Ex-Laker Fox says he’s game to help e-sports expansion
Toronto native one of many high-profile individuals investing in industry
Rick Fox wants to build the next sports dynasty in the gaming world.
Fox, a three-time NBA champion, has become one of the biggest former professional athletes to invest in the rapidly expanding esports industry. Fox was a key cog in the Los Angeles Lakers’ dynasty in the early 2000s, and hopes he can build the next one with, yes, Super Evil Megacorp, creators of the battle game Vainglory.
“I’m from the generation of, put down the controller and get out of the house,” Fox said. “This generation, they don’t put down the controller — they just leave the house and go perform at Madison Square Garden.”
Super Evil Megacorp added esports franchises Fnatic, Echo Fox, NRG, Rogue and Immortals on Thursday to its professional gaming lineup. Each team will compete in Vainglory’s spring season, which opens in March, and marks the start of Vainglory’s second full seasonal e-sports year.
Fox, a Toronto native, purchased Echo Fox in 2015 and has signed some of the top talent in the fighting game community.
“Our expansion has come quickly,” Fox said.
Vainglory, a multiplayer online battle arena video game, is billed as the world’s leading mobile e-sport, boasting more than 3,000 teams, one billion matches played, and leagues in North America, Europe, Japan, China, Korea and Southeast Asia.
Fox said he was always a video game fan and become further interested by playing against his son, Kyle. They’ve attended events at pro sports arenas that are pretty much the gaming world’s version of the Super Bowl, and Fox said he realized the industry was about to take off. Former San Jose Sharks co-owner Stratton Sclavos has also invested in Echo Fox.
“I think today’s gamer is proud of what they do,” Fox said. “They own it. They celebrate it. The have examples of masters in each realm that they aspire to be like. When they reach the highest level, they’re rewarded with riches and fame and people want to be just like you. That’s happening to this generation of gamers.”
Shaquille O’Neal, Alex Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins and Sacramento Kings co-owners Andy Miller and Mark Mastrov all own a stake in NRG.
“It’s just new for people to digest that you can actually build a life and have a career mastering the profession of being a video game athlete,” Fox said. “When you talk about six figures, yes, we pay people six figures in our organization and we expect at some point to be paying seven figures. There’s athletes out there now who make that and more in different parts of the world.”
Fox said the next generation of kids can do more than play games, and could hope to create or run esports teams.
“That education needs to happen for people to understand that a kid playing video games is not wasting their time,” Fox said.