LOGS

Stories from the frontlines

LOGS

Insights, updates, and stories from the world of gaming and esports.

Community Critical Mass: When Your Community Carries Your Game

Featured Story

December 3, 2025

Community Critical Mass: When Your Community Carries Your Game

Some games launch loudly and fade quietly. Others appear almost out of nowhere and go on to shape culture, live for years, and build communities that feel more like a virtual town square with villagers and neighbours than audiences.

All Stories

The Vocal Minority

January 12, 2026

The Vocal Minority

When you are building a public product, whether a game, app or something else, the vocal minority vs. silent majority is one of the most difficult things to navigate, especially in the age of social media where every opinion polarizes to the extreme.

Aggression > Skill Based Matchmaking, According to Embark Studios

January 9, 2026

Aggression > Skill Based Matchmaking, According to Embark Studios

We have spent decades trying to fix online communities with better moderation, stricter rules and bigger ban hammers. We’ve treated "toxicity" like a policing problem where we punish bad behavior after it happens.

GamesIndustry.biz interview with Joost van Dreunen: Nobody wants AI slop

January 6, 2026

GamesIndustry.biz interview with Joost van Dreunen: Nobody wants AI slop

Joost van Dreunen, Advisor of ELO and CEO of data insights firm Aldora, was interviewed by GamesIndustry.biz

Games industry economist Joost van Dreunen joins ELO as Strategic Advisor

October 7, 2025

Games industry economist Joost van Dreunen joins ELO as Strategic Advisor

ELO (ELO Group Ltd.) is pleased to announce that Joost van Dreunen has joined as a Strategic Advisor. This appointment strengthens the company’s mission to empower gaming communities globally through its agency and venture activities.

How Pawsome: Astro Burn Demo Released

September 30, 2025

How Pawsome: Astro Burn Demo Released

We got some pawsome news! Today, our partner Beyond The Pixels drops the first public demo of Astro Burn, a fur-filled, frantic space shooter clawing its way onto Steam. The full launch across PC, Mac, mobile, web browsers and consoles is set for early 2026.

GamesBeat: Haz Dulull’s Beyond the Pixel teams with ELO on community-first games

September 11, 2025

GamesBeat: Haz Dulull’s Beyond the Pixel teams with ELO on community-first games

Hasraf ‘Haz’ Dulull, Founder of Beyond The Pixels, was interviewed by GamesBeat about the partnership with ELO.

ELO and Beyond The Pixels Join Forces to Redefine Community-First Games Ahead of Astro Burn Launch

September 8, 2025

ELO and Beyond The Pixels Join Forces to Redefine Community-First Games Ahead of Astro Burn Launch

The collaboration will kick off with Astro Burn, Beyond The Pixels’ upcoming retro inspired sci-fi side scrolling shoot-em-up game, focusing on deep community participation in- and outside the game.

ELO and XBorg Join Forces to Take FanBase Beyond Esports and Into Global Gaming Communities

August 13, 2025

ELO and XBorg Join Forces to Take FanBase Beyond Esports and Into Global Gaming Communities

ELO & XBorg have announced a formal partnership to bring FanBase to esports teams and game developers.

The Bull’s Eye of Games

August 13, 2025

The Bull’s Eye of Games

At ELO we mixed our experience with our bright minds and so we think we can see the trees from the forest. Lots of research has gone into why or what draws people into video games. I mean, ca. 40% of the global population plays video games.

MCV/Develop: ELO vs. ELO

July 14, 2025

MCV/Develop: ELO vs. ELO

What happens when a media platform places two co-founders in a room to discuss a company’s journey?

ELOQUENT with Method Sco

July 11, 2025

ELOQUENT with Method Sco

ELO is pleased to launch its ELOQUENT About Community interview series! The interview series are with leaders and parties that have successfully empowered their communities, and speaks about how their community helped grow their game, brand, project or business.

Why Transmedia Works in Gaming

July 5, 2025

Why Transmedia Works in Gaming

With the announcement of the new Edgerunners season, for my beloved Cyberpunk universe, I thought I’d tell the story on how transmedia made an impact on me personally, that I recently also talked about in our article with MCV.

Why Gaming’s Future Doesn’t Belong to the Loudest Launch, But to the Strongest Community

July 2, 2025

Why Gaming’s Future Doesn’t Belong to the Loudest Launch, But to the Strongest Community

What the 2025 PC & Console Report tells us about surviving and thriving in a crowded, flat market.

Betting is OK, Riot says

June 30, 2025

Betting is OK, Riot says

Riot Games has announced that it will allow sports betting sponsorships for Tier 1 League of Legends and VALORANT teams. This marks a major policy shift for the company, which has long been known for its strict stance on sponsorships and team requirements.

The Cost of Cheating

June 26, 2025

The Cost of Cheating

175,000$ and a lifetime ban. That’s the cost of cheating according to a US judge and Epic Games.

