A Primer on eSports with John Robinson and Blake Robbins

Erik is joined on this episode by John Robinson (@RohnJobinson), president and COO of 100 Thieves, and Blake Robbins (@blakeir), partner at Ludlow Ventures.Blake and John talk about how they got into eSports and what excites them most about the space. They run through some of the unicorns in eSports and the venture firms that saw their potential early. They also discuss how big companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook are or are not getting involved in the space. The three of them compare and contrast traditional sports leagues, athletes, brands and teams with those in eSports and talk about how the revenue streams differ in eSports versus those of traditional sports. They talk about the applicability of a single team like 100 Thieves across a bunch of different games, comparing it to having a Yankees team in every sport, instead of just baseball. They mention that contrary to traditional sports, there is something to watch 365 days of the year for fans of an eSports team. They also say that the space is getting more attention as billionaires notice their kids are more excited to meet Ninja (a high-profile gamer) than Michael Jordan or LeBron James. They finish with some of their requests for startups in the space and Erik asks what they think the future holds for eSports.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.