VSPO CFO Danny Tang Highlights Generative AI’s Role in Streamlining Gaming Access

As investments in eSports and gaming increase, especially in countries like Saudi Arabia, the industry as a whole is changing how things work. In addition to seeing the “creative economy” shaping a new story for the world, we are also witnessing women taking leadership roles, artificial intelligence being used to develop games, and the foundation for the “next sport” of esports.

One such player serving esports creators and organizing esports tournaments is VSPO. The Saudi Arabian government has reportedly bought a $265 million stake in the Tencent-backed company.

During the Saudi Esports Federation’s Next World Forum, we had the opportunity to speak with Danny Tang, CFO and founder of VSPO. We talked about the new “creator economy” where he sees esports a decade from now, significant investment in mobile gaming from Asian countries, and the potential role of STEM degrees in the overarching story.

Q: Esports as a new sector has attracted a fair amount of investment, and where do you see the industry in a decade with major events including Gamers8 investing in it?

Danny: I think that while we’ve seen a lot of growth in the industry, I feel like the industry is still in the early stages of realizing its potential. Now e-sports are played on different continents and in different regions of the world, and it is done according to local characteristics. In some regions PCs and consoles are more popular. Some regions are more mobile-centric, and we’ve seen the composition of esports fans vary across regions.

We have seen, for example, in China that mobile eSports is prominent, and we have also seen a large participation of female fans and female viewers. What we hope to see in the next 10 years is something that would happen globally – something like multiple esports tournaments happening globally that would ignite and connect viewers and fans all over the world.

Q: You brought up mobile gaming and regions that have a strong presence in it. Speaking of India, where games like BGMI (formerly PUBG) and Free Fire are incredibly popular – how do you envision these games and mobile gaming as a whole integrating into the wider cultural landscape?

Danny: We see mobile gaming as the future direction of esports, because mobile gaming has made competitive gaming itself much easier. We’ve seen it in China, we’re seeing it in India and Southeast Asia. And we really see it as a way to break eSports from a sport that was just a couple of decades ago to an athletic sport that everyone can enjoy.

Because now that mobile gaming is accessible, you can have a much larger group of people who can play games, understand games, and enjoy eSports. We made a big bet on mobile esports when we founded VSPO in 2016, and that bet has definitely paid off.

Over the last eight years, we have seen Honor of Kings – our mobile title – become the biggest mobile eSports game in the world and I am very hopeful for a market like India, which has a large player base and a large mobile phone. culture. We are very interested in what is happening in Indian esports.

Q: As gaming and e-sports leave a lasting mark on the world, do you see STEM degrees growing in popularity?

Danny: There are a lot of different characters here. There are game creators, i.e. developers and publishers, and there will be e-sports participants. STEM is going to be very important because knowing how to create content, especially using the different technology and different tools that we have at our disposal, is crucial. Especially now with generative AI. It’s a big push on how to lower the barrier to entry when creating games.

But I want to add here: There are other things. Other majors are also important – for example, storytelling and more humanities, because at its core esports is a unifying experience. So at the heart of it, we want to see the human story, we want to see the story of the athletes, how they compete with each other, how they showcase their talents and skills.

And then we want to see how we want to feel connected to that content. So yes, STEM is important. But beyond that, there are many other humanities majors that should also be important.

Q: In eSports, where do you think most of the investments are going? Are the authors responsible for it or is the segment or industry in general at a turning point?

I think different people have invested a lot in this field, right? And then I think they’re all really working towards a common esports direction.

Ultimately, it will become the next generation of sports and eSports, and then it will be able to offer experiences worldwide. And the creator economies – what the creators offer – are actually very important parts of the ecosystem, because part of our business in China, in addition to tournament operations and monetization, is the creator economy. So the way we see it – people should enjoy eSports as a way of life. They should have the luxury of enjoying eSports and gaming related content. Not just on game day, not just the hard races of the super competition on stage, but also the content that goes along with it.

For example, they are part of short videos, streaming, reality shows and other content created around the same thing. So I see content creators being a very important part of this.