Even Matchup Gaming Hosts the First S-Tier Super Smash Bros. Major of 2020, “Let’s Make Big Moves”, in New York

New Wave Esports Corp. (“New Wave Esports” or the “Company”) (CSE:NWES) is proud to report that its investee, Even Matchup Gaming Inc. (“EMG” or “Even Matchup Gaming”), an events company bringing esports to the masses through over 80 annual events (and which the Company has entered into a definitive agreement to fully acquire), hosted their first esports tournament of the new year, “Let’s Make Big Moves”. The event was held from January 3-5, 2020 at the New Yorker Hotel in New York and streamed live on Twitch. The 1,000 attendees included 750 tournament participants, while 344,000-plus fans tuned in to watch live on Twitch. The quantity of globally ranked players in attendance for this event secured EMG an S-Tier Major ranking (highest possible) as dictated by the governing body for Smash Bros. Rankings, Panda Global Rankings (“PGR”), and is the first S-Tier event in the Tristate area history and the largest Smash Bros. event ever held in New York overall. Additionally, Let’s Make Big Moves is the largest-ever single-game Smash Ultimate competition hosted in the United States’ East Coast region.

Tournament participants included 7 of the top 10 ranked PGR athletes and 22 of the top 50 ranked PGR athletes. This included notable players, such as: Tweek, Samsora, Nairo, Marss, Dabuz, Anti, Kameme, Shuton, Tea, Raito, Muteace, Light, Cosmos, Maister, Leon, Rivers, Mr.E, Dark Wizzy, Wishes, Gen, Goblin, Nick C, MVD, RaffiX, Wadi, Void, Lui$, Riddles, Blacktwins, Jw, and Larry Lurr.

The battles were intense and highlighted the best of what Smash Ultimate majors can offer in Smash Ultimate 1v1, Squad Strike, and 2v2 tournament play. Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada took first place in Singles, Tyler “Marss” Martins took first place in Squad Strike, and Rasheen “Dark Wizzy” Rose and Paris “Light” Ramirez won doubles.

Joe Cribari, CEO of EMG, said: “This year’s Let’s Make Big Moves was an event we’re highly proud of. To host the first ever S-Tier event in the Tristate area as well as the first of the 2020 calendar year is a huge milestone that EMG has been building towards since we hosted the first Let’s Make Moves in December 2018. Over 1,000 fans and players got to watch an epic weekend of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate competition with local legend NRG Nairo being crowned the champion. We cannot wait to show the fans what we have planned for Get On My Level 2020 this May!”

EMG welcomed amazing partners to the tournament, including support from BenQ, EFuse, Master Hand Gaming, Waveform Entertainment, Thunder Gaming, VG Bootcamp, House of 3000 and GenGame.

EMG is a New Wave Esports portfolio company, in which New Wave Esports has an 18% stake. On December 2, 2019, New Wave Esports announced that it had entered a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Even Matchup Gaming that New Wave Esports does not currently own. The success of Let’s Make Big Moves reinforces New Wave Esports’ decision to acquire EMG and continue evolving within the esports industry with a keen focus on growth and sustainability. New Wave Esports is committed to leading the continued growth of the esports industry and offers investors a diversified opportunity to invest in the entire esports ecosystem.

“The success we saw at this year’s Let’s Make Big Moves event has propelled Even Matchup Gaming into early success in 2020”, said Dan Mitre, CEO of New Wave Esports. “EMG’s ability to produce a high-quality S-tier event proves that they can contribute to the esports industry and our portfolio in a significant way that continues to attract the partnership of AAA publishers, globally recognized brands looking to sponsor events, and new and existing fans to the fighting game community, all while representing critically acclaimed games in a polished manner.”

For the press kit, including Let’s Make Big Moves logo and event images, please visit here.

ABOUT EVEN MATCHUP GAMING INC.

In March 2019, New Wave Esports acquired an 18% equity stake in Even Matchup Gaming, a Toronto-based leading esports and competitive gaming event organizer, broadcaster, and player management company that facilitates online and live tournaments. The company’s tournament operator model is integral to the esports industry ecosystem as it is scalable and rapidly growing. Even Matchup Gaming’s focus on fighting games uniquely positions the company in an important emerging sector of esports. The company produces over 80 events per year with 500 events hosted to date on local, regional, and national levels, including Canada’s large fighting game tournament Get On My Level and Tristate’s largest Super Smash Bros. tournament, Let’s Make Moves. Leveraging strategic partnerships and sponsorships with endemic and non-endemic brands such as Nintendo, Red Bull, and BENQ, Even Matchup Gaming’s Get On My Level 2019 tournament was an industry success with more than 2,100 players in attendance and 1M unique viewers on unique livestream programming.

For more company information and contact details, visit https://evenmatchup.ca.

ABOUT NEW WAVE ESPORTS CORP.

New Wave Esports Corp. (CSE: NWES) is an esports and competitive gaming company that provides capital and support services to esports organizations, teams, leagues, events, platforms, tools, and technology innovators.

New Wave Esports has leadership teams located in Toronto, Ontario and Los Angeles, California. For more company information and contact details, visit https://newwaveesports.com.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW WAVE ESPORTS PORTFOLIO:

• Even Matchup Gaming: Events company bringing esports to the masses through over 80 annual events (investment of 18%; entered into definitive agreement for full acquisition).
• PlayLine: Daily fantasy sports betting platform, co-founded by UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, and two-time NBA All-Star Roy Hibbert as their Investor/Strategic Partnerships Manager (minority stake investment at a $4M valuation).
• Talon Esports: Professional esports team operator in Asia providing a supportive platform to elevate its players to compete at the highest levels in triple-A gaming titles (minority stake investment at a $4M valuation).
• Thunderbolt CDG: Software applications and technology development company that has provided services for 40+ startup companies (wholly-owned subsidiary).
• Tiidal Gaming: Esports organization that owns and operates Canada’s premier esports team Lazarus, one of the highest-grossing teams in the world (minority stake investment at an $8M valuation).

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION DISCLAIMER

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information, including but not limited to statements regarding the quality, scale, and timing of events organized by Even Matchup Gaming, and statements regarding the Company’s proposed acquisition of EMG. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “anticipate”, “plan”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “intend”, “should”, and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. The Company’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of competitive factors and competition for investment opportunities, transaction execution risks, risks related to operating in a rapidly developing industry, changes to the Company’s strategic growth plans, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The Company believes that the forward-looking information herein is reasonable based on current expectations of management and EMG, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company’s expectations as of the date hereof, and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.

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