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Interview: The HyperX Arena In Las Vegas – Surviving & Thriving

During the pandemic, one of the few locations that were still providing esports tournaments a safe place to play was the HyperX Arena in Las Vegas. The Arena itself has provided many local and national tournaments to find a home in an entertainment capital where players and organizers can easily come in, set up, host a tournament in a small but super functional facility, and have some of the best production available to them should they choose to broadcast it live. Last year when we were in town for the Free Fire World Record, part of the activities were held at the arena where we watched some of the best players from around the globe compete in small matches with their games being broadcast live. This location is one of the best designed to showcase esports at its best, and in our opinion, should be used as a template for future locations around the globe. We recently got to chat with Jud Hannigan, CEO of Allied Esports, about the Arena's history, the services they provide, doing business through the pandemic, and what they're working on now with things picking back up.

BC: How have things been going for you lately at the arena?

Hannigan: Before jumping into the arena specifically, let me bring you up to speed on Allied Esports. 2022 has been an exciting year for the company to date. At the beginning of the year, we introduced our new mission – to elevate and excite gamers, creators, competition, and content – and we're really leaning into it, especially the content. As an example, in March we produced a new live show on Twitch called Elevated, which was sponsored by Progressive Insurance and Tyson Foods. The show was all about showcasing talented and largely undiscovered streamers and giving them the exposure they deserve. The show garnered more than 10 million views over four episodes and another 3 million VOD views! We plan to continue to do more episodes in the near future, and we believe this kind of content – produced through our content division AE Studios, which focuses more on gaming lifestyle and storytelling than competitive esports – will see major growth moving forward.

At HyperX Arena Las Vegas, foot traffic and tournament participation have returned to pre-pandemic levels, which has been great to see. Our weekly competitions, like Knockdown! featuring our fighting game community, and Saturday Night Speedway featuring Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, bring in competitors not only from Las Vegas but from all over the west coast and even around the world. National gaming-focused non-profit 1,000 Dreams Fund's (1DF) BroadcastHER Academy Challenge came back recently for another round of grant-giving. Four winners got the chance for an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas. During the trip, the group helped with the production of the weekly Knockdown! tournament featuring Tekken from start to finish; received a behind-the-scenes tour of the Arena; participated in virtual focus groups with the production and engineering team; and was mentored by Allied Esports executives.

And on May 20 we hosted Unleash The Beast!, a massive party celebrating EPICBEAST Rewards that brought our NFT community and gaming communities together under the same roof for the first time! The event was also the stage for our second edition of For the Horde, which was streamed in the metaverse for holders that couldn't attend in person. Finally, the Allied Esports Truck is on the road all year with 17 stops at NASCAR events, providing an awesome eNASCAR experience for fans with iRacing simulators and other gaming activations.

For those who don't know you, how did you first become involved with gaming and eventually have your career lead to esports?

I moved to China in 2006 to set up a consulting company that catered to western sports and entertainment brands looking to activate around the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and enter the Chinese market. Very soon after my arrival I started bumping into very crowded Internet cafes and filed it under interesting and worth checking out. I was fortunate to land World Poker Tour as a client and in 2007 began building their China operation which included localizing and applying their business strategy toward a Chinese poker game that the government classified as an official sport. We launched a poker tour, produced a television show, and developed a robust online platform that included partnering with the largest online card and board game publisher, Ourgame.

Fast forward to 2015 and Ourgame, which was focused on offline events to engage and reward online users, acquired World Poker Tour and signed my consulting company to oversee international business for them. Esports was the hot topic in 2015 and Ourgame, although not a typical esports game publisher, was interested in finding opportunities to dive in. They had made an investment into China's largest internet café company and I was asked to come up with an esports business model that Ourgame could incubate.

With the WPT experience top of mind, we launched a business model that focused on live events that would create content and aggregate audience with one key first move – properties. We recognized that the future of entertainment was gaming and that meant we needed to create content at scale. We also saw in 2015 that there wasn't a lot of dedicated infrastructure for game publishers to leverage when using offline events to support and drive online engagement. We opened the first dedicated esports arena in Beijing in November 2015 and received significant interest from around the world. From there we quickly moved to expansion launching NA and EU businesses in 2016 and commenced the building of our flagship in Las Vegas in 2017 and haven't looked back.

How did the concept of starting the arena come about with Allied Esports?

Allied Esports opened the world's first dedicated esports arena in Beijing in 2015 and could see the massive potential on a global scale. We began expanding to new continents and quickly realized that a flagship venue that inspired excitement and anticipation on a global scale would be of great value to our global footprint. There are few cities out there that can do that like Las Vegas!

What made everyone decide to eventually make The Luxor the place to set up the arena at?

Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world because of its broad scope of entertainment options including nightlife, shows, exhibits, museums, pool parties, sports, and more. Allied Esports saw an opening to become a pioneer in making Las Vegas a go-to destination for one more entertainment realm – gaming and esports. The Luxor had a great space available, and it was the perfect fit when deciding on a final home for the Arena.

Prior to setting up the arena, what were the planning stages like, and how did they land on the final design of the space?

