The New Global Sport Conference is quickly becoming the place where the biggest deals in gaming, esports and sport are happening. After just a couple of iterations, the conference has already been responsible for some major deals you will have heard of, with the likes of the Savvy Games Group and Niantic partnership and the deal to bring chess to the Esports World Cup both advancing thanks to the conference.
The conference, which is hosted annually in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, aims to bring together the most influential people within gaming, esports and sport, with a view of connecting the three industries and allowing them to learn and grow from each other.
“The New Global Sport Conference from the beginning positioned itself as a platform that united leaders from all across the industry and in 2024, it became the biggest esports conference in the world,” said Hans Jagnow, Director of Special Projects at the Esports World Cup Foundation. “We brought together not only stakeholders from esports, but also gaming, sports, entertainment, investment and the technology sector and explored the intersection of all these industries.”
Bringing together these core industries allows attendees to make connections that would otherwise be difficult to forge. However, the connections make sense. Esports has revolutionised the way competition is broadcast and innovated in a lot of areas, now thanks to these ideas being shared at NGSC, broadcasters from the world of sports are starting to copy techniques from gaming in their own broadcast. Then going the opposite way, the knowledge lifelong sports broadcasters can offer to their esports counterparts in invaluable.
“Bringing together three industries isn’t easy, but it’s timely,” said Jagnow. “Esports needs a forum to mature. Gaming needs a place to engage with adjacent sectors. Especially after the COVID pandemic, the esports industry was missing a major B2B event to come together. Meanwhile, gaming and sports are keen to learn more about the leapfrogging developments in esports, and discuss their plans and strategies around it, and exploring elements of collaboration. We are addressing a lot of open questions in the industry, including investment and funding, new product concepts and how to future-proof your business. There was a need to have a forum for that. NGSC is the answer to that need.”
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It has also fostered a lot of major deals and collaboration. While the likes of Chess at EWC and the Savvy X Niantic deals are perhaps the most visible to the wider world, hundreds of partnerships have been created at NGSC over the past few years. With such a wide range of guests at each event you truly never know who you may meet at NGSC, and it could lead to business opportunities that you had never even considered possible.
“With the 2023 and 2024 editions, Riyadh established itself a deal-making hub in these industries,” said Jagnow. “Major moves of the industry were shaped and decided in Riyadh in the last couple of years. The conference developed into a major deal-making hub, the Davos of esports.”
Now the conference is set to return for its third year, and it looks set to be bigger and better than ever, with over 1500 industry players heading to Riyadh during the final weekend of the Esports World Cup, August 23-24. As well as the pure networking side of the event, an extensive schedule of panels, round tables and talks from industry legends will offer exclusive insights into their felids.
This year, the likes of former Liverpool FC CEO and EA Sports executive Peter Moore, Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and world renowned game developer Hideo Kojima will all be on hand to share their knowledge with attendees, while furthering the conversation for their industries. The full speaker list also includes other major players within the world of gaming, esports and sport to look to the future of these three industries.
“For the first time, we are expanding our horizon beyond the short and mid-term to examine what these industries might look like by 2050,” said Jagnow. “Through keynote insights, high-level panels, and exclusive fireside conversations, the programme will explore the future of game IPs, the intersection of sport and esports, the role of governments and global institutions, and the transformative impact of mobile, AI, and digital infrastructure.”
It will likely be a while before non-attendees get wind of the deals that will be negotiated in Riyadh in a few week’s time, and some may never hit the headlines. But the conference’s legacy will no doubt be felt for many years across the gaming, esports and sports industries, and with more attendees than ever this event really could shape the future of esports for years to come.