Esports is the fastest growing sub sector within the entertainment industry, predicted to garner over 600 million viewers by 2022. However, there is a big category of esports - mobile esports - that are not yet recognized globally. This thesis project analyzes how mobile esports has risen in the Eastern countries of the world, primarily Southeast Asia, and compares it to the possibility of replication in the Western countries of the world, primarily the United States and Brazil. It examines the specific factors that caused mobile gaming and thus mobile esports to flourish in the East Region of the world. The thesis additionally incorporates current attitudes towards esports and mobile esports in the United States and discusses the viewpoints of consumers in those specific areas. This research uses primary data and literature synthesis to ultimately increase knowledge on how mobile esports has risen in popularity in various Asian countries and whether or not mobile esports can thrive in a different environment such as the United States.<br/><br/>This thesis takes data from the “Newzoo Global Esports Market Report” conducted in 2020 by Newzoo. This report does the following:<br/>- dives deep into the global and regional esports economy<br/>- provides a realistic estimate of the market’s future potential regarding revenue streams, audience numbers, key trends, and franchises<br/>- highlights financial and statistical trends for the esports industry in the future<br/><br/>Overall the thesis finds that mobile esports have succeeded in the Asian market due to an established demographic of esports fans and players, mobile first consumers, and wide technology network in Asia. Data analysis finds that currently many American gamers still find mobile gaming to be “boring” and ultimately that cultural attitude, generational shifts, and the ideal game need to align for mobile esports to succeed in the United States.

The academic environment has historically been somewhat slow to implement and adopt new technologies. However, developments in video games have created an opportunity for students to learn new skills and topics through nontraditional mediums of education. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the need for flexible learning opportunities. Joystick Education is our approach to addressing this need. Through online, game-based tutoring and a database of video games with high educational value, Joystick Education creates a learning environment that is effective, fun, and engaging for students. We analyzed popular, mainstream video games for educational content and selected nine games that teach concepts like history, biology, or physics while playing the game. Through promotion on social media, we generated buzz around our website which led to 103 unique visitors over our first month online and two customers requesting to book our tutoring service. We are confident that given more time to grow, Joystick Education can generate profit and become a successful business.

The sports universe has been around for over a century and yet the at home sports viewing experience has seen little change. Even though our society has seen monumental innovative, technological advances, watching sports at home has not undergone any changes and may soon find itself a thing of the past unless something changes. When the COVID-19 pandemic arose, a problem surfaced of revenue loss and decreasing fan retention leaving teams and leagues stumbling for solutions. RYZE offers a never before seen product that can revolutionize how sports fans watch and engage in sporting events. By taking the lucrative concept of “battle passes” from the video game industry and placing it in the sports industry, RYZE hopes to increase overall fan revenue, retention, and engagement. A clear market size and wide range of potential customers, RYZE looks to help fans stay engaged while also earning prizes. With competition ranging from fantasy sports to virtual reality, RYZE has competitive advantages that give it potential to become a sports fan’s go to product when thinking about their favorite team. RYZE has gone from a propelling question to a bright idea and then to a prototype along with a full pitch deck and hopes to engrain itself in college athletics, MLB, and other professional sports leagues.

Obesity rates among adults have steadily grown in recent decades all the way up to 42.4% in 2018. This is a 12% increase from the turn of the century (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021). A major reason for this rise is increased consumption of processed, high-calorie foods. People eat these foods at a young age and develop bad eating habits that can last for the rest of their lives. It is essential to intervene early and help adolescents form balanced, healthy eating habits before bad habits are already formed. Our solution to this problem is Green Gamers. Green Gamers combines adolescent’s passion for gaming with healthy eating via in-game rewards for healthy eating. People will be able to purchase healthy food items, such as a bag of carrots, and on the packaging there will be a QR code. They will then be able to scan the code on our website, and earn points which will unlock in-game items and other rewards. Video game rewards act as effective motivators for you people to eat more healthy foods. After the solution was formulated, a preliminary survey was conducted to confirm that video game related rewards would inspire children to eat more healthy foods. Based on those results, we are currently in the process of running a secondary market research campaign to learn if gift card rewards are a stronger motivator. Our end goal for Green Gamers would be to partner with large gaming studios and food producers. This would allow us access to many gaming franchises, so that rewards are available from a wide variety of games: making the platform appealing to a diverse audience of gamers. Similarly, a relationship with large food producers would give us the ability to place QR codes on a greater assortment of healthy food items. Although no relationships with large companies have been forged yet, we plan to utilize funding to test our concept on small focus groups in schools.

