Actor and producer Seth Green has joined the advisory board for rising esports entertainment company, Global Gaming League (GGL).
Green joins GGL as it launches its new gaming platform, GGL Primes, which offers both free and paid tiers. To celebrate Green’s addition to the organization, GGL Primes will host “Ready, Seth, Go!”, an immersive month-long tournament series that kicks off Thursday.
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The event will include 10 competitions across multiple gaming franchises (some of which feature Green’s work), including “Mass Effect,” “Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Zombies,” “Tekken 8” and “Street Fighter 6,” giving players 50 opportunities to win prizes through gameplay, creativity, and community participation, per GGL.
Best known for creating and executive producing the Emmy Award-winning series “Robot Chicken” and his iconic roles in “Family Guy,” “Austin Powers” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Green is a lifelong video game lover who has also lent his voice to characters like Joker in BioWare’s “Mass Effect” trilogy and Poindexter S. Zittermann in “Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Zombies.”
GGL’s aim is to expand beyond traditional esports into an entertainment brand in which gaming, celebrity, music, sports, creators, and culture come together in live events, original programming, digital experiences, and community-driven competition. As an advisor, GGL says Green will assist in this goal by collaborating with executive leadership on creative strategy, intellectual property development, audience engagement, talent partnerships, original programming and long-term brand expansion.
GGL founder and CEO Clinton Sparks tells Variety the league and its new platform GGL Primes were born out of a desire to “build international bridges, connect cultures, close age gaps, and uplift underestimated communities” in a way that he thinks nothing but music has. However, Green says “there was a moment when Twitter felt like that.”
“The very beginnings of Twitter, Pete Wentz and I actually talked about it,” Green says. “Like, if we’d had the chance to hit up Robert Smith when we were teenagers, like, ‘What’s up, dude? I love your hair!’ or whatever the fuck. Twitter, when it first started, became this incredible equalizer where anybody could get to anybody. And ultimately, like with any of those things, it becomes exploited for negative power. But that sentiment, that access, that feeling of real connection, that’s something that feels possible with this.”
Founded by Sparks, a Grammy-nominated music producer and former FaZe Clan executive, alongside T-Pain as director of strategy and Priceline co-founder Jeff Hoffman as chairman, GGL has brought on celebrities including Howie Mandel, NE-YO, Flavor Flav and podcast stars Gillie&Wallo267 as owners of some of the league’s teams.
“People come in for different reasons, and they have different passions that connect with them,” Sparks told Variety. “Obviously, [Seth] has a different perspective than say Howie or NE-YO. Some people are team owners, some people are more in the infrastructure of the business side of it… So it depends on their capacity, their bandwidth, their level of interest and understanding of what this means to so many people, and what it can be. Clearly, Seth understands, because he’s built a career off of building fandom and attracting people to things that are culturally relevant and cool.”
Sparks continued: “We both have a shared passion in helping other people and giving opportunities. So bringing Seth in, somebody that understands storytelling, somebody that has a history in entertainment and nerd culture and gaming culture and all of these things that mesh together, that is exactly what we’re building.”
To date, GGL has teamed with seven AAA video game publishers and recently become the first-ever video game partner for iHeartMedia. But one area of expansion Green and Sparks want to heavily focus on is adding more women in public facing roles within GGL to accurately represent the number of women within the larger gaming community. That means finding celebrities to be players, team owners and other high-profile members of the business.
“I’ve talked to everybody from from Kris Jenner to Charlize Theron to Megan The Stallion,” Sparks said. “I’ve talked to women across the board and I’m trying to sell them and show them why this is so powerful, and how it can bring so much more meaning to their audience or their own personal brand, and how big the audience is. I’m trying to make them aware that this is an incredible opportunity for you to build upon your legacy, build upon your business, and have an authentic footprint in the largest entertainment audience in the world.”
Per GGL, the “Ready, Seth, Go!” tournament will feature events including:
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Zombies survival challenges featuring Green’s fan-favorite character Poindexter, with Green reacting to standout gameplay clips from the community.
Mass Effect speed-run competitions celebrating Green’s iconic role as Joker, complete with fan commentary and exclusive reactions.
Competitive Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 tournaments culminating in championship matches inspired by Green’s signature comedic style.
Build Your Shepard, the series’ flagship creative competition, inviting players to create their ultimate Commander Shepard across the Mass Effect universe. Green will personally review submissions and select the grand prize winner.
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