Gm and welcome to the lobby.

New Balance leans into gaming. MLB The Show brings women into the mix. Overactive Media acquires KOI & Movistar Riders. Kung Fu Panda comes to Roblox, and are you ready to file your taxes in Fortnite?

Grab your coffee, ready up, and let’s drop in 🪂
Here’s what we have for you today:

• New Balance steps up gaming initiatives with CAA partnership 👟

• MLB the Show 24 changes the game with ‘Women Pave Their Way’ ⚾

• It’s tax season… in Fortnite? TurboTax launches Millionaire Tycoon 📈 

• Overactive Media expands with KOI and Movistar Riders acquisition 💸 

• Kung Fu Panda comes to Roblox with in-game obstacle course 🐼

❓ Ask Us

Q&A with Private Lobby
Do you have a question or topic you’d love to ask the Private Lobby team? Reply to this email, let us know what you have been curious about, and we’ll answer it in our next issue!

👟 New Balance steps up gaming initiatives with CAA partnership

New Balance is doubling down on its commitment to reaching the gaming audience. The footwear & athleticwear brand has signed with CAA to further support its goal of targeting the gaming audience. 

Back in April 2023, New Balance partnered with gaming platform, Rival, to host community Rocket League tournaments. They’ve also released a sneaker based on 90s gaming color & style.

👀 Our POV

As Jeff McAdams said, gaming has become a natural part of sports & pop culture. Everyone is a gamer to some degree, whether they play a few mobile games to kill some time, play sports games like NBA 2K or Madden with their friends, or go all in grinding a ranked leaderboard. Yes, even the moms playing through candy crush levels are gamers.

With New Balance showing they’re committed to reaching the gaming audience, personally, I'd love to see them try out a few things…

They could tap into influencer marketing by partnering with esports athletes and creators, potentially launching products or specific colorways for their communities. Or dive into UEFN & Roblox to create their own branded worlds, or go big like Red Bull launching a series of gaming events, team sponsorships, and really attacking the gaming industry as a key marketing channel.

Gamers will support your brand if you support them, let’s see what New Balance is planning.

- Justin Palacios (Private Lobby)

⚾ MLB The Show 24 builds on storylines of adversity with ‘Women Pave Their Way’

Earlier this week, San Diego Studios– creators of baseball sport sim franchise MLB the Show– dropped a trailer for this year’s Storylines mode. The “Storylines” game experience was introduced to players last year with The Negro Leagues: a beautiful exploration of an often overlooked, yet incredibly crucial part of both American and sport history full of iconic figures. Their goal with this new game mode was simple. “We plan to use MLB® The Show™ as a gateway to expose new generations of baseball fans to these historic figures and their stories of triumph over adversity.” 

The Storylines game mode has evolved in this year’s title, becoming more dynamically integrated in the “Road to the Show” create-a-career game mode. This impending experience focuses on an even more obscure player base in professional baseball: women. For the first time in the game’s history, you can create a female ballplayer and play through a unique Road to the Show story inspired by Kelsie Whitmore. Kelsie was the first woman player to join a roster in the MLB Partnered League, member of the Women’s USA Baseball National Team, and 2022 USA Baseball Sportswoman of the Year.

👀 Our POV

Good on San Diego Studios for this bold release. I don’t have stats on hand for baseball fandom, but worldwide the M/F split for gamer demos inches closer to 50/50. This is such a thoughtful move by the studio to take another large step in inclusivity. While The Negro Leagues game experience last year was not only fun to play, but highly educational as they partnered with The Negro Leagues Museum to help steer the narrative, the lead Narrative Designer for this year’s iteration is Mollie Braley. 

Choosing a woman to steer the development of the storyline while consulting with players who have lived it, like Kelsie Whitmore, the studio can likely avoid any opportunity for tone deaf plot points or misinterpretation by tapping someone from the group you’re speaking to in order to be as authentic to the game mode as possible.

For all of the pigs in the replies around this announcement… if you don’t like it… just don’t play it. ✌️

- Brandon Painter (Private Lobby)

📈 It’s tax season… in Fortnite?

Intuit's all new UEFN game, Millionaire Tycoon (7176-8078-2761) has just launched in Fortnite. "Build and upgrade your mega mansion, enjoy your earnings, manage your funds, and make your moves count."

The game has reached an incredible peak player count of 8,236, and is averaging 3,335 players since launching earlier this week, making it one of the most successful branded experiences in UEFN to date.

👀 Our POV

Intuit's Keys to Success 🔑 

1. Gameplay Millionaire Tycoon does a great job of creating an experience that makes players want to keep playing, once you get started you want to keep upgrading your mansion and complete your tax refund -- in the best way possible! 😂 
   

2. Title & Theming Millionaire Tycoon is a brilliant name in terms of searchability, intrigue, and relevancy to the brand and specific campaign. I love it and want to shoutout anyone and everyone that came up with it. Simple but perfect.
   

