Gaming culture has never been stronger. Over the past year, it has drawn a circle of investors and friends of the house around Fusion Esports Group and Astralis. That circle is now a network of some of the most interesting founders and operators around.

Flatpay and co-founder Sander Janca have been part of it from day one: a network spanning gaming, sport, tech, culture and entertainment.

There was never really a plan.

Astralis has always been at the heart of it. Four Major titles make it one of the most successful organisations in Counter-Strike history, and the network grew around the matches, the team and the culture that surrounds it.

Through Astralis and the rest of the group, Fusion Esports Group kept bringing together people who cared about gaming and esports. Some were investors. Others came from tech, sport, music, fashion or entertainment. Today they meet at Astralis matches, over casual games, at dinners and events, and at everything else Fusion puts together.

Somewhere in those rooms, something unplanned started to happen. Everyone agreed it was worth building on.

Gaming has a rare ability to bring people together across industries and borders. A big tournament, a single match or a shared experience around a team can spark relationships that go far beyond the game.

The Collective is Fusion’s way of giving that a home.

Sander Janca was there from the beginning, and Flatpay has been part of the network as it has grown over the past year.

Sander and Fusion CEO Jonas Gundersen met through Fusion and have become close over the past year. They talk business, investments and life in general, and for Sander it became a natural way into Astralis and esports.

“The interesting part is who’s in the room, and who you get to meet through each other. Put people from different industries together around something they all care about, and you get conversations and relationships you could never plan for,” says Sander Janca.

The Collective is also a new take on how a global esports brand can approach networking, hospitality and partnerships, with value that goes beyond visibility. What sets it apart is gaming culture itself. It already exists, and the movement around it is well underway. One minute you’re playing 5v5 against each other, the next you’re talking about where digital is heading. Sometimes both at once. Less ties and coffee in a lounge. More headsets on and callouts across the table.

What matters most isn’t the setting, it’s the people.

JONAS GUNDERSEN, CEO, FUSION ESPORTS GROUP

Instead of hospitality built around a single match day or a standard sponsor activation, the ambition is an ongoing, international community around gaming, where people and companies meet several times a year and become part of the world of Astralis and Fusion.

In practice, that means four major gatherings a year that bring the whole network together, with dinners, events and trips in between. Some in Copenhagen, others around international esports events. Gaming and its culture remain the engine, and it has already opened up new ways to work together across the network.

“It can be big or small. What matters most isn’t the setting, it’s the people. We’ve already seen what happens when the right people meet, and how quickly that turns into new ideas, partnerships and opportunities. That’s the energy we want around The Collective. People just click, and the slightly playful format we can offer has worked really well,” says Jonas Gundersen, CEO of Fusion Esports Group.

The circle around Fusion already includes Medley, Bifrost and NXTPLAY, the investment platform founded by Champions League winner Thibaut Courtois and international entrepreneur Gonzalo Vila. People from music, design and sport are part of it too.

It isn’t their industry that connects them.

It’s gaming, the people around it, and the chance to use a global esports brand as a starting point for new relationships and new business.

For Fusion, that makes The Collective an important strategic experiment.

“For us, it comes back to a few fundamental questions. How do you build a network around an esports brand that people genuinely want to spend time in, even when there’s no match on? We want hospitality that feels relevant today and works internationally. And we want to explore how the position Astralis has built over more than ten years in international esports can create value far beyond competition,” says Jonas Gundersen.

The Collective is a first answer.

For Flatpay, it’s about being there from the start.

“This kind of initiative has been missing. Flatpay and Astralis are a natural fit: both companies with Danish roots and global ambitions. Gaming has enormous international reach, and when you bring in people and companies from other parts of the business world, something pretty interesting can happen,” says Sander Janca.

The Collective is open to a limited number of companies that want to play an active part in the network.

Flatpay is in.

And Fusion hopes more will want to come along for the ride.