ATTN passed many milestones in 2021; growing our regional following to over 113 million, while achieving nearly 2x revenue growth amidst the pandemic, and building the foundation to our future playbook.

We're in a unique state where we see that we are the sole player in our position, and we can use the existing infrastructure that we have built to carve the next phase of our journey. This is a brief take on how we build an ecosystem for ourselves.

Building conviction

In 2016, Esports was booming both in the West and in certain parts of Asia (China, Korea etc.) and created a working economy for a newfound ecosystem consisting of game publishers, league organizers, esports teams, and pro-players. But what struck us most back then was how the professional players in esports are essentially living the life of an athlete, just like in any real life sports and that they were able to make a career out of doing what they love: playing video games. Back in Southeast Asia, we too see that potential where we can create this model for the region.

Winning people’s hearts

We decided to invest in our esports team and groom them professionally. We invest in their wellness: physically, mentally, and emotionally. We also guaranteed them financial security, by giving them a facility to train, where they can live and practice - which wasn’t a common practice back then.

We too understood that esports, just like any other sports, are ultimately more than entertainment. Fans watch sports to see stories of zero to hero, to find role models, to witness greatness, to see hope and remind them of the boundless possibilities of what one can achieve with hard work, passion and determination. So that leads us to brand building: telling their personal stories through our own content and media. We also seeked communities, by scouting pro players/personalities that have an existing presence and influence to bring even more awareness for our brand and partners. This proved to be a successful strategy as our viewers grew consistently and paved the way for how we seek strategic partnerships.

Luck: where preparation meet opportunity

One of the biggest causes for growth in gaming in Southeast Asia was the mass adoption of mobile phones and consequently, digital connectivity. This led to competitions for affordable internet packages and gave rise to the live streaming market. With the foundational infrastructure that we have built (roster of influential gamers/personalities, passionate communities, eyeballs) we were rightly positioned to enter the creator economy space by building a talent management division: WHIM.

This opened up a multitude of business opportunities, which also enabled us to manage our players to become creators, and to sign non-gaming talents for live streaming platforms that are entering into Southeast Asia.

Next, this enabled us to delve deeper into strategic relationships with the players within the gaming ecosystem, such as game developers and publishers. We relentlessly pursue value creation for the new opportunities that are presented to us.

To the future and beyond

In every new technology and adoption, gaming is always at the forefront of adoption. In the past 2 years, blockchain adoption in SEA is growing rapidly and generating value for early users. Thus it is one of the spaces that we are looking at with the same mindset that gave us growth: how can we leverage the foundational ecosystem that we have created, to compound value in this new opportunity?

Looking back, the ecosystem play that we’ve built, enabled us for better distribution, brand, marketing, sales and ultimately, storytelling for ATTN.