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Competitive video gaming - or eSports - is inching towards becoming a more viable career choice in Singapore. This is evident globally as well, with game-market research firm Newzoo estimating eSports revenues to grow to US$1.49 billion by 2020. In fact, global revenue from the gaming industry rose from $194 million to $463 million between 2014 and 2016. That’s an impressive 239% growth rate, and there are no signs of this slowing down.
However, despite the rapid growth of eSports, public perception of eSports is still stuck within the outdated stereotype of gaming being a child's hobby. This can be seen in the local competitive gaming scene, which has been growing rapidly for almost a decade, but where public acceptance and a mainstream appeal is still a long way off. Local competitive gamers are still viewed with suspicion in Singapore where success is holding a regular job.
Enter Bountie (https://bountie.io/) – an online platform that connects gamers in Asia, for them make a living while playing their favourite games. Helmed by a team of passionate gamers, Bountie seeks to disrupt the current top-heavy reward scheme in the gaming industry and fill the monetization gap in the market. The platform does this by seeding incentivised competitive matches and tournaments and paying out gamers in their own cryptocurrency. Bountie Coins are backed by the ERC20 protocol, with the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) pre-sale launching on 9th April 2018.
Back in 2011, CEO of Bountie Lex Na was the 8th in the world for Warcraft - which by any other sport or activity would be earning him millions. However, the gaming industry did not have established platforms/ architecture for such payout terms. With the rise of cryptocurrency, Lex saw an opportunity to pioneer gaming as a legitimate source of income, even for casual gamers.
While their revolutionary concept looks set to be the future of gaming, it is no surprise that Bountie is already in partnership talks with the biggest names in gaming, such as DXRacer. Other partnerships will be announced over the course of March and April 2018.
For millennial gamers, Bountie is monetizing this industry and challenging attitudes non-gamers have towards the notion of playing games as a livelihood, and the antiquated mindset of securing traditional career paths, by paying out even casual gamers to play their favorite games. It would be interesting to see how cryptocurrency and blockchain technology can transform the eSports and gaming landscape in terms of monetization and legitimacy in times ahead.
About Bountie:
Bountie is a cryptocurrency platform that connects gamers in Asia, for even casual players to make a living while competing in their favourite games. Helmed by a team of passionate gamers, Bountie seeks to disrupt the current top-heavy reward scheme in the gaming industry and fill the monetization gap in the market. The platform does this by seeding incentivised competitive matches and tournaments and paying out gamers in their own cryptocurrency. Bountie Coins are backed by the ERC20 protocol, with the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) pre-sale launching on 9th April 2018.
