North American esports organisation XSET has welcomed Quality Control Media Holdings, the home of hip-hop record label Quality Control Music, Quality Films, and QC Sports as its new strategic partner.
The collaboration will see both entities work together on a range of initiatives, including content creation, music production, merchandise collaborations, talent recruitment and management, plus licensing deals with gaming publishers.
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Additionally, QG Media Holdings will invest an unspecified amount of finances into XSET.
“We are beyond hyped to join forces with Quality Control,” shared Greg Selkoe, CEO and Co-founder of XSET. “QC are visionaries and early identifiers of the hip hop and gaming revolution. We have enormous respect for them and are thrilled to be able to tap into QC’s incredible creative abilities and business acumen as we continue to grow together.
“QC meets their audience in the places where they discover music- and gaming is new music’s newest locale. This relationship crystallises our existing synergies, and synthesises a brand new creative and artistic medium.”
The announcement also introduced a short movie featuring professional Fortnite athlete Ashton ‘Astonish’ Harris, who will be joining QC Sports and XSET’s roster as a player and content creator.
Kevin Lee, the Founder and CEO of QC Media Holdings, also commented: “We are passionate to help inner-city kids to learn about gaming and other options for them in using their time now and careers in the future.
“It’s about aligning the QC brand that we’ve built in rap with XSET in gaming to create movements for their future in gaming, to go from geeky to cool and open up that industry to black and brown communities.”
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According to the release, the core value of the partnership is a commitment to diversity and equity in gaming, which includes elevating the representation of communities of colour, women and all gamers.
Clinton Sparks, Chief Business Development Officer and Co-founder of XSET added: “I’m extremely excited to work more closely with my brilliant and long-time friend Kevin Lee. The brains behind QC and XSET have been responsible for shaping and shifting culture for over 15 years, and have had a significant impact on building successful talent, businesses, brands, and blueprints for others to follow.
“Joining forces and combining our creativity and innovation creates a dominant force that intersects gaming and music and continues to raise the bar on everything we do while pushing the culture forward.”
In six months of its existence, XSET has managed to secure several partnerships with notable brands, including HyperX, Ghost Lifestyle and SCUF Gaming.
Esports Insider says: This is a great move for both organisations, as they claim to be committed to the same cause of promoting diversity and equity in esports. Combining forces should help to bring them closer to their vision of a new cultural gaming space. Esports space could definitely use more collaborations like this.
