Combat Gaming and Mason Mount

Combat Gaming was the celebrity gaming events brand of 38 Entertainment Group, the company that co-owned Gareth Bale’s Ellevens Esports. It put footballers, actors, musicians and creators against each other in FIFA, Call of Duty and Fortnite. The events streamed live on Twitch for charity. Three events drew more than 10 million live views and over 150 celebrities, creators and pro players. Tom ran talent, format, live production and the publisher relationships as Head of Creative. Mason Mount signed as the first brand ambassador in June 2021.

The starting point

38 Entertainment Group launched Ellevens Esports with Gareth Bale in February 2020. By April 2020 football was suspended across the world by the pandemic. The group answered with Combat Corona, a charity series to raise urgent funds at the start of the pandemic. Combat Gaming grew out of it as a gaming collective and membership club. Tom was Head of Creative across both brands from February 2020 to June 2021.

What Tom did

Tom ran all four lanes of Combat Gaming. Those were talent and celebrity booking, format and creative, live production, and the publisher relationships with EA Sports, Activision Blizzard and Epic Games. He signed Mason Mount, then of Chelsea and England, as the first brand ambassador. Mount had played three Combat Gaming events before the ask. Tom’s line on it: “We did not pitch Mason Mount. We invited him to three events first, then asked.” His view of the job: the relationship gets the yes, and the logistics decide whether it happens.

How it worked: formats, team, partners, decisions

Event one: Combat Corona, FIFA 20, April 2020. Footballers played FIFA 20 head to head, streamed live on Twitch. Paulo Dybala beat Gareth Bale 3-1. The field also had Daniel James, Jordan Pickford, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Luke Shaw, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Billy Gilmour, Kieran Tierney and Mason Mount. The BBC reported it raised over £18,000 for charities including UNICEF. 1.2 million live viewers tuned in. The Twitch highlight runs 6 hours 48 minutes.

Event two: Combat Corona, Call of Duty: Warzone, 2020. Vikkstar123, Ed Westwick, Caspar Lee and Trent Alexander-Arnold played Warzone for Direct Relief. It drew 1.9 million viewers. The first two events raised over $25,000 between them.

Event three: the Fortnite charity tournament, 28 January 2021. Teams of three each paired a pro player, a content creator and a celebrity. A $50,000 prize pool went to the charities and causes the winners chose. The celebrities were Mason Mount, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Daniel James, Trevoh Chalobah, James Arthur, James TW, Nas Majeed, Manuel Lanzini and Luigi Gaspar. The creators included TheGrefg, Manny Brown and TurntDaisy, and the pros included Benjyfishy and Wolfiez. M1lk, H11GGSY and Vadeal won. Benjyfishy, Aubameyang and TheGrefg came second.

The partners. Twitch promoted the Fortnite stream on its homepage. Gaming Bible, part of The LADbible Group, covered it live across its platforms. The publisher relationships ran to EA Sports, Activision Blizzard and Epic Games.

The ambassador. Chelsea and England’s Mason Mount was named the first official brand ambassador on 3 to 4 June 2021. He would create and front new content series and compete in the invite only events. Mount: “Becoming an official brand ambassador with Combat Gaming means I get to take on the world’s biggest celebrities”.

After June 2021. The series ran on with Mount. On Christmas Eve 2021 he played Nintendo Switch games live with children supported by Together for Short Lives, run by Combat Gaming and the charity. Combat Gaming posted it to YouTube on 6 January 2022.

The results

• More than 10 million live views across three events.
• Over 150 celebrities, content creators and pro players.
• 1.2 million live viewers on event one and 1.9 million on event two.
• Over £18,000 for charities including UNICEF from event one, as the BBC reported it at the time.
• Over $25,000 across the first two events, and a $50,000 charity prize pool on the third.
• $200,000 raised across the events.
• Mason Mount signed as the first brand ambassador.
• The Combat Twitch channel has 22,473 followers.
• 2 Combat Gaming videos in Tom’s work hold 57,177 views.

What it proves

Convert talent after the experience. A pitch to someone who has already enjoyed the thing is barely a pitch. Mount played three events, then signed. See Brand partnerships and talent.

Celebrity booking is a logistics problem disguised as a relationships problem. Every Fortnite team paired a pro, a creator and a celebrity, live at 18:00 GMT. See The event as a studio content day.

Coverage and links

• BBC Sport, 7 April 2020. Gamer Gareth Bale raises money for Covid-19 battle in esports event.
• Esports Insider, by Henrieta Hyrliková, 26 January 2021. Combat Gaming to host $50,000 Fortnite charity tournament.
• Esports News UK, by Dom Sacco, 2 February 2021. UK player Higgsy wins $50,000 Fortnite charity event.
• football.london, by Nathan Bliss, 3 June 2021. Chelsea star Mason Mount to host a flagship gaming TV show in new ambassador role.
• Esports News UK, by Dom Sacco, 4 June 2021. Mason Mount joins Combat Gaming.
• Together for Short Lives, 24 December 2021. Mason Mount finds a new ‘dream team’.
• press.json also holds The Esports Observer on Mason Mount, June 2021, archived.
• None of the coverage names Tom.