Super League Gaming, an amateur esports community, has become the first esports company to hit Wall Street after it began trading on the Nasdaq marketplace on February 26.
Under the symbol of SLGG, the company has offered just less than 2.3 million shares that are priced at US$11 each. However, the stock saw inital declines that reached up to 9% in early trading.
Super League CEO Ann Hand has referred to the company as the “Little League for esports.” Even so, the company is hoping to hit big, as it reported sales of around US$1 million last year.
Super League was established back in 2014 and it found its niche in the competitive gaming scene by catering to regular players instead of those with aspirations of going pro.
How Super League fares in Wall Street will likely be something that investors in the gaming sector are keeping an eye on. While esports has mostly kept to itself for the better part of the last decade, the industry has seen a quick rise in popularity since the early 2010’s.
Many game publishers acknowledge they’re still figuring out how best to monetize the competitions and generally see them as marketing opportunities.
While the proponents of esports are still figuring out a sustainable way of monetizing it, the industry has already established a reliable stream of revenue, through tournament broadcasts on streaming platforms such as Twitch and sponsorship deals with various companies.
The global esports market is expected to exceed US$1.1 billion this year for the first time, according to the research firm Newzoo. It remains to be seen whether Super League can ride that anticipated surge in growth.
