Zagreb 360 Gaming: Ambitious Project of a Student from Zagreb’s PMF

Electronic sports or e-sports is a type of competition in video games whose total value, according to a report by the analytical company SuperData, reached 1.5 billion dollars in 2017, and given the announced investments, it is expected that by 2020, global revenues from this sport will increase by another 26 percent.

Interest in e-sports is growing year by year both globally and in Croatia, with more players and viewers, but serious organizations dealing with them are endemic occurrences in this field.

>>>Continuous Growth of the Gaming Industry and Gamification

Saša Vrcelj, originally from Pula, is slowly finishing his physics studies at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Zagreb, and previously led several successful projects related to the student organization AIESEC (Career Under the Microscope, The Job Hunt), and today his focus is on making e-sports in Croatia a relevant and financially profitable sport, or product.

As part of Zagreb Eye

The beginning of the work was focused on detailed market research and planning activities throughout the year accordingly. They have just started promoting Zagreb 360 Gaming. The response so far has been very good, but Vrcelj admits that it will take some more time before they can see the best results.

– The concept of Zagreb 360 Gaming is best explained by comparing it to sports clubs: different sports are different video games, the fields are computers, the athletes are video game players, and we are the club that organizes their training, leads them to competitions, and enables them to become even better. The basic activities of setting up this business, given the available resources, have been initiated within the society Zagreb Eye. Given the desired professionalization of relationships within the organization, Zagreb 360 Gaming is currently in the process of establishing a new legal entity, whose sole activity will be exclusively related to gaming. Along with me and my friends who help at every step of the project, three more students from Germany are working, Vrcelj explained, who has been in e-sports for years, in roles as a manager, coach, and analyst.

>>>Croatian Gaming Industry on the Path to ‘World Domination’ (2016)

– I came to Zagreb to better understand the culture and way of thinking of people in this part of Europe. When I was looking for an internship, the ‘Zagreb 360’ project first attracted me. Half of my working hours I spend researching marketing strategies, and the rest of the time I use studying video games and players. Therefore, there is a balance in my working day, which suits me very well, said Andre Lim You Kwan, one of the German students employed at Zagreb 360 Gaming.

Collaboration with Red Bull

Sponsorships and collaborations with companies are just being planned, but responsible people at Red Bull have already noticed Vrcelj and the team. For now, they have helped them symbolically, by donating drinks for the players, but given that Zagreb 360 Gaming fits the profile of projects that the Austrian company supports worldwide, it is realistic to expect collaboration in the future.

– For now, we have players in two video games and have already started training, and soon we will participate in our first competitions. In the future, we plan to organize teams in all popular video games, participate in most competitions in the region, and continuously improve the domestic e-sports scene. There are principles in the organization that we strictly adhere to in order to keep our relationship with work, the organization, and e-sports always at a commendable level, concluded Vrcelj.