“The youngest ones you grow up with E-sports, see it the same way we see a Canadian game. They have their team, it’s exciting, the games are really good.”
This statement about the different ways in which young people consume sports competitions, which will certainly surprise some, comes from Félix LaHaye.
The 30-year-old Montrealer, who now lives in Los Angeles and has been a successful entrepreneur since his late teens, was a pioneer in influencer marketing even before it was possible to buy a post on Instagram.
Photo provided by Félix LaHaye
“Somewhere in the galaxy there is a check for $20 with my signature on it. “It was the first check to buy a publication on Instagram,” he tells the Journal about his first company, Instabrand.
The 30 most influential
In 2017, the prestigious Forbes magazine included his name in the “30 Under 30” list, which highlights the brilliance of 30 business personalities who are under 30 years old.
Photo provided by Félix LaHaye
And a few weeks ago, the same publication painted a long portrait of the Quebecer's journey and vision regarding the importance of esports.
But what Forbes didn't say is that Félix LaHaye is not only a video game fanatic, a part of his personality that he hid for a long time, but also a big fan of the Canadian.
“When I was young it was considered a bit nerdy,” he remembers. I was captain of the rugby team and didn't tell my friends I was going home to play video games because everyone would make fun of me!
It was partly a conversation with a professional ice hockey player, whose name he didn't reveal, that opened his eyes even more.
“He told me: ‘We players [dans la trentaine], we're going out after a game, we want to go to the clubs. Our 20-year-old teammates go home to play Xbox.”
Marketing in games
Félix LaHaye is now head of United ESports, his gaming marketing and media company.
His company targets Generation Z customers (born after 1995). The company serves major customers: Coke, McDonald's, the NFL and several video game brands.
United ESports runs advertising campaigns for these brands on social media and video games. For example, a campaign for Tide required the losers of a video game competition to do a load of laundry.
For Félix LaHaye, who enjoys watching a Canadian game at the Bell Center as much as supporting his League of Legend video game team in a major competition, esports, “this is it.” [son] Favorite subject”.
He's not the only one. E-sports made its debut at the Asian Games this year. The Asian market has been conquered by video games for some time now.
Last year alone, 710 million Asians watched virtual competitions, reports the Statista website.
Spectators at an e-sports match between China and Vietnam at the Asian Games last September. Photo AFP
The IOC is very interested in it
There is also great interest in Europe. So much so that the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, recently proposed a study on Olympic Games in e-sports.
“Hockey is a game,” says Félix LaHaye. But for young people, a virtual League of Legends competition is also a game. E-sports is truly a change in the way people view competition.
E-sports at the Asian Games last September. Photo AFP
This is one of his main arguments when advocating the integration of e-sports in the conservative environment of the Olympic Games.
Like “curling”?
Another of his arguments is aimed at those who believe that video games have nothing to do with sports.
And the fact that they are means that many young people are not active.
“Of course it’s not the same talent as running 100 meters in 9 seconds,” emphasizes the businessman, “but it requires a lot of training, a lot of consistency.”
“Is the Olympics just about physical strength or is it also about skill and commitment?” he also asks himself before continuing: “There are disciplines in the Games like curling that are not the same as the 100m. Run.”
“And that’s right: they are two strict but different disciplines.”