EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1708341
Filing Year: 2023
Filename: 1708341_10-K_2023_0001213900-23-022824.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business
Overview of Business
Unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise requires, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” “AGAE,” “Allied” and the “Company” refer to Allied Gaming & Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
Allied is a global experiential entertainment company focused on providing a growing audience of gamers with unique experiences through renowned assets, products, and services. Prior to July 2021, the Company owned and operated World Poker Tour (“WPT”) businesses and Allied Esports business. On July 12, 2021, the Company completed its sale of its business comprising the WPT business for gross proceeds of approximately $106 million. As of December 31 2022, the Company’s operation includes Allied Esports International, which owns and operates HyperX Arena Las Vegas, one of the world’s most recognized esports and entertainment events facilities, two mobile arenas-Allied Esports Trucks, and original content studio which creates and produces proprietary content series to serve brand activation and promotion, fans and community engagement. The Company offers a variety of esports and gaming-related content, including world class tournaments, live and virtual entertainment and gaming events, and original programming to continuously foster an engaged gaming community. In December 2022, the Company completed a strategic review of its business operations and announced plans to restructure the existing esports business and expand its focus to include a broader array of entertainment and gaming products and services. Under this plan, the Company intends to pursue multiple channels of opportunities instead of a single significant corporate transaction such as an acquisition of complimentary assets or businesses, and it is currently exploring opportunities to leverage its location-based-entertainment expertise with a focus on gaming lifestyle and experiential entertainment, as well as growing its digital footprint and monetization capabilities through mobile gaming.
The entertainment industry has witnessed the rapid growth of gaming, which now ranks among the largest and fastest-growing markets. As of 2021, with a staggering 3.1 billion gamers worldwide, the global gaming industry was valued at $202.64 billion and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2% between 2022 and 2023. Mobile gaming and esports are the major driver of this exponentially growing market. Esports, an abbreviation of “electronic sports,” encompasses a diverse range of competitive electronic games that are played by gamers against each other. Popular esports games include Fortnite, League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, Overwatch, and FIFA. Unlike the traditional video games where players can play alone against the computer or console, esports has evolved to include a community and spectator aspect. Competitive gameplay against another person, either individually or in teams, viewed by an online and in-person audience, has become a central feature of esports. Additionally, game developers have greatly increased the watchability of games, which has made the spectator aspect of gaming much more prevalent and further drives expansion of the gaming market. Esports has now become so popular that many colleges offer scholarships in esports and the best-known esports teams are receiving mainstream sponsorships and are being bought or invested in by celebrities, athletes and professional sports teams. The highest profile esports gamers have significant online audiences as they stream themselves playing against other players online and potentially can generate millions of dollars in sponsorship money and subscription fees from their online streaming channels. Meanwhile, the industry of watching other people play video games continues to surge in popularity. In 2022, the games live-streaming audience grew by 14.5% year over year to 927.3 million (Newzoo report). It is estimated that this category will reach 1.21 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of +12.7%. For years to come, infrastructure development and the growth of mobile esports will be the key drivers in emerging regions, while the diversification of content is likely to drive viewing behavior in western markets.
Allied will continue to use a three-pillar strategy in its gaming and entertainment services; in-person experiences, multiplatform content, and interactive services both independently and in connection with its strategic partners.
Our Growth Strategies
In-person Experiences
With its world class gaming and live broadcasting equipped facilities, Hyper X Arena Las Vegas, Allied will continue delivering first-in-class live experiences to customers which will allow them to compete against other players in world esports competitions, to host live events with influencers that potentially stream to millions of viewers worldwide with unprecedently engaged experience, to produce and distribute incredible entertainment content with its on-site production facilities and studios. Allied’s flagship HyperX Arena Las Vegas serves as a marquee destination for esports fans globally and has become one of the most recognized esports and live entertainment venues in the world. Additionally, Allied has two mobile esports arenas, which are 18-wheel semi-trailers that convert into first class esports arenas and competition stages with full content production capabilities and interactive talent studios. Through our renowned assets, Allied believes it can offer customers an unmatched ability to participate in simultaneous global esports events and offer sponsors and partners a truly scalable global platform and audience to promote their businesses and products.
Flagship Arena. In March 2018, Allied opened its first flagship arena, the HyperX Arena Las Vegas, at the Luxor Hotel & Casino on the Vegas strip, whose pyramid is one of the most visible landmarks in Las Vegas. This arena has over 130 gaming stations, two bars, food service, private rooms, an unmatched full-scale broadcast and production facility, and space for up to 1,000 people for events. The arena is custom-built for esports tournaments and has a broadcast-ready television studio to broadcast live events and produce content. Allied monetizes the arena through hosting or renting the space for live events; merchandise sales; daily usage fees from day-to-day gamers using the gaming stations; tournament entry and player venue fees; food and beverage; and a long-term sponsorship (i.e., our HyperX naming rights relationship).
Affiliate Arenas. One of Allied’s strategic advantages is its global network of esports arena partners, which enables it to host events and promote competitions around the world, with those competitions culminating in live events held at the flagship arena in Las Vegas. Allied achieves this through its Affiliate Program, which consists of strategic partnerships with third-party esports operators around the globe. Allied generally charges these affiliates an upfront fee and a minimal annual revenue share of gross revenue, starting in the second year of the operation of the venue. Allied’s brand visibility and reputation have already resulted in affiliate arrangements with arenas and gaming centers in China and a multi-year agreement with Fortress Esports Pty Ltd, a new gaming, esports and entertainment venue enterprise in Australia, which opened its first affiliate arena in Melbourne in March 2020 and reopened during the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2021. This network of affiliate arenas allows Allied to scale its brand penetration worldwide on a rapid basis, driving more gamers into the Allied ecosystem, with minimal costs to Allied. Furthermore, the content produced by these affiliate arenas can be sold by Allied, with minimal production costs.
Mobile Arenas. The mobile arenas are 18-wheeler trucks that expand out into fully functional esports arenas with event hosting, broadcasting and production capabilities. The mobility of the trucks makes them ideal for sponsors to reach a large audience in multiple locations at an economical cost. The trucks serve as mobile billboards for potential third-party sponsorship, as well as the Allied brand, providing highly visible brand presence wherever they appear.
Multiplatform Content
Built upon state-of-the-art unique facilities and a growing gamers community, Allied continues to produce successful gamers centric original content programing. Allied’s original content series Elevated, designed to help up-and-coming Twitch streamers break through the clutter, get discovered and grow their audiences, has brought in more than 10 million live viewers and 3 million VOD views over 4 episodes during its Season 1 debut in March of 2022. The series was renewed for Season 2 with stronger support from our brand partner Progressive Insurance, by doubling the production and expanded to 10 episodes for Season 2, which will air in Q2 2023. Allied has also signed a multi-year, multi-episode content partnership with the YES Network to produce original series Wannabe, which explores the journeys of professional gamers and professional athletes who have appeared on the YES Network, all of whom have a strong passion for esports and competitive gaming, and the common themes between their different careers. Each episode delves into the early dreams of these individuals and traces their paths to success. This highly entertaining original content series continues to strengthen our brand engagement, expand our fans out-reach, and build up multi-channel monetization through sponsorship, advertisement, and distribution.
We believe Allied’s ecosystem of esports branded properties gives it the reach, reputation and experience to produce world-class live events, in partnership with some of the most prominent names in the esports and entertainment industry. These live events provide Allied with the material to produce exciting content that can be distributed via three different formats, each of which has its own revenue generation model: live streaming, post-produced episodic content, and short-form repackaged content.
Live Streaming. According to a report by Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet, in 2022, viewers watched a total of 29.5 billion hours of live gaming content on popular streaming platforms such as Twitch, Youtube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming. This represents a decrease of 13.5% from the previous year’s 34.0 billion hours, which may be attributed in part to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the subsequent recovery of live events and travel. Twitch is the most popular form of esports content delivery channel today, as it offers the best interactive experiences for the audience. Vast improvements in technology and Internet service and speed have made live streaming with large audiences widely available today. Well-known gamers live stream themselves playing their favorite games on any of the popular streaming services (Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Gaming, etc.) to a worldwide audience. The streamers derive revenue from ad sales, sponsorship, subscription fees and gift payments from spectators. Through Allied’s ecosystem of esports arenas, Allied can offer streamers a large platform to put on live events that can be simultaneously streamed on both the streamer’s channels and on Allied’s channels.
Post-Produced Episodic Content. Allied continues to develop esports entertainment programming around its live experiences and, using its experienced editing and production teams, create serial, episodic content and segments that tell compelling storylines around its gaming talent, in person experiences, and gaming events around the world. Allied draws from its knowledge and experience in developing WPT, which took the slow-paced game of poker and dramatized it and created storylines that made for exciting and compelling viewing. This post-produced content can be valuable real estate for sponsors, as Allied can integrate sponsors seamlessly into the show in a way that feels organic to the viewers. Allied can focus on different storylines, create excitement via editing and music inclusion, and generally elevate the production quality from that achievable in a live stream. Allied can then monetize this episodic content via sponsorship, advertising, selling the content itself to third party distributors, or even use it as a marketing tool to drive customers to come to Allied’s branded properties, buy its merchandise or otherwise interact with Allied.
