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Top Female eSports Teams Inspiring Girl Gamers

eSports Arena
Competitive eSports Arena

Top Female eSport Teams

eSports is a male-dominated sport. An estimated 90% of Major eSports professionals are men. Despite huge strides in the last decade, male gamers still far outnumber girl gamers.  But the large video game publishers and brands are taking notice.  The video game industry is growing more quickly than ever, with an estimated 2.5 billion players worldwide.  Who better to grow popularity and discoverability among girl gamers than, well, girl gamers?

In the last decade, the somewhat inclusive E-gaming Arenas have become more welcoming to girl gamers. With major brands sponsoring All Female gamer girl groups and recently, Female eSports league has started to gain traction globally. Change is afoot.  And we may see more girl gamers competing and winning yet.

The move to diversify eSports and include more girl gamers is growing by the day.

From major brands to NBA teams are on a quest. There is a vibrant NBA 2K League.  In 2019 for the first time, WNBA players are making their debut in NBA 2K. A quest to grow the number of Female professional player in eSports and level the playing field.  Hopefully in the near future, re-balance the 9-to-1 Male to Female player ratio, still prevalent in the current E-gaming community.

It’s hard to deny the prejudice Females have faced in the professional gaming community. Now more than ever, the community is more welcoming to Gamer Girls. Many more skilled Female Gamers are winning major game tournaments. The male-centric gaming community must accept, some more slowly than others, the idea of professional female eSport players. And respect them as winners and champions.

esports girl gamer champion
VKLiooon winning the Hearthstone tournament at Blizzcon

Take for example in the Global HearthStone Tournament, VKLiooon defeated the previous world champion in a clean sweep, winning the Tournament by a huge margin.

She became the first-ever female HearthStone Champion at Blizzcon in 2019.  Punctuating her history-making victory, she said:

“I want to say to all the girls out there that have a dream for eSports, for competition, for glory.  If you want to do it and you believe in yourself, you should just forget your gender and go for it”.

This was a historic moment in the gaming community.  One that shattered the old prejudice – that “Girls can’t play games.” A wakeup call for the old-guard, heard far and wide by women and men around the world.  And arguably more importantly, by boys and girls across the land.

The Female Gaming community has made huge progress in the last decade.  Let us take a look at some of the most prominent professional eSports All-Girl groups from all around the world.

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consumer insights gamer gaming Uncategorized video game video game marketing video games

Consumer Insights for Video Game GOAT: Duke Nukem

Video game FPS concept market testing via consumer insights
Soldier special forces with weapons in their hands on a futuristic background. Military concept of the future. Consumer insights for video game market research.

CONSUMER INSIGHTS VIDEO GAME GREATEST OF ALL TIME: DUKE NUKEM

Duke Nukem was and arguably always will be my favorite video game of all time.  Does it have a market among battle royale fans of Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile?

The first PC game that I paid for. With a HUGE $40 of my own money at the age of 20, I chose Duke over a pub crawl or infrequent meal of tacos in college.  Will brand equity aid discoverability? Consumer Insights hold the key.

 

Menacing flying aliens wielding rocket-propelled grenades.  Shade-bespectacled foes with tusks the size of Siberian boars.  Gratuitous scantily-clad young ladies dancing on stages, hips gyrating rhythmically to the electric pop background music.

 

The frequent drops of weapons – from rocket-propelled grenades, to shotguns, to pistols, and ammo – stimulate the mind.  In pure single-player mode, it’s easy to pick up, put down, save progress.  While heart-pounding exciting and exhilarating as ever, the ability to save and reattempt levels makes it forgiving.  

 

Playing the 2011 reboot Duke Nukem Forever on my Mac this week during the coronavirus shelter-at-home, I got to relive some of my early college years.  The nuclear waste and dancers still grab the eyeballs, even as I have laddered up in age.

 

This begs the question though.  I paid an entire $40 for the full game in 1996.  And again in 2020, I paid $40 for the game + downloadable content on Steam.  HOW can this game be reimagined for a different revenue model – say, monthly subscription or free-to-play in-app purchases.  

