The gaming industry has experienced unprecedented growth over the past two decades. Our youth is being brought up on modern gaming on a scale far greater than any previous generation. Jay Melamed, CEO of a youth gaming development organization XP League shares his views and thoughts on the future of gaming and the youth in such a rapidly digitizing world. You can watch the entire interview at the link below.
Andrej: First and foremost, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to talk with us about XP League and everything you do. I want to ask you first what XP League is and to give us sort of a rundown about yourself and XP League as an organization.
Jay: Sure. XP League is a youth eSports organization similar to Little League or recreational soccer or any other traditional youth sport. But instead of balls, bats, nets, whatever, we trade ’em out for mice and keyboards. We’re a franchise, so each one of our locations is independently owned and operated. And so they’re building their own teams, getting as many kids as they can in their market to come join and be a part of this. We’re positive coach led, so all of our coaches get certified through the Positive Coaching Alliance. We actually created our own coach certification program in partnership with Next Level eSports, who have some pretty impressive coach programs and training programs for collegiate and professional level coaches. And in a nutshell, that’s essentially what XP league is. Our kids are in the seven to 17 age range. We’re all over, the US and Canada. We’ve got a few locations, but we focus on North America. And my background is I’ve built a few businesses and sold ’em in the past. And now I was more and more interested in how kids interact with each other and socialize through gaming, and saw a need for a structured way of having them do that. If anyone who’s familiar with it, you know, obviously as a gamer you get it, queuing up with a bunch of random folks sometimes isn’t the best place for a kid. So we wanted to get some adults in the room to help create that structure, and start building those positive life skills and core values that we really emphasize in our program.
Andrej: Well, that’s really great to hear as, of course, gaming has been on the rise these past few years, I think exponentially, and I think there’s a generational gap between the, should I say, millennials and the, the Gen Z kids and Gen X. So are you looking to fill the generational gap left in the nineties, early two thousands generation that are just now starting to have kids, born in the late eighties, early eighties, and they don’t really understand gaming as as a whole, so are you trying to fill that generational gap and fill them in on how their kids should consume video games?
Jay: I argue that that age group and that parent group are a lot of them first gen gamers. I mean I’m probably on the older end of our spectrum of people who grew up with Nintendo [or similar]. First, the NES came out when I was a kid, so I played that, and I had the 64 and things like that. GoldenEye was one of the big first multiplayer first-person shooters and I was about 19 when that came out. So that puts some perspective on age. But yeah it’s not just filling a generational gap–it’s a way of building a way for kids and parents to speak the same language and it allows the parents to meet the kids on their level. One of the most rewarding things that I have in my life are those moments and times that I get to spend gaming with my kids, because it’s where they live and it’s where they get to be great and they see themselves as great. And I get to come in and be a part of it, and spend all my time teaching them about life and what to expect. And, they’re the teachers [too], they get to teach me about what we’re doing and how that works. So, it’s really great to see the parents, you know, who may be skeptical at first when they come out and think, “Do I want to have my kids playing more video games? it’s just more screen time. What’s the value in this?” And then reconnecting with them after a season or two of their kids playing and hearing them talk about their kid fragging out and just using terms that you just like, are blown away that man, this guy two and a half months ago was telling me his kid was spending too much time on the computer and he really just was bringing him in to make friends. And he found a way [for] the kid [to] to build confidence, make friends, build a community, but also the parents start to get involved and meet their kids where they are and build those relationships.
Andrej: I, myself, am on the younger side and I’ve met older people that began connecting with their children through games and hearing those terms “fragging out,” getting “top frags” or “top score” on the scoreboard and it’s fun to hear. It actually makes me happy to hear, and, your league, XP League and organizations that are similar, I think are very beneficial for society as a whole currently, because kids spend a lot of time playing games, but they do not, I think, connect with people outside of the 25 inches that they stare at. So I think connecting the parents and their children and creating this sense of community is very good. And I think it’s very commendable. But why would someone choose XP League outside of that? You know, outside of that, connecting with, creating community, trying to connect parents and kids, creating a [positive] environment. What is the mission that XP League has? Are you trying to create new professionals or just gamers in general?