Short-Form Repackaged Content. The library of content Allied will develop from events can be cut into smaller clips that can be used as marketing and promotion of the Allied brand on social media. Allied can also edit content to create new content, such as “best of” shows, focusing on one particular game as played by multiple well-known streamers, regional shows focusing on talent from a particular country, and so on.
Allied’s global branded esports properties ecosystem will create opportunities for live events which provide material to develop great content, all of which Allied can monetize in multiple ways. The large customer base Allied develops through these in-person experiences, live streams and content distribution will give it a customer base to launch interactive services.
Interactive services
Newzoo’s consumer research reveals that active engagement is becoming increasingly popular across all generations, with consumers spending nearly 15 hours per week engaging with games. Allied is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend by leveraging its unique physical assets, such as the HyperX Arena Las Vegas and Allied Esports Trucks’ live events and broadcasting capabilities, as well as its technology partnerships.
The Company aims to become the world’s leading live/virtual interactive space for content creators and broadcasters, with a particular emphasis on direct audience monetization through online ticket sales. Allied is working with various streaming technology partners to provide hyper-engaged, real-time interactive streaming experiences to a wide range of influencers, including YouTubers, Twitch streamers, podcasters, and sports stars.
By focusing on delivering highly interactive and engaging experiences to its audiences, Allied can unlock new revenue streams and provide a platform for influencers to monetize their content more effectively. With the potential for significant growth in the coming years, Allied is well-positioned to become a key player in the rapidly evolving world of interactive content monetization.
Corporate Organization
Our principal offices are located at 745 Fifth Avenue, Suite 500, New York, NY 10151, and our telephone number at that office is (646) 768-4241.
Allied Gaming & Entertainment Inc., (“AGAE”), formerly known as Allied Esports Entertainment Inc., or “AESE”, and prior to that was known as Black Ridge Acquisition Corp, or “BRAC”, was incorporated in Delaware on May 9, 2017 as a blank check company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities.
Allied Esports Media, Inc. (“AEM”), a Delaware corporation, was formed in November 2018 to act as a holding company for Allied Esports International Inc. (“Allied Esports”) and immediately prior to close of the Merger (as defined below) to also include Noble Link Global Limited (“Noble Link”). Allied Esports, together with its subsidiaries described below owns and operates the esports-related businesses of AGAE. Noble Link (prior to the AEM Merger) and its wholly owned subsidiaries Peerless Media Limited, Club Services, Inc. and WPT Enterprises, Inc. operated the poker-related business of AGAE prior to their sale on July 12, 2021, and are collectively referred to herein as “World Poker Tour” or “WPT.” Prior to the Merger, as described below, Noble Link and Allied Esports were subsidiaries of Ourgame International Holdings Limited (“Ourgame”).
On December 19, 2018, BRAC, Noble Link and AEM executed an Agreement and Plan of Reorganization (as amended from time to time, the “Merger Agreement”). On August 9, 2019 (the “Closing Date”), Noble Link was merged with and into AEM, with AEM being the surviving entity, which was accounted for as a common control merger (the “AEM Merger”). Further, on August 9, 2019, a subsidiary of AGAE merged with AEM pursuant to the Merger Agreement, with AEM being the surviving entity (the “Merger”). The Merger was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization, and AEM is deemed to be the accounting acquirer. Consequently, the assets and liabilities and the historical operations that are reflected in the combined financial statements prior to the Merger are those of Allied Esports and WPT.
The Company operates through its wholly owned subsidiaries Allied Esports International, Inc., (“AEII”), Esports Arena Las Vegas, LLC (“ESALV”) and Allied Esports GmbH (“AEGmbH”). AEII operates global competitive esports properties designed to connect players and fans via a network of connected arenas. ESALV operates a flagship gaming arena located at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. AEGmbH operates a mobile esports truck that serves as both a battleground and content generation hub and also operates a studio for recording and streaming gaming events. Due to the increasing uncertainty of macro-economic environment, the Company closed down the AEGmbH office in December 2022 and will manage its operations through Allied’s facilities in the U.S.
Our fiscal year ends December 31. Neither we nor any of our predecessors have been in bankruptcy, receivership, or any similar proceeding.
Government Regulation
Allied intends to offer subscribers the chance to win cash and prizes when playing esports games and tournaments on the esports gaming platform it intends to develop. Allied is subject to the complicated laws and regulations in various states or countries over sweepstakes, promotions and giveaways. Any negative finding of law regarding the characterization of the type of online activity carried out on the esports gaming platform could limit or prevent Allied’s ability to obtain subscribers in those jurisdictions. In addition, Allied is subject to a number of foreign and domestic laws and regulations that affect companies conducting business on the Internet. In addition, laws and regulations relating to user privacy, data collection, retention, electronic commerce, consumer protection, content, advertising, localization, and information security have been adopted or are being considered for adoption by many jurisdictions and countries throughout the world.
Intellectual Property
We believe that to maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, we must develop and maintain protection of the proprietary aspects of our technology and our intellectual property. We rely on trademarks and other measures to protect our intellectual property, and vigorously defend such intellectual property as necessary (e.g. cease and desist letters directed to infringing third parties).
Allied has one (1) patent in the U.S. related to systems and methods for latency in networked competitive multiplayer gaming that was issued by the UPSTO in July 2020. In addition to the patent, Allied’s intellectual property portfolio includes the following: (1) approximately sixty (60) registered domain names, (2) an exclusive worldwide (excluding the PRC) casual gaming software license, and (3) approximately twenty-five (25) trademarks, including, but not limited to, “Allied” - which has been filed in the U.S., “Allied” - which bold mark has been filed in China and Europe; the “Allied” logos - which have been filed in the U.S. and Europe; the “Allied Member Property Network” logo - which has been filed in the U.S., China, and Europe; the “Big Betty” logos - which have been registered in Europe; “Esports Superstars” logo - which has been filed in the U.S.; “Legend Series” logo - which has been filed in the U.S. and Europe; the “Allied” emblem - which has been filed in China and Europe, and “Glory Road” - which has been filed in the U.S. Allied updates its intellectual property portfolio from time to time as appropriate.
Competition
The esports gaming industry is competitive. Competitors range from established leagues and championships owned directly, as well as leagues franchised by well-known and capitalized game publishers and developers, interactive entertainment companies, diversified media companies and emerging start-ups. New competitors will likely continue to emerge, and many of these competitors will have greater financial resources than Allied.
The esports and entertainment business is a rapidly growing industry, and there are several competitors that Allied may face. Some of the key potential competitors include:
1. Other esports organizations such as ESL and Faceit, which also host esports tournaments and events.
2. Gaming lifestyle influencers network such as FaZe Clan, 100thieves, which owns gaming influencers that have strong brand partnerships could create competition to Allied on sponsorship and advertising revenue.
3. Gaming companies such as Tencent, Activision Blizzard, and Electronic Arts, which are involved in game development and also host their own esports events in their own selected venues.
4. Live entertainment companies such as Live Nation and AEG, which also host live events and concerts and may expand into the esports space.
5. Traditional media companies such as ESPN and Turner Broadcasting, which have created their own esports leagues and are broadcasting esports events on their networks.
Overall, the esports and entertainment industry is becoming increasingly competitive, with many players vying for a share of the growing market. To succeed in this industry, Allied will need to continue to innovate and differentiate us from our competitors, while also providing compelling and engaging experiences for their audiences.
Territories
We sell products and services worldwide and collaborate with global brands targeting worldwide gaming communities. Our esports tournaments attract participants from North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Our live events and original content are streamed on global platforms such as Twitch and YouTube, making them accessible to audiences around the world. Additionally, we use various social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and advertising platforms such as Google ad and Facebook to increase awareness.
Employees
As of March 24, 2023, we had 78 employees, including 29 employees that operated under collective-bargaining agreements.
Available Information
Our company’s website address is https://www.alliedesports.gg/. Through this website, Allied’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including its Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports, as well as proxy statements and other documents, are accessible (free of charge) as soon as reasonably practicable after materials are electronically filed or furnished to the SEC. The information provided on our website is not part of this or any other report we file or furnish to the SEC. The SEC also maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issues that file electronically with the SEC. Our filings with the SEC are available to the public on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the specific risks described below before making an investment decision. Any of the risks we describe below could cause our business, financial condition, results of operations or future prospects to be materially adversely affected.
The market price of our common stock could decline if one or more of these risks and uncertainties develop into actual events and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or future prospects. Amounts within the “Risk Factors” section are stated in thousands with the exception of share information.
Risks Related to Our Business Operations
We may not be able to execute successfully our recently announced new strategic and business plans.
As a result of our sale of the WPT business in July 2021, we have disposed of substantially all of our operating assets other than cash, investments and our esports business. In December 2022, we announced plans to restructure our existing esports business and expand its focus to include a broader array of entertainment and gaming products and services. Under this plan, we intend to pursue multiple channels of opportunities instead of a single significant corporate transaction such as an acquisition of complimentary assets or businesses, and we currently exploring opportunities to leverage its location-based-entertainment expertise with a focus on gaming lifestyle and experiential entertainment, as well as growing its digital footprint and monetization capabilities through mobile gaming. However, we may encounter difficulties and challenges in the implementation of our plans, including but are not limited to:
● Lack of experiences and expertise in new markets and offerings;
● Intense competition with other more well-established players;
● Inability to create content and products that attract gamers, consumers and other customers;
● Failure to secure partnership and collaborators to execute our plans;
● Inability to identify and develop viable targets in acquisitions and joint ventures;
● Lack of resources and strategic support in pursuing new opportunities;
● Inability to implement successful sales and marketing efforts and to secure sponsorship;
● Macroeconomic trend and slowdown in gaming and entertainment industries;
● Difficulties in obtaining investment and capital to fund desired projects; and
● Higher costs in regulatory compliance requirements.
