Despite the jobs, relationships, kids and endless responsibilities that suck up our free time, adults like to spend time playing too. That’s why we take music lessons, enroll in art classes and join recreational sports teams.
But what about those of us who seek competition, but aren’t athletically inclined?
That’s where Lowkey.gg comes in. Lowkey has created a platform and league for adult amateur video game players. The company compares itself to the corporate softball league for video games. It lets people sign up individually or as teams and then matches them with other teams in a sanctioned tournament that lasts eight weeks.
Lowkey first launched as a company in the fall of 2019, and it’s gearing up to begin its first season on January 13. People can sign up on the Lowkey website right now to join the “League of Legends” or “Overwatch” leagues, with tournaments for other games coming in the next couple of months.
E-sports have been drastically rising in popularity, yet the majority of the companies cashing in on the trend have been targeting younger audiences. Lowkey is only open to adults who are 18 or older.
Like the name “Lowkey” implies, the leagues are only open to amateur gamers, not e-sports professionals. Winners take home custom apparel — not cash — as prizes, in order to get people playing for the sake of competition and to disincentivize cheating.
Lowkey was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts by CEO Jesse Zhang and a group of Harvard alumni. Now the small company is based out of New York. Zhang originally came up with the idea for a different e-sports startup, Camelot, which allowed e-sports viewers to support streamers by setting bounties. But after going through the Y Combinator accelerator program, the company pivoted into what is now Lowkey.
“Amateur players can play video games anytime they want,” Zhang told Built In. “So our company is about the extra value we can give them through our platform.”
Although Lowkey is still relatively fresh, Zhang says he’s seen promising traction. Lowkey already has corporate team signups from the likes of Apple, Amazon, Google and Bloomberg. And with Lowkey’s first tournaments starting this month, the company hopes to offer even more to adult gamers in the future.
