rather than needing to download individual titles.

The partnership with TIM marks the second major international partnership for Emerge this year, following the launch of MTN Arena, which caters to a potential 29 million mobile gamers in South Africa. Emerge’s two platforms are complementary to each other, as the TIM partnership targets higher value demographics with a higher subscription cost, whereas MTN Arena targets lower value fees from a larger potential customer base.

This article was developed in collaboration with Emerge Gaming, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.