If we are not able to execute our strategies and plans successfully and timely, we will not be able to grow our business and generate sufficient revenue to achieve profitability, which may adversely affect your investment in our stock. In addition, if our new strategic plan fails, we will not be able to rely on our existing Allied Esports business to generate positive financial performance and may be required to seek other options and alternatives to continue our business operations, which may be subject to new risks and uncertainties.
Allied is subject to risks associated with operating in a rapidly developing industry and a relatively new market.
Many elements of Allied’s’ business are unique, evolving and relatively unproven. Its business and prospects depend on the continuing development of live streaming of competitive esports gaming. The market for esports gaming competition is relatively new and rapidly developing and is subject to significant challenges. Allied’s business relies upon its ability to grow and garner an active gamer community, and successfully monetize this community through tournament fees, live event ticket sales, and advertising and sponsorships. In addition, Allied’s continued growth depends, in part, on its ability to respond to constant changes in the esports gaming industry, including technological evolution, shifts in gamer trends and demands, introductions of new games, game publisher intellectual property right practices, and industry standards and practices. While change in this industry may be inevitable, and Allied will try to adapt its business model as needed to accommodate change and remain on the forefront of its competitors, Allied may be unsuccessful in doing so and does not provide any guarantees or assurances of success as the industry continues to evolve.
Allied may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve and sustain profitability.
Allied expects its operating expenses to increase significantly as it continues to expand its marketing efforts and operations in existing and new geographies and vertical markets (including its online esports tournament and gaming subscription platform it intends to develop). In addition, Allied expects to continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses related to being a public company. If its revenue declines or fails to grow at a rate faster than these increases in operating expenses, it will not be able to achieve profitability in future periods. As a result, Allied may generate losses. Allied cannot assure you that it will achieve profitability.
Allied generates a portion of its revenues from advertising and sponsorship. If it fails to attract more advertisers and sponsors to its live events, tournaments or content, or if advertisers or sponsors are less willing to advertise with or sponsor Allied, its revenues may be adversely affected.
Allied generates revenue from advertising and sponsorship, and it expects to further develop and expand its focus on these revenues in the future. These revenues partly depend on the advertisers’ willingness to advertise in the esports gaming industry. If the esports gaming advertising and sponsorship market does not continue to grow, or if Allied is unable to capture and retain a sufficient share of that market, Allied’s ability to achieve profitability may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, with unfavorable economic external factors, sponsors and advertisers may not have enough budget allocations for spending in sponsorship and advertising in esports, which would also lead to an adverse impact on Allied’s revenue stream.
Allied’s business model may not remain effective and it cannot guarantee that its future monetization strategies will be successfully implemented or generate sustainable revenues and profit.
Allied generates revenues from advertising and sponsorship of its live events, its content, the sale of merchandising, and the operation of its esports arenas. Allied has generated, and expects to continue to generate, a substantial portion of revenues using this revenue model in the near term. Although Allied anticipates growth in Allied’s business utilizing this revenue model, there is no guarantee that growth will continue in the future, and the demand for its offerings may change, decrease substantially or dissipate, or it may fail to anticipate and serve esports gamer demands effectively. Public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic may also continue to cause the demand for our in-person events to reduce and shift demand to online gaming. Allied may determine to enter into new opportunities to expand its business, including online gaming platforms, which may or may not be successful. Any such expansions involve additional risks and costs that could materially and adversely affect its business.
Even if Allied is able to license its brand to third party esports operators, there is a risk that those operators could damage its brand by operating esports arenas that are not at Allied’s standards of operation.
As Allied licenses the Allied brand to third party esports arena operators around the world, it will depend on those operators to run those arenas at a quality level similar to Allied’s owned and operated arenas. Allied’s strategy depends on customers associating the third party esports arenas as part of Allied’s network of affiliated arenas, which it believes will expand its brand recognition and increase customers, revenue, and growth. If Allied’s affiliate arenas are poorly operated, or if those operators fail to use Allied’s name and branding in a manner consistent with Allied’s corporate messaging and branding, or if there are safety issues or other negative occurrences at affiliate arenas, Allied’s name and brand could be significantly damaged, which would make its expansion difficult and materially adversely affect its results of operations and financial condition.
Allied’s long-term growth strategy includes deploying additional mobile arenas in the U.S. and Europe to host its tournaments and events and it must operate them profitably.
A key element of Allied’s long-term growth strategy is to extend its brand by increasing and adding to its portfolio of mobile arenas in the U.S. and Europe, as we believe doing so will provide attractive returns on investment. Adding these mobile arenas will depend upon a number of factors, many of which are beyond Allied’s control, including but not limited to our ability, or the ability of our licensees, to:
● reach acceptable agreements regarding the lease or acquisition of the trucks that are the basis of the mobile arenas;
● comply with applicable zoning, licensing, land use and environmental regulations and orders and obtain required permits and approvals;
● raise or have available an adequate amount of cash or currently available financing for construction of the mobile arenas and the related operational costs;
● timely hire, train and retain the skilled management and other employees necessary to operate the mobile arenas;
● efficiently manage the amount of time and money used to build and operate each new mobile arena; and
● manage the risks of road hazards, accidents, traffic violations, etc. that may impede the operations of the mobile arenas.
The nature of hosting esports events exposes Allied to negative publicity or customer complaints, including in relation to, among other things, accidents, injuries or thefts at the arenas, and health and safety concerns.
Allied’s business of hosting esports events inherently exposes it to negative publicity or customer complaints as a result of accidents, injuries or, in extreme cases, deaths arising from incidents occurring at our arenas, including health, safety or security issues, and quality and service standards. Even isolated or sporadic incidents or accidents may have a negative impact on Allied’s brand image and reputation, the arenas’ popularity with gamers and spectators or the ability to host esports events at all.
Allied’s marketing and advertising efforts may fail to resonate with gamers.
Allied’s live events, tournaments and competitions are marketed through a diverse spectrum of advertising and promotional programs such as online and mobile advertising, marketing through websites, event sponsorship and direct communications with the esports gaming community including via email, blogs and other electronic means. An increasing portion of Allied’s marketing activity is taking place on social media platforms that are either outside, or not totally within, its direct control. Changes to gamer preferences, marketing regulations, privacy and data protection laws, technology changes or service disruptions may negatively impact its ability to reach target gamers. Allied’s ability to market its tournaments and competitions is dependent in part upon the success of these programs.
The esports gaming industry is competitive, and gamers may prefer competitors’ arenas, leagues, competitions or tournaments over those offered by Allied.
The esports gaming industry is competitive. Competitors range from established leagues and championships owned directly, as well as leagues franchised by well-known and capitalized game publishers and developers, interactive entertainment companies, diversified media companies and emerging start-ups. New competitors will likely continue to emerge. Many of these competitors may have greater financial resources than Allied. If Allied’s competitors develop and launch competing arenas, leagues, tournaments or competitions, Allied’s revenue and margins could decline.
Allied may not provide events or tournaments with games or titles for which the esports gaming community is interested.
Allied must attract and retain the popular esports gaming titles in order to maintain and increase the popularity of its live events, leagues, tournaments and competitions. Allied must identify and license popular games that resonate with the esports gamer community on an ongoing basis. Allied cannot assure you that it can attract and license popular esports games from their publishers, and failure to do so would have a material and adverse impact on Allied’s results of operations and financial conditions.
If Allied fails to keep its existing gamers engaged, acquire new gamers and expand interest in its live events, leagues, tournaments and competitions, its business, its ability to achieve profitability and its prospects may be adversely affected.
Allied’s success depends on its ability to maintain and grow the number of gamers attending its live events, tournaments and competitions, and keep its gamers and attendees highly engaged. In order to attract, retain and engage gamers and remain competitive, Allied must continue to develop and expand its live events, leagues, produce engaging tournaments and competitions, and implement new content formats, technologies and strategies to improve its product offerings. There is no assurance it will be able to do so.
A decline in the number of gamers may adversely affect the engagement level of gamers with Allied’s tournament and entertainment platform under development may reduce our revenue opportunities and have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
It is vital to Allied’s operations that its planned online esports tournament and gaming subscriptions platform be responsive to evolving gamer preferences and offer first-tier esports game content and other services that attracts gamers. Allied must also keep providing gamers new features and functions to enable superior content viewing and interaction, or the number of gamers utilizing the platform will likely decline. Any decline in the number of gamers will likely have a material and adverse effect on our operations.
There is no guarantee that Allied will be able to complete its planned online esports tournament and gaming subscription platform, or that such platform once completed will be or remain popular.
Allied cannot assure you that the online esports tournament and gaming subscription platform it intends to develop will be completed in a timely manner or, if completed, become popular with gamers to offset the costs incurred to operate and expand it. This will require substantial costs and expenses. If such increased costs and expenses do not effectively translate into improved gamer engagement, Allied’s results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.