 

As a video game marketing consultant, I wondered.  If I were marketing this game as a Premium-Priced 1-time Download on Steam:

 

  1. What are my best options for maximizing branding (reactivating awareness) amongst existing fans of the Duke Nukem franchise?
  2. How do I best build excitement among brand-new first-person shooter fans?
  3. How can the game acquire and convert multiplayer battle royale games like Fortnite or PUBG?
  4. Which messages would resonate best with each of these audiences? 
  5. Which promotional tactics do I have to maximize downloadable sales?
  6. Is a time-limited MASSIVE discount promotion (say 50%, 60%, even 70%) the only way to crack the STEAM Store charts?
  7. Are there media channels (whether IGN, PCGamer, or EuroGamer) that can drive measurable sales?
  8. Should the developer choose to turn this game into a Free 2 Play, mobile games, what are some of the best content and monetization strategies?  
  9. How much time and resources should they devote to strictly Organic Discovery, like Apple or Google App Store Optimization?
  10. Is it more advantageous to launch during the Shelter in Place campaign (i.e. in the next 4-8 weeks)?  
  11. Or does it make more sense to create “evergreen” paid media advertising campaigns, that run throughout the year?
  12. What types of analytics and attribution are required?  And can these be put in place on startup budgets, without breaking the bank?

 From experience I know this much.

Consumer Insights and good old-fashioned market research are key to rock-solid brand positioning and laser-focused activation.

A combination of qualitative consumer research – targeted at the target consumer persona can answer these questions about how (1) Brand Loyalists like me and (2) fans of battle royale FPS and 3PS titles like Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, and Call of Duty can best be activated.

That and how and where the video game marketing budgets are best spent.  Is it more advantageous spent on paid media on Facebook, Google UAC and the likes?  Or strictly through trusted influencers through the likes of Youtube, Twitch Prime and reviewers?

These are precisely the types of questions that I help my clients (video game developers and publishers) solve, in order to maximize media coverage and measurable revenue and profits. And in a strange, inexplicable way, I relish the challenge of helping a game developer shop on startup, even shoestring budgets.

 

If you have a promising game project that you like to promote and burst up the STEAM Store, Apple App Store, or Google Play Store – and like to tap into the marketing expertise of someone who’s worked on both branded and original-IP games on Facebook, PC, Apple, and Android, reach out to me.  

 

In the meantime, make sure to stay safe, play apart, but always, always “kick ass and chew bubble gum.”

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gamer gaming video game video game industry video games

State of the Video Game Industry

video game, cosplay
Sheffield, United Kingdom - June 11, 2016: Cosplayers dressed as characters from the video game series 'Halo' at the Yorkshire Cosplay Convention at Sheffield Arena
Team of Professional eSport Gamers Playing in Competitive Video Games on a Cyber Games Tournament. They using Microphones.

“All men dream – but not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity… But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.” From T. E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom – Uncharted 3

 

Video games have found their entrée into just about every household today. Close to 65% of American adults play video games, whether through their phones, laptops, or gaming systems. When broken down, 60% of people are playing games on their smartphones, 52% at their personal computer, and 49% with a gaming household. Even more, about 75% of Americans have at least one gamer in their household.

To put the $152 billion a year market in context, that is larger than the annual revenue from movie box office and music, combined (Kevin Chou, Forte, 2020) Furthermore, 2.5 billion gamers across the world, means 1 in 3 people across the world, games. 

Video games are no longer the exclusive strongholds of teenaged fanboys.

 

Rather, with the advent of smartphones and tablets and the “anywhere, anytime” accessibility they provide, gamers span generations – millennials and boomers alike take part in this digital interaction. And yes, boys, girls, men, women, alternative lifestyle, and more, play games on their smartphones, tablets.  Not to mention contributing  user-generated content or UGC.: videos, reviews and more.

 

HERE’S a TRIVIA QUESTION.  What do Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson, Jake Gyllenhaal and Milla Jovovich to Rami Malek, Sarah Silverman, John C. Riley, Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Rodriguez have in common?

 

The obvious answer is that they are all current and former Hollywood A-Listers past and  present.  The LESS OBVIOUS answer is that they have all starred in movies which had started out as video game franchises, loved and played by millions of gamers on a range of gaming devices.

And more amazingly, video games are as part of pop culture as music, sports, and movies.  If you need any more convincing, just look at the following list of popular movies about video games:

  • Tomb Raider (2018)
  • Pokemon Detective Pikachu (2019)
  • Warcraft (2016)
  • Assassins Creed (2016)
  • Angry Birds the Movie (2016)
  • Rampage (2018)
  • Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
  • Hitman Agent 47 (2015)
  • Need for Speed (2014)
  • Prince of Persia (2010)
  • Ready Player One (2018)
  • Resident Evil Retribution (2012)
  • Wreck It Ralph (2012)
  • Doom (2005)
  • Mortal Kombat (1995)
  • Tomb Raider (2001)
  • Street Fighter (1994)

As gamers, we are part of a large, thriving and rapidly growing community.  Of fangirls, fanboys, athletes, streamers, developers, artists, and as many of us have already known for many many years, celebrities, actors, actresses, and musicians among us.  Game On, Game Proud.