Seton Hall Esports and the Stillman School of Business proudly celebrate the achievements of two rising finance majors, Samhitha Swarna
(senior) and Pablo Escobedo (junior), who recently took part in the prestigious Gen.G
Esports Practicum Abroad in Seoul, South Korea. Accompanied by Seton Hall’s Esports
Manager and Adjunct Professor, Victor Gomez, the students spent three weeks immersed
in an international learning experience that blended professional development, industry
networking, and firsthand exposure to the global esports scene.

The practicum gathered top university talent from around the world to work on projects
with Gen.G Esports, a world-renowned organization with championship teams in multiple
major titles, including recent wins at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational and the Esports World Cup. Both Samhitha and Pablo successfully
completed the rigorous program, and Samhitha earned the “Exemplar” designation, the
highest honor awarded to just one participant in the cohort for going above and beyond
and embodying Gen.G’s values.

In addition to their project work, the students built a network of 18 other student
leaders. The practicum included projects spanning business, education, and marketing,
giving participants the opportunity to learn directly from Gen.G industry leaders
about how these sectors intersect in esports. Beyond the classroom, they enjoyed rare
experiences such as attending a live match at the LCK Roadshow: T1 Homeground vs.
Gen.G, an electrifying clash between two esports titans that showcased the competitive
atmosphere fueling the industry’s global popularity. They also visited Lotte Tower,
one of Seoul’s most iconic landmarks, and participated in high-level networking sessions
with C-suite executives and leading professionals in esports, marketing, and business
strategy.

This practicum enhanced the students’ professional skills and reinforced Seton Hall’s
commitment to creating opportunities that prepare students for success in competitive
industries. By bridging classroom learning with the global esports stage, the Gen.G
Practicum Abroad has given Samhitha and Pablo a valuable edge as they continue their
academic journeys and pursue careers at the intersection of finance, business, and
gaming.

About Gen.G

Founded in August 2017, Gen.G Esports is a global esports organization inspired by
the talent of Korean pro players and the passion of fans worldwide. Headquartered
in Seoul, Los Angeles and Riyadh, Gen.G fields championship-winning teams across League of Legends, VALORANT, PUBG, EA FC Online and Brawl Stars. Recent milestones include a four-time LCK championship streak, a 2024 MSI title
and a 2024 VALORANT Masters victory. Gen.G also operates the Gen.G Global Academy (GGA) to foster the
next generation of esports talent. The organization is backed by leading partners
including LG, Monster Energy, Logitech, SOOP, Descente, Otoki and SIDIZ, and is committed
to delivering fan-first experiences through innovative partnerships and activations.

Categories:
Science and Technology

If you’re into PC gaming or have a home office, then you know how much a comfy chair can make a difference when you need to be in front of a screen for hours at a time. Gaming chairs are often the best option. They’re generally made with extremely comfortable materials, come in cool, funky colors and make your entire experience more ergonomic. However, they can be pricey. That’s why we’re glad to let you that AndaSeat — who makes some of our favorite options on the market — is offering gaming chairs for up to $160 off this back-to-school season. These deals are live until Aug. 31, and make now an excellent time to shop.

AndaSeat is offering discounts on a variety of its gaming chairs, but keep in mind that they look different depending on your choice. Some discounts are direct, and others include an extra coupon code you need to cut and paste before checkout. These are clearly labeled under the price, if applicable.

The AndaSeat Kaiser 3 Pro 5D gaming chair is now $489, down from its regular price of $669 when you stack its current discount with the coupon code BTSK30 at checkout. This chair includes a lumbar pillow and an adjustable head pillow.

For those with different needs, the Kaiser 4 series premium chair is now as low as $489, depending on the colorway you select, which saves you up to $60 after you use the coupon code BTSK30 at checkout. This gaming chair is our favorite choice for larger people. It comes in two sizes and multiple colors, and features both lumbar support as well as a magnetic head pillow. Our experts noted that, “It’s great for gamers who like to sit cross-legged or with their feet up and for people who spend long hours seated for work, play or lounging. It’s especially suited for people who want a traditional gaming chair style with premium materials and ergonomic enhancements.”

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

For a more budget-friendly option, check out the X-Air gaming chair, which is $369 after its discount of $30. The X-Air includes 4D arm rests, lumbar support and allows you to adjust it for height. Finally, the Phantom Series 3 chair is perfect for office or gaming use, and it’s now down to $299, which is a massive $100 off.

With its many colors and editions, AndaSeat has multiple offers, and the entire sale site is worth checking out so you can find just the right fit.

