Moncton ‘GlitchFest’ Will Attract Gamers From Around Atlantic Canada
MONCTON – A group of friends in Moncton are looking to enter the eSports industry with their own videogame tournament business.
“GlitchFest is a gathering for gamers from all around the Atlantic and hopefully Quebec and the United States,” says co-founder David St-Pierre. “We just want to create events so that gamers can meet up, compete and see who’s the best from around.”
St-Pierre and his co-founders Allain Arseneau, Thomas Mallet, Anthony St-Pierre, Gérard Connolly, Patrick Roy, Mathieu Richard, and Franco Vienneau-Boudreau work in various fields, but are united by their love for videogaming. St-Pierre, Mallet and Connolly even had their own gaming show called Le Glitch on the University of Moncton campus radio.
“We’re all pretty avid gamers. We meet up and play video games together and we’re all friends passionate about bringing people together, gaming together and kind of have this party atmosphere and getting to socialize with people with the same interest as we do,” St-Pierre said.
For Arseneau, it’s the competitive spirit in gaming that he likes.
“When I’m playing games myself at home, I like to compete. I like to go and reach the extra mile,” he said. “So when you get that feeling that you want to keep getting better and you see online these people who are astounding…you kind of aspire to that.”
GlitchFest had initially planned for their first tournament to take place in a physical location in May. But due to Covid-19, they had to move online until large gatherings are allowed again.
“We decided to go an alternate route for now and kind of create online tournaments so that we can still create tournaments, still have players get to learn about us, but within a safe environment that everybody can participate in without the fear of catching anything,” St-Pierre said.
The first online tournament will be held in September for the game Valorant. GlitchFest will be selling tickets for players who want to join competitions, while viewers can watch for free by streaming online. Gamers will be able to win a cash prize that grows as more people sign up. The company is also hoping to pull in some sponsors for the event.
A Niche Sector
It’s not that there aren’t any gathering spaces for gamers in the Maritimes, says Mallet. In fact, many of GlitchFest’s founders are part of groups dedicated to certain games, and they’d frequented gaming events around the Maritimes and east coast United States.
For instance, TomorrowLAN by the student council of the University of Moncton’s Computer Science Department, which Mallet and Connolly hosted in 2019 and 2020, is the largest gaming event in the province. The event attracted around 450 attendees at its last one.
But spaces for eSports and videogame enthusiasts remain few in New Brunswick. St-Pierre says their market research shows there’s a niche to fill, and Mallet agrees.
“Since there’s not that much gaming happening in Moncton, we’re like, well, why not do it?” Mallet said. “Moncton is a hub, let’s try to bring everybody together here.”
eSports, or competitive, organized video gaming, is a growing global industry worth approximately $950-million (U.S.) in 2019, with most of the revenues coming from media rights and sponsorship, according to a report by market analytics firm Newzoo. The tournaments attract more than 400 million viewers at live events and online through streaming services like Twitch. Just like popular hockey or soccer players, star gamers also attract their own fans.
North America, China and South Korea are some of the biggest markets, while Southeast Asia, India and Brazil are also emerging as fertile ground for the industry, the report notes.
Roy says while the industry is expanding elsewhere, not a lot of eSports tournaments happen in Atlantic Canada.
“We see some in Montreal, in the Eastern U.S., but I think it’s something we can easily bring in to the Atlantic provinces,” he said.
GlitchFest isn’t aiming for the large scale eSports events that global game fans flock to yet. But that’s the kind of energy they want to foster, and hopefully, bring into Moncton once Covid-19 restrictions ease.
“Right now, everybody’s kind of in a wait-and-see mode. Once things start picking up again and we can cross borders freely to Quebec, to the U.S., then we can reevaluate where we’re at with our different events and how we can create something physical where people can meet up and really connect socially,” said David.
Mallet says there’s also an opportunity to create the type of gaming expositions that attract visitors from away. The gaming expositions he’s attended in the U.S. attracts thousands of people.
“Why not bring something like that in Moncton. It could bring a huge quantity of tourists.”