FGC legend Justin Wong shared with us his tips and tricks to growing your brand in the fighting game community. Justin Wong believes now is the time to look beyond championships to ensure a career in the FGC.
Justin "JWong" Wong breaks down how to become the ultimate FGC competitor in and out of competition.
Being an FGC Player is more than playing Fighting Games
After leading a successful professional career, Justin Wong transitioned to a career of content creation after retiring in 2019. The legendary EVO champ has become quite the content creator, and explains why its so important.
While winning tournaments is fun and can help you grow your brand, creating content and building a personality is what will attract sponsors and fans. To create a long term career in the industry, JWong advocates for creating sponsor friendly content.
You do not have to make YouTube videos daily, but uploading semi consistently about things your audience cares about goes a long way. Top personalities like Punk excel both on the sticks and off because they know their worth. This is why the FGC is more than "gaming," but includes all of the intangibles of real sports. One of those is having a personal brand to market yourself as a content creator even to make yourself as attractive as possible.
Appealing to esports organizations
JWong mentioned WUFL Season 1 Champ SonicFox as a shining example of a massive personality who plays on an esports organization (Evil Geniuises), but he says there is more than being a pro to landing an endorsement. For JWong, becoming a marketable player is enormous to growth.
Players in any sport have become the commodity that teams market, and esports/FGC are no different. From SonicFox to Ricki Ortiz, EG has leaned heavily on influencers to increase their rep in the space. Other organizations have cut prominent players due to cost cutting, but JWong argues that you can increase your value so this does not happen.
The first step is being flexible to team demands to make content. Teams make money through sponsors and by creating content and flexibility goes a long way in increasing your value so they do not drop you. Your ability to give a team an ROI (return on investment) is important and lacking.
Without FGC tournaments happening, pros and semi-pros need to diversify and adapt. To get to the next level you need to attract more eyeballs and stand above the noise.