Jay: Yeah. We’re building a place [to be] essentially a team for all gamers. So any kid who is looking at games and is looking for either community building, self-confidence, learning life skills, [or] just wants to get better at the game, wants to be a big competitor, [and] just wants to play for fun. They all have a place in the XP League. And that’s all part of our vision and our mission. We have structured tiers where we’ve got kids who are just recreational and they come out and they play for fun and they’re not too stressed about winning. They’re just learning how to be a good teammate and having fun and building confidence and the parents start seeing that. And so those are the values. The other side of it is we’re in person, so these kids are in the same room. They’re also learning positive habits around gaming. Because one of the biggest issues I believe that we have in multi-player games is toxicity. It’s a tough place. I mean, gosh, it’s a really tough place to be a woman. You know I’ve said to you, girls who game and play Call of Duty are obviously [having] a horrible [time]. And they use voice changers because it’s so toxic. And so what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to fix that by educating this generation on understanding [and listening] to the other side of that mouse and keyboard and monitor [where there] is a kid just like them probably. And so when you’re competing, you’re competing against other kids just like you, [only] you’re hiding behind this veil of anonymity. And then, the veil of your gamer tag doesn’t change the feelings and emotions of the person on the other end. And so having them play together, come together in person, on a team, it really adds a lot of value in the way the kids start to behave and to interact and to start learning those values. Again, we’re coach-led. That’s all about positive coaching and it’s values driven.
Andrej: Of course. It’s good to hear that you’re refining toxicity. I think the eSports side of things is very, very toxic. Of course, it’s a competitive environment. Every competitive environment is going to have toxicity, but I think online gaming, the anonymity of the things, et cetera, very much creates a sense that on the other side, there’s no one, it’s just a screen, it’s just character. You can say to them whatever you want. But creating those communities, I think it’s very, very important. When mentioning toxicity I think there are a few titles and video games that stand out a lot in this regard. Which games do you focus on? Especially because you’ve said that League Legends is not part of the program. Our site, LeagueFeed, focuses on League of Legends. But, do you have anything more to say on what games you guys play? And what are your plans for League Legends itself?
Jay: Yeah, so we’d love to have more players who play League. So if your readers and, and folks who are on this are in the under 17 age range, man, we would love to have them find the closest XP League and get started and join the team because right now we’ve got a handful of teams [but] not enough to run a season just yet. But the most commonly requested thing to do is to really emphasize pulling up League and getting more folks involved in gaming on League. But right now our games that we play are Valorant, Fortnite, Rocket League, and Apex Legends. Overwatch too. The most popular right now I’d say are Fortnite and Valorant.
Andrej: Fortnite is all the craze with the kids these days, as they would say. But, just today, League of Legends, or Riot Games announced they’re closing their North American Challenger League, which was their developmental league. Does XP league have a plan on trying to step into the market of developing actual pros and building them from the ground up? As for, for example, some soccer clubs would be in their youth development divisions.
Jay: So we have some partnerships with pro teams, and we’ve looked at academy programs and building things out so there’s the potential in the future for that to exist. I can’t say whether we’ll get there or not, but right now we’re really just focused on building great players. The kids on the higher end of the spectrum that compete [at high levels] we try to pair up with colleges and universities, so when they’re old enough and go off to college they’ve got scholarships and a place to play. So that’s something that we’ve been really focusing on lately on the pro side. We’ve had three kids sign pro contracts so far in Rocket League, which was really cool. And then we’ve had some other kids who are competing in tournaments and place really highly and do really well in some of the Fortnite tournaments and things like that. So it’s exciting to see that. Is that our mission? Is that our only goal? No, not at all. I mean we’re focused on helping all of the kids [including those] 10% of 1% that have what it takes to go pro.
Andrej: Naturally, getting to the pro leagues or the big leagues is a great leap ahead. And not everyone is cut out for it. But I think that we are seeing more and more kids inclined to go pro. And that will lead me into the next question. You mentioned that you are one of the earlier [or] the earliest gaming generations and that you’ve experienced gaming from the very start, [or] should I say, from the console era, from the first and second generation consoles up until today. How do you see the gaming industry today compared to what it was over the past 20, 25 years, and how do you think it will change in the next five to 10 years?
Jay: Looking at the growth obviously in North America year after year [and especially] in the last five years, eSports has grown significantly. When you look at Valorant Challengers, and the VCT League in North America had huge viewership. And [Valorant] is only two years old. When I started the company, on my original pitch deck when we were putting together ideas about three years ago I had a slide showing all the colleges in the US that offered [gaming] scholarships. I can’t have a slide like that anymore because the number is 300 plus. There are so many schools that have gotten involved, and so the landscape in the US for competitive gaming has really blossomed and continues to increase. And so if you ask where do I see the future going? I think the CEO of Netflix, and his letter to shareholders in 2019 mentioned that he was more afraid of Fortnite than he was of HBO Max. And I think that’s an interesting way to think about it. I have a 14-year-old and 11-year-old [child], and their world isn’t [the same]. They watch some TV, but really they watch Twitch and YouTube and they play games [most of the time]. And that’s the world that they live in. And so as they grow up gaming is at the forefront of everything they do. And competitive [is a big deal]. I mean, my son can [name] more competitive gamers than football or soccer players.
