Cooldown, an event platform that helped run gaming and esports events in bars across the UK and elsewhere, has shut down operations.
Budweiser parent company AB InBev launched Cooldown last year as a rebrand of Mylocalesportsbar while partnering with OpTic Gaming, but struggled to find a solid footing in the UK.
Cooldown tried some interesting things such as a League of Legends tournament at Pixel Bar, viewing parties with Fnatic and UK streamer events with the likes of Jukeyz and Miss Baffy, but has ultimately decided to close.
Its most recent event was held earlier this month with UK fighting game streamer KingJae at London’s Platform bar – we’ll have a separate article on that to follow.
Cooldown required attendees to sign up to events via its own platform, competing with existing well-established general events ticketing services like Eventbrite.
The business also opted to go down a route with its own gaming-focused name, Cooldown, as opposed to having AB InBev support local esports events with its existing well-established brands like Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois. Saying that, while Budweiser has not yet activated in esports, separate brand Bud Light has run several activities in gaming and esports in recent years, such as sponsoring the likes of Fnatic, CLG and Kru Esports with the ‘Bud Knight’ to promote Bud Light.
Cooldown operated in the UK, as well as Latin America, with events taking place in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia.
Earlier this year, AB InBev also partnered with Riot Games’ Liga Latinoamérica.
Esports News UK understands staff will retain jobs, and have the option to move to different departments within AB InBev.
Also, external agency Meta, which worked on Cooldown’s marketing operations, has recently rebranded to Unlocked.
The news comes at a time where businesses are facing a difficult climate, in esports and elsewhere. Some businesses in esports that have recently closed include Finest, Juked and Jaxon, as well as UK organisations like Lucent, Rix and X7 (who ceased operations last week), with several citing the difficult economic climate for their withdrawals. Cooldown is the latest to close, though it is a small part of a much larger corporation that is AB InBev. BMW has also reduced its esports sponsorships spend moving into 2023.
We spoke with Unlocked and AB InBev for their thoughts on Cooldown’s closure below.
‘We wanted this to be the Eventbrite for esports and gaming events’
Kerry Waananen, account manager for AB InBev at Unlocked, speaks to Esports News UK.
“We were sort of shooting for this to be the Eventbrite for attendees of esports and gaming events,” Kerry says.
“If you’re curious about what’s going on, then we could scale that too, and mention viewing parties and local tournaments. Then on the organiser side we were hoping to achieve an Airbnb thing, for example if you’re looking to organise an event on certain dates and see the venues available.
“If we needed to, we could have focused on one monthly Cooldown event. But the goal was always to give the power to the community and organisers to be able to organise their own events, and give them a platform so attendees can easily sign up and the organiser can see how many people are coming. We did find some success there in getting people interested in seeing what’s going on.”
Kerry also posted this comprehensive roundup on AB InBev and esports bars on LinkedIn.
‘I hope people continue to collaborate – that’s the most important thing in UK esports’
Kishan Bhatt, senior product owner at ZX Ventures, the global investment and innovation group of AB InBev, shares his thoughts on Cooldown’s closure.
“I think Cooldown as a concept needed years, not months, because it’s a new thing and no one has done this successfully before. I know people are organising their own events separately, but no one has managed to bring it together. I think what we needed to take Cooldown forward was more time, and given the broader macroeconomic context, we weren’t able to.
“I think with new ventures, you start off somewhere and don’t always know where you’re going to end up. But you find out by testing, trialling, learning and failing, which we did plenty of. And then you’ve got to give it the room and the breathing space to really grow. I think at this stage, that just wasn’t the direction the company wanted to go in, which is totally fine.
“This doesn’t mean as a company we’re not thinking about esports. I think the space for ABI and Cooldown is extremely important, and there’s a lot of interest and care for that community, it’s just a question of how we create something that is extremely valuable for them.”
“And I think on this occasion we made the call that where we are with Cooldown and how much it might need to get it to phase two, three, four, five and beyond, just wasn’t something we were going to pursue into next year.
“So I think esports will definitely be part of [our] conversation and agenda. I think it’s about being creative but not over-complicating it. Authenticity is key.
“There were a lot of things shifting around at the time [when and after Cooldown started]. We were dealing with covid and where we focus on. We had Cooldown in Latin America, France and all over the UK. It wasn’t until we decided to focus on one city, London, and creating a community here first in Call of Duty, League of Legends and the FGC (fighting game community).
“We really enjoyed being a part of the community. The community in the UK can be small but it’s strong. I will be either involved in the space or from afar, and I hope people continue to collaborate – collaboration is the most important thing in UK esports.
“How can you support each other to make the UK a hub for esports? I think continuing to champion each other and work together will be perfect, because there will be competition [for the UK from] all around the world.”
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
