281 - Mike Sepso on the Explosion of Gaming and Esports

<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Today Tom is speaking with gaming and esports expert, Mike Sepso. Mike is widely considered the godfather of esports and has been at the heart of esports for nearly 20 years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">In 2002, Mike launched Major League Gaming, a professional esports organization. He later sold MLG to game-maker, Activision, in 2015. Last year, Mike launched Vindex to provide infrastructure to the esports industry. And just recently, Vindex acquired Belong Gaming Arenas and plans to open more than 500 Belong locations in hometowns across America.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Right now, about half of America is gaming during the pandemic. It might surprise you to know that gaming is bigger than both music and movies combined. This year, video game revenue will likely top $170 billion.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Though the percentage of gamers that play professionally is small, it is growing. Esports is approximately a $1 billion business itself. Join in today’s conversation with Tom to hear about Mike’s mission to open local arenas across America to grow esports, as well as what he thinks about esports as a career path (and how high schools, colleges, and educators should play the game).</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[:10] About today’s episode.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[1:06] Tom welcomes Mike to the podcast.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[1:11] Having been at the heart of esports for nearly 20 years, would Mike say that he’s always been a gamer?</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[1:35] The history of when and how esports emerged out of the video game market.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[3:35] The origin story behind Mike’s founding of Major League