UK retailer Sports Direct has collaborated with Game Digital to create spaces in its stores for shoppers to host live eSports games. The spaces are meant to provide a break from browsing, while also giving Sports Direct a new avenue into the eSports market. This venture will also give Game Digital a way to capitalize on the overlap between traditional sports and eSports. In addition to providing gaming spaces in its stores, Sports Direct has also purchased a large stake in Game Digital's gaming arena platform, Belong.
This ownership of Belong will allow Sports Direct the ability to offer many of its locations as gaming arenas and will further the presence of an eSports image within the brand. Sports Direct plans on hosting live eSports games soon and is poised to create a distinct new strategy dubbed 'shoppertainment.'
Retail-Based eSports Games
Sports Direct Will Host Live eSports Games Across Many of its Stores
Trend Themes
1. Live Esports Games - Creating dedicated spaces for live eSports games in retail stores offers a disruptive innovation opportunity for both the retail and eSports industries.
2. Shoppertainment - Sports Direct's 'shoppertainment' strategy, combining retail and entertainment through live eSports games, presents a disruptive innovation opportunity for the retail industry.
3. Gaming Arena Platforms - The ownership of Game Digital's Belong gaming arena platform by Sports Direct opens up disruptive innovation opportunities in the eSports industry, showcasing the potential for expansion and growth.
Industry Implications
1. Retail - The incorporation of live eSports games in retail stores introduces a disruptive innovation opportunity for the retail industry to attract and engage customers in new ways.
2. Esports - The collaboration between Sports Direct and Game Digital to host live eSports games provides a disruptive innovation opportunity for the eSports industry to reach a wider audience and expand its presence.
3. Entertainment - Sports Direct's 'shoppertainment' strategy, combining retail and live eSports games, presents a disruptive innovation opportunity for the entertainment industry to create unique and interactive experiences for consumers.