Andrej: The rise of the digital world is very much taking place in front of our eyes. More and more organizations and even governments are now stepping into the digital sphere, especially gaming, which has, I believe, earned around 170 billion [dollars] this last year. So many organizations are coming in. And so many organizations and schools and governments, and as I’ve said, corporations, et cetera, want to get their slice of gaming. And what organizations or partners are primarily involved with XP League? You’ve mentioned some big professional teams that you guys are associated with. I saw Alienware [on your website]. So can you elaborate more on how you cooperate with your partners?
Jay: Alienware actually sponsored our big event last year. It was a North American final, so we’re not actively involved with Alienware. They just came in as a sponsor of a big in-person event that we have. So the way that our seasons work throughout the year [is] the kids compete [in] splits all year long. But then it culminates in a regional tournament where the top place kids from the regional tournament go to a large final event. And we actually hold that at Full Sail University. We take over almost the whole campus in terms of their production, capacity facilities. We’re the largest eSports event at full sale. We’re gonna be there again this year, and this year we’ve got MSI HyperX supporting us. We’ve got Peripheral, who’s gonna be our PC sponsor. And so we try to work with a lot of the OEMs in the space. You know, you think about kids in our age range, we’re exposing them to the things that the brands that they’re going to love. And this is where they start building loyalty and building allegiance so a kid who starts playing on a Logitech G is always gonna wanna play on that, right? So, it starts building out those opportunities. [As for the pro teams], we work with Ghost Gaming. We work with Dark Zero. We were partnered with Paraba Parabellum, but Parabellum has had a bit of a pause [as] they’ve been suffering through the eSports winter. Their team is still competing, but their operations have been put on hold. So it’s kind of interesting. Then in terms of other partners and companies that we work with we try to interact really well with the publishers and do what we can on that end as well.
Andrej: It’s nice to know that you guys are looking to branch out as always and to connect with as many gamers and organizations as possible. Of course, connecting with the youth through youth organizations is the best tactic. And, you’ve mentioned that for now you guys are cooperating and spreading your franchise across the US and Canada. Are you looking to significantly expand into other continents? For example, Europe or perhaps even Asia that is right now the biggest emerging gaming community.
Jay: I won’t say we’ll never do it, but there’s, there’s still a lot of white space in the US and so we’re heavily focused in North America and continuing that. At some point, you know, perhaps, we will expand out into the UK and into Europe, but right now we’re putting all of our effort into North America.
Andrej: I’m sort of sad to hear that. I myself am from Europe. I very much have a few candidates of my own that would fit well or benefit from being a little educated on how online gaming presence should look like. XP League to me seems more focused on developing the youth than developing a gamer. So would you call yourself a youth organization more than a gaming organization?
Jay: It’s both. It’s a youth gaming organization, right? They’re one and the same. Our focus is on developing these kids into the best gamers they can be, but also the best people they can be. I think it’s like you can’t have one without the other.
Andrej: Yeah. Being a good person online and being influenced by the online space, and still being a good person is kind of hard for these kids today, especially with, as I said, the online anonymity and toxicity of competitive environments. I’d like to know if you guys are looking to create a sort of championship? I know you guys hold tournaments, regional and national, but does it serve only to emulate the competitive environment, or are you genuine in your competitive sense?
Jay: Our North American finals are a very competitive and well produced event. If you look for it on YouTube, and you find some of the footage from the 2022 North American finals, I mean, it’s really, really well produced. And the level of competition that these kids [express] is really strong. We have a kid that’s a Supersonic Legend in Rocket League. We have kids who are peak Immortal or Radiant in Valorant. We have a kid that’s in the top 500 in Overwatch. These are really, really competitive players. And they’re playing with other kids that they play with regularly, and they build a really strong team dynamic and, with a good coach putting them in place. It’s really exceptional to see. I mean, it really is. And we’ve had pros, and pro organizations attend and comment on just how impressed they were with what we do and what we put on. We actually were nominated for a Tempest Award from the eSports Business Summit last year for the event. And we were shortlisted. We were one of the five finalists, so we’re pretty excited about that.
Andrej: Well, I was impressed with what I saw. Definitely. It makes me very excited because I’ve been a gamer for since I can remember. I kind of feel jealous of the kids today that get to experience such a sense of community and not have to be thrown into the wild online and fend for themselves.
Jay: That’s the most common thing we hear when we talk to somebody about this who’s over the age of twenty. “I wish I had this when I was a kid.”
