Norway's Gigacon Is When Esports Has An Epic Party

With esports getting more popular every day in the mainstream in the United States, some people forget that esports is continuously rising in other countries as well. Norway is generally known for snow and vikings, not video games. Renato Mahmutagić hopes to change that public opinion and make his organization into a fertile ground for competition in the global scene.

Renato is the founder and creative director of Gigacon, a gaming festival and LAN party in Letohallen, Norway, which is part of the Oslo Games Week. The fourth annual event took place back last September, with a total of 4000 visitors to the massive, ever-growing event. The LAN had 1500 people alone, playing games constantly, during the four day event.

“As Creative Director in my company,” Mahmutagić explained, “my role involves everything from ground event concepting to more technical hands-on work. But, I generally work with the creative aspects, esports, and sponsorships.”

The origin of Gigacon goes back even further. Renato explained a little more detail.

“I started concepting Gigacon about six years ago, in my bedroom, while raiding with Method in World of Warcraft. I knew at some point I had to get a job and had to quit hardcore raiding. So, I combined all my experience and know-how into this ball that became Gigacon. The first year was in 2014 and from launch to release it was an absolute sh*t-show. We were too ambitious and unrealistic. Even though the event somehow ended up pretty good, financially it was a disaster. So, that company was shut down and my core partners left.”

Despite the unfortunate circumstances of the first event, Mahmutagić was not dissuaded from pulling his resources together and taking another pass at the Gigacon idea.

“In 2015, I picked up the scraps (because it was my baby) and reset the project. Some of the core team stayed and we rebuilt it into this solid LAN and esports event that takes place yearly in Oslo. Right now, Gigacon is in a pretty good and safe place, but for 2018 we’re looking to start some new chapters here too.”

You know there's going to be some prizes...

He then explained some of the prizes and sponsors involved. With companies like MSI, AMD, Razer, DXRacer, and Turtle Beach behind them, Renato has a lot of faith in his sponsorships.

“We’ve worked the past years with over 120 partners,” Renato claimed. “Including some of the largest endemic and non-endemic brands and supplied nearly 1 million NOK (around $125,000 USD) prize pool, in total. It is mostly cash prizes, with some gear, like peripherals and hardware, for smaller tournaments or lower placements.”

I was curious how the day-to-day items look for Gigacon and he explained that it has “four pillars.” These include the LAN, where people organize their own events, several esports tournaments and stages, an entertainment stage, and an expo part for exhibitors.

“The LAN and esports was always the foundation and core of the event. People who come to our LAN party are around 21 years old and yearly we have around 1500 participants here who stay, live, and breathe in the venue for four days. Around 55% participate in the tournaments, which go from BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) qualifiers to the finals that are played on the stages and broadcasted on Twitch and national TV channels online platform TV2 Sumo.”

Gigacon keeps their tournaments on the more-relevant and in-demand games of the day. The popular esports titles like CS:GO, Hearthstone, League of Legends, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds take a little more center stage due to this.

“Prizes are mostly focused on Norwegian amateur and semi-pro teams and players who aspire towards higher achievements. We’ve had some pro Nordic CS:GO teams, some top StarCraft 2 players, and had quite a few Hearthstone players. Hopefully in 2018 that is going to grow, exponentially.”

An event with amenities

Since this is a four-day extravaganza, food is always important. To this end, Renato went on to explain the hospitality his crew delivers to the players and staff that take part in Gigacon.

“The venues we’ve been hosting at provide different sorts of food for the participants: everything from sandwiches and baguettes, to more dinner stuff like lasagna and pizzas. Of course, many participants bring their own supply crates filled with anything from fruits to candies and Red Bulls, so it’s a mixture of all.

Mahmutagić stressed that they keep their budget as tight as possible, from their experiences, which means the BYOC concept is incredibly pertinent.

“We don’t offer any computers. The logistics behind it is too complex and demand too low, at the moment, except for the esports stages.”

As with most gaming event, the demographics focus on younger males, but as years have passed, Gigacon has seen more female attendance and participation. To that end, Renato is happy to see the growth.

“So, the average age is around 20 to 21 years old and about 85% of the visitors are males. So, we still get around 15% women and it has been growing steadily, year by year. First year, we were 92% men, for example. We’re happy see a larger influx of women attending and I think it will even out more over the next 5 to 10 years across the gaming LANs.”

"Small things like this is what keeps us going!"

Gigacon also creates its fair share of fun and memorable experiences. Renato recalled a particular story that stuck with him since.

“I think one of my favourite things was this kid who was like 12 years old that wanted to come to Gigacon. He asked if he could speak with a representative. So, I gave them my phone number, and his mother called me. We spent like 40 minutes on the phone talking about everything from Gigacon to politics and she decided that her son was in good hands and sent him to the LAN party. After the event, she sent us a lengthy message saying thanks. Small things like this is what keeps us going!”

Mahmutagić and Gigacon host other events aside from the main four-day. “I, also, do some different projects, like hosting the Hearthstone Championship Tours for Blizzard the past two years and I’ve been involved in esports the past five years. I have done various stuff from game launches to official sanctioned tournaments, like Blizzard. We did the Heroes of the Storm launch in Norway and some Overwatch engagements. We do all the Hearthstone Championship Tours, which is six in the past two years. In addition to that, I try to be flexible and offer some consulting and assistance to other new (and even established) organizers who might need some fresh input on their thoughts and concepts.”

Their next event is the HCT Polaris Oslo Tour Stop on 24th and 25th of March - a part of Blizzard´s official World Championship Circuit for Hearthstone. Check them out at polaris.gg for more details!