To those of us uninitiated in the fast-growing e-sport industry, there is a far away land, highly mysterious, where people play competitive video games. They play, like, all the time. But, to these people, e-sport is no game. It’s an entire sector with its own, round-the-clock platform : Eclypsia.
In the same way most of the Internet goes to YouTube to watch kitten videos, gamers log on to Twitch to watch games played live by the best players.
Eclypsia, a French media startup, is entirely dedicated to the world of e-sport and the gaming culture : a video production agency helping brands and medias to enter the eSport universe, A web TV, both on Twitch and Youtube.
It’s also a website that helps users keep in touch with the latest news and guides on games (yes, you can get the map of all the moons in Mario Odyssey) and improve their skills. And it’s a talent house, finding and managing the growing stars of eSport.
How is that any different from other gaming websites? For one, Eclypsia has understood very clearly what the gaming culture is. Gamers have their own codes, their own “language” in a way, and they collectively make up a huge global community of teenagers and young adults. It used to be mainly male youngsters, but there are signs of girls joining in.
Eclypsia has been around for five years, were initially supported by DailyMotion and are now located in Paris (after 3 years spent in Ashford, UK).
France has a history of what were once called “free radio” stations. Not free as in “no charge”, but free as in “I can say what I want”. This was in the 1980s, when just about anyone could launch his radio station and post his views to the world. Eclypsia sticks to that « garage » approach, that its young audience clearly favors, by producing its own programs with a low cost production model.
Of course, they do have channels dedicated to the big games like League of legends, first person shooters (FPS) like the fast growing PUBG or Fifa, but their latest program is a little different.
Here we should talk about the mobile games channel, on Youtube gaming (the equivalent of Twitch that Youtube just launched in 2017). Mobile games are said to represent 50% of the gaming market in 2020. The ECTV Mobile channel has gained more than 30.000 subscribers in one month.
The Eclypsia team feels very strongly about quality commentary. They have talent scouts to find the next great online host, and they pick those with good gaming skills and a nack for entertaining – which makes for a lively coverage. By organising training for them to improve even more, Eclypsia keeps the focus on further developing its pool of talent. They are a major player in allowing young gamers make their mark in e-sport and get their break among the big names.
The gamers and hosts working outside of France use their own gear and facilities, but those in France have access to full recording studios and crews.
Eclypsia is a team of about 25 people, half of them being hosts and TV crews. Although they’re based in France, they are looking to spread their operations overseas to other european countries – where e-sport is already a big thing.
Eclypsia wishes to develop as a full services eSport platform, including tournaments or bets (when they will be legalized), all while staying plugged in the gamers’s internal codes. The launch of ECTV Mobile channel has exceeded expectations, and Eclypsia if off to new challenges.
One day soon, we could well be switching from Netflix to Eclypsia for our evening entertainment.
Then again, perhaps you already do.