Why this deal matters

Gaming chairs aren’t just meant for avid gamers, they also offer more ergonomic support for anyone who still works from home. AndaSeat’s gaming chairs are adjustable, available in multiple colors and offer back support as you work or play. Their current deals save you up to $160 until Aug. 31.

Tabletop gaming takes the spotlight once again as the Unmatched Roadshow launches its latest wave of live, on-ground events designed to bring the vibrant Unmatched board game community together — one match at a time.

Spearheaded by Zarriors Production and led by content creators Alayza May Lao and James Bennette Strachan as the official Lead Organizers, the Unmatched Roadshow is more than just a series of tournaments. It’s a nationwide initiative built to unite tabletop enthusiasts, celebrate community bonds, and introduce new audiences to the award-winning Unmatched — a board game known for its fast-paced battles, diverse character lineup, and tactical gameplay.

With five action-packed stops scheduled throughout the year, the Roadshow is a platform for both competitive players and casual fans to connect, compete, and collaborate in a shared love for tabletop strategy.
“Our mission is to create a lasting community where players feel seen, valued, and driven by purpose — not just in winning, but in playing together,” shares the Zarriors Production team.

Multiple Stops, One Purpose
Spanning several cities, the Roadshow brings Unmatched directly to communities across the Philippines through interactive demos, localized tournaments, and media-ready showcases. Fans can join the action by registering through local partner venues announced ahead of each stop.

What to Expect:

• Live board game matches featuring unique characters from Unmatched

• Localized tournaments with ranking points and exclusive prizes

• Community games and newbie sessions

• Merch drops, freebies, and in-event promos

Powered by Partnerships
The Unmatched Roadshow is made possible through the support of visionary partners in the gaming, tech, and media space.

Co-Presenter: PlayCafé
Presenter: Gaming Library
Brand Partner: PIXEL by Eplayment

Major Sponsors:
Lexar Philippines, Roll Play Game Lounge, ZenithPads – Custom and Artisan Mousepads, TOCHI Snacks PH, ISLA Kapsule, B&C Prints, Loot drop Labs, Dibs Pack, Sticker Station

Media Partners:
Tier One Entertainment, When In Manila

Community Partners:
Unmatched Philippines, AMPLFY

Official Photographer: Jungo Adventures

2025 Venue Partners:
Playwell PH, Nexus Academia, SideQuest: Cafe + Hobby Lounge

Be Part of the Movement
The Roadshow is more than just gameplay — it’s a movement to amplify tabletop culture in the Philippines and beyond. Whether you’re a strategist, collector, content creator, or curious newcomer, you’re invited to step into the ring, learn the game, and meet fellow players.

📣 Announcement of Season 4 Venue in Collaboration with Geekpop — stay tuned for more details!

Follow and Connect:
Unmatched Roadshow — Facebook, Instagram
Zarriors Production — Facebook, TikTok
Lead Organizers: Alayza May Lao, James Bennette Strachan (Tequila)

The Unmatched Roadshow is here — and the battle is just beginning.

For partnerships, sponsorships, or collaboration: zarriorsbusiness@gmail.com

Where was this when we were in school?

Video games have had stigmas attached to them for a long time. Sadly, it’s an inevitability given the content that they sometimes have and how people perceive that content. One drawback of this is that places like elementary and middle schools, for the longest time, frowned upon having video games within their confines for many years. However, things have changed, and Nintendo of America is helping to be a part of that change. The Big N has teamed with the ISEA, also known as the Interstate Scholastic Esports Alliance, and their goal is to bring video game tournaments to students from all over!

In a press release obtained by My Nintendo News, the plans for the tournaments were laid out. The goal was to bring three iconic Nintendo Switch games, specifically Splatoon 3, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and take them to the students of schools across 23 states, reaching from elementary schools to high schools. In that press release, ISEA President Danielle Johnson showed her enthusiasm for the collaboration:

“We are so excited to partner with Nintendo as we continue to grow and expand competitive gaming opportunities for students across the country. Games are a fun, communal experience. We want to make gaming accessible to as many students as possible regardless of their previous gaming experience. School-based gaming programs connect students that may have not been involved in social competitive activities before, and every student deserves a place to belong at school. These programs not only raise student attendance and achievement but also help students build healthy relationships that can last a lifetime.”

Video games can indeed do that, and it’s nice to see various groups coming together to promote video games within the school space. The irony of some of this is that Nintendo is rather infamous for restricting how people and organizations can use their video games in tournament settings, even if it’s for charity. Seeing this “about face,” and for students no less, is a wonderful sign that things might be shifting around for The Big N.