Andrej: Oh, yeah, I definitely wish we had this when I was a kid, especially in my country in Europe. Gaming didn’t pick up steam until the last few years in the late 2010s. So that would’ve been very beneficial. But let me get back to League of Legends for a second, because of course LeagueFeed focuses primarily on that. League of Legends since a few years ago has been franchising their competitive scene. They removed the smaller tournaments and just removed their developmental league. And it seems to me that they’re focusing more and more on corporate interests and big organizations that can actually pay the 10 million [entry fee] to enter. How does XP League see itself in helping create amazing, insane stories of the underdogs coming together and entering the competitive scene and making strides just like Team Dignitas, for example, made so many years ago?
Jay: That’s a great question. And I wish I had an answer for you in League of Legends [slang], and but really where I can kind of elaborate and talk to that is more in what Riot is doing with Valorant. And they just had this Premier Beta where it was an open tournament, to try to start feeding their competitive play within the program, within the game platform, and then eventually hoping to like start feeding their challengers, which eventually will feed the ascendant league, which will eventually feed the VCT, and give kids and smaller orgs an opportunity to compete. And so I actually took one of our teams and worked with them and coached them through Premier, and I think there were 1200 teams in the North American East Division. Our kids came in 20th, and so I thought that was pretty damn good. And that’s beyond impressive for 13, 14, 15-year-old kids.
Andrej: That’s good to hear. That’s beyond impressive, really goes to show how much you guys focus on bringing out the best in children and the youth, both of the members and people. I think we’re nearing the end of our time here. But, for the end, I just wanted to ask you what the future holds for the XP League? In short, do you see yourself growing into something very super national, encompassing the entire gaming world, at least in the US? And, do you see yourself branching out of the traditional MOBA sphere, meaning Riot Games and popular titles and entering as many titles as possible? Or do you just want to stick to the very concise competitive scene?
Jay: The quickest answer is, in terms of game titles and things like that we’re always going to stick with what kids are playing. And not address our sales pitches to the parents. The kids are easy, they want to do it, and they’re playing the game, so I don’t wanna try to have to sell them on a new game to play. But in terms of where we see ourselves and where the future is, our vision and our goal is to be the [definitive] youth brand in youth eSports. In the US if somebody talks about young kids playing baseball, they talk about Little League. Well, Little League doesn’t just mean little kids playing baseball. Little League’s a trademark, that’s the name of the league. And so I want XP League to be synonymous with youth gaming. So, if our kids apply to colleges and a collegiate recruiter sees that they played in XP League, that means something to them. If a coach coaches an XP League and then wants to go coach for a collegiate or professional team, they can list that experience with XP League and it’ll mean something. And so that’s the vision and the core idea of where we see ourselves going and the goal of XP League in the next five to 10 years.
Andrej: That is great to hear, and I surely hope that you succeed in this. I believe that what you’re doing is very, very beneficial for the entire gaming world, especially in the US. The United States or Canada are global cultural exporters. So I think that any and all development of the youth in the US in terms of gaming will benefit us across the ocean over here so I thank you for doing what you’re doing and I wish you the best in your work and especially thank you for taking the time to come over and talk to us about gaming and the future of our youth, and of eSports.
Jay: My pleasure. Thanks so much, man. Take it easy. It’s great talking to you.
Andrej: Thank you. Goodbye.
Conclusion
XP League, spearheaded by the passionate Jay Melamed, has devoted its activity to bringing up the best people and gamers in North America. The full podcast-style interview is available at the link above. You can find out more about Jay Melamed and XP League below.
Jay Melamed | XP League
More: about Jay Melamed, the co-founder of XP League, the first and largest esports franchise in North America…
When the pandemic first hit, like many parents, Jay Melamed saw the huge impact it had on his kids’ social lives. Online gaming quickly became their only form of interaction. With four kids under his roof, Melamed immediately noticed a huge gap in the gaming industry, specifically in the esports world where young gamers had zero structure to engage in safe, friendly competition.
He set out to find a solution to help not just his family, but other kids who were experiencing the same hunger for social interaction. What began as a seed of an idea eventually led Melamed to co-found and launch XP League in 2020.
Melamed was a competitive swimmer in college, and being on a team had a huge influence on his approach to leadership. With XP League, he wanted to bring the same skills and values taught in traditional sports to kids in the esports space, helping young people develop resilience, teamwork, sportsmanship, and leadership.
Today, XP League is a fast-growing youth esports franchise, with 50 franchises awarded and more in the pipeline, Jay’s vision is changing the esports landscape. Young players are led by a coach who focuses on teaching gaming tactics in addition to the above-mentioned skills and values.
