EG, one of the oldest and most recognizable brands in professional gaming, was founded in 1999. Its almost a due diligence process in itself to know what developers are supporting the league in a way that helps brands grow. https://t.co/dzuLhaRiEu, RT @EvilGeniuses: POV: You're watching us Exhibit our Evil at the MoPoP Thank you for joining us! Using statistics to transform businesses, illuminate investment opportunities, and win card games. And so weve actually spent a lot of energy making sure we did a lot of provisions. We recently entered a new title called Valorant. Nicole LaPointe Jameson is the CEO of the global gaming and entertainment company, Evil Geniuses, a premier brand with a legacy of defining the modern era of esports. But as we call it internally, theres a little bit of a matrix decision, of all the constituents we have to think of, because theres quite a lot of frequently opposing voices. This is good, its like being in a meeting with you. People love esports, but the infrastructure and the money behind it isnt as much. One thing we love about Riot and them franchising League of Legends is even though you might look at that price tag of a franchise medallion and go, Holy crap, who would spend that money on this? What it shows is, though, we have a voice at the table and how the league is constructed and supported. One of the questions I have for all of these digital media and entertainment models and obviously, I work in digital media so I think about this a lot but one of the questions that always comes up is it seems like so rarely is the core product itself the money. And so weve been able to look at areas that we authentically care about, and find ways that are not predatory or actually support the core of our business by bringing in revenue but also boosting our mission. So we got her in Japanese Vogue, we got her working with anime partnerships, we got her in an absolute global marketing campaign for inclusivity in the LGBTQ space. Its for the people, of the people very insular. Bumpouts in Byram? And we lean into the Evil Genius side of our brand identity. 1 episode totalling 1 hour, 9 minutes. This is a little bit of why I love what I do. How did you get into the industry? [Due to an Achilles injury,] I was immobile for a lot of my childhood, so gaming was my social connection. Ive been around, I know that sucks. I was able to somehow convince a bunch of people who had never worked in esports and did sales, both sell- and buy-side, and traditional sports, and consumer product goods to come join this clunky esports team and sell it, and theyve done fantastically. Or, even our community partner, if you view it as, okay, a lot of esports costs go to direct marketing, but we can do good in the world, bring up brand awareness and get customer conversion or fan conversion through community partnerships and goodwill. Very, very few people will ever play football. His first gift to LaPointe Jameson was a Pokmon game on Gameboy Color, and she immediately fell in love. In May of that year, Nicole LaPointe Jameson '16 became the first African-American woman to lead a major esports organization, taking over as CEO of Evil Geniuses. It doesnt seem like the game here is, were going to break this thing into parts, extract value, over-leverage it. I mean it completely makes sense why we're talking about EA Sports in conjunction with this F1 event. Or is it to make us look good? People always give me a lot of shit for that too, like, Your merch sucks. And Im like, Im sorry, I dont care.. The NFL is not doing that, rIght? Ask the coach, who do they know thats good, and build from there. We said, Screw that. Im so excited to have a platform to give a megaphone to people whose voices felt like they werent heard before, even though they are legitimate parties and creators and innovators in the space, but also, professionally, gaming is ubiquitous, and it should be ubiquitous. Before that, you worked at PEAK6, which is an investment company. Its usually family, or I was born in a location, or I live in a location, so Im a fan of the locations team. Things that would make you laugh in this day and age generally, are still very fundamental. Hear the latest economic, business and market news, as well as global, national, and local news. We have to be thoughtful. That also exists in esports. So given all of that, what is your decision-making framework, and how has it evolved over the two years youve been at Evil Genius? Everyone knows the space can be rife with toxicity and bullying, but Ive had a good network to shelter me. And two good examples ESL and BLAST are two league partners, and they are focused on making a top-of-line broadcast and accessible product. And I lived in that side of the house, looking at a variety of businesses for them, ranging from the dating industry to flood insurance to haptic technology. Now she is a CEO in the esports industry", "This 26-year-old CEO is helping esports grow up", "Evil Geniuses acquired by PEAK6 Investments", "Evil Geniuses' new mastermind must reckon with the past to chart a future course", "100 People Transforming Business - Nicole LaPointe Jameson", "Evil Geniuses acquires Echo Fox LCS Franchise Slot; NRG Esports CS:GO Roster", "Evil Geniuses CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson on embracing "Evil" and pivoting through pandemic", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicole_LaPointe_Jameson&oldid=1097751696, American people in the video game industry, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 July 2022, at 13:49. Okay, so you own the Lakers. Its people making videos. A native of Greenwich, Connecticut,[2] LaPointe Jameson attended Columbia University in New York City, graduating in 2016. Its in alignment to our league partners, like what are they trying to achieve and where are goals that we can co-help together, as well as what sticks to my shareholders values, my investors values, and our corporate strategy. AdWeeks 2021 Most Powerful Women in Sports, The Roots 100 Most Influential African Americans in 2020, Sports Business Journal Esports Tech Innovation Award. Evil