Business of Esports Minute #041: Huawei Esports, Andbox Lifeline, Blizzard Tragedy

A week of news covering the intersection of business and gaming / esports, all in about one minute – everything you need to know from the “profit of esports” himself. 041 – March 21, 2021 In this week’s Business of Esports Minute: Huawei Esports, Andbox Lifeline, and Blizzard Tragedy. From the keyboard to the boardroom, this is the Business of Esports Minute! Every single week, I, Paul Dawalibi, the prophet of esports, will be bringing you my hottest takes from the week, basically, everything you need to know about the business of esports all in about one minute. Let’s go. Huawei announced it was integrating scores, results, and news for esports leagues and tournaments around the world directly into their phones. Huawei is showing true leadership here and I love this move from them. It is incredibly smart to be integrating esports updates directly into their phones, and I hope that manufacturers like Apple, Google, or Samsung follow suit. While many users may not be looking for esports scores, the fact that this data would be surfaced and presented could potentially result in building curiosity and mainstream mindshare. In other news, NBA superstar Kevin Durant announced that his company, Thirty Five Ventures, will invest in Andbox, an esports organization based in New York City. Durant reportedly plans to work with the company on several gaming initiatives. It’s no secret that Andbox has been trying to raise money for months now. It’s also no secret that virtually every investor turned them away, given the poor management, lack of any tangible results, no ownership of the NY market, inflated valuation, and an apparel strategy that is confusing at best (who wants to wear Andbox hoodies?). Maybe Kevin Durant is the savior they need. Clearly, his money will keep their business afloat for a while longer. But unless he has a major impact and they fundamentally change their management team and how they operate, Andbox is destined for the failure bin. Finally, it