Recently Mathew Ball wrote an extraordinarily well written article titled, “Fortnite is the Future, but Probably Not for the Reasons You Think” that provides some significant insights into why I have invested so heavily in a Gaming focused content future. The article can be read here.

Ask yourself – How is it a game that is free to play can generate +$300million in revenue PER MONTH. (Fortnite)

I ask – What does this mean?

Ask yourself – Why did Activision Blizzard pay $5.9BILLION in 2016 for King Games whose product was a mobile game called Candy Crush that is free to download and play.

I ask – What does this mean?

Ask yourself – How does a game that is free to play generate more revenue per user per year than Google, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat…..COMBINED. (Fortnite)

I ask – What does this mean?

The answers to the above is at the crux of the reason for Thunder’s investments in the organization, production and broadcasting of live gaming tournaments and events, our investments in Research & Development of our patented technologies, our 50/50 North American joint venture with SOLOS and their globally patent protected wearable technology along with our joint venture with Demetrius Spencer and his apparel company RiseWear for RiseWear Sport – Powered by SOLOS.

In my opinion – Gaming content and programing within the decade will be the largest and most significant content genre on the planet and Thunder is striving to become one of the first in the category to become a Global Broadcaster of Gaming Content to a known audience, engaging with our brands, our partners and our communities, in rich and diverse ways. Our programming will always be free to watch (think of ad-funded content and the historical significance of free-to-air television), incentivized with rewards and completely ‘Gamified’. Thunder Studios facility in Long Beach, and others we eventually will build around the world, will be ‘Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory’ – for Gamers; in which you can’t buy your way in – you need to earn a ‘Golden Ticket’ by watching our content, competing in our live events and tournaments, playing our online tournaments and engaging with our gaming communities.  

I have not yet met a traditional media executive who knows who PewDiePie is (An individual named Felix Kjellberg with the largest channel on YouTube with 96 million subscribers and 22 Billion video views) let alone could fathom the concept of ‘The Metaverse’ as envisaged by Tim Sweeney, the Founder of Epic Games and the creator of Fortnite amongst other standout games. Tim in my opinion is the smartest man in the world today in his understanding of the future of media and its convergence with Gaming; his vision for the future as conceptualized in his Metaverse (think of the world brought to film by Steven Spielberg in – Ready Player One) in which digital goods will be bought, sold, earned and spent in virtual marketplaces that real world dollars are used to purchase.

SOLOS technology, our RiseWearSport connected apparel and our RBS hardware/software tools are the enablers that will accelerate the opportunity.

I hope you enjoy the article and please reach out to me for a further discussion and deeper dive should you be interested.