3. Influencer Marketing & Paid Media A masterclass in promotion, this campaign has utilized a combination of influencer marketing on YouTube & TikTok along with a paid media campaign leveraging their cinematic game trailer. This lead to their incredible discovery timeline led by search.
   

4. Brand Integration Intuit managed to create an achievement/quest system designed to look almost identical to the TurboTax software. It's definitely a unique way to tie in the brand and honestly, I thought it was a fun element to the game.

My take: TurboTax's Millionaire Tycoon is a brilliant case study that all brands and marketers should take note of. The playbook executed here was flawless, and I expect more brands to follow suit.

- Zach Eller (Private Lobby)

💸 Overactive Media expands with KOI and Movistar Riders acquisition

In a colossal expansion move, OverActive Media (OAM)  has completed its acquisition of KOI and Movistar Riders. Until now, OAM has been known as the owner of MAD Lions, Toronto Defiant (Overwatch), and Toronto Ultra (Call of Duty). With the addition of KOI and Movistar Riders, OAM is nearing a scale that few other esports companies have reached, with a multi-regional presence few can match. The acquisition now means OAM’s portfolio holds two North American and three Spanish brands. 

“These acquisitions bring significant synergies and opportunity to OverActive, and we are already seeing their impact across our audience numbers, engagement levels, sponsorships and renewals,” said Adam Adamou, CEO of OverActive. “We are filled with the enthusiasm that comes from seeing our combined vision come together into something that is far greater than the sum of the parts.”

OAM’s expansion brings more than just more esports teams. KOI and Movistars leadership are joining the family with new positions intended to bolster the executive team at OAM.

Additionally, OAM’s Board of Directors is getting an update to reflect these new additions.

• Gerard Piqué brings his vast experience in sports, entertainment, and business development to the board. Mr. Piqué's strategic insights and network will be invaluable as OverActive continues to expand its footprint in the esports industry.

• Gabriel Sáenz de Buruaga, a respected media agency executive and co-founder of Movistar Riders, will leverage his deep knowledge of the digital and advertising landscapes to guide OverActive's strategic direction. His expertise in media and telecommunications will support the Company's growth initiatives and partnerships.

👀 Our POV

This move from OAM is great to see, and it shines a light on the value of EU esports. I recall when they only had Toronto Defiant and Ultra, wondering where they’d go next. This strategic expansion into the Spanish scene is a clever move to establish stability through numerous revenue streams at a time when esports companies are crumbling.

It can be easy to discount the value of EU Esports when so much happens in North American or Asian markets, but OAM is proving how much there truly is to gain by investing in the EU. Few companies in esports have achieved a multi-regional strategy, and I wish OAM luck in their journey to be the esports powerhouse they desire to be. 

This acquisition may point to part of what creates a sustainable future for esports. Single-region esports companies may struggle with time as the current state of the industry progresses. I firmly believe that these esports companies can succeed. Still, the opportunities to do so are limited as leagues have limited slots for each region, and partnerships are highly competitive at the moment. While I don’t encourage every team to sell to a multi-national parent company; it would be wise to consider how regions outside of your own can secure your future.

- Brendan Valentine (Private Lobby)

🐼 Kung Fu Panda 4 comes to Roblox

Universal recently launched “Kung Fu Panda 4 Obby”, a Roblox experience promoting DreamWorks' new film, Kung Fu Panda 4. The Kung Fu Panda themed obstacle course launched on February 21st and has reached over 10 million plays in just a week and a half.

From the game’s page on Roblox:
"Po is looking for the next Dragon Warrior. COULD IT BE YOU?

Welcome to Jade Palace, where Po challenges you and a friend to a 2 PLAYER OBBY. Team up, race to the finish, and earn enough food points for a 💥FREE SKADOOSH EMOTE💥 (only available for 3 weeks!) and 🥟FREE UGC 🥟.

No Robux. EVERYTHING IS FREE.”

👀 Our POV

I continue my campaign to highlight the immense impact of IP in gaming, so I had to give Po and Universal their spotlight for this one.

Kung Fu Panda is a great property that has a diverse audience, the same description could be used for Roblox. That’s really the key here. This is a great example of Universal understanding how to leverage a platform with a strong and engaged playerbase such as Roblox to create an IP driven playable experience.

Additionally, the game’s easy to earn emoji is actually usable in other Roblox games, outside of the Kung Fu Panda 4 experience. A unique collectable emote. Value, given for free. That’s how you do it, folks.
 
- Zach Eller (Private Lobby)

🔥 Burning Question of the Week

If you haven’t seen it yet, please go watch it so you can fully appreciate it when I claim anyone that reads Private Lobby is the true Lisan al Gaib.

- Zach Eller (Private Lobby)

🤝 Share Private Lobby

Help your colleagues, friends, and teammates stay up to date on the latest gaming & esports marketing news by sharing our link: https://privatelobby.gg/subscribe

Disclaimer: our views are ours and in no way represent those of our employers.