HerGalaxy seeking to close gender gap in esports

HerGalaxy are making a huge entry into Apex Legends with the HerGalaxy $100k Apex Legends open. Not only is this the biggest womens-only Apex Legends tournament, but it is the third largest non ALGS event this year.

With some of the most prominent female Apex Legends players competing, the Her Galaxy Apex Legends open got off to a great start last weekend. Competition is resuming on May 19 and 20.

esports.gg spoke to Megan Holgate, Galaxy Racer’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships about the event, the goals behind it and the future of womens-only esports events.

While Apex Legends fans are quickly becoming familiar with Her Galaxy, the parent company GalaxyRacer might be a total unknown. Who are Galaxy Racer and why are they pushing so much resource into HerGalaxy?

"Galaxy Racer is a trans-media company focussed on esports, content creators, music as well as traditional sports. We were founded back in 2019 by Paul Roy, and as of now our reach is over 600 million inclusive of talent."

"The thing that I love about Galaxy Racer is that it, from the beginning has been a gender balanced org. That's always been incredibly important to Paul. I think [HerGalaxy] might still be the only global org to be gender balanced. It's always been a huge priority for us to elevate women, to create meaningful opportunities in this space and that's how HerGalaxy has come about. HerGalaxy sits within Galaxy Racer and it's really our initiative to do just that. To support, to amplify and to provide opportunities for women across esports and the content landscape as a whole."

That mission to provide opportunities for women is only just beginning, says Megan Holgate.

"We kicked off our tournament series which is really our first initiative within HerGalaxy just a couple of months ago. We had a valorant $10K, which is what I affectionately call our soft open and it was immensely successful. Then we rolled right into our Apex creator cup invitational. And that's when we announced the Apex 100K."

After Apex Legends, HerGalaxy will be hosting a $100k Rocket League tournament. But, what do Galaxy Racer and Her Galaxy want to achieve with this event?

"What we're doing is trying to provide opportunities for women that already exist for men. We're trying to close that gender gap in this space and the opportunities we’re providing are not just for the massive prize pool it's also for the visibility right? With this large of a tournament we will have women competing that would not have even tried otherwise, who would have been too intimidated. This is an opportunity for women to step into this spotlight that have not had the chance to yet."

Additionally, Megan also hoped that this could lead to organisations picking up all-women teams. Luminosity signed two such teams recently. They performed incredibly well in the first rounds of the HerGalaxy event.

"Our goal for it is if coming out of [the tournament] if any of these teams were to get signed by an org or get more visibility, or even start getting more momentum. That is going to be a huge win for us."

Megan went on to highlight just how marginalised women are in the esports space. But, not because women have less interest in gaming.

"Something like over 50% of women between 18 and 29 self-identify as gamers. Whether that's casual or professional. We just want them to have a safe space to go and connect with others and we're already starting to see that. It's really exciting for me and I really hope that through the course of the Apex tournament and then also Rocket League that we keep building that community."

Women-only events can face a lot of backlash. Some don't think the events are needed. Some think that women need to compete in mainstream events to have any chance o developing careers. So, what would Megan say to critics of events like this?

"I think back to that same stat, and I always fall back on stats because you can't argue with statistics as easily. But, if you look at the fact that 57% of the women in those ages self identify as gamers and then you look at the fact that only 5% of professional gamers are women. You can't argue that there's a discrepancy there right? And so by creating more opportunities for women to compete and have the ability to really focus on their gameplay to really hone their skills, to advance themselves in their career. That's what we would love to see happen."

Megan was also keen to praise EA, who have really "shown up" for HerGalaxy.

"I think that EA in particular has really just shown up for us. As soon as they heard what we were doing they were just an incredible partner in this. I think they share our vision to really inspire change across the gaming industry as a whole and to end that gender disparity in the space. So I mentioned the Apex creator cup invitational charity event, that's a mouthful! But, 40K dollars of the 60K that we raised came from EA. So I think they've just shown up as an incredible partner in elevating the space and getting the word out for us as well in their owned and operated channels."

The $100k prize pool has raised some eyebrows. Apex Legends has been struggling for outside investment beyond ALGS for some time. This is something that HerGalaxy are aware of.

"We’ve also heard ‘why did you go so big?’ Because, again, why not. It was an incredible opportunity. We're new to North America so we figured we may as well come in and put our best foot forward and put our money where our mouth is and really just go for it."

While HerGalaxy don't have any events on the horizon in Apex Legends outside of North America, Megan said that it was likely HerGalaxy would circle back to Apex in the future to host more tournaments.

Apex Legends will never have a truly balanced space until more women compete in the main ALGS Pro League. In North America, there are currently no women in the Pro League. In EMEA, SabzBear is the lone representation for women. HerGalaxy hopes to show people that women can compete at the top level of esports.

"A huge win for us would be if any of these creators or any of these teams start getting more attention, more visibility, if they get picked up by another org. Or even start those conversations. I think that would be a huge win for us. We also look at not just those that are playing but the audience watching. We want women, and also young girls to see that this is possible. See that there is a space for them. That there is opportunity for them to compete at the highest levels. So it's really two fold, it's absolutely for the women, we want it to be an incredible player experience, we want them to have a blast, we want them to help amplify the space as a whole, support each other. But also the audience too, we want them to see that."

While there is often vocal criticism of women-only events, there is a lot of support for these events too. How can people not playing in the tournament help this event, and the women's Apex Legends scene in general?

"I think amplify, right? For us it's all about visibility so tune in, watch the broadcast, post about it, tweet about it, tell your friends to watch. The bigger the number we get the more we can do this again and again, and so viewership absolutely is a huge element as well as again amplification. Show us the support by calling out creators or teams that are doing an awesome job across the board, I think that is fantastic and very welcome."

The HerGalaxy $100k involves a lot of the leading women in North America. Including BabyNikki, LuluLuvely, Guhrl, Acie and more. The event is also casted by Hisandhers, the notable couple who have hosted several womens-only tournaments of their own.

Apex Legends does have a growing womens-only tournament scene, and HerGalaxy have taken a "good amount" of inspiration from those events, says Megan Holgate.

"I think what's amazing about this team is that they're so immersed in the space across a number of titles. They've definitely taken note of what's worked well in the past and tried to lean into those elements. But I think just to see what's been done before, especially by people like Hisandhers, is hugely inspirational too. They've paved the way for this, they've probably cleared a ton of obstacles that we didn't even know were there yet. So it has been awesome."

The HerGalaxy $100k Apex Legends open resumes on May 19. Grand finals will be on June 25th, and esports.gg will have full coverage.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more Apex Legends coverage and esports news.