If Allied fails to maintain and enhance its brands, its business, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.
Allied believes that maintaining and enhancing its brands is important for its business to succeed by increasing the number of gamers and engagement by the esports community. Since Allied operates in a highly competitive market, brand maintenance and enhancement directly affects its ability to maintain and enhance its market position. As Allied expands, it may conduct various marketing and brand promotion activities using various methods to continue promoting its brands, but it cannot assure you that these activities will be successful. In addition, negative publicity, regardless of its veracity, could harm Allied’s brands and reputation, which may materially and adversely affect Allied’s business, results of operations and prospects.
If Allied fails to anticipate and successfully implement new esports technologies or adopt new business strategies, technologies or methods, its business may suffer.
Rapid technology changes in the esports gaming market requires Allied to anticipate, sometimes years in advance, which technologies it must develop, implement and take advantage of in order to be and remain competitive in the esports gaming market. Allied has invested, and in the future may invest, in new business strategies including its to-be-developed online esports tournament and entertainment subscription platform, technologies, products, or games to engage a growing number of gamers and deliver the best gaming experiences possible. These endeavors involve significant risks and uncertainties, and no assurance can be given that the technology it adopts and the features it pursues will be successful. If Allied does not successfully implement these new technologies, its reputation may be materially adversely affected and its financial condition and operating results may be impacted.
Allied uses third-party services in connection with its business, and any disruption to these services could result in a disruption to its business, negative publicity and a slowdown in the growth of its users, materially and adversely affecting its business, financial condition and results of operations.
Allied’s business depends on services provided by, and relationships with, various third parties, including cloud hosting, server operators, broadband providers, and computing peripheral suppliers, among others. The failure of any of these parties to perform in compliance with our agreements may negatively impact Allied’s business.
Additionally, if such third parties increase their prices, fail to provide their services effectively, terminate their service or agreements or discontinue their relationships with Allied, Allied could suffer service interruptions, reduced revenues, or increased costs, any of which may have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Allied may not be able to procure the necessary permits and licenses to operate its arenas.
Allied must obtain certain permits and licenses, including liquor licenses, to operate its arenas. Often these processes can be expensive and time consuming. There is no guarantee that Allied will be able to obtain such permits and licenses on a timely or cost-effective basis. Any delays could jeopardize the ability of Allied to operate the arenas and host events. As a result, Allied’s business could suffer.
Rules and regulations governing sweepstakes, promotions and giveaways vary by state and country and these rules and regulations could restrict or eliminate Allied’s ability to generate revenues on its esports gaming platform it intends to develop, which could materially and adversely impact the viability of this business.
As part of its esports gaming platform to be developed, Allied intends to offer subscribers the chance to win cash and prizes when playing esports games and tournaments on the platform. Awarding cash and prizes would require compliance with the laws or regulations in various states or countries over sweepstakes, promotions and giveaways, which are complex and constantly changing. Any negative finding of law regarding the characterization of the type of online activity carried out on the esports gaming platform could limit or prevent Allied’s ability to obtain subscribers in those jurisdictions, which in turn could significantly impact Allied’s ability to generate revenue. The ability or willingness to work with Allied by payment processors and other service providers necessary to conduct the esports gaming platform business also may be limited due to such changes in laws or any perceived negative consequences of engaging in the business of sweepstakes, promotions and giveaways that will be utilized by the esports gaming platform.
Negotiations with unionized employees could delay opening or operating Allied’s arenas.
Certain of Allied’s employees are represented by one or more unions. Allied will need to engage such unions to seek to employ the services of the employees on mutually acceptable terms. However, Allied cannot guarantee that such negotiations will be timely concluded to avoid interruption in its tournament schedule, or that such negotiations will ultimately result in an agreement. Any failure to timely conclude the negotiations could cause a delay in Allied’s ability to timely open arenas or host events. Either of these events would adversely affect Allied’s ability to achieve profitability.
Allied’s business is subject to regulation, and changes in applicable regulations may negatively impact its business.
Allied is subject to a number of foreign and domestic laws and regulations that affect companies conducting business on the Internet. In addition, laws and regulations relating to user privacy, data collection, retention, electronic commerce, consumer protection, content, advertising, localization, and information security have been adopted or are being considered for adoption by many jurisdictions and countries throughout the world. These laws could harm Allied’s business by limiting the products and services it can offer consumers or the manner in which it offers them. The compliance costs for these laws may increase in the future as a result of changes in interpretation. Furthermore, Allied’s failure to comply with these laws or the application of these laws in an unanticipated manner may harm its business and result in penalties or significant legal liability.
Allied has historically operated at a net loss on a consolidated basis, and there is no guarantee that that it will be able to be profitable.
The historical operations of Allied have resulted in net losses from continuing operations of $11.1 million and $15.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. We do not know with any degree of certainty whether or when the consolidated operations of Allied will become profitable. Even if we are able to achieve profitability in future periods, we may not be able to sustain or increase our profitability in successive periods.
We have formulated our business plans and strategies based on certain assumptions regarding the acceptance of our business model and the marketing of our products and services. Nevertheless, our assessments regarding market size, market share, market acceptance of our products and services and a variety of other factors may prove incorrect. Our future success will depend upon many factors, including factors beyond our control and those that cannot be predicted at this time.
Forecasts of our market and market growth may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the markets in which we compete achieve the forecasted growth, there can be no assurance that our business will grow at similar rates, or at all.
Growth forecasts included in SEC filings relating to our market opportunities and the expected growth in those markets are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates which may prove to be inaccurate. We also plan to operate in a number of foreign markets, and a downturn in any of those markets could have a significant adverse effect on our businesses. Even if these markets meet our size estimate and experiences the forecasted growth, we may not grow our business at a similar rate, or at all. Our growth is subject to many factors, including our success in implementing our business strategy, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, the forecasts of market growth should not be taken as indicative of our future growth.
Any actual or perceived failure by us to comply with our privacy policies or legal or regulatory requirements in one or multiple jurisdictions could result in proceedings, actions or penalties against us.
Allied has implemented various features intended to better comply with applicable privacy and security requirements in the collection and use of customer data, but these features do not ensure compliance and may not be effective against all potential privacy and data security concerns. A wide variety of domestic and foreign laws and regulations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer, disposal and other processing of personal data. These data protection and privacy-related laws and regulations are evolving and may result in regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. Our failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations, or to protect any personal data, could result in enforcement actions against us, including fines, claims for damages by customers and other affected individuals, damage to our reputation and loss of goodwill (both in relation to existing customers and prospective customers), any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, financial performance and prospects.
Evolving and changing definitions of personal data and personal information within the European Union (“EU”), the United States and elsewhere may limit or inhibit our ability to operate or expand our business. In jurisdictions outside of the United States, we may face data protection and privacy requirements that are more stringent than those in place in the United States. We are at risk of enforcement actions taken by certain EU data protection authorities until such point in time that we may be able to ensure that all transfers of personal data to us in the United States from the EU are conducted in compliance with all applicable regulatory obligations, the guidance of data protection authorities and evolving best practices. The European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) may impose additional obligations, costs and risks upon our business. The GDPR may increase substantially the penalties to which we could be subject in the event of any non-compliance. In addition, we may incur substantial expense in complying with the obligations imposed by the GDPR and we may be required to make significant changes in our business operations, all of which may adversely affect our revenues and our business overall.
Loss, retention or misuse of certain information and alleged violations of laws and regulations relating to privacy and data security, and any relevant claims, may expose us to potential liability and may require us to expend significant resources on data security and in responding to and defending such allegations and claims. In addition, future laws, regulations, standards and other obligations, and changes in the interpretation of existing laws, regulations, standards and other obligations could impair our ability to collect, use or disclose data relating to individuals, which could increase our costs and impair our ability to maintain and grow our customer base and increase our revenue.
Allied publicly posts its privacy policies and practices concerning processing, use and disclosure of the personally identifiable information provided to it by website visitors. Publication of such privacy policies and other statements published that provide promises and assurances about privacy and security can subject us to potential state and federal action if they are found to be deceptive or misrepresentative of actual policies and practices or if actual practices are found to be unfair. Evolving and changing definitions of what constitutes “Personal Information” and “Personal Data” within the EU, the United States and elsewhere, especially relating to classification of IP addresses, machine or device identification numbers, location data and other information, may limit or inhibit our ability to operate or expand our business, including limiting technology alliance relationships that may involve the sharing of data.
Our failure to raise additional capital or generate cash flows necessary to expand our operations and invest in new business initiatives in the future could reduce our ability to compete successfully and harm our operating results.
In the future we may need to raise additional funds, and we may not be able to obtain additional debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all. If we raise additional equity financing, our security holders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests. If we engage in debt financing, we may be required to accept terms that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness, force us to maintain specified liquidity or other ratios or restrict our ability to pay dividends or make acquisitions. If we cannot raise capital on acceptable terms, or at all, we will not be able to execute successfully our business plans, including the inability to:
● develop and enhance our products and services;
● continue to expand our network of arenas;
● hire, train and retain employees;
● respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated working capital requirements; or
● pursue acquisition opportunities.
Although we have been able to fund our current working capital requirements through operations, debt and equity financing, there is no assurance that we will be able to do so in the future.
