GameSquare merges with Engine Gaming and Media

Professional gamer Ninja rang Nasdaq's opening bell this week as part of the new executive team for GameSquare.

Why it matters: The Twitch star was celebrating the closing of GameSquare's merger with Engine Gaming and Media, with its goal of becoming a "one-stop shop" for advertisers to reach younger audiences, executive chairman Tom Rogers tells Axios.

Catch up quick: GameSquare owns esports franchise Complexity and is backed by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and real estate investor John Goff.

• Engine Gaming and Media formed in 2020 as the merger between Torque Esports Corp., Frankly Inc. and WinView Inc. It provides data analytics, influencer marketing and programmatic advertising.
• Rogers, a media veteran whose resume includes CNBC founder and TiVo president and CEO, had served as executive chairman of WinView and Frankly and has continued in the role.

What they're saying: Rogers says the merger, announced in December, sought to address three issues in the media industry — traditional media struggling to attract young audiences, the new limits of targeting with digital advertising and the fractured state of platforms effectively reaching young audiences.

• "My focus has always been bringing companies through major transitions in the media industry," Rogers says. "Obviously, this is a huge transition in the media industry, particularly given what's happened to youth audiences."
• "We create a truly scalable solution of reaching youth audiences and that means we reach in total about 290 million gamer touch points around the globe," he says. As chief innovation officer, Ninja "brings 74 million followers to the table," along with expertise for the incubator, Ninja Labs.

Between the lines: Esports investments have cooled in recent years. FaZe Clan, an esports and entertainment brand that went public last July, has been trading for under $1.

• GameSquare "is much more than esports," Rogers says. "It does have an esports team. But this is much more about a marketing machine that has multiple ways of creating, distributing content and the touch points that come from it, where esports is one element."

What's next: Rogers confirmed the company's goal is to reach profitability later this year, as previously shared in its January earnings call.

• GameSquare CEO Justin Kenna told D CEO, "I think a $1 billion valuation is in our near future — in my mind it's three years away."