Bill Trinen, who is the Vice President of Player and Product Experience at Nintendo of America, said of the partnership:

“We support kids who want to celebrate their passion – or discover a new passion – by getting involved in memorable cooperative and competitive play experiences. Working closely with the ISEA ensures that we are creating a fun experience that is open to everyone.”

No date was given for when these tournaments will start.

The Esports World Cup Club Program is one of the most coveted systems in esports today, a prestigious circle that every professional team worldwide strives to join. Beyond the prestige, it offers significant financial and strategic benefits, but entry isn’t easy. 

This year, only 40 teams made the cut, representing top-tier organizations from every corner of the globe, from Asia to South America. With such a diverse and elite lineup, we decided to take a closer look at who’s backing these teams. And the sponsorship landscape reveals some fascinating insights.

Which teams boast the highest number of partnerships? Which top organization surprisingly runs almost partner-free? And which brands lead the pack by partnering with the most teams? All this and much more is unpacked in our exclusive breakdown of the EWC 2025 Club Program sponsors.

Team sponsorship overview

One clear leader in the EWC 2025 Club Program is T1, boasting an impressive roster of 18 partners across various categories. They are followed by Team Vitality with 12 sponsors, then G2 Esports, Karmine Corp, and Team Liquid. Interestingly, while T1 represents Asia, the other top teams are European: though Team Liquid, despite its global reach including North America and Asia, is considered primarily European due to its headquarters.

A notable trend among bigger, more established teams is a clear differentiation in partnership tiers. For example, organizations like T1 and Natus Vincere distinguish between sponsors as partners, supporters or suppliers. T1 even categorizes its sponsors further into premier, lead, and main partners, reflecting different levels of involvement and support.

At the other end of the spectrum, India’s S8UL Esports has just one partner (iQOO), which was secured specifically for EWC, suggesting the team might be without sponsors post-event. Surprisingly, FaZe Clan, a highly renowned organization with numerous titles and seemingly abundant sponsorship opportunities, has only two partners: SteelSeries and Rollbit.

Some other interesting insights include:

• 
  

  The most sponsored North American team in the Club Program is 100 Thieves with 9 partners, while in South America it’s LOUD with 7.

• 
  

  Chinese teams predominantly work with local partners from China.

• 
  

  Similarly, teams from the MENA region mainly have sponsors from within MENA.

Brand partnerships: Who’s leading the game?

If the EWC 2025 Club Program teams are the stars on stage, then the brands behind them are the powerhouses working the spotlight. This year’s lineup of sponsors is impressively varied — we tracked 210 unique brands connected to the 40 participating teams, spread across 19 categories and even a few one-of-a-kind cases. One of the quirkiest? The lo-fi YouTube channel Lofi Girl, which partnered with French organization Gentle Mates.

The sponsorship mix shows just how wide esports’ commercial appeal has become. Endemic companies (particularly those in Electronics and Gaming Peripherals) are still the backbone of the scene, with 31 brands in this category alone. Food and Beverage comes in a close second at 28, showing how much lifestyle products have embedded themselves into esports culture.

Some trends stand out: the automotive industry has a surprisingly strong footprint, with more representatives than the gaming chair or general furniture sectors. Health-focused partnerships are also making a mark, and crypto-related sponsors, once seen as a fading trend, are clearly regaining ground.

When it comes to the most active brands, familiar names dominate. Red Bull is in a league of its own, backing 11 different Club Program teams in 2025.

They’re followed by peripheral giants Logitech G (7 teams), Razer (6), and Zowie (5). One of the bigger surprises is Visa, partnering with 4 teams, a tally higher than tech heavyweights like ASUS ROG, Blacklyte, or Samsung.

Regional sponsorship insights

Looking at sponsorships through a regional lens reveals clear differences in both scale and variety. European teams are the undisputed leaders, topping the charts not only in the number of sponsors, but also in the breadth of categories they cover. They feature partners across all 20 categories we identified and work with a remarkable 106 unique brands.

Asia trails behind Europe slightly, but not by much: teams from the region boast 84 unique brands across 18 categories. The diversity here is partly driven by the presence of Chinese organizations, whose sponsorship portfolios often consist almost entirely of domestic brands, giving the region a distinct local flavor.

South America and MENA lag behind in total sponsorship count, though it’s worth noting they also have fewer teams in the Club Program compared to Europe and Asia. 

