A highlevel ETF holdings summary from me - upfront disclosure that I am a holder in this ETF.

I'm a believer in the long term story that we won't stop gaming any time soon. According to Vaneck - this ETF looks for companies invovled in video game development, eSports and related hardware and software globally. However I've found that the actual "eSports" exposure seems to be quite small. Largely made up of US based companies (45%) but the big names in gaming based in Japan and other countries are in this ETF too.

As usual - always do your own due dilligance - and I apologise if I've missed anything major about any of these companies. I'm not a gamer myself but there are titles and franchises I recognise here and there. Information taken from company websites, news articles and Wikipedia.

ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES: More commonly known as AMD, the semiconductor company that sell graphics cards, processors, snd software under the Ryzen, Radeon (and more) product lines.  Most likely included in this ETF under the “related hardware and software” criteria.

NVIDIA CORP:  Involved in the manufacture and development of graphics processors, chipsets and related software. Similarly to AMD, most likely included in this ETF under the “related hardware and software” criteria.

SEA LTD: Note this is also a holding in the Betashares ASIA ETF - owns Shopee, Garena, and Seamoney. Shopee seems to be a marketplace popular in southeast Asia, while Garena is a gaming developer (mobile and PC) and esports organiser. Seamoney is an electronic payments company tied to the Shopee platform.

TENCENT HOLDINGS LTD: Subsidiaries include mobile game development (world’s largest game vendor), It’s reach in China is expansive. This is one of the major holdings in the ASIA ETF as well. Lots of market jitters regarding Chinese crackdowns and concerns that the online gaming sector could face regulations.  

UNITY SOFTWARE INC: Develops the “Unity” software that customers use to create 2D, 3D and VR games and apps. Unity can be considered as one of the industry standard programs out there.

ACTIVISION BLIZZ: Game developer responsible for household titles such as Spyro, Diablo, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Candy Crush. Recent developments in this company is a scandalous lawsuit brought by California’s department of fair employment for equal pay and violation of civil rights against women concerns.

NINTENDO CO LTD: On top of its global console business, it develops games that have turned into global franchises. Need I say more?

ELECTRONIC ARTS INC: Games developer, publisher, and distributor responsible for franchises such as Apex Legends, Sims, and more.

ROBLOX CORP: Developer for Roblox - essentially a free-to-play platform where users program games and then play those games that have been created by other users. Generates revenue from in-game purchases. Recent earnings have been disappointing analysts in the US according to some news articles, which have added recent downward pressure onto the share price. Question marks also being raised by some journalists about whether it is really appropriate for kids.

BANDAI NAMCO HOLDINGS INC: Owner of game franchise classics such as Pac-Man, Tekken. The core business develops and creates games across various consoles and platforms.  An interesting little tidbit that came across in my research was that it was commissioned by Nissan (the car maker) to create new car sounds (who would have thought haha).

TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE: I found this to be one of the most interesting companies out of this ETF - it has a 50% stake in an esports organisation, the NBA 2K League. The core of this business, though, is game development - titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, and Borderlands. Previously had a very small stake in Twitch which was bought out by Amazon.
 

NETEASE.COM INC: Another holding that is also in the ASIA ETF. Predominately a Chinese mobile games developer for PC and mobile with global titles, but are branching out into online MOOCs in China. Additionally, partnerships with global companies means Netease operates well known titles such as World of Warcraft to China. According to some news reports, there has been a delay the IPO of its music streaming business “Cloud Village” due to ongoing jitteriness and volatility of Chinese major tech firms. 
 

NCSOFT CORPORATION: A South Korean game developer. I confess I don’t recognise some of these titles - Lineage, Guild Wars, Fuser, Blade & Soul, and AION.

NEXON CO LTD: A game publisher - some titles include Maple Story, and Counter-strike. It is listed in Japan, after being founded in South Korea initially. It seems have stakes in other gaming companies such as Hasbro, Bandai Namco, Konami and Sega.

BILIBILI INC: It’s core business is a Chinese Youtube, that also has license agreements to bring overseas media (such as anime) into the Chinese market. However upon doing a little more digging, I’ve found that it has a esports gaming team Bilibili Gaming (BLG). Ostensibly not a poor performer either - according to Wikipedia it has placed 2nd twice, and 1st once for Chinese Overwatch matches since its beginning in 2019.

ZYNGA INC: Games developer. I’ve definitely wasted too many hours of my life playing a Zynga game. Best known for Farmville, Words with Friends, generally operates on a freemium offering within their games.  

KONAMI HOLDINGS CORP: Another Japanese gaming titan covering console games, arcade games, and film production (for their franchises). Apparently it originally started as a jukebox rental and repair business haha, who would have thought? Konami’s major titles and productions includes Castlevania, Dance Dance Revolution, and Frogger.   

EMBRACER GROUP AB: A Swedish game developer with some recent acquisitions - seems to be on an acquisitions spree lately. Studios it has acquired have developed titles such as (and I don’t game, so bear with me) Elex, Snowrunner, Halo, Borderlands 3.

CAPCOM CO LTD: A Japanese developer and publisher of games. Behind global titles such as Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and Ace Attorney.  

UBISOFT ENTERTAINMENT: Game developer behind global franchises such as Assassins Creed, Just Dance, Far Cry. Recent news articles suggest an expansion into theme parks, partnering with a California based company to develop a Ubisoft theme park. In other news, there is a developing scandal in its the Singaporean office where Ubisoft’s Singapore offer is under investigation for sexual misconduct. Also seems to be a share buyback program recently approved in July 2021.

MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO: Widely known as MSI. Produces gaming hardware, and is also held in the ASIA ETF. Sponsors esports teams.

KINGSOFT CORP LTD: A high level summary of this company would be to say it develops software. It has game making subsidiaries - Cheetah Mobile, and Seasun.

CD PROJEKT SA: A Polish game developer, responsible for the Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077. It also developed Redengine, a game engine, and is used to build their own games. Has had a class action lawsuit filed against them in 2020 regarding misleading investors and causing damages.

SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO LTD: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest counts as some of the best known titles from this Japanese game developer. Its subsidiaries include Taito Corporation who is behind Space Invaders. Leverages their game franchises into film production, and manga (Japanese comics).  Seems to also have several failed attempts to foray into the Gaming-as-a Service space.  

NETMARBLE CORP: The other Korean game developer that make up the Korean gaming scene. This company has mainly developed mobile games. A recent development is an acquisition into casino gaming, acquiring SpinX. Netmarble also has a stake into entertainment agency Big Hit Entertainment that manages BTS (a boy band).

STILLFRONT GROUP AB: A Swedish company that has been on an acquisition treadmill of game developers who develop on a diverse range of platforms. Eg, Storm8 (Dream City: Metropolis, Home Design Makeover), KIXEYE (War Commander: Rogue Assault, Battle pirates).