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ESNation turns MYM into a franchise
ESNation have just announced that its eSports organisation Meet Your Makers has now been transformed into a franchise.
By Lawrence Benedict 'Malystryx' Phillips
Feb 16, 2009 19:31
ESNation have just announced that its eSports organisation Meet Your Makers has now been transformed into a franchise.It now means that ESNation will grant, in this case to the newly established company Frontspawn ApS, the rights to its MYM brand and platform in exchange for franchise royalties.
In theory both parties should benefit from this decision, ESNation A/S as the franchisor will be able to keep hold of the MYM brand but while at the same time not having to deal with the day to day running of the company.
This will be done by Frontspawn ApS, the franchisee, who has Ronnie "twaizz" Jelsbak as its founder and managing director, a man previously involved in SoA (Spirit of Amiga), Boomtown, Regroup Events as well as MYM. Frontspawn ApS benefit by not having to build a new brand from the ground up, but instead paying royalty fees to obtain an established brand, MYM.
ESNation are not the first however to use the franchise concept, The Championship Gaming Series also tread the water with the franchise concept but they built up franchises from scratch such as San Francisco Optx or L.A. Complexity.
The ultimate demise of the CGS was well documented but whether it was due to a poor franchise concept model or because they "tried to go international too early" as Marcus "DjWheat" Graham stated in a recent interview is debatable. ESNation are perhaps not the first to try the franchise model but they are the first to try to do so with an established brand already in place.
"We have for a long time been working on the franchise project and have been on the look for the right company/people to take on the challenges of running a Franchise like the MYM teams," said Mark "Mercy" Fries COO of ESNation.
Despite the changes the Meet Your Makers homepage myMYM.com, as well as its staff, will continue to be run and operated by ES Nation A/S. You can read the entire press release here.
In theory both parties should benefit from this decision, ESNation A/S as the franchisor will be able to keep hold of the MYM brand but while at the same time not having to deal with the day to day running of the company.
This will be done by Frontspawn ApS, the franchisee, who has Ronnie "twaizz" Jelsbak as its founder and managing director, a man previously involved in SoA (Spirit of Amiga), Boomtown, Regroup Events as well as MYM. Frontspawn ApS benefit by not having to build a new brand from the ground up, but instead paying royalty fees to obtain an established brand, MYM.
"A new era starts and also a brand new way of thinking business within eSports begins."
According to COO of ESNation Mark "Mercy" Fries this is the dawn of a new way of thinking. "With today’s announcement of ESNation turning the MYM teams into a franchise, a new era starts and also a brand new way of thinking business within eSports begins."ESNation are not the first however to use the franchise concept, The Championship Gaming Series also tread the water with the franchise concept but they built up franchises from scratch such as San Francisco Optx or L.A. Complexity.
The ultimate demise of the CGS was well documented but whether it was due to a poor franchise concept model or because they "tried to go international too early" as Marcus "DjWheat" Graham stated in a recent interview is debatable. ESNation are perhaps not the first to try the franchise model but they are the first to try to do so with an established brand already in place.
"We have for a long time been working on the franchise project and have been on the look for the right company/people to take on the challenges of running a Franchise like the MYM teams," said Mark "Mercy" Fries COO of ESNation.
Despite the changes the Meet Your Makers homepage myMYM.com, as well as its staff, will continue to be run and operated by ES Nation A/S. You can read the entire press release here.
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Crazy thing :>
I'm not sure how beneficial that would be though. It would still be a new team/organisation etc.
Either way, I hope that there are some improvements to MYM.
myMYM, the website, is kept under the guidance of ESNation. Frontspawn is now the only one responsible for MYM as a team and brand, day to day operations, everything MYM-related goes only through this company (as long as royalty fees are paid :p).
Will the team be dropped and Mercy join as an individual, will ESNation replace MYM in G7 or will the new management take care of G7 duties? Perhaps nothing will change ;x
But what will the franchisee get out of this? There's two options:
1. They build a relatively cheap team for game X, that is nowhere near the level any MYM team used to be.
2. They actually contract some top players and will realize they can't get money out of it. The very reason MYM disbanded their wc3 and Sc teams is because they "didn't generate enough traffic". Now who would visit a team's website where there is a wannabe MYM team and no news?
is this possible form the definition of "franchise"?
The only nation that has sport franchises is the US. Because the leagues own everything. Which is why CGS did it. In Europe... it is pointless.
But i dont know if it is very clever to franchise an own brand..
for my mind it seems that esnations will get out of the "esports-team-market" and just want to get some money back which they have invested in building up mym..
Could go down like CGS?
gl !