Several trends stand out across regions:

• 
  

  Betting and gambling sponsors appear predominantly with teams from Europe and South America, where regulations are less restrictive.
  

• 
  

  Web3 and crypto sponsors, the fifth most popular category overall, are notably absent from South American and MENA teams.
  

• 
  

  Smartphone manufacturers tend to focus their partnerships on Asian teams — unsurprising given the region’s strong mobile gaming culture.
  

• 
  

  Asia also leads in the number of partnerships in Electronics / Gaming Peripherals, the single most popular sponsor category in the Club Program.

The EWC 2025 Club Program’s sponsorship map offers more than just a collage of brand logos, it’s a readout of each team’s audience strategy. From Red Bull’s dominance among energy drink fans to the influx of lifestyle, automotive, and niche cultural brands, these partnerships reveal who teams are trying to reach, which markets they’re betting on, and how the esports economy is shifting in real time.

In an era where traditional media empires crumble under the weight of shifting consumer habits and digital disruption, Playboy’s transformation offers a compelling case study in reinvention. Once synonymous with print culture and a bygone era of celebrity culture, the brand is now repositioning itself as a licensing powerhouse, leveraging its iconic status to generate recurring revenue in a post-traditional media landscape. This pivot—from asset-heavy operations to an asset-light model—signals a strategic repositioning that could redefine its value proposition for investors.

The Asset-Light Revolution

Playboy’s shift to an asset-light strategy has been nothing short of dramatic. Under CEO Ben Kohn, the company has prioritized licensing over direct-to-consumer retail and digital content production. This approach minimizes operational overhead while maximizing the reach of the Playboy brand. For Q2 2025, licensing revenue surged 105% year-over-year to $10.9 million, driven by minimum guaranteed royalties and new partnerships in gaming, beauty, and grooming. The Byborg licensing deal alone contributed $5 million in guaranteed royalties, with an additional $20 million expected by July 2025.

This strategy has already translated into financial stability. Adjusted EBITDA turned positive at $3.5 million in Q2 2025, compared to a $2.9 million loss in the same period in 2024. Net losses have also halved, from $16.7 million to $7.7 million, as the company sheds underperforming assets and focuses on high-margin licensing.

Strategic Licensing as a Recurring Revenue Engine

The key to Playboy’s success lies in its ability to monetize its brand through licensing. Unlike traditional media models that rely on subscription fatigue or ad revenue volatility, licensing offers a more predictable income stream. The company’s China licensing expansion, for instance, grew 54% year-over-year even excluding the Byborg deal, demonstrating the scalability of its approach.

Moreover, Playboy is diversifying into high-growth categories. The recent foray into gaming and beauty—industries with strong consumer engagement and brand loyalty—positions the company to tap into new demographics. A Playboy-branded hospitality venue in Miami Beach further underscores the brand’s ambition to create immersive experiences that amplify its licensing value.

Risks and Opportunities

While the asset-light model reduces capital expenditures, it is not without risks. Licensing revenue depends on the performance of third-party partners, and over-reliance on a few key deals (like Byborg) could expose the company to volatility. Additionally, the brand’s legacy as a symbol of a bygone era may limit its appeal to younger audiences unless it evolves its image through strategic content and partnerships.

However, the company’s strong cash position—over $30 million in liquidity—and its focus on optimizing operations provide a buffer. The Great Playmate Search, a fan-voting contest with paid participation, also hints at a broader strategy to engage audiences directly while monetizing brand equity.

Investment Implications

For investors, Playboy’s transformation presents a unique opportunity. The shift to licensing aligns with broader trends in brand monetization, where intellectual property (IP) becomes a currency in itself. Companies like Nike and Disney have long demonstrated the power of licensing to generate recurring revenue, and Playboy is now following a similar playbook.

The key question is whether the company can sustain its licensing momentum. If it continues to secure high-margin deals and expand into new categories, its asset-light model could deliver consistent growth. However, investors should monitor the performance of its key partners and the company’s ability to innovate beyond its historical image.

Conclusion

Playboy’s strategic repositioning is a masterclass in adapting to a post-traditional media world. By shedding physical assets and embracing licensing, the company has unlocked a path to sustainable revenue and reduced financial risk. While challenges remain, the early results—strong EBITDA, declining losses, and a robust pipeline—suggest that the Playboy brand is far from obsolete. For investors with a medium-term horizon, this transformation offers a compelling case for long-term value creation, provided the company continues to execute its licensing vision with discipline and creativity.

In the end, Playboy’s story is not just about a brand’s survival—it’s about reinvention in an age where adaptability is the only constant.