Esports Insider: “There’s no real community building”: How the esports veterans behind ELO want to shake up game marketing

June 25, 2025

Esports Insider: “There’s no real community building”: How the esports veterans behind ELO want to shake up game marketing

We were interviewed by Esports Insiders.

GamesBeat: ELO launches to remake game marketing with community-first vision

June 24, 2025

GamesBeat: ELO launches to remake game marketing with community-first vision

Wouter Sleijffers and Roald van Buuren, Co-Founders of ELO, were interviewed by GamesBeat.

We’re Betting On Community Economy

June 23, 2025

We’re Betting On Community Economy

We believe the future of gaming won’t be defined by short-lived virality or individual influence, it will be built by communities, working together, experimenting, sharing, and participating.

4 Pillars of Building a Community

June 22, 2025

4 Pillars of Building a Community

Recently, I’ve been asking myself a lot “what makes something a community?” and “what is community?”. We’re all part of one, or want to be, but we never really stop and think about what it is or how it was formed.

Playtests Are The New Trailers

June 21, 2025

Playtests Are The New Trailers

Most studios still think trailers are the peak of their marketing campaign, but is it really playtests that are the new trailers?

How CDPR Turned Cyberpunk Around

June 20, 2025

How CDPR Turned Cyberpunk Around

Cyberpunk 2077 has a special place in my heart. I’ve played it many times and, as someone who loves dystopian and cyberpunk worlds, Night City always had my attention, and still does now!

Building a Community Isn’t Just For Indies

June 19, 2025

Building a Community Isn’t Just For Indies

When people talk about community building pre-release, it’s often framed as something for indies. The scrappy, underdog move, the “we don’t have a marketing budget” strategy.

Communities Aren’t A Marketing Tool

June 19, 2025

Communities Aren’t A Marketing Tool

When I first got into gaming, community building wasn’t something anyone really talked about. It just happened, players naturally came together because there simply weren’t that many games around, and the ones that existed had a kind of gravitational pull. If you loved a game, you stayed, you made friends and you built memories.

How Marvel Rivals Proves the Power of Transmedia

June 18, 2025

How Marvel Rivals Proves the Power of Transmedia

I've never been a Marvel fan. I watched some of the movies and series over the years but it never truly spoke to me.

Doomed to Fail or Doomed to Succeed?

June 18, 2025

Doomed to Fail or Doomed to Succeed?

Who doesn’t know DOOM? id Software’s genre defining shooter is as iconic to gaming as Michael Jackson’s Thriller is to music. And with DOOM: The Dark Ages launching May 15 (reviews dropping May 9), it’s a good time to ask: what’s next for one of gaming’s most legendary franchises?

Esports, Time To Start From A Clean Slate

June 18, 2025

Esports, Time To Start From A Clean Slate

Yesterday I attended a panel on Private Equity and Global Investment in Sport at the International Sports Convention, and there was one statement that hit home for me.

Add Value and Gen Z Will Pay

June 17, 2025

Add Value and Gen Z Will Pay

In esports and gaming we like to complain that our audience is difficult to monetize. But isn’t the reality that the value that is offered often doesn’t hit the mark?

Modding, Game APIs and their impact on Communities

June 17, 2025

Modding, Game APIs and their impact on Communities

Open APIs and modding have advanced the gaming industry a lot, letting communities push experiences far beyond what developers first imagined.

Gaming Sits at the Epicenter of the New Entertainment Industry

June 17, 2025

Gaming Sits at the Epicenter of the New Entertainment Industry

Today I attended a really interesting panel, part of the London Games Festival (congrats Michael French on a fantastic few weeks), around the increasing interaction between games with the film industry. The panel was hosted by Simon Pulman, who was joined by Story Kitchen’s co-founders Dmitri M. Johnson & Mike Goldberg.

Why No New IP?

June 17, 2025

Why No New IP?

Wasn’t that shadow drop of Oblivion Remastered an awesome surprise? As a massive TES fan, it was for me, and of course I insta-bought it. But beyond the hype, it made me reflect on a bigger trend: how AAA studios today increasingly rely on old IP, and why that’s both understandable and a warning sign.

Why Gaming has Communities, And The Rest Has Fans Only

June 17, 2025

Why Gaming has Communities, And The Rest Has Fans Only

Community is a much used word in gaming. Why in gaming do we speak so much of a community, whereas in sports, music, film etc, we speak mostly of fans (aside from the very local fan community)?

Former FACEIT and Fnatic executives launch ELO, Supporting Games Made For and With Communities

May 20, 2025

Former FACEIT and Fnatic executives launch ELO, Supporting Games Made For and With Communities

Co-Founded by Former Fnatic CEO Wouter Sleijffers and FACEIT Director of Esports Roald Van Buuren, ELO supports Game Studios to craft experiences and shape relevancy by putting the spotlight on community.