Update [1/22/2019] Since this post was written, Gaming Battle Ground has changed it’s name to ELEAGUE.

When I first started blogging I looked around for as anything related to casual gaming…I eventually came across the Gaming Battle Ground blog. The title alone intrigued me, so of course I had to check it out.

Upon visiting the website, I was welcomed with footage of MOBA and First Person shooter gameplay, with an overlay of text saying…

My interest had now peaked, and I just had to learn more!

Gaming Battle Ground is an online platform (currently in development) where casual and amateur gamers can create and participate in gaming tournaments, and get paid to do so! It is also a community where gamers can come together and connect with each other.

As with most gamers, (including myself) the dream of becoming a professional player, and competing on a global scale has crossed your mind at some point…probably more than once. However, getting a foot in the door of the professional gaming industry is much easier said than done…not everyone has the time, funding, or access to the proper networks to achieve this.

This is the inspiration behind Gaming Battle Ground. The GBG team is made up of a mix of Croatians and Serbians, who are all passionate about gaming and are striving to bring the eSports experience to the casual player that goes far beyond just spectating.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Ivana Brecek the CMO of Gaming Battle Ground, about the new platform they are developing.

Ivana hails from Croatia. With a Masters in Marketing and Business, she has worked in several Marketing related fields. She has been a huge gaming fan from a young age, and wanted to have something gaming related be her next project. She eventually came in contact with the CEO of GBG, who asked her to be a part of the project. She loved the project and idea and jumped at the opportunity!

“We all have a lot of friends who are gamers, and are tying to be really good…you can be good, but when you compete against pros who play these games all day you don’t stand a chance. So we wanted to create something for all gamers, so they can have a chance to win tournaments, be celebrated, and make money in esports. There’s more and more people who want to have esports as a career, but it’s hard to do…You have to be either a professional player, have relationships with big esport companies, work at Riot, or be a part of ESL (Electronic Sports League). We want to have an alternative for everyone who can’t get into esports. It’s not because your aren’t good, it’s just really hard to get into those kinds of organizations. So this is our way of giving that experience to the players.”

Currently the only supported games are some of the most well known esports titles, however GBG will not be limited to these in anyway. It’s going to be an ever expanding platform that will include any game that has a competitive aspect to it.

“We’re going to start with the 8 most important esports games, which are League Of Legends, Counter Strike, Smite, Heroes Of The Storm, Call Of Duty, DOTA, Starcraft, and Hearthstone. Any game that has the competitive spirit, that can be part of esports, we will gladly support…we only need 2 minutes to implement a game, so if someone contacts us and says they have a team that really wants to play a game competitively, we can do that no problem.”

GBG will be primarily an online platform in the early stages for ease of testing, however there are plans to expand into live events and tournaments, with the stipulation that you have to win a competition first.

“There will be live events, and we will have certain competitions specifically for lives events which you’ll have to win in order to participate…The primary goal is that we make it online, and the live events will be an additional thing we give to our players.”

Tournament organization will be done by the players, who will get paid to do so (if they are really good at it) and will act as referees along with additional GBG referees. In the beginning everything will be monitored to assure fairness and minimize mistakes, the GBG refs will coach the player refs and show them the guidelines to help them be better referees from the start.

“Mistakes will happen, but we will have supporting technical tools that will help to avoid that.”

There’s going to be more to GBG than just tournaments and winning money. The goal in the long run is to create a community where gamers can not only grow their bank accounts, but also their own personal networks, improve their skills, and grow as a player alongside other players who are at the same level.

“At first we wanted to give everyone a chance to earn money through esports..but it’s not only that…we want to create a community where every gamer can feel special..our goal in the long run is to have a platform where you can earn money, but also have fun. A place where you can communicate with other players regularly, get help to improve your skills and become a better player. For us, we want to have a viable platform where people can get more from esports…a place where they can feel good about being a gamer.”

After learning more about this amazing project. I asked Ivana one last thing…I asked her if she had any advice to give to anyone who wants to turn their love for gaming into a career…

“I always wanted to be a professional esports player, but it’s not easy. It’s hard if you don’t have the support from a young age…it’s hard if you don’t have the money..it’s hard to go to school and to have time to game regularly…I would tell them to think of esports, as one branch on a tree…you don’t have to be a professional player to have a gaming career..you can be a commentator, you can stream, you can create your own platform, you can write for an esport blog…you can do a lot of things related to esports that can make you money. If a gaming career is your dream then you should follow it and never give up.”

I want to spread the word and let people know about Gaming Battle Ground. They are planning to launch the platform in the next few weeks for Beta testing. They already have a good number of Beta testers, but we all know how Beta testing goes…the more the better!

So if this is something that you would like to help test. Contact Gaming Battle Ground on their official website. If you’re a streamer, YouTuber, or just really darn good at gaming, I highly recommend connecting with them, to help get the word out, and make this project a huge success!

www.gamingbattleground.com