We may experience security breaches and cyber threats.
We face cyber risks and threats that could damage, disrupt or allow third parties to gain improper access to our networks and platforms, supporting infrastructure, intellectual property and other assets. In addition, we rely on technological infrastructure, including third party cloud hosting and broadband, provided by third party business partners to support the functionality of our platforms and content distribution. These business partners are also subject to cyber risks and threats. Such cyber risks and threats may be difficult to detect. The techniques that may be used to obtain unauthorized access or disable, degrade, exploit or sabotage these networks and gaming platforms change frequently and often are not detected. Our systems and processes and those of our third-party business partners may not be adequate. Any failure to prevent or mitigate security breaches or cyber risks, or respond adequately to a security breach or cyber risk, could result in interruptions to our platforms, degrade the gamer/user experiences, cause gamers/users to lose confidence in our platforms and cease utilizing them, as well as significant legal and financial exposure. This could harm our business and reputation, disrupt our relationships with partners and diminish our competitive position.
Global health threats, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our business could be adversely affected by the effects of a widespread outbreak of contagious disease or global or regional epidemic or pandemic. A significant outbreak of contagious diseases in the human population, such as the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that could affect demand for our products and services. As a global entertainment company that hosts numerous live events with spectators and participants in destination cities, such outbreak may cause people to avoid traveling to and attending our events, which will adversely affect our business operations and financial results.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
Allied licensed certain brand names under agreements that have expired and may also be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.
Allied’s license with a third party to use the names “Esports Arena Las Vegas” and “Esports Arena Drive”, which are part of the branding for its Las Vegas flagship esports arena location and its US-based mobile arena, respectively, ended in July 2021. Although Allied intends to market and promote its esports arenas using intellectual property it owns and controls, and is discontinuing use of such branding, there are no assurances that those efforts will be fruitful and that it will be able to maintain brand awareness once the license expires.
Furthermore, third parties may claim that Allied has infringed their intellectual property rights. Although Allied takes steps to avoid violating the intellectual property rights of others, it is possible that third parties still may claim infringement. Infringement claims against us, whether valid or not, may be expensive to defend and divert the attention of Allied’s management and employees from business operations. Such claims or litigation could require Allied to pay damages, royalties, legal fees and other costs. Allied also could be required to stop offering, distributing or supporting esports games, its to-be-developed gaming platform or other features or services which incorporate the affected intellectual property rights, redesign products, features or services to avoid infringement, or obtain a license, all of which could be costly and harm its business.
Allied’s technology, content and brands are subject to the threat of piracy, unauthorized copying and other forms of intellectual property infringement.
Allied regards its technology, content and brands as proprietary and takes measures to protect it from infringement. Piracy and other forms of unauthorized copying and use of technology, content and brands are persistent, and policing is difficult. Further, the laws of some countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, or are poorly enforced. Legal protection of Allied’s rights may be ineffective in such countries, which could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operations.
Allied may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of its intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position.
Allied regards its registered trademark and pending trademarks, service marks, pending patents, domain names, trade secrets, proprietary technologies and similar intellectual property as critical to its success. Allied relies on trademark and patent law, trade secret protection and confidentiality and license agreements with its employees and others to protect its proprietary rights.
Allied has invested significant resources to develop its own intellectual property and acquire licenses to use and distribute the intellectual property of others. Failure to maintain or protect these rights could harm its business. In addition, any unauthorized use of our intellectual property by third parties may adversely affect its current and future revenues.
Allied may not be able to develop compelling intellectual property content or secure media content distributors to promote, sell, and distribute such content, which could harm its business and competitive position.
Allied intends to produce licensable content from the various live events, tournaments, and its own initiatives and brands to sell to viewers worldwide. There is no guarantee that it will be able to develop content that is compelling to its targeted customers. Media and gaming company competitors, many of which are better funded, are also creating content from esports events, and it will be difficult to create content that stands out and attracts customers. Furthermore, to carry out Allied’s worldwide distribution plans, film and media distribution partners will be needed and, in the event, Allied is not able to secure content distributors on terms acceptable to Allied, this will have a significant adverse impact on revenue streams from the sale or licensing of intellectual property.
Allied has not entered into definitive license agreements with all game publishers that it currently has relationships with, and it may never do so.
Although Allied has relationships with many game publishers for tournament event and content experiences involving their respective intellectual properties and enters into definitive license agreements with such game publishers from time to time, Allied does not have definitive license agreements in place with all of its game publishers. No assurances can be given as to when or if it will be able to come to agreeable terms with game publishers for any future license agreements. If Allied is unable to come to mutually agreeable terms and enter into definitive license agreements with game publishers, game publishers may unilaterally choose to discontinue its relationship with Allied, thereby preventing Allied from offering tournament event and content experiences using their game intellectual property. Should game publishers choose not to allow Allied to offer tournament event and content experiences involving their intellectual property to Allied’s customers, the popularity of Allied’s tournaments and content may decline, which could materially and adversely affect its results of operations and financial condition.
General Risk Factors
The market price of shares of our common stock may be volatile, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.
The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations. Securities markets worldwide experience significant price and volume fluctuations. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market or political conditions, could reduce the market price of shares of our common stock regardless of our operating performance. In addition, our operating results could be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors due to a number of potential factors, including variations in our quarterly operating results or dividends, if any, to stockholders, additions or departures of key management personnel, failure to meet analysts’ earnings estimates, publication of research reports about our industry, litigation and government investigations, changes or proposed changes in laws or regulations or differing interpretations or enforcement thereof affecting our business, adverse market reaction to any indebtedness we may incur or securities we may issue in the future, changes in market valuations of similar companies or speculation in the press or investment community, announcements by our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, dispositions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments, adverse publicity about the industries we participate in or individual scandals, and, in response, the market price of shares of our common stock could decrease significantly. You may be unable to resell your shares of common stock at or above a price you feel is appropriate.
In the past few years, stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. In the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.
If our operating and financial performance in any given period does not meet the guidance that we provide to the public, the market price of our common stock may decline.
We may, but are not obligated to, provide public guidance on our expected operating and financial results for future periods. Any such guidance will be comprised of forward-looking statements subject to the risks and uncertainties described in our public filings and public statements. Our actual results may not always be in line with or exceed any guidance we have provided, especially in times of economic uncertainty. If, in the future, our operating or financial results for a particular period do not meet any guidance we provide or the expectations of investment analysts, or if we reduce our guidance for future periods, the market price of our common stock may decline as well. Even if we do issue public guidance, there can be no assurance that we will continue to do so in the future.
We incur increased costs and are subject to additional regulations and requirements as a result of being a public company, which could lower our profits or make it more difficult to run our business.
As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that are not incurred by private companies, including costs associated with public company reporting requirements. We also have incurred and will continue to incur costs associated with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and related rules implemented by the SEC and the Nasdaq Capital Market. The expenses generally incurred by public companies for reporting and corporate governance purposes have been increasing. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly, although we are currently unable to estimate these costs with any degree of certainty. These laws and regulations also may make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors, on our board committees or as our executive officers. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our common stock on the Nasdaq market, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation.
Our business depends substantially on the continuing efforts of our executive officers, key employees and qualified personnel, and our business operations may be severely disrupted if we lose the services of such personnel.
Our future success depends substantially on the continued efforts of our executive officers and key employees. If one or more of our executive officers or key employees are unable or unwilling to continue their services with us, we might not be able to replace them easily, in a timely manner, or at all. Since the esports gaming industry is characterized by high demand and intense competition for talent, we cannot assure you that we will be able to attract or retain qualified staff or other highly skilled employees. If any of our executive officers or key employees terminate their services with us, our business may be severely disrupted, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected and we may incur additional expenses to recruit, train and retain qualified personnel.
Through its wholly-owned subsidiary Primo Vital Limited, Ourgame International Holdings Limited (“Ourgame”) owns a significant percentage of our outstanding common stock, enabling it to exert significant influence over our operations and activities, which may affect the trading price of our common stock.
According to its SEC filings, Ourgame, through Primo Vital Limited, beneficially owns and controls approximately 35.8% of our outstanding common stock. Primo Vital Limited is entitled to full voting rights with respect to the shares of common stock that it owns. This concentrated ownership enables Ourgame to exert significant influence over all matters requiring stockholder votes, including: the election of directors; mergers, consolidations, acquisitions and other strategic transactions; the sale of all or substantially all of our assets and other decisions affecting our capital structure; amendments to our Certificate of Incorporation or our bylaws; and our winding up and dissolution. The interests of Ourgame may not always coincide with our interests or the interests of our other stockholders, and Ourgame’s influence may delay, deter or prevent acts that would be favored by us or our other stockholders. This concentration of ownership may also have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change in control of the Company. Also, Ourgame may seek to cause us to take courses of action that, in its judgment, could enhance its investments in us, but which might involve risks to our other stockholders or adversely affect us or our other stockholders. As a result, the market price of our shares could decline. In addition, this concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price of our shares because prospective investors may perceive disadvantages in owning shares in a company such as our company with such a significant stockholder.
Our failure to achieve and maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect our financial position and lower our stock price.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the rules and regulations of the applicable listing standards of Nasdaq. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports. Nevertheless, all internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.
