XOX Bhd today has signed a management contract awarded to Macpie Bhd to originate, organise and execute a mobile E-sports League of its first kind in Malaysia.
E-sports are already events being competed in the SEA Games in 2019 in Manila, with 6 medals being contested. Console and mobile gamers are the new generation of athletes and in the digital age, represents the direction of technology development and consumer behaviour worldwide.
With E-Sports being the primary focus in a captive audience worldwide and its growth in user participation, media recognition and revenue growth, XOX with its huge mobile customer base together with Macpie with its experience in events organisation and digital media management has signed a deal today where Macpie Bhd will assist XOX in setting up a “XOX Unity Player Unknown BattleGround (PUBG) League”.
Player Unknown BattleGround (PUBG) is one of the world’s most widely played mobile game. PUBG gained a devoted legion of fans in a short space of time after its release and cumulative unit sales of the game hit 50 million in June 2018. The game has also been critically acclaimed – it won the Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards in 2017 and its free-to-play mobile version for Android and iOS, released in 2018, was nominated for Best Mobile Game at The 2018 Game Awards. This critical success has also translated into commercial success as the game generated millions of U.S. dollars of revenue, most successfully in the United States.
XOX is looking to broaden its scope of digital content by organising and hosting this League, in what would be its first steps to create an entire sub-ecosystem of revenue generation leveraging off its existing mobile network, digital media, e-wallet and marketplace infrastructure.
“As a tech driven company, we acknowledge the solid growth of E-sports in recent years due to overwhelming participation from gamers all over the globe. We want to be the go-to platform where gamers will come together and show their talents as well as experience the best digital advancement we offer. Through our ecosystem, consumer will also be exposed to exclusive brand collab with prominent brands, able to buy and sell products through our extraordinary marketplace which will empower Malaysians to generate income by creating a new economy in our next generation with a comprehensive platform. Expressed Mr Ng Kok Heng, the CEO of XOX Mobile.
Based on research by Statistica, the mobile gaming market in Malaysia is growing by 10% per annum with an Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of 17.00 USD per person, with the captive audience between 25 – 34 year olds. The forecast for 2020 is that the mobile gaming market will account for 117Milion USD in revenue with approximately 6.5 million participants.
Macpie Bhd, as a fulfilment agency for XOX will look to make E-Sports and digital events the cornerstone of its business to offset the loss of its traditional concerts and events management business due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We realise that due to the pandemic and the Conditional Control Movement Orders in place, society has begun to adopt more digital entertainment platforms and E-sports events is an unique way to build content and develop digital presence to maintain consumer spending habits on event driven entertainment,” Macpie Executive Director Koo Kien Keat said.
