MetArena provides an easy and positive way for communities and companies to engage using gaming and esports. Democratization and education are the driving forces behind our mission to provide the world with an opportunity to experience all the good games can bring.
If you’re working in esports, one of the very first things you must learn to embrace is the art of the meaningful and intentional pivot. The advances made in the gaming industry since its inception are vast, and the rapid changes seen in the esports industry are reflective of exciting developments and pending realities of this social phenomenon. MetArena started in 2013 as a platform to serve the indie game community and help games that would typically go undiscovered gain visibility via educational materials, a supportive community, and a seat at the table. Though our
founders pivoted to the world of esports in 2019, the driving forces behind
our brand and what it stands for continue to hold: Access, Community, and Education.
Expecting the esports industry to flourish without being inclusive of all communities and providing the necessary access via education, tools, and opportunity is questionable math at best and willful obtuseness at worst. According to MetArena’s CEO Marcus Howard, the diverse fabric of the larger gaming community “creates a universal language and shared social experience that transcends age, race, gender, or geography”. This “spicy take” (although it shouldn’t be spicy at all) goes well beyond esports organizations, platforms, or brands creating all women’s esports tournaments or organizing black and brown community events. It’s essential to supply sustained support and understanding, to essentially draw less visible communities in and make them feel welcome in a space that so often feels exclusionary.
We aren’t saying all of this to knock esports. Instead, we are committed to making this industry more reflective of its gaming roots by challenging the ecosystem to live up to the potential it promises for all communities — not just a select few.
To the MetArena team, innovation is challenging ourselves to unearth, walk, and often build a better path for others to flourish in a lucrative, emerging industry.
We started in the indie game community as ProjectMQ, because we saw the power of access that non-AAA titles provided. The wider swath of experiences, perspectives, and relatability that indie games provide offer strong connections to a more diverse pool of players. Though we closed the project, the roots of that journey still exist in MetArena’s esports platform, which positions indie games as the future of esports. We now provide tools, educational materials, and ongoing support to significantly increase the pipeline for talent, opportunity, and industry growth.
Drawing in endemic and non-endemic communities and brands is a crucial part of what we do because both are essential to the growth of the esports industry. Opportunities are just beginning to gel as keystone moments in the ecosystem, including blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and the metaverse. Innovation and progress don’t happen in a vacuum, and it’s clear that diversity of thought only strengthens what a product or industry could be — rarely ever does it detract from it.
Over the next few years and the years to come, we are excited to pair curiosity with sustainable change to manifest the very best that esports and gaming have to offer. Whether you’re an educator, a gamer, a brand, an advocate for marginalized communities, or someone who wants to know how the tech industry can be better, we’d love to work with you. Let’s cultivate the next iteration of esports together.
