E-sports and gaming technology company Emerge Gaming (ASX: EM1) has announced that African telecommunications Company MTN Arena (JSE: MTN) has invested yet again in Emerge as the Company attempts to move away from the Miggster mess which saw the company stuck in a prolonged trading halt earlier this year. 

The investment by MTN, which is worth R2,400,000 (A$210,000), will go towards Emerge’s Game Studio. Under this agreement, Emerge will initiate development for an all-new Esports tournament platform, three new premium MTN branded games, and a 5G game streaming platform – all expected to be delivered before 31 December 2022. 

This new agreement shows the level of  confidence MTN has in Emerge’s capabilities, as this is not the first time the two companies have partnered up for a project. You may remember previous announcements where investment from MTN went towards Emerge producing MTN Arena and MTN Arena 5G services.

Emerge’s Game Studio was incorporated to produce a proprietary library of AAA games. Utilising Unreal Engine and Unity, the Game Studio consists of in-house and outsourced game developers to create cutting-edge, interactive and virtual reality (VR) games. 

Development of these bespoke games will be available for customers via the game streaming platform that Emerge will produce. Alongside this, Emerge will also launch MTN Arena 5G with three premium AAA games. 

Under this agreement, assuming timelines are met, the development will be subsidised by MTN. 

MTN Arena 5G will encapsulate a new game streaming service that will be offered to customers. With an expected launch date of 20 June 2023, the streaming service will house a selected number of games from Emerge’s Game Studio proprietary library. 

This news comes a few months after the shakeup that investors witnessed with Miggster and Crowd1. In a very similar structure to MTN Arena, Emerge was offering customers a tournament platform in which users can subscribe for a fee but can earn cash prizes along with cash incentives to recruit new users to the platform. 

This caught the attention of regulators worldwide, which caused them to enforce restrictions and warnings that the platform’s operations may be harmful, and even indicating it may be a scam. 

These warnings from regulators caused Emerge to enter a lengthy suspension from trading on the ASX until they made moves to divest from the Company and cut all associations. 

The news today will hopefully leave a glimmer of hope in the eyes of investors as the Company is no longer involved with its previous dodgy doings and will continue providing value for investors going forward.