Management identified the following material weaknesses indicative of smaller reporting companies as of December 31, 2022:
● inadequate segregation of duties resulting from limited accounting staff and resources; and
● inadequate information technology general controls as it relates to user access and change management.
As a company with limited accounting resources, a significant amount of management’s time and attention has been and will be diverted from our business to work toward compliance with these regulatory requirements. This diversion of management’s time and attention may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
These material weaknesses and any significant deficiencies could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and any annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we may be required to include in our periodic reports that will be filed with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock. In addition, if we are unable to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be able to maintain our common stock listing on Nasdaq.
Increases in interest rates may cause the market price of our common stock to decline.
While interest rates have in recent years been at record low levels, the likely return to increases in interest rates may cause a corresponding decline in demand for equity investments. Any such increase in interest rates or reduction in demand for our common stock resulting from other relatively more attractive investment opportunities may cause the market price of our common stock to decline.
We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock; as a result, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell your common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.
We have no current plans to pay dividends on our common stock with the proceeds of the WPT sale transaction. Any future determination to pay dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on a number of factors, including our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in our common stock unless you sell your common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or publish negative reports, the market price of our common stock could decline.
The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If one of more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the market price or trading volume of our common stock to decline. Moreover, if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrades our common stock or if our reporting results do not meet their expectations, the market price of our common stock could decline.
You will be diluted by the future issuance of common stock, preferred stock, or securities convertible into common or preferred stock, in connection with our incentive plans, acquisitions, capital raises or otherwise.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue these shares of common stock and options, rights, warrants and appreciation rights relating to common stock for the consideration and on the terms and conditions established by our Board of Directors in its sole discretion, whether in connection with acquisitions or otherwise.
In the future, we expect to obtain financing or to further increase our capital resources by issuing additional shares of our capital stock or offering debt or other equity securities, including senior or subordinated notes, debt securities convertible into equity or shares of preferred stock. Issuing additional shares of our capital stock or other equity securities or securities convertible into equity may dilute the economic and voting rights of our existing stockholders or reduce the market price of our common stock or both. Debt securities convertible into equity could be subject to adjustments in the conversion ratio pursuant to which certain events may increase the number of equity securities issuable upon conversion. Preferred shares, if issued, could have a preference with respect to liquidating distributions or a preference with respect to dividend payments that could limit our ability to pay dividends to the holders of our common stock. Our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, which may adversely affect the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings. As a result, holders of our common stock bear the risk that our future offerings may reduce the market price of our common stock and dilute their stockholdings in us.
Additionally, we have reserved an aggregate of 7,800,000 shares of common stock for issuance under our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (as amended, the “2019 Plan”). Any common stock that we issue, including under our 2019 Plan or other equity incentive plans that we may adopt in the future, would dilute the percentage ownership held by our common stockholders. We have filed an effective registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock issued pursuant to our 2019 Plan. Accordingly, shares registered under such registration statement will be available for sale in the open market upon issuance.
The Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for certain legal actions between the Company and its stockholders, which could limit the Company’s stockholders’ ability to obtain a judicial forum viewed by the stockholders as more favorable for disputes with the Company or the Company’s directors, officers or employees.
The Company’s Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, provides that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for any stockholder (including a beneficial owner) to bring (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law or the Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, or the Company’s Bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another state court located within the State of Delaware, or if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) in all cases subject to the court’s having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants. This exclusive forum provision does not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. It could apply, however, to a suit that falls within one or more of the categories enumerated in the exclusive forum provision and asserts claims under the Securities Act, inasmuch as Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rule and regulations thereunder. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provision with respect to claims under the Securities Act, and our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions. These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees.
If a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to the Company’s management.
Our Board of Directors’ ability to issue undesignated preferred stock and the existence of anti-takeover provisions may depress the value of our common stock.
The Company’s authorized capital includes 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock. Our Board has the power to issue any or all of the shares of preferred stock, including the authority to establish one or more series and to fix the powers, preferences, rights and limitations of such class or series, without seeking stockholder approval, subject to certain limitations on this power under Nasdaq listing requirements. Further, as a Delaware corporation, we are subject to provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law regarding “business combinations.” We may, in the future, consider adopting additional anti-takeover measures. The authority of our Board to issue undesignated stock and the anti-takeover provisions of Delaware law, as well as any future anti-takeover measures adopted by us, may, in certain circumstances, delay, deter or prevent takeover attempts and other changes in control of our company that are not approved by our Board. As a result, our stockholders may lose opportunities to dispose of their shares at favorable prices generally available in takeover attempts or that may be available under a merger proposal and the market price, voting and other rights of the holders of common stock may also be affected.
The failure of financial institutions or transactional counterparties could adversely affect our current and projected business operations and our financial condition and results of operations.
On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) was appointed as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp. were each entered into receivership. A statement by the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC stated that all depositors of SVB would have access to all of their money after only one business day of closure, including funds held in uninsured deposit accounts. The standard deposit insurance amount is up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. Although we do not have any funds deposited with SVB and Signature Bank, we regularly maintain cash balances with other financial institutions in excess of the FDIC insurance limit. A failure of a depository institution to return deposits could impact access to our invested cash or cash equivalents and could adversely impact our operating liquidity and financial performance.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties
The Company’s main offices are licensed and are located at 745 Fifth Avenue, Suite 500, New York, NY 10151. The Company considers this office space adequate for its current office operations. The initial term expired on July 31, 2022, and the Company has been on a month-to-month basis thereafter.
Allied operates its flagship arena, the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas, at the Luxor Casino on the Vegas strip, whose pyramid is one of the most visible landmarks in Las Vegas. This arena has 80 to 100 gaming stations, two bars, food service, private rooms, a production facility, and space for up to 1,000 people for events. The arena is custom-built for esports tournaments and has a broadcast-ready television studio to broadcast live events and produce content. The lease term expires on May 23, 2023 and the Company pays base rent of $125,000 per month. The Company has the option to extend for an additional 60 months at $137,500 per month

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
For information regarding legal proceedings, see Note 12 “Commitments and Contingencies”, to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The Company is involved in various disputes, claims, liens and litigation matters arising out of the normal course of business. While the outcome of these disputes, claims, liens and litigation matters cannot be predicted with certainty, after consulting with legal counsel, management does not believe that, except as set forth above, the outcome of these matters, either individually or collectively, will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Market Information
Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “AGAE.”
Holders
On March 21, 2023, there were 23 holders of record of our common stock, one of which was Cede & Co., a nominee for The Depository Trust Company, or DTC. Shares of common stock that are held by financial institutions as nominees for beneficial owners are deposited into participant accounts at DTC, and are considered to be held of record by Cede & Co. as one stockholder.
Dividends
We anticipate that we will retain all available funds and any future earnings, if any, for use in the operation of our business and do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future. In addition, our future credit facilities and future debt instruments may materially restrict our ability to pay dividends on our common stock. Payment of future cash dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors after taking into account various factors, including our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs, the requirements of our current or then-existing debt instruments and other factors our Board of Directors deems relevant.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
Information about our equity compensation plan in Item 12 of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is incorporated herein by reference.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
On November 11, 2022, our Board of Directors (the “Board”) authorized a stock repurchase program under which we are authorized to repurchase up to $10 million of our outstanding shares of common stock through November 17, 2024. The manner, timing and amount of any purchase will be based on an evaluation of market conditions, stock price and other factors. Repurchases under the program will be made in open market transactions in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-18 and federal securities laws. The stock repurchase program does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of common stock, and it may be extended, suspended or discontinued at any time at the Company’s discretion. The stock repurchase will be funded using the Company’s working capital.
The following table provides information with respect to repurchases made under the stock repurchase program since inception:
Period Total Number
of Shares
Purchased Average Price
Paid Per
Share Total Number
of Shares
Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Program Approximate Dollar Value of Shares Available to be Purchased Under the Program
October 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022 - $ - - $ -
November 1, 2022 to November 30, 2022 - $ - - $ -
December 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 581,746 $ 1.02 581,746 $ 9,389,438

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. [Reserved]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, which are included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains statements that are forward-looking. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risk, uncertainties and other factors. These statements are often identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “estimate,” or “continue,” and similar expressions or variations. Actual results could differ materially because of the factors discussed in “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and other factors that we have not identified.
The Company
Allied is a global experiential entertainment company focused on providing a growing audience of gamers with unique experiences through renowned assets, products, and services. Allied Esports International, Inc. operates global competitive esports properties designed to connect players and fans via a network of connected arenas. Esports Arena Las Vegas, LLC operates a flagship gaming arena located at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Allied Esports GmbH operates a mobile esports trucks that serves as both a battleground and content generation hub and also operates a studio for recording and streaming gaming events. The Company offers a variety of esports and gaming-related content, including world class tournaments, live and virtual entertainment and gaming events, and original programming to continuously foster an engaged gaming community. Allied Esports operates solely through its wholly owned subsidiaries. In December 2022, the Company completed a strategic review of its business operations and announced plans to restructure the existing esports business and expand its focus to include a broader array of entertainment and gaming products and services. Under this plan, the Company intends to pursue multiple channels of opportunities instead of a single significant corporate transaction such as an acquisition of complimentary assets or businesses, and it is currently exploring opportunities to leverage its location-based-entertainment expertise with a focus on gaming lifestyle and experiential entertainment, as well as growing its digital footprint and monetization capabilities through mobile gaming.
