CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / March 2, 2017 / Good Gaming, Inc. and CMG Holdings Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: GMER and OTC PINK: CMGO): Good Gaming, Inc., owner and operator of the world's most scalable eSports tournament platform and social network for gamers, today announces its plans to monetize its site effective May 1st, 2017. As part of its plans to cross the chasm into revenue generation, the Company will implement a freemium model, whereby free members - whose numbers have jumped from zero to over 12,500 in just one year - will be offered monthly subscription plans that will give them various levels of access to the Company's cash tournaments, premium content, and other modules. Free members will be granted limited access to low pot tournaments each month and will be required to view video and banner advertising while they access the GG site. Paid members will not have to view any advertisements except during sponsored tournaments. Subscription plans will be available with tiered levels of service and discounts given to members that prepay in advance. Additionally, the Company is creating an a la carte menu that will allow members of all classes to purchase goods and services to multiply their winnings in tournaments, increase the amount of proprietary content they can view, enter raffles for prizes, and acquire equipment that will improve their chances at success in eSports. GG's proprietary Mercenary System will be integrated into the site so that members may purchase, buy, and sell goods and services attached to their accounts. With signups to the GG site increasing significantly in 2017, management believes the time is coming to flip GG's model from brand awareness to revenue generation.
Tournament Commentary
Based on guidance from GG's Board, in 4Q16, the Company substantially raised the size of its tournament jackpots and increased the frequency of tournaments to three per week. Besides building significant brand awareness and credibility, these events gave management invaluable information regarding subscriber acquisition costs. The data from these events clearly demonstrate that jackpots for tournaments greater than $250 - $500 do not provide adequate returns to the Company. As such, management decided to increase the frequency of tournaments, while trimming payouts to $500 or less, which management believed would drive increased traffic to the site. With these moves and the addition of Hearthstone Cup Tournament (HCT) points, which were approved only one month ago by Blizzard, GG has witnessed a dramatic increase in its unique visitors, quality of traffic, and signups to its social network. Blizzard is now endorsing GG through its social media channels and is opening the Company up to its vast audience of players, which has dramatically increased traffic to GG's site. To this end, in February alone, GG increased its membership count by roughly 20%, which was the greatest monthly performance in the Company's history. HCT points will be awarded to competitors, along with smaller cash pots throughout 2017, providing GG an opportunity to take its membership base and brand awareness to the next level. The Company is applying to Blizzard to increase its authorization to offer HCT point tournaments from 16 events per month to 24 - 32 events per month - which management expects will further increase traffic to the GG site.
Operational Update
On the operational front, the Company has implemented an aggressive 60 - 90 day plan to take its business to the next level. GG has engaged ViaOne Services, LLC to implement search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) to expand its awareness on the Web, drive traffic, and improve the quality of traffic delivered to its site. The Company is also engaging ViaOne for back office support, financial controls, and other support services, which positions GG to become a substantially improved reporting entity. Regarding the GG website, the Company recently reskinned it to make it more attractive to gamers and improve conversions of unique visitors to members. Further enhancements are planned, which will implement next-gen coding and make the site more interactive and easier to navigate.
Micro-Transactions
With regard to micro-transactions and the Company's planned proprietary Mercenary System, GG is implementing a micro-transaction marketplace for its Minecraft server to generate revenues from its existing base of players, which typically spend $5 - $10 per month on goods and services. The Minecraft server is now ranked #32 out of 164,157 servers worldwide, and is being expanded in capacity by 200% to further drive stickiness and traffic. Management believes that Minecraft in its own right can become an anchor of the entire business, as some of the top operators in the world have tens of thousands of concurrent sessions at any given time. Looking ahead, GG intends to begin hosting Minecraft tournaments, a new paradigm for that title that currently has no market leader. When expanded, Minecraft is expected to further drive the business and accelerating signups to the social network.
Exploring New Titles for Events
Elsewhere, more games are under consideration to further expand play options for GG's membership base. Further, the Company is exploring launching tournaments for titles from publishers other than Blizzard, including Valve's CS.GO, Riot Games' League of Legends, Take2Interactive's NBA2K, Electronic Arts' sports titles, Cd Projekt Red's Gwent, and RocketLeague by Psyonix, which should add substantial new audiences to its social network community and help push GG's model viral. Altogether, the Company continues to improve its social network in order to maintain its market leadership in eSports tournaments and gamer social networking.
