Joey Franchize caught up with High Point Gamer to talk about the ever so growing world or E-Sports & expanding the culture in the Tampa market.
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00:00Three, two, one.
00:02Yo, what's up?
00:03Joey Franchise here at Wild94.1, wild94.1.com.
00:06Man, I got a shout-out to my dude.
00:08He's actually the Tampa ambassador of gaming out here, man.
00:11Hands down.
00:12High Point Gaming here, my man Derek.
00:14Hey, what's going on, man?
00:16He's also got a podcast, too.
00:17Yes, a podcast.
00:18Gamers Wanted.
00:19So if you're a gamer out there, what I'm trying to do is squash the stigma
00:23that gaming is a waste of time.
00:25So I let gamers get on to share their story about how it impacted their life
00:29and what they learned from it and stuff, man.
00:31Now, I pay attention to your podcast very closely because I'm also a gamer myself.
00:35Okay.
00:35And I really want to integrate, you know, my brand and what I'm trying to do
00:40into that world because it's something not only that I love,
00:43but it's something that's also becoming, like, worldwide, world-renowned.
00:47International.
00:48And it's becoming a $3 billion business at this point.
00:53So tell me, man, where did this all stem from?
00:57Because I know you've been gaming for years.
00:59Right.
00:59The fact, like, what made it what it is today?
01:03The Internet.
01:05Technology made that boom.
01:06So with technology, you're able to stream more, share more content,
01:11which then increased your viewership and increased who you connect with,
01:14and that's what really made it blow up.
01:16So eSports used to be an underground thing,
01:18but thanks to technology now, it's, like, international.
01:21You can get visas just to compete on a video game.
01:25That's insane for an old-school cat like me.
01:28Right.
01:28You know, I came up on, you know, NES.
01:31Oh, right.
01:31Super Nintendo, Genesis.
01:33So to see it now, like, taken to a whole other level now with big games like Overwatch
01:38and, you know, you see the Fortnite tournaments all over the place.
01:41I mean, 2K has its own league where, you know, a friend of ours, O'Leary 2K.
01:46Shout out to O'Leary.
01:47You know what I mean?
01:47Like, he's dealing with, like, actual NBA.
01:51And getting a check.
01:52A check.
01:53From the NBA.
01:53When you're an NBA player.
01:55It's trippy.
01:56So explain to, like, the, you know, people who probably don't understand, like,
01:59well, what's the big deal?
02:00Like, you know, it's, you know, gaming's got to be a waste of time.
02:04Like, you can't be spending all day in the house and this and that.
02:06Like, break it down as to, like, how these young guys are becoming who they are.
02:11Full industry.
02:12It's not just about the gameplay.
02:14It's about being supported by the people that make the game,
02:17the people that review the game, test the game, market the game,
02:20create content for the game.
02:22Now, also, like, I want to go back into history
02:25because I know we've connected a few times,
02:27but I've never really got to know your story
02:29and how High Point Gamer became.
02:31So let's break it down.
02:33I started by doing tournaments.
02:34I produced a tournament just to make me and my partner
02:37want to make some extra revenue.
02:38We were like, oh, okay, you added the math on
02:40we'll charge this much for the person to play,
02:42we'll charge this much for somebody to watch.
02:45And so in doing that is where I came across O'Leary
02:48and other good players where it's like,
02:50hey, this is an industry where people eat off of this.
02:52Like, they're looking for the next tournament
02:54so they can go and get that money and win.
02:58And then from that point,
03:00as I was exposed to other gamers in the eSports world,
03:03I went to the NBA draft.
03:04Oh, wow.
03:04And I'm sitting there at the draft with these kids
03:06that are coming straight off the couch to NBA contracts.
03:09I realized that they didn't understand business.
03:11They didn't understand brand development.
03:13And I knew that they were going to blow the opportunity
03:15to be in the NBA
03:16because they thought it was all about playing video games.
03:19And it wasn't.
03:20And there's a lot of people that didn't last after that season.
03:23So shout out to O'Leary.
03:25Killing it over there in Cleveland, man.
03:27Can't wait for this season.
03:29Now, you know, the company's actually sparring
03:31what's going on behind us,
03:33which actually, if you want to break it down,
03:35it's just, it's a scholarship.
03:36So right now what we're doing,
03:37we're doing a scholarship gaming tournament.
03:39So what I realized is,
03:40one, if you're a parent
03:41and your kid is going to college,
03:44it's hard to get them to do essays
03:45and do all the other type of stuff, right?
03:47But there's a lot of kids that play video games.
03:50So I said, you know what?
03:51Let me take video games
03:52because there's a lot of e-sports scholarships at school.
03:55Like you can actually go to school full ride off of e-sports.
03:57For real.
03:58Let me do a scholarship
03:59to help encourage that
04:01and then also bring exposure to kids
04:03that don't realize that there's opportunities
04:04because of their gaming skills.
04:06Yeah, it's amazing what you guys are doing back there.
04:08You know, they're getting it in over there.
04:10What are they playing right now?
04:11They're playing Brawl Hollow.
04:13Brawl Hollow.
04:13Independent gaming.
04:14So what I'm interested in,
04:17I'm really interested in indie developed titles
04:19like Fortnite.
04:20Fortnite was an independent developed game
04:21that's now making billions,
04:24billions of dollars.
04:25So I want to grow that ecosystem
04:27for the independent world
04:28because that's a side hustle for somebody
04:30to make games and make some extra money
04:32to get off that job that they hate.
04:35Is that going to be the wave from now,
04:36like the indie game world?
04:37It's going to be the wave for artists as well
04:39because now you're going to start
04:40spinning up your own game
04:41because it's Skims.
04:43That's all it is.
04:43Skims, you have your own merch
04:45inside of a game.
04:47That's true.
04:47Yeah.
04:48That's real.
04:49You got to listen to this podcast, man.
04:51He drops a lot of gems.
04:52Has a lot of dope guests that come on it.
04:54Once again, let them know what it is.
04:55High Point Gamer podcast.
04:57Gamers Wanted.
04:58They connected with us.
04:59We're on social media
05:00at High Point Gamer.
05:02I'm trying to let this guy,
05:03this guy's going to be major
05:04in the gaming industry brand.
05:05I'm trying to get them to connect with them.
05:06We up next, baby.
05:08Stay tuned, for real.
05:09But let everybody know
05:10where they can follow you
05:10on the gram as well.
05:11At High Point Gamer,
05:12all one word.
05:13On social media,
05:14that's Instagram, Twitter,
05:16and www.highpointgamer.com.
05:19Now, I don't know.
05:19This dude has a...
05:20If you look and follow my Instagram
05:22at Joey Franchise,
05:23this dude has a full-blown truck
05:25with like five TVs in it.
05:27Oh, it's like seven.
05:29Seven TVs.
05:30Yeah, like counting the outside.
05:32Yo, it's insane.
05:33Like, we definitely got a collab
05:35on something that gives them pop
05:36because that blew my mind,
05:38for real.
05:39Yo, Derek,
05:39I appreciate you taking the time, brother.
05:40I appreciate it, man.
05:41Love, brother.
05:41Thank you, thank you.