Without getting into too much detail, we used our experience overseas to design a space that would accommodate the growing esports and gaming industries and the variety of games they center around. Large video wall, incredible lighting, top-tier audio, modular seating – all necessary for an awesome in-house experience. Plus, world-class production capabilities for delivery of incredible content around the globe.

At what point did HyperX decide to take over and become the primary host of the arena?

In November of 2018, HyperX became the naming rights partner of the Arena. The company renewed its multi-year agreement in January of 2021.

The Arena operates very differently compared to other esports locations as it comes with a couple of bars and catering. How important was it to have these additions compared to others who serve mild food and drinks?

We wanted to create an all-encompassing experience for our gamers, whether they're playing competitively or casually, and we had gamers in mind when designing our food and beverage menu, including perfect bites for gameplay and a unique collection of cocktails inspired by the games they play. The arena is also a very attractive destination for third-party events and our multi-bar set-up and catering options are able to accommodate a wide variety of clients.

The Arena also has an impressive broadcasting setup. How was it making a space that was versatile for multiple games and tournament types?

Content has always been top-of-mind and we knew that having the ability to deliver world-class production to the masses watching at home, either live or through distribution on other platforms, was going to be key to the success of the Arena and our business. And the design of the arena and production facility was intentionally modular, so we could host a variety of game formats and have the ability to produce multiple events from our studio and the main arena.

You've also got multiple gaming towers set up in the arena for fans to play off to the side, as well as to hold different kinds of prelims. How important was it to have this level of interactivity while games were taking place?

It was incredibly important to us. We wanted to create an experience that you couldn't get anywhere else. Whether you're on the main stage as a featured player or on the floor working your way up, the atmosphere is pure excitement. The Arena has something for gamers of all ages and skill levels, from tournament play in the main arena to casual walk-up play in the lobby. In addition, the Arena is home to a newly revamped Streamer Room that provides gamers from around the world a ready-to-go space to live stream.

The Arena has been around for a few years now. How has it been running events and maintaining the space with the rest of Las Vegas around you?

Las Vegas continues to grow as an entertainment and sports town–we believe HyperX Arena plays an important part in that story. For anyone interested in gaming, we are a must-see destination, but the venue can also complement many of the events that take place in the city, including pre-and-post-parties. Las Vegas needed a destination to match the increasing global interest in esports entertainment and we're excited to provide an amazing experience every day for tourists and locals alike.

How was it for you guys to continue to do business during the pandemic and run games with little to no crowds?

When the Arena was forced to close its doors at the start of the pandemic, we transitioned to online tournaments to keep our communities playing. It allowed people to come together while they were still stuck at home and bond with other people over common interests. As exciting as the online tournaments were, there was nothing better than opening the doors to welcome people back to the Arena. The pandemic also gave us a chance to tinker with the space and our productions and we think we're producing events better than ever now. Finally, during the pandemic, we started to receive inbound interest from third-party clients to produce remote events and content, which led to the creation of a new business unit. AE Studios is now our content, storytelling, and production services division that looks beyond esports competition and showcases the people and communities that are part of the gaming lifestyle.

Now that things are slowly starting to get back to kind of normal, what are you looking to do with the space to bring events back on a regular basis?

Our weekly tournaments, including Knockdown! on Fridays, featuring our fighting game community, and Saturday Night Speedway, the home of some of the top Mario Kart players in the country, have been back to normal for some time now. We also have other tournaments and events throughout the week for other gaming communities in Las Vegas. We have also seen a tremendous uptick in third-party events since the start of 2022, which is a great sign not only for our business, but for Las Vegas in general.

Are there any major events or specific games you'd like to have take over the arena?

Throughout the pandemic, we were fortunate to be the host venue/bubble for the Rainbow Six North America League and we're looking forward to the return of major publisher-driven events of all kinds, especially with fans in-venue.

What do you guys have planned over the next few months?

In addition to events at the arena, we are doubling down on content production and distribution and will have some exciting announcements soon. As mentioned above, we're big believers in Web3 and saw an awesome opportunity to jump into the space with EPICBEAST. We're excited to continue to build that community and explore ways to deliver additional value to our Web3 and Web2 gaming communities. Whether it's building the first dedicated esports arena in China (and then the crown jewel in the U.S., HyperX Arena) or creating groundbreaking events like Ninja Vegas, Allied Esports strives to be a leader and innovator. We believe much of the next wave of innovation will be around Web3, so we jumped in headfirst in March with our first NFT collection, which is called EPICBEAST (@EPICBEASTnft).

At their core, NFTs are focused on building and serving a community, which is something we've done quite well in gaming for the past seven years. In addition to terrific art, with traits inspired by gaming characters, EPICBEAST offers holders incredible utility, including passive income when we launch a series of collectible figurines in June that will put 100% of profits from sales back into the community through royalties. We've also realized we can create additional value for our gaming communities through our NFT, so we've created a global rewards system called EPICBEAST Rewards that gives our gamers access to some of the NFT perks, including a monthly giveaway show called For The Horde where we raffle off awesome gaming gear from our partners as well as NFTs and trips to Las Vegas as well as Germany for Gamescom 2022.

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