Geniuses, a more than 20-year-old company, helped to shape the esports industry, she said. What are resources you have to help if you ever feel uncertain, as well as even staff and management crisis and de-escalation training. They dont run toward asymmetric global competition, right? I guess one question I have is, most startups, young businesses, and I recognize that Evil Geniuses is 20-some years old, but its still in startup mode. EG historically, before I came in, was known as only really an athletics esports team. "Despite the enormous migration to electronic media, neuroscience research shows that paper-based content and ads offer special advantages in connecting with Is that an issue that youve had to deal with, with your talent? Then you have LeBron James, who is a brand unto himself, who makes his endorsement deals, who runs his own businesses, and his celebrity is monetized independently of the Lakers. For veterans of the space, theres a well-deserved chip on their shoulders, and I came in as a triple whammy, right? And so theres quite a bit of variation in their interests and their passions. Bachelor of Arts/Science, Columbia University in the City of New York. I started at EG with eight people; we just hit 150 people that fall under that vision as well, and like to support that space, so its been good for us. Depending on where we are, the first is probably financial. Nor your creed, gender, religion, class, past industry, or sexual orientation. Guest on Decoder with Nilay Patel. Some developers have let third parties run their leagues. You cant see Nicole. There are parts that feel like what a tech CEO would have to do. So we think of the fans and the community quite a bit. And we believe that people can make mistakes and recover from them, but there are certain mistakes or repeated actions that I cannot in good faith turn a blind eye from, because it also creates an internal unsafe environment. And at the time that EG [Evil Geniuses] and gaming came on our plate, I was looking from an investment point of view at technology, AR, VR, and gaming companies, looked at a lot of esports teams. April 4-6, 2022. Now that youre in this space, is it a goal of yours to bring in other women and POC? You know, we believe in the team. Google runs this way. team, well, we have a bunch of teams across League of Legends, Counter-Strike, fighting games, Valorant, Dota 2, and some streamers and influencers. However, there are times where weve made big bets on teams, like actually entering into a title and doing things a different way. We like being punchy, bold, and authentic voices, and create a lot of content and programs beyond just our athletics, like collegiate and education programs, data and analytics programs, and spicy engaging content to excite and inspire our people. My investors believe in this too, so I have the luxury of being able to focus on finding the best talent. And EG was this tiny, 10-person company in Seattle, Washington, that had a 21-year legacy brand of competing excellently in all different titles. It's our way of honoring the innovators, the leaders, the public figures and the game changers whose work from the past year is breaking down barriers and paving the way for the next generation. Owning the Lakers is just a lucrative proposition because the Lakers play basketball, and people buy tickets, and youll sell the rights, and you can just do it that way. So they have to be of the legal working age, they have to have certain hours, the minimum wage requirements, versus we sometimes compete against Chinese teams; are you 12 or are you 16? Why not try to make it geo-affiliated? Nicole LaPointe Jameson (born April 11, 1994)[1] is an American businesswoman currently serving as the CEO of esports organization Evil Geniuses. Its a tough balance. Lets sift through empirically, look at key metrics that we know align in-game, and build a roster from there.. That was definitely one of the scarier elements for me, like, How do I navigate this space? Historically, gaming has been very cliquey. Traditional sports are definitely ahead of esports here, but people are getting smarter as there is a big rift, right? A new podcast from The Verge about big ideas and other problems. Our players pick half of our charitable donations that we do every year. [9][10] The organization also doubled their staff count and opened new offices in Seattle and Los Angeles within a year of LaPointe Jameson's tenure. If esports is only a certain demographic of people, the space is screwed. And so there is a balance, right? Lets look at our data. You know, from a total volume point of view its probably direct sponsorships. Nicole LaPointe Jameson. As Epic changes the competitive platform so frequently, its hard for us to be proactive. And building a playbook of how even my team members at EG can operate, understanding, okay, what lanes do we play in and what lanes do we not? But its not accessible in the way that, you know, a lot of people dont watch football, but they watch the Super Bowl. What are your revenue lines right now and where are they growing? Tyler Blevins. Esports does not seem like theres a New York City team or a Kansas City team or whatever, right? Growing up, LaPointe Jameson said she didnt know many kids of color with a similar interest in gaming until she attended Columbia University. This is a joint mission [to fix that], and Im very excited to help move the*gameHERS forward. And so the infrastructure of Hollywood has sort of raced toward the creator economy. About. In May 2019, LaPointe Jameson took over as CEO of storied but fading esports outfit, Evil Geniuses. People are like, Wow, esports teams must be so rich with that prize pool. That mostly goes to players or back to the league. We were one of the first esports teams to actually have a podcast. Always give me a lot of shit for that too, like, Im sorry, dont... And build from there and she immediately fell in love are, the first is probably financial be proactive investors! Bullying, but Ive had a good network to shelter me x27 ; re talking EA. 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