When I decided to dive back into the world of gaming over five years ago, I knew from experience that it was imperative to update myself on the Quebec scene to understand what clans, guilds, LANs, communities, etc. existed, to determine whether the players I knew still existed and who the newcomers were. Back then, I even created a table to track who had relationships with whom, to be able to see the cliques. This is very important information in all small areas, especially underground ones, where the players all know each other.
A few days ago, I wondered if accessible information was still as difficult to find as it had been in the past, and what conclusions I could draw from it about the Quebec market and its various players. It is important to mention here that the exercise I had done in the past had been extremely useful in identifying the different organizations, but some of my conclusions about the interactions were wrong because, obviously, I did not have access to 100% of the information, public information is unfortunately often misleading, and there were at the time groups of individuals who took great advantage of the fact that it was small and unmonitored to secretly own multiple organizations at several levels where many conflicts of interest were present. In short, they would never have had a page like this: http://leonin.ca/partenaires/. This warning is important because, despite the fact that I 110% encourage you to do this exercise when you want to enter a new niche market, be careful not to take your interpretations and conclusions as absolute truths. This will create scenarios like the one I experienced a few months ago when an individual, who definitely didn’t recognize me, told me he wanted to be like the Fédération québécoise de sports électroniques (FQSE), which managed and sponsored the Sportifs du clavier (Keyboard Sport) team in addition to directly owning competitive teams… Before you start with rumors, NO, the FQSE doesn’t do that.
Anyway, armed with loose paper, a pencil, and five blank screens, I decided to conduct a little experiment. In just one hour, I had to try to paint a picture of the Quebec esports scene. Since I already know all the players and am used to browsing their websites, here are some restrictions I set myself:
- Use Modzilla Firefox, a browser I never use, to ensure my search results aren’t biased by Google’s dear Big Brother.
- As soon as I arrive on a page, read the entire page to find the key information about the organization. If it’s not obvious, I should read the “About” section. Only then should I go to the “Partners” tabs.
- If a link takes me to Facebook, I should look at at least the last five posts and prioritize returning to the websites.
- I can ignore information more than a year old.
Here we go! From here on out, I’m forgetting all my knowledge about the industry and I’m just a recreational player who wants to play e-sports and maybe even start a team.
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Let’s type “Esports Quebec” into Google. Note: Google suggests I type “focus esports quebec” instead.
The first link is that of the Quebec Electronic Sports Federation (FQSE). I didn’t even know it existed! I quickly learned that Windstorm Gaming (Michaël Ponsin, Mathew Carvalho and Guillaume Bélanger are the founders) is a multigaming team, that the FQSE has relations with Cameroon and that there is a sports-study program that is being developed with Cortex Esports. Navigating tab by tab, I come across the executive committee of the FQSE, I note the names:
Patrick Pigeon – CEO
Michaël Daudignon – CFO
François Savard – CAO
Steven Castelli – CIO
Alexander Tanasie – CHRO
Dawei Ding – CLO
Maryse Landreville – Executive Assistant
Browsing further, I discovered two resource pages with many organizations: the Members (1) and the LCE page (2)
(1) Via the Members page, here’s what I learned by visiting the links associated with the images:
Student Association UdeM Gaming :
→ They also hold Smash events
→ There are playtests with Ubisoft Montreal
→ Ludos
Student Association Concordia esports → They have many teams
Student Association McGill ESA → Also do events
Student Association Dawson esports association → Organizes LANs
Student Association EsporTS :
→ QI Challenge → Dead link
→ Nexus → Dead link
→ GLOES Games → Dead link
→ LAN Rosement → Page redirected to Global Gaming‘s Facebook. I registered on the Global Gaming website and while browsing I discovered a very long list of teams plus a Discord server http://globalgaming.gg/index.php?page=ListTeams
CPTN :
→ Nice to have an esports program at school! There wasn’t one in my day.
→ Team Sailor Scout → Fantasia / Geek Girl / Bootcamp at MVA
CFPR :
→ Nice another esports program at school!
