Tentpole Smash Event Included Custom Integration for The Beekeeper, Strong Performances from Luminosity Talent

Return to Rocket League Already Yielding Strong Engagement and Additional Monetization Opportunities

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (“Enthusiast Gaming” or the “Company”) (TSX: EGLX), the leading gaming and media company in North America, is pleased to announce that Luminosity Gaming, the Company’s gaming and esports brand and one of the largest esports organizations in the world, has seen a number of recent successes in connection with its continued investment in highly engaged gaming communities.

In January 2024, Luminosity hosted one of its tentpole Super Smash Bros Ultimate events, Luminosity Makes Big Moves 2024, at the New Yorker Hotel in New York City in partnership with Even Matchup Gaming. The event was sponsored by Amazon MGM in connection with its film, The Beekeeper, featuring Jason Statham, and peaked at over 50,000 live concurrent viewers for the Winner’s Semi-Final match that featured Luminosity’s very own competitors Leonardo ‘MkLeo’ López Pérez and Gavin ‘Tweek’ Dempsey. The three-day event had over 1,100 individuals competing in a variety of competitions and brought in over 1,500 total live attendees.

The event was broadcasted for over 29 hours, reached over 28 million minutes of total watch time and averaged over 16,000 concurrent viewers throughout the duration of the three-day broadcast across a variety of Twitch and YouTube streams.

“Our live events and streams are the perfect opportunity for brands to integrate in a meaningful and authentic way,” commented Alex Gonzalez, Head of Luminosity Gaming. “With brands looking for more than a logo slap, we were able to deliver an integrated campaign for The Beekeeper that surrounded the event in sponsored content in a way that felt authentic and added to the viewing experience. Bee puns and bee suits had the chat buzzing and led to the bee emoji being the number one chat emoji used throughout the entire weekend.”

Luminosity has become a pillar of the Smash community within the past year, hosting Super Major events, operating the Luminosity Smash YouTube channel which has reached over 10,000,000 organic views within its first six months of launch, being the source for the unofficial community power rankings via LumiRank, and representing a variety of the top players, content creators, and casters from the Smash community.

Luminosity’s recently announced return to Rocket League has similarly yielded strong engagement across its initial events. Luminosity’s new team, featuring former OpTic Gaming team members Retals and MaJicBear, along with Cheese and Coach RawGreg, has enjoyed immediate success, placing in the top 8 out of 905 competing teams in the first major North American qualifier. Luminosity hosted a full-scale remote livestream production event of its Rocket League team’s path through the Swiss portion of the North American qualifier on February 3rd, 2024. The five-hour event was hosted by previous RLCS hosts ‘Spaceman’ and Corelli, reaching over 9,700 unique viewers who averaged over 49 minutes of watch time per viewer.

With the popularity of Luminosity’s Rocket League team, and the momentum from the team’s strong finishes, Luminosity has recently introduced exciting new decals which can allow Luminosity fans to show their support for the team in-game, and which also provide additional sponsorship opportunities for potential partners.

“These communities are highly engaged and scalable,” commented Adrian Montgomery, interim Chief Executive Officer of Enthusiast Gaming. “Not only do they yield strong viewership, but the quality of these audiences is next to none. They are attentive, they are dedicated and they are driven by a sense of belonging and identity that creates a tremendous opportunity for monetization through authentically integrated campaigns and scalable revenue sources. We look forward to continuing to grow these communities and to help bridge the gap for sponsors seeking the best and most authentic ways to communicate with these critical demographics.”

About Luminosity Gaming

Founded in 2015, Luminosity Gaming is an Enthusiast Gaming brand and one of the largest gaming and esports brands in the world. Luminosity Gaming has earned its reputation as one of the world's most significant entities through its success in numerous competitive games, a roster of popular content creators, and commitment to growing the gaming and esports communities. This dynamic blend of competitive excellence and content creation has established Luminosity Gaming as a leader in the evolving landscape of gaming.

About Enthusiast Gaming

Enthusiast Gaming is the leading gaming media and entertainment company in North America, building the largest platform for video game enthusiasts and esports fans to connect and compete worldwide. Combining the elements of its five core pillars: creators, content, communities, games, and experiences, Enthusiast Gaming provides a unique opportunity for marketers to create integrated brand solutions to connect with coveted Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Through its proprietary mix of digital media, content and gaming assets, Enthusiast Gaming continues to grow its network of communities, reflecting the scale and diversity of gaming enthusiasts today.

Contacts

Enthusiast Gaming – Felicia DellaFortuna, Chief Financial Officer
Investors: FNK IR – Rob Fink & Matt Chesler, CFA, investor@enthusiastgaming.com
Media: press@enthusiastgaming.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results, developments, performance or achievements that Enthusiast Gaming anticipates or expects may or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, or “believes” or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements formed in the future tense or indicating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” (or other variations of the forgoing) be taken, occur, be achieved, or come to pass. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company’s future events and strategic initiatives.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments, including, but not limited to, expectations and assumptions concerning: interest and foreign exchange rates; capital efficiencies, cost saving and synergies; growth and growth rates; the success in the esports and gaming media industry; the Company’s growth plan, and judgment applied in the application of the Company’s accounting policies and in the preparation of financial statements in accordance with applicable financial reporting standards. While Enthusiast Gaming considers these assumptions to be reasonable, based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; and future legislative, tax, and regulatory developments. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. For more information on the risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause anticipated opportunities and actual results to differ materially, please refer to the public filings of Enthusiast Gaming which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect our expectations as of the date hereof, and thus are subject to change thereafter. Enthusiast Gaming disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Neither the TSX Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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