The sports universe has been around for over a century and yet the at home sports viewing experience has seen little change. Even though our society has seen monumental innovative, technological advances, watching sports at home has not undergone any changes and may soon find itself a thing of the past unless something changes. When the COVID-19 pandemic arose, a problem surfaced of revenue loss and decreasing fan retention leaving teams and leagues stumbling for solutions. RYZE offers a never before seen product that can revolutionize how sports fans watch and engage in sporting events. By taking the lucrative concept of “battle passes” from the video game industry and placing it in the sports industry, RYZE hopes to increase overall fan revenue, retention, and engagement. A clear market size and wide range of potential customers, RYZE looks to help fans stay engaged while also earning prizes. With competition ranging from fantasy sports to virtual reality, RYZE has competitive advantages that give it potential to become a sports fan’s go to product when thinking about their favorite team. RYZE has gone from a propelling question to a bright idea and then to a prototype along with a full pitch deck and hopes to engrain itself in college athletics, MLB, and other professional sports leagues.

Obesity rates among adults have steadily grown in recent decades all the way up to<br/>42.4% in 2018. This is a 12% increase from the turn of the century (Center for Disease Control<br/>and Prevention, 2021). A major reason for this rise is increased consumption of processed,<br/>high-calorie foods. People eat these foods at a young age and develop bad eating habits that can<br/>last for the rest of their lives. It is essential to intervene early and help adolescents form<br/>balanced, healthy eating habits before bad habits are already formed. Our solution to this<br/>problem is Green Gamers. Green Gamers combines adolescent’s passion for gaming with<br/>healthy eating via in-game rewards for healthy eating. People will be able to purchase healthy<br/>food items, such as a bag of carrots, and on the packaging there will be a QR code. They will<br/>then be able to scan the code on our website, and earn points which will unlock in-game items<br/>and other rewards. Video game rewards act as effective motivators for you people to eat more<br/>healthy foods. After the solution was formulated, a preliminary survey was conducted to<br/>confirm that video game related rewards would inspire children to eat more healthy foods.<br/>Based on those results, we are currently in the process of running a secondary market research<br/>campaign to learn if gift card rewards are a stronger motivator. Our end goal for Green Gamers<br/>would be to partner with large gaming studios and food producers. This would allow us access to<br/>many gaming franchises, so that rewards are available from a wide variety of games: making the<br/>platform appealing to a diverse audience of gamers. Similarly, a relationship with large food<br/>producers would give us the ability to place QR codes on a greater assortment of healthy food<br/>items. Although no relationships with large companies have been forged yet, we plan to utilize<br/>funding to test our concept on small focus groups in schools

Obesity rates among adults have steadily grown in recent decades all the way up to 42.4% in 2018. This is a 12% increase from the turn of the century (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021). A major reason for this rise is increased consumption of processed, high-calorie foods. People eat these foods at a young age and develop bad eating habits that can last for the rest of their lives. It is essential to intervene early and help adolescents form balanced, healthy eating habits before bad habits are already formed. Our solution to this problem is Green Gamers. Green Gamers combines adolescent’s passion for gaming with healthy eating via in-game rewards for healthy eating. People will be able to purchase healthy food items, such as a bag of carrots, and on the packaging there will be a QR code. They will then be able to scan the code on our website, and earn points which will unlock in-game items and other rewards. Video game rewards act as effective motivators for you people to eat more healthy foods. After the solution was formulated, a preliminary survey was conducted to confirm that video game related rewards would inspire children to eat more healthy foods. Based on those results, we are currently in the process of running a secondary market research campaign to learn if gift card rewards are a stronger motivator. Our end goal for Green Gamers would be to partner with large gaming studios and food producers. This would allow us access to many gaming franchises, so that rewards are available from a wide variety of games: making the platform appealing to a diverse audience of gamers. Similarly, a relationship with large food producers would give us the ability to place QR codes on a greater assortment of healthy food items. Although no relationships with large companies have been forged yet, we plan to utilize funding to test our concept on small focus groups in schools.

The academic environment has historically been somewhat slow to implement and adopt new technologies. However, developments in video games have created an opportunity for students to learn new skills and topics through nontraditional mediums of education. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the need for flexible learning opportunities. Joystick Education is our approach to addressing this need. Through online, game-based tutoring and a database of video games with high educational value, Joystick Education creates a learning environment that is effective, fun, and engaging for students. We analyzed popular, mainstream video games for educational content and selected nine games that teach concepts like history, biology, or physics while playing the game. Through promotion on social media, we generated buzz around our website which led to 103 unique visitors over our first month online and two customers requesting to book our tutoring service. We are confident that given more time to grow, Joystick Education can generate profit and become a successful business.