While the Pok\u00e9mon Company has been hosting esports events consistently since 2008, the game\u2019s competitive side has not attracted the same attention as other titles. Wolfe Glick, the 2016 World Champion, wants to change this. In partnership with esports team Beastcoast, Glick is leading the charge to build creator-driven events that engage casual Pok\u00e9mon fans.<\/p>\n
Glick is highly ambitious \u2014 his desire to raise the bar has made him a critical figure in the Pok\u00e9mon community. He began competing in Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s Video Game Championship series (VGC) in 2011. By 2016, he started a YouTube channel creating content about himself and this competitive format. The timing couldn\u2019t have been better \u2014 that summer was the debut of Pok\u00e9mon Go reigniting interest in the franchise and by August, he was crowned the World Champion.<\/p>\n
However, Glick treated Pok\u00e9mon as a hobby, not a full-time career until February 2020. 2019\u2019s Pok\u00e9mon Sword and Shield helped double his subscribers, which gave him the confidence to take the next step to further his goals. \u201cIt\u2019s risky to be a YouTuber. The future is uncertain and the path forward would be less clear than my previous government consulting job,\u201d Glick explained. <\/p>\n
And then the world shut down. Glick\u2019s timing was, once again, perfect. In March 2020, Glick had 174,000 subscribers. Since then, his channel has grown exponentially. He credits his success to experimentation with different formats (particularly a focus on video essays that made the VGC format accessible to a broad audience), a consistent upload schedule, a growing team to support him. Today, Glick is closing in on 1 million subscribers, making him the most popular competitive Pok\u00e9mon YouTuber.<\/p>\n
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<\/body><\/p>\n But Wolfe Glick isn\u2019t the kind of person that rests on his laurels. He wanted to raise the bar and elevate the community further. While The Pok\u00e9mon Company\u2019s tournaments worked for the competitive community, no one was running events that brought more casual fans into the competitive fold.<\/p>\n But Glick knew he needed a partner to bring his ambitions to life \u2014 enter Beastcoast.<\/p>\n Beastcoast is a smaller esports team, primarily focused on underserved communities. This lean, but thoughtful strategy has helped the team distinguish itself from higher profile esports organizations.<\/p>\n To Grant Zinn, founder and CEO of Beastcoast, the pressures and expectations of outside funding have led to a homogenized industry: \u201cModern day esports fueled by VC money<\/a> is a lot like fast food. It looks the same and tastes the same. Beastcoast went down a different road.\u201d <\/p>\n Pok\u00e9mon was an attractive community to Zinn for a variety of reasons. Of course, the franchise is the most valuable media IP in the world \u2014 meaning a massive potential audience. On top of this, Zinn shared Glick\u2019s vision to unify the different verticals within the community. Given that competitive Pok\u00e9mon is also relatively easy for a new player to jump into yet hard to master, there was a real opportunity to grow the audience. <\/p>\n This desire to raise the stakes and make Pok\u00e9mon esports more accessible was the foundation between Glick and Beastcoast\u2019s partnership. Ultimately, Beastcoast\u2019s support beyond guaranteed money sealed the deal for Glick: \u201cIn a lot of esports, the players are younger and need more hand-holding. I\u2019m very self-sufficient so I was looking for a partner that would help me further my goals, not just give me money. Grant [Zinn] and Beastcoast wanted to team up for these events and handle the logistics while I managed the strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe both knew that we couldn\u2019t accomplish these events without Beastcoast\u2019s infrastructure and Wolfe\u2019s vibrant community. It\u2019s mutually beneficial,\u201d Zinn added.<\/p>\n
\n Register Here <\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\nBeastcoast and Wolfe\u2019s partnership<\/h2>\n
A tale of two events<\/h2>\n