London-based gaming startup Espo launches world’s first multi-team eSports fan engagement platform

The global eSports market is booming. According to Newzoo, the global esports will top $1 billion in 2020, a year-on-year growth of +15.7%, up from $950.6 million in 2019. The number of eSports players has also doubled from 2018 to 2021. According to a study published on arxiv.org, the global esports audience numbered 380.2 million in 2018 and expected to grow up to 557 million by 2021.

As the number of eSports players, so is the need for a community to bring your favorite esports teams closer to you. One of the leading startup in this space is Espo, a London, England-based gaming startup is developing a new, multi-team, fan engagement platform for the esports community. Espo has designed a unique platform that rewards collaboration between world-class esports teams, pro players, content creators, fans, and brands.

Today, Espo announced the launch of its game-changing esports fan engagement platform today with world-class esports teams Built By Gamers, Team BDS, BOOM Esports, F2K, GODSENT and Team Queso. Available worldwide, Espo brings esports fans closer to their favourite teams, pro players and content creators by offering unrivalled access through a wide variety of exclusive Fan Perks.

Play games on stream with a pro, receive VOD reviews of your gameplay from a pro, collect limited-edition team merchandise, or compete in high-production community tournaments for prizes; these are just a few of the 100+ Fan Perks that Espo is geared up to offer.

Espo’s 18,000+ pre-registered users can log in for the very first time today and begin redeeming Fan Perks by sponsoring some of their favourite teams. With 3 Campaigns now live on Espo, users can access Fan Perks from BBG’s Fortnite pros Calc and Haz, BBG’s entire Valorant roster and BOOM’s Dota 2 roster, with Campaigns from other Team Partners to follow shortly.

Fan Perks are available in limited supply on Espo and for a limited time only of 30 days. As a result, the regular addition of new Campaigns and Fan Perks from Espo’s growing list of Team Partners will keep users excited for ever-changing ways to get closer to the action.

Built into the design of the platform is a 5-tier loyalty programme that enables Espo users to earn loyalty points called EXP, opening up a host of opportunities for interactive and gamified media features on Espo. As users climb Espo’s loyalty ladder, they also benefit from even greater access to the most prestigious Fan Perks.

Espo founder and CEO, Henry James, said: “From our outset, we’ve been driven to create the go-to place for esports fans to get closer to the action like never before. Today we’re very excited to launch Espo with 6 truly impressive teams who are just as committed as we are to upgrade the experience of esports fans beyond mundane, mass-market social media engagement.

“Esports is fuelled by adrenaline and we believe esports fans should get to feel a part of this for themselves by accessing and enjoying a very unique range of Fan Perks from world-class teams, players and content creators.

“We aim to be the people and platform who work to make great things happen between esports teams, talent, fans and brands. Espo will achieve this through its core design to reward collaboration between all of these parties under one platform.

“As our community of users grows, Espo’s features will evolve and expand too. We’re already building interactive media features that we’ll prototype with our users and launch on our platform later this year.”

BOOM Esports founder and CEO, Gary Ongko Putera, said: “We are very proud to join Espo and see the launch of their platform! Our fans will be able to access exclusive Fan Perks from BOOM Esports and our Dota 2 roster – our biggest move so far to provide superior fan engagement and experiences for our fans. As our Dota 2 players are making noise in the global Dota 2 scene, this is a great time to kick-off our partnership with Espo and provide special access for our fans to engage with BOOM Esports and our players.”

GODSENT CEO and co-founder, Henrik Denebrandt, said: “We look forward to involving our fans and community even more in the GODSENT journey with our teams, influencers and top-tier brand partners. Espo can help us to deeply connect with our fans around the world and create great experiences for them. We’re excited to offer special perks for GODSENT fans on Espo so we can create new value and unique memories for them.”

F2K CEO, Tim Bergmann, said: “We are looking forward to working with Espo to enhance the F2K fan experience across our entertainment network. Our players and content creators are recognized by millions of gaming and esports fans around the globe and we see Espo as the perfect platform to provide perks.”