A new Blockchain-based ecosystem for esports talent, called BestMeta, has launched. It’s led by Australian Dota 2 caster Toby “TobiWan” Dawson, who moved to the UK last year (check out our interview with TobiWan here).
BestMeta hopes to create ‘a sustainable esports ecosystem by giving creative control back to the talents and the community’.
It provides esports personalities, casters, pro gamers and other talent with a new platform to connect with fans. It’s essentially a new network for talent and consumers powered by Blockchain tech.
The global pre-sale of BestMeta Tokens (BMT) goes live next month, on February 15th, and the public sale begins on March 1st. 40 million tokens will be created.
These tokens can be purchased by the esports community, allowing them to exchange funds for interaction with their favourite talents. It sounds like an advanced form of Twitch donations, basically, with varying levels of interaction.
Talent can launch their own personalised tokens representative of their brand, the community is then able to purchase these talent tokens to financially support their favourite esports personalities.
“As the talents grow in popularity, they will generate greater support, adding to their brand value and rewarding fans for their loyalty and creating a system where the talents and the fans are constantly giving back to each other,” BestMeta said in a statement.
“Through BestMeta, we will enable talent the power to build their brand the way they want, their only limit will be their imagination.”
TobiWan, BestMeta
To coincide with the launch, BestMeta will also be producing a new four-episode comedy panel show called Well Played, in the style of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and filmed in partnership with the University of York. The first episode airs on January 24th.
Presented by TobiWan, Well Played will bring together a host of esports talent including SirActionSlacks, PyrionFlax, SingSing, Cyanide and OD Pixel.
Along with TobiWan, there’s Amy Yu (formerly of GameBritannia and Varsity Games) who is also on board as MD of BestMeta.
So, why now? Well, a statement from BestMeta explains: “For esports talent, including shoutcasters and professional gamers, there is currently no control for the esports community and no transparency for donation and spending within the industry.
“Content creation for talent can be restricted by industry giants and sponsors, and the talent themselves have little to no financial independence, or the wiggle room to create their own content outside of stifling sponsorship guidelines. Meaning no sustainable income for talent and no rewards or incentives for fans.”
“Utilising Blockchain technology, we harness the power of mass community passion into a trusted, accountable and sustainable esports ecosystem”
Amy Yu, BestMeta
While there is still sustainable income for esports talent, it seems BestMeta is being set up to allow that talent to take back more control. To allow them to secure better income in the long-run, and produce content how they want and when they want it.
BestMeta’s founders believe they can provide a more sustainable ecosystem for esports talent, providing an opportunity for them to create content – and the esports community – who can be rewarded through BestMeta Tokens.
“Utilising Blockchain technology, we harness the power of mass community passion into a trusted, accountable and sustainable esports ecosystem”, said Amy Yu, MD of BestMeta.
“BestMeta is the first of its kind to be developed exclusively to support esports talent, born out of a passion to help content creators reach their true and fullest potential.”
BestMeta’s esports director Toby “TobiWan” Dawson added: “The esports community is one of the strongest in the world and we want to empower that community to achieve great things.
“Through BestMeta, we will enable talent the power to build their brand the way they want, their only limit will be their imagination.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