Allied’s in-person experiences include live events hosted at its flagship arena, HyperX Arena Las Vegas, an affiliate arena with one of its global network of esports arena partners, and its mobile arenas. Allied’s multiplatform content include its partnerships with live streamers, post-produced episodic content, and short-form repackaged content. Allied’s interactive services include strategic partnerships with various content creators, broadcasters, and streaming technology partners to provide interactive streaming experiences with a wide range of influencers.
Allied Esports
Gaming is one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the entertainment sector, with an estimated 2.56 billion gamers playing esports globally, and esports is the major driver of this growth. Esports, short for “electronic sports,” is a general label that comprises a diverse offering of competitive electronic games that gamers play against each other. It is projected that by 2023, 646 million people will be watching esports globally, and that global esports revenue will grow to approximately $1.5 billion.
The esports gaming industry is relatively new and is challenging. Competition is rapidly developing. Allied’s business relies upon its ability to grow and garner an active gamer community, and successfully monetize this community through tournament fees, live event ticket sales, and advertising and sponsorships utilizing a three-pillar approach, which includes:
● in-person experiences;
● developing multiplatform content; and
● providing interactive services.
Its growth also depends, in part, on its ability to respond to technological evolution, shifts in gamer trends and demands, introductions of new games, game publisher intellectual property right practices, and industry standards and practices. While change in this industry may be inevitable, Allied Esports will try to adapt its business model as needed to accommodate change and remain on the forefront of its competitors.
Allied’s business plan requires significant capital expenditures, and it expects its operating expenses to increase significantly as it continues to expand its marketing efforts and operations in existing and new geographies and vertical markets (including its online esports tournament and gaming subscription platform it intends to develop). A key element of Allied’s growth strategy is to extend its brand by opening additional flagship arenas throughout the world and by licensing the Allied brand to third party esports arena operators, which it believes will provide attractive returns on investment.
COVID-19 Pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse effect on the Company. As a global entertainment company, our business revenue is generated through live, in person events with participants and spectators in multiple destination cities. The pandemic resulted in government regulation and restrictions on travel, resulting in significantly decreased attendance for our events. Allied was forced to cancel or postponed live events, and until Allied’s flagship gaming arena located at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada reopened on June 25, 2020, operate online only. The arena is currently running at full capacity for daily play and weekly tournaments. During the course of 2022, the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic largely subsided and restrictions on live, in-person events were lifted. While the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected our financial performance during fiscal year 2022, we do not anticipate such an adverse effect in 2023.
Results of Operations
Continuing Operations
Our continuing operations consist of our esports gaming operations, which take place at global competitive esports properties designed to connect players and fans via a network of connected arenas. Through our subsidiary Allied Esports, we offer esports fans state-of-the-art facilities to compete against other players in esports competitions, host live events with esports superstars that potentially stream to millions of viewers worldwide, produce and distribute esports content with at our on-site production facilities and studios. At our flagship arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, we provide an attractive facility for hosting corporate events, tournaments, game launches or other events. Additionally, Allied Esports has two mobile esports arenas, which are 18-wheel semi-trailers that convert into first class esports arenas and competition stages with full content production capabilities and interactive talent studios.
Discontinued Operations
The World Poker Tour is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment with brand presence in land-based poker tournaments, television, online and mobile. Leading innovation in the sport of poker since 2002, WPT helped ignite the global poker boom with the creation of a unique television show based on a series of high-stakes poker tournaments.
Sale of WPT Business. On January 19, 2021, the Company and its direct and indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, Allied Esports Media, Inc. (“Esports Media,” and together with the Company, the “Selling Parties”) and Club Services, Inc. (“CSI”), entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Original Agreement”) with Element Partners, LLC (“Buyer”), pursuant to which the Selling Parties sold 100% of the outstanding capital stock of CSI to the Buyer. Prior to the sale of CSI capital stock, CSI was the Company’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary that owned 100% of the outstanding capital stock of each of the legal entities that collectively operate or engage in the Company’s poker-related business and assets (the “WPT Business”). The sale of CSI is referred to herein as the “Sale Transaction”. The Selling Parties, CSI and Buyer entered into an Amended and Restated Stock Purchase Agreement on March 19, 2021, and thereafter amended such agreement on March 29, 2021 (as amended, the “Stock Purchase Agreement”).
Under the Stock Purchase Agreement, the Buyer agreed to pay Esports Media a total purchase price of $105 million for the stock of CSI (the “base purchase price”) at the closing of the Sale Transaction, as further described below. The base purchase price was adjusted to reflect the amount of CSI’s cash, indebtedness and accrued and unpaid transaction expenses as of the closing of the Sale Transaction. Buyer remitted a $10.0 million advance payment of the base purchase price in connection with the execution of the Stock Purchase Agreement and paid the balance of the base purchase price at the closing of the Sale Transaction.
The sale of the WPT business was closed on July 12, 2021 for $106.0 million. The Company recorded a gain on the sale of WPT as follows:
Cash consideration for sale of WPT(1) $ 106,049,884
Less: book value of assets sold
Cash 3,579,988
Accounts receivable 2,999,352
Restricted cash 100,000
Prepaid expenses and other assets 264,385
Property and equipment, net 1,429,706
Goodwill 4,083,621
Intangible assets, net 10,986,463
Deposits 79,500
Deferred production costs 12,684,054
Net book value of assets sold 36,207,069
Add: liabilities assumed by buyer
Accounts payable 487,579
Accrued expenses and other liabilities 5,567,072
Deferred revenue 1,807,176
Deferred rent 2,619,967
Total liabilities assumed 10,481,794
Less: transaction expenses(2) 2,465,774
Gain on sale of WPT(3) $ 77,858,835
(1) Includes $105,120 of post-closing adjustments.
(2) Includes $1,165,774 of legal and professional fees and $1,300,000 of amounts reimbursed to the Company’s principal stockholder. See Note 7 - Accrued Expense and Other Current Liabilities for additional details.
(3) Management has determined that there are no current federal or state income taxes payable in connection with the sale of WPT, after considering the Company’s tax basis in the stock of WPT, as well as the Company’s projected tax losses for the 2021 tax year.
Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2021
For the
Years Ended
December 31, Favorable
(in thousands) (Unfavorable)
Revenues:
In-person $ 6,101 $ 4,201 $ 1,900
Multiplatform content (504 )
Total Revenues 6,352 4,956 1,396
Costs and Expenses:
In-person (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) 4,994 3,689 (1,305 )
Multiplatform content (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)
Selling and marketing expenses
General and administrative expenses 10,482 13,053 2,571
Depreciation and amortization 2,065 3,306 1,241
Impairment of property and equipment - (68 )
Impairment of digital assets - (164 )
Loss From Operations (11,766 ) (15,773 ) 4,007
Gain on forgiveness of PPP loans and interest - (912 )
Other income, net
Interest income (expense), net (268 ) 1,057
Loss from continuing operations (10,824 ) (15,060 ) 4,236
Income from discontinued operations - (67 )
Gain on sale of WPT - 77,859 (77,859 )
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax - 77,926 (77,926 )
Net income (loss) $ (10,824 ) $ 62,866 $ (73,690 )
Revenues
In-person experience revenues increased by approximately $1.9 million, or 45%, to approximately $6.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 from approximately $4.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase of in-person experience revenues was driven by (a) a $1.1 million increase in sponsorship revenue from a new contract entered into in the first quarter of 2022, (b) a $0.4 million increase in food and beverage, ticket and gaming and merchandising revenue primarily attributable to the removal of COVID-19 pandemic-related capacity restrictions at the Company’s HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas on June 1, 2021, and (c) a $0.4 million increase in event revenue. The $0.4 million increase in event revenue included a $1.1 million increase in studio and truck rental revenue, $0.3 million increase in HyperX Esports Arena event revenue primarily attributable to larger events occurring in 2022 compared to 2021 and a $1.0 million decrease in rental revenue that was driven by a new contract entered into in 2021 that did not renew in 2022.
Multiplatform content revenues decreased by approximately $504 thousand, or 67%, to approximately $251 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2022 from approximately $755 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease of multiplatform content revenues was driven by a contract entered into in the second quarter of 2021 that did not renew in 2022.
Costs and expenses
In-person costs (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) increased by approximately $1.3 million, or 35%, to approximately $5.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 from approximately $3.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase of in-person costs was driven by (a) a $1.8 million increase in event costs resulting from larger events and additional tournaments with higher payouts primarily attributable to the removal of COVID-19 pandemic-related capacity restrictions at the Company’s HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas on June 1, 2021, and (b) $0.4 million of higher truck costs resulting from the additional truck stops for our NASCAR events. This was offset by a decrease of $0.9 million in production costs driven by the new contract entered into in 2021 which did not renew in 2022.
Multiplatform content costs (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) decreased by approximately $277 thousand, or 72%, to approximately $110 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2022 from approximately $387 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease in multiplatform content costs corresponds to higher costs in the second quarter of 2021 resulting from a new contract that did not renew in 2022. This was partially offset by an increase in costs associated with the sale of NFT for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Selling and marketing expenses decreased by approximately $59 thousand, or 20%, to approximately $235 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2022 from approximately $294 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease in selling and marketing expenses was driven by higher expenses in 2021 as the Company increased marketing efforts to increase awareness of the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas reopening to full capacity.