→ Montréal Gaming
→ Mirage Esports
→ Leonin.ca (François Savard)
→Documentary on Team Sailor Scout
Student Association BBB → Discord Server
Earthroot Gaming :
→ Kore
→ Zone Gaming → Venue in Laval
→ FQSE
Montreal Overwatch League :
→ FQSE
→ MVA → The only gaming studio in Montreal
→ Faucons
(2) Via the LCE page, I learned that there are 16 schools that have at least one Overwatch team and that Microplay, Loto Québec, BCF Avocats d’affaires, and HyperX are interested in esports. The list of local partners gives me new names:
Spordle → Appears to be a supplier
EGN :
→ Northern Arena (An event at the Bell Centre!)
→ Meltdown Montréal
→ FQSE
→ Team Sailor Scout
→ HSQC
LvLOp :
→ RDS Have an esports section! What?! It’s hard to find on their site.
Meltdown Montréal
→ There is a Meltdown in Quebec and Toronto
→ Twitch Montréal
→ Cydonia is a professional Hearthstone player from Quebec
Skyzo → Cortex esports → Cryptus / MSI / La Planque JV / Gamers Potions / LvLOp
Cryptus → Graphic designer
END OF THE HOUR
Here is the complete list of organizations that may have a connection to gaming and esports that I managed to find in an hour:
Reference (1) : FQSE
Teams/Players(14 & +): Windstorm Gaming, UdeM Gaming, Concordia esports, McGill ESA, Dawson esports association, EsporTS, CPTN, Team Sailor Scout, CFPR, Mirage Esports, BBB, Earthroot Gaming, Faucons, Cydonia and other teams on the website of Global Gaming
Organizers(5) : Cortex eSports, Ludos, Ubisoft Montréal, Global Gaming (GG), HSQC
Venues (8) : MVA, Gam1ng Café, Nexus, Zone Gaming, Meltdown Montreal, Meltdown Québec, Meltdown Toronro, La Planque JV
Events (4) : LCE, QI Challenge, LAN Rosemont, Northern Arena
Others(12) : Kore, Geek Girls, Spordles, EGN, RDS, Twitch Montreal, Cryptus, MSI, Microplay, HyperX, Montreal Gaming, Gamers potions
Observations and analyses of the results with an informed eye:
- The scene is much more diverse than it was five years ago, which is reassuring and shows that progress is being made.
- It’s impressive that so many schools are represented in the LCE and that esports-study programs are being established. I would have loved that when I was younger.
- One hour of research isn’t enough to fully understand the Quebec market.
- This type of research absolutely needs to be supplemented with more specific research based on the desired field, but it’s the best way to see an organization’s involvement in the global esports scene. For example, LAN ETS and DreamHack Montreal are sporadic, super fun but extremely self-centered events that generally don’t interact much with other stakeholders throughout the year except for a brief period a few months before their event.
- Despite the fact that several important players are missing and that the FQSE site has not been fully covered due to lack of time, the current list clearly demonstrates the majority of organizations that I see present at the activities and that add daily life to the esports scene in Quebec.
What to do next?
The next step would have been to fill out a list in Excel with more specific information about each organization to better understand where they stand relative to their competitors.
Here is a list of relevant information to gather to gain the most accurate picture of the industry:
- Organization Name
- Foundation Date
- Founder(s) + Contact Information
- Current Director(s) + Contact Information
- Business Model
- Organization Type
- Physical Address
- Primary Email Address
- Website
- List of all social media channels used with links + number of subscriptions
- Current Partner(s)
- Current Sponsor(s)
It is important to note that privacy concerns must be addressed when creating this type of document, especially if you are doing it for someone else. For example, an in-depth study, which takes at least 80 hours of work if you are already very familiar with the industry, may require interviews with certain organizations. In a case like this, it’s essential to notify your contact. If you’re truly serious about your business venture, I recommend hiring an expert to ensure you have the RIGHT information. Here’s the link to my services: http://leonin.ca/services/
