New Esports Channel VENN Is A Melting Pot Of All Things Gaming And More

The proliferation of electronic gaming and esports in general paved the way for Twitch to become the leading name when it comes to all things that involves a virtual platform, a mouse, a keyboard, a console or even a Smartphone.

Gamers are now coming in a dime a dozen, and their world needs more space to streamline and expose their capabilities. VENN, a newly instituted 24/7 esports gaming network, aims to do this plus more. The company is the brainchild of multi-awarded producer Ariel Horn and former Vivenid Games global director of new media Ben Kusin.

The two managed to reel in a whopping $17 million from investors, including a big chunk from BITKRAFT, Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill, Blizzard Entertainment's Mike and Amy Morhaime, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin and aXiomatic Gaming.

The capital will pillar VENN as a new venture that, according to Hypebeast, mixes “esports with Twitch-style video game streaming” and a bunch of other nifty game-related ideas that would eventually come out of the woodwork.

Short for Video Game Entertainment and News Network, VENN is seen by its founders as a “universal network” that will not only focus on electronic sports, but as a melting pot of “pop culture and gaming.”

With a launch date aimed sometime in 2020, VENN will carry programs such as esports-centered events and competitions, as well as “reality shows, documentaries and game shows.” Tech Crunch compared the network to MTV that, during its prime, hosted a bunch of programs. With VENN, there is also music, fashion and whole entertainment spectrum.

“You're looking at a $150 billion per-year industry. We think streamers, casters, content creators, these are the new celebrities,” said Kustin. Horn agreed when he said that they wanted to make gaming as the “lens” that they will build upon “to create and contextualize Gen Z.”

As for VENN as a “universal network,” Kustin added that the network will be distributed on Twitch, YouTube, Pluto, Hulu and Roku. That's practically anywhere and everywhere their future subscribers want to watch their content.

According to Kustin, VENN will be the home and heartbeat of esports that will benefit not only the fans of the sport, as well as the stars that have made it a $1.1 billion industry.

A founding partner of BITKRAFT also has high hopes for VENN as a name that will eventually “raise the bar” for gaming and esports.

“We need to elevate the stars and stories in our community and provide a better and larger opportunity for brands to reach gamers,” said Jens Hilgers.

Horn and Kusin eyes two New York studios for VENN and plans to produce around 55 hours of original content per week.