General and administrative expenses decreased by approximately $2.6 million, or 20%, to approximately $10.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 from approximately $13.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease in general and administrative expenses resulted from higher expenses during the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 as follows: (i) $1.1 million in stock-based compensation from the issuance of director grants and restricted stock units issued to the Company’s former CEO during 2021; (ii) $0.7 million in legal and professional fees related to the sale of WPT; and (iii) $1.1 million in corporate payroll and bonus; and (iv) $0.1 million in other general and administrative expenses. The decrease in corporate payroll expense from 2021 was offset by a $0.4 million increase in 2022 severance benefit expenses incurred in connection with the termination of our former CEO.
Depreciation and amortization decreased by approximately $1.2 million, or 38%, to approximately $2.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, from approximately $3.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to an out-of-period adjustment of $0.6 million to correct the amortization of leasehold improvements in prior periods.
Impairment of property and equipment was approximately $68 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $0 for the year ended December 31, 2021. The impairment resulted from management’s determination that the projected cash flows from certain equipment will not be sufficient to recover the carrying value of those assets.
We recognized an impairment of digital assets of approximately $164 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2022. The impairment loss is a result of the market price on active exchanges falling below the carrying value of the digital assets. The Company did not have any Ether or other digital assets on the books during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Gain on forgiveness of PPP loans and interest
We recognized a gain on the full forgiveness of the PPP loans and related interest of approximately $912 thousand during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Other income, net
We recognized other income, net, of approximately $153 thousand during the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $69 thousand recorded for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was due to the reversal of an income tax payable that was no longer due. This was slightly offset by changes in the fair value of the warrant liability in 2022.
Interest income (expense), net
Interest income (expense), net was approximately $0.8 million and approximately $(0.3) million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, representing an increase of interest income of approximately $1.1 million, or 394%. The decrease in interest expense was a result of the use of the proceeds of the sale of WPT to offset the principal balance of notes payable and convertible notes outstanding during the period. Interest income for the year ended December 31, 2022 was a result of interest earned on the cash received from the sale of WPT.
Results of Discontinued Operations
We recognized income from discontinued operations, net of tax, of $77.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily as a result of the sale of the WPT business on July 12, 2021.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The following table summarizes our total current assets, liabilities and working capital surplus from continuing operations at December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.
December 31,
(in thousands)
Current Assets $ 82,377 $ 94,261
Current Liabilities $ 3,298 $ 5,249
Working Capital Surplus $ 79,079 $ 89,012
Our primary sources of liquidity and capital resources are cash and short-term investments on the balance sheet and funds raised through debt or equity financing.
As of December 31, 2022, we had cash of $11.2 million (not including approximately $70.0 million of short-term investments and $5.0 million of restricted cash) and working capital from continuing operations of approximately $79.1 million. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we incurred net losses from continuing operations of approximately $10.8 million and $15.1 million, respectively, and used cash in continuing operations of approximately $11.0 million and $10.1 million, respectively. Cash requirements for our current liabilities include approximately $2.0 million for accounts payable and accrued expenses and $1.2 million for the current portion of an operating lease liability. Cash requirements for non-current liabilities include approximately $6.5 million for the non-current portion of an operating lease liability. The Company intends to meet these cash requirements from its current cash balance.
On July 12, 2021, we completed the sale of the WPT business for an aggregate purchase price of $106.0 million. With the sale of the WPT business, we believe our current cash on hand is sufficient to meet our operating and capital requirements for at least the next twelve months from the date of this Report.
Cash Flows from Operating, Investing and Financing Activities
The tables below summarize cash flows from continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
For the Years Ended
December 31,
(in thousands)
Net cash provided by (used in)
Operating activities
$ (10,934 )
$ (10,079 )
Investing activities
$ (70,135 )
$ 105,858
Financing activities
$ (611 )
$ (3,421 )
Net Cash Used in Operating Activities
Net cash used in operating activities primarily represents the results of operations exclusive of non-cash expenses plus the impact of changes in operating assets and liabilities.
Net cash used in operating activities for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 was approximately $11.0 million and $10.1 million, respectively, representing an increase of $0.9 million. During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the net cash used in operating activities was primarily attributable to the net loss from continuing operations of approximately $10.8 million and $15.1 million, respectively, $4.0 million and $3.8 million, respectively, of net non-cash expenses, and approximately ($4.1) million and $1.2 million, respectively, of cash (used in) provided by changes in the levels of operating assets and liabilities.
Net Cash (Used In) Provided By Investing Activities
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities primarily relates to cash used for the purchase of property and equipment and other investment activity.
Net cash used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2022 was approximately $70.1 million, which consisted primarily of approximately $70.0 million for the purchase of certificates of deposit.
Net cash provided by investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2021 was approximately $105.9 million, which consisted primarily of approximately $106.0 million cash consideration for the sale of WPT, partially offset by approximately $192 thousand of cash used for the purchase of property and equipment.
Net Cash Used in Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 was approximately $0.6 million compared to approximately $3.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. Net cash used in financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2022 represented the purchase of treasury stock. Net cash used in financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2021 represented the repayments of bridge loans during the period.
Cash Flows from Discontinued Operations
Cash held by the WPT business of approximately $3.6 million was sold in connection with the 2021 sale of the WPT business. No cash was provided by, or (used in), discontinued operations in 2022.
Capital Expenditures
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had no material commitments for capital expenditures.
Stock Repurchase Program
On November 11, 2022, our Board of Directors (the “Board”) authorized a stock repurchase program under which we are authorized to repurchase up to $10 million of our outstanding shares of common stock through November 17, 2024. The manner, timing and amount of any purchase will be based on an evaluation of market conditions, stock price and other factors. Repurchases under the program will be made in open market transactions in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-18 and federal securities laws. The stock repurchase program does not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of common stock, and it may be extended, suspended or discontinued at any time at the Company's discretion. The stock repurchase will be funded using the Company's working capital. The total number of shares purchased by the Company between December 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, was 581,746. The average price per share for the shares purchased was $1.02. The approximate dollar value of the shares available to be purchased under the program is $9,389,438 as of December 31, 2022.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
The Company does not engage in any off-balance sheet financing activities, nor does the Company have any interest in entities referred to as variable interest entities.
Critical Accounting Estimates and Policies
The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, contingent assets and liabilities, each as of the date of the financial statements, and revenues and expenses during the periods presented. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates their estimates and assumptions, and the effects of any such revisions are reflected in the financial statements in the period in which they are determined to be necessary. Management bases their estimates on historical experience and on various other factors that they believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual outcomes could differ materially from those estimates in a manner that could have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements.
While our significant accounting policies are more fully described in Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies to our consolidated financial statements, we believe that there were no critical accounting policies and estimates that affect the preparation of financial statements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
Not applicable.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
See Index to Consolidated Financial Statements on Page.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
There have been no changes in or disagreements with accountants on accounting and financial disclosure.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in the Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) (the “Exchange Act”). Based on the foregoing evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that, as of December 31, 2022, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective at the reasonable assurance level because of the material weaknesses discussed below.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Management identified the following material weaknesses indicative of many smaller reporting companies as of December 31, 2022:
● inadequate segregation of duties resulting from limited accounting staff and resources; and
● inadequate information technology general controls as it relates to user access and change management.
The Company experienced some key personnel turnover in its accounting and information technology areas during 2022. This placed a significant impact on the Company’s internal controls leading to the material weakness described above. Our management, under the oversight of our Audit Committee, and in consultation with outside advisors, has begun evaluating and implementing measures designed to ensure that control deficiencies contributing to the material weakness are remediated. These remediation measures include but are not limited to: (i) reorganizing roles and responsibilities to address segregation of duties issues, (ii) evaluating and implementing enhanced process controls around user access and change management; and (iii) monitoring and conducting regular assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls.
We believe the above actions will be effective in remediating the material weakness described above and we will continue to devote time and attention to these remedial efforts. However, as we continue to evaluate and take actions to improve our internal controls over financial reporting, we may take additional actions to address control deficiencies or modify certain of the remediation measures described above. Our remediation efforts will not be considered complete until the appliable controls operate for a sufficient period and our management has concluded, through testing, that these controls are operating effectively.
Nevertheless, notwithstanding the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described above, our management has concluded that our consolidated financial statements included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K are fairly stated in all material respects in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that: (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, based on the Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2022, as a result of the material weaknesses described above.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There have been no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting through the date of this Report or during the quarter ended December 31, 2022, that materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
Inherent Limitations of the Effectiveness of Controls
Management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all error and fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, is based upon certain assumptions and can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that its objectives will be met. Further, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected.
Attestation Report of Registered Public Accounting Firm
This Annual Report does not contain an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm related to internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting was not subject to attestation by our independent registered public accounting firm as we are not an accelerated filer, nor a large accelerated filer.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. Other Information
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
The information called for by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. Executive Compensation
The information called for by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The information called for by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
The information called for by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The information called for by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
(a) See “Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” on page and “Exhibit Index” on page 30.
(b) See “Exhibit Index” on page 30.
(c) Not applicable.