The announced launch of RankR, a unified hub for competitive gaming tournaments, rankings, and news, underscores the advent of a larger shift in how eSports communities are organized. Fragmentation has long been a hallmark of competitive gaming and the digital communities that have sprouted around it. RankR seeks to alleviate that by providing: an event calendar, team-building function, and a global ranking system that’s built with the competitive player in mind. As eSports communities continue to evolve from organic to purposeful, RankR is positioning itself as go-to destination for its players. Jake Smith, RankR CEO and Co-Founder, was kind enough to sit down for a Q&A interview:
What’s the story behind RankR and its team?
RankR eSports started out as a class project called “eSports Live.” In college I started a League of Legends club because I wanted to get a job at Riot Games. As time went on I pushed to have our club recognized as a club sport at my school. This was when that was relatively unheard of (circa early 2014) and after a lot of work and persuasion it worked! UW-Whitewater was the second school in the nation to recognize a video game as a club sport.
After that I had to step down as president so I took over the role of eSports Coordinator because members of the club wanted to play in tournaments. After hours and hours of searching I had found only two events. It was beyond frustrating so after a few drinks I thought “This shouldn’t be this hard, why doesn’t someone just make a website to help players find events?” I messaged six people that I knew and thought would be able to work on this with me and the only person that responded was my current Co-Founder, Cameron Robinson.
Cameron and I had a web design class we mostly just screwed around in. We thought this would be an easy A so we made what was then called “eSports Live.” Our teacher told us we should enter it into our school’s MAGD Expo and we figured that would help boost our grade even more. We ended up winning an award for “Entrepreneurial Concept” and it dawned on us that we really should turn this into a business. We brought on one more friend to handle development, Matthew Stingle, and we spent the following summer learning how to start a company. In August I moved to Seoul, South Korea to study eSports where they were the most grown-up and Cam stayed back and built the team we have today.
Which gap(s) in the marketplace does RankR fill
With all of this big money and these massive brands coming into eSports, RankR focuses on what we feel is the most important part of all of this, the players. Right now eSports are fragmented and difficult to manage. With RankR eSports, we bring all of eSports into one place. We give players the ability to find events to watch, organizers the ability to post their own events so players can also find events to play in and we also have created a place for players to find teams to play in those events with. We do all of those things across multiple games and we will always remain platform-agnostic so we can cover the games the community wants; no matter who makes it, what platform it is played on or even where it is played.
We also are launching our newest feature pretty soon which is a global ranking system. Right now there isn’t a place where any player can go and see where in the world they rank for their favorite games. We thought that this would be something players would enjoy and we are really excited to bring this into our website.
Your top 5 favorite video game titles of all time?
Favorite games of all time? Holy cow that is a pretty large question! If I had to choose my five favorite games of all time I would have to say the five games that have really shaped who I am as a gamer.
- World of Warcraft
- The Fire Emblem Series
- Super Meat Boy
- Super Smash Bros.
- Starcraft: Brood War
What advice would you give non-endemic brands and companies interested in reaching eSports players?
This is probably the most commonly asked question when talking about advertising to eSports players. I will say, it is a delicate dance because with such a digital-savvy community they get how the internet works. They also do not want to feel like they are being advertised to.
The best way to reach eSports players is to make them feel like you too are an eSports player. One example I have started using is ESPN. ESPN has gotten a lot of flak for how they have treated and talked about eSports in the past and now they have an eSports vertical in their own website. What ESPN did was get involved with the right people to write news for gamers. Now this isn’t a perfect example but it leads me to the main point. eSports companies and organizers want to work with non-endemic brands. We LOVE to see new brands getting involved in something we have cared about for so long.
So to sum up my advice to non-endemic brands I would say that the best way to reach eSports players is to make them feel like you too are an eSport player. Don’t make them feel like they are being advertised to. Maybe make a video with a branded banner in the background or have your brand involved in a live event. You need to add something to the space in order to gain traction with these players. Make sure you are bringing something good to eSports and the possibilities for that are endless.
How does RankR intend to differentiate itself from similar platforms targeting eSports players?
eSports are already a super crowded space. Over the past 12 months we have seen so many new companies formed and brands involved. Differentiating ourselves from the masses though is something that we feel will be pretty easy for us. One thing that we use to differentiate ourselves is the fact that we are 100% player focused. Through everything that RankR does we always ask ourselves, “Does this help the players play the game?” There aren’t many organizations that can claim they are platform-agnostic because they want the ability to cater to all players. We do that.
We also want players to know that we are players just like them. We didn’t make RankR eSports because we wanted to make a bunch of money or anything like that. We made this platform because we wanted to add something to the industry and community we call home. Every person on our team has been playing games for a majority of their lives and we want nothing but to add to this space. In South Korea I was able to see how eSports are more than just a community. I saw that they are a culture that is created by people who care about them. We hope that our belief in this culture is something that can really set us apart.
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Alex Fletcher is CEO & Founder at eSports Group, an eSports strategic consulting firm committed to meeting the demands of companies that want to reach young, digitally-minded consumers. Based in the Washington DC area, he consults and advises with customers to ensure the best possible returns in the eSports industry. Follow him on Twitter – @FletchUnleashed or contact by email – [email protected]