Strategic Discussions with Native Tribes
GG also is pleased to announce that the Company is in strategic discussions with numerous Native American Tribes, including a tribe with dozens of cafes and casinos worldwide. The Company is pursuing a B2B model with these entities to supplement its existing B2C strategy. Management envisions that these tribes will implement global eSports tournaments that will culminate in LAN-based finals at real world properties. Additionally, these groups may provide sponsorships, investment capital, and enhanced branding for the GG franchise.
Financing and Recapitalization Strategy
With regards to financing, GG's angel investors and their affiliates have been funding the Company's burn since November 2016 to the tune of $75,000 in debentures per month. The investors have the option to to roll their notes into a larger financing round at the same terms as new investors. To this end, GG has engaged a FINRA firm to execute a capital raise using preferred stock. The investment banking firm is mandated to introduce GG to family offices, institutions, and strategic investors. Management expects this process to take approximately three months, culminating in potentially permanent financing that will fully fund GG's business plan.
Separately, as discussed roughly one year ago with investors, now that the Company is entering a new chapter in its evolution and based on discussions with its advisors, GG intends to file for a reverse split that will enhance the Company's attractiveness as an investment opportunity. GG's Board of Directors has approved a 1 - 1000 reverse split, which will equally impact all classes of shares, including series A B C preferred shares and common shares. Management wants to make it clear that, unlike most other OTC stocks, this corporate action is not being done to facilitate a cash grab or massive dilution to shareholders. On the contrary, GG is implementing a recap in order to take its business to the next level, up-list the stock to the OTCQB, and attract long-term investors including family offices and institutions that will not typically invest in sub-penny stocks. It is mandated that all preferred shares will convert into common shares on closing. Upon completion of this corporate action, GG intends to reduce authorized common shares from 2.0BN to 100MM, and to reduce authorized preferred shares from 450MM to 2.0MM. Fully-diluted shares, pre-financing, will approximate 36.5MM with a free trading float of roughly 2.0MM. Debt outstanding after the recap through conversions and/or repurchase will be nil.
Advisory Board Update
With regard to GG's Advisory Board, Kevin Harrington and his consulting firm, KBHJJ, have ceased participation due to their limited time to commit to the Company's advancement. The Company would like to thank Mr. Harrington and KBHJJ for introductions made during their tenure. KBHJJ was not issued any cash or equity for their services. GG is in discussions with a world-renowned inventor and member of the Native American community to join its Advisory Board and invest in the Company. While there are no assurances, GG is excited about this potential appointment who has indicated an interest in introducing the Company to leading tribes across the nation that are looking for a strategic partner in the eSports marketplace.
Summary
Vik Grover, CEO, said, "We have momentum building in our business, as evidenced by our significant growth in members in the past few weeks. We spent the vast majority of 2016 testing, refining, and improving our platform. We can now confidently say we are the owner and operator of the premiere tournament platform for eSports and the only provider of social networking for amateur gamers worldwide, which now number over 250MM up from 205MM one year ago. It is time to take our business to the next level, not only by crossing the chasm into revenue generation, but by taking our equity to a higher level that will be more attractive to a broader range of investors that require a better exchange than the pink sheets. Our monetization strategy should bear fruit for our loyal investors that have waited over a year for us to punch this ticket into the end zone. As I promised in our original investor call one year ago, we would only pursue this corporate action if it was in the best interests of shareholders. All of the existing angel investors, including myself, who funded the Company in early 2016, will suffer the same impact as common shareholders. Shareholder ownership % of the Company will not change as a result of the reverse split and conversions, and there will be no flood of common shares issued to the Street as many OTC Companies do just to keep the lights on. In fact, we expect our angel round investors to extend their lockup on closing of the recap so there should be no confusion or concern from new and existing investors about what is going on here. Once it is completed, the reverse split and recap will open doors for us to build credibility during discussions with new investors, including strategic parties who may sponsor the site, subsidize tournaments, invest in the Company and/or license our platform for worldwide events. The time has come to take GG to its next chapter and achieve our potential."
About Good Gaming
Good Gaming, Inc. is a leading tournament gaming platform and online destination targeting the over 250 million amateur eSports players worldwide that want to compete at the high school or college level. Register now to join the Good Gaming community and make sure to sign up to all the awesome events, including upcoming tournaments offering amazing prize pools: https://www.good-gaming.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements not historical in nature, are intended, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipate," "believe," "intends," "estimates," "expect," and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements including, without limitation, those relating to future business prospects are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from projections, estimates or aspirations, due to factors such as those relating to economic, governmental, technological, and any risks and factors identified from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the SEC.
Contact Information
Good Gaming, Inc.
Vik Grover
CEO
(708) 400-9050
[email protected]
SOURCE: Good Gaming, Inc.