LOS ANGELES, June 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (“Enthusiast Gaming'' or the “Company”) (TSX: EGLX), a leading gaming and media company, today announced the successful launch of Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona, the latest expansion of its flagship B2B gaming conference series. The event was immediately profitable, attracting over 1,000 senior industry professionals—a record for a first year event in Europe—and showcasing a high-impact lineup of global gaming brands, key industry enablers and investors.

Moreover, the Barcelona debut delivered exceptional value for attendees and sponsors with:

• 1,000+ attendees representing over 500+ companies from over 45 countries worldwide, with over 1-in-4 attendees being a C-level executive
  
• Over 1,500 meetings being hosted via the central meet-to-match system, enabling leading industry executives and market-shaping transactions
  
• Over 110 expert speakers across 17 content tracks focused on critical growth drivers, monetization, AI, XR/web3, and market strategy
  
• A designated Big Indie Zone, featuring 37 indie studios showcasing their creativity, plus four dedicated fringe events connecting these and other developers with publishers and investors via speed-match pitch sessions

Among the brand and partner participants at Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona were Epic Games, King, Rovio, Bandai Namco, Ubisoft, Unity, Xbox, Scopely, FunPlus, and Nazara. Core sponsorships included industry players like FastSpring, AppsFlyer, Xsolla, Sensor Tower, Cloudflare, Epic Games Store, and Sandsoft.

“Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona exceeded even our own high expectations, delivering exceptional value for over 1,000 participants with high‑quality talks, a centralised match-making system to drive deal flow and executive-level networking,” said Chris James, CEO of Steel Media, a division of Enthusiast Gaming. “The overwhelming attendance and participation from top-tier brands underscore Barcelona as not just an incredible city, but a key strategic games industry market for 2025 and beyond.”

The successful Barcelona launch builds on PGC’s global pedigree, with this event marking the 52nd edition in 12 cities over 11 years. Upcoming investor-grade events include Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai on July 30, 2025, aligned with ChinaJoy Week, which is expected to convene over 500 decision‑makers in the Asia Pacific region, followed in October by both another new PGC Summit in Bangkok, to be hosted ahead of Gamescom Asia, and the eleventh outing of PGC Helsinki, the biggest B2B games event in the Nordics.

About Pocket Gamer Connects
Pocket Gamer Connects (PGC) is the leading independent B2B conference series for the global games industry, owned and operated by Enthusiast Gaming. Since its inception in 2014, the global PGC series has hosted over 50 conferences and welcomed over 55,000 delegates, and facilitated 110,000 business meetings, creating a venue for over $1 billion in deals. Despite a strong mobile focus, the conference series routinely covers all gaming formats from PC/console to web3 and XR and includes multiple content tracks covering critical issues for game professionals, from the latest industry trends and technical insights, to new ways to monetize and future growth opportunities. Attendees represent every segment of the industry from investors and independent developers to publishers, platform holders, and service providers.

About Enthusiast Gaming
Enthusiast Gaming is the leading gaming media and entertainment company in North America, building the largest platform for video game enthusiasts and esports fans to connect and compete worldwide. Combining the elements of its five core pillars: creators, content, communities, games, and experiences, Enthusiast Gaming provides a unique opportunity for marketers to create integrated brand solutions to connect with coveted Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Through its proprietary mix of digital media, content and gaming assets, Enthusiast Gaming continues to grow its network of communities, reflecting the scale and diversity of gaming enthusiasts today.

Contacts
Enthusiast Gaming: Alex Macdonald, Chief Financial Officer

Investors: investor@enthusiastgaming.com
Media: press@enthusiastgaming.com

Forward Looking Information
This news release contains certain statements that may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results, developments, performance or achievements that Enthusiast Gaming anticipates or expects may or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, or “believes” or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements formed in the future tense or indicating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” (or other variations of the forgoing) be taken, occur, be achieved, or come to pass. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company’s strategic initiatives, events and campaigns.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, including, but not limited to, expectations and assumptions concerning interest and foreign exchange rates; capital efficiencies, cost saving and synergies; growth and growth rates; the success in the esports and media industry; and the Company’s growth plan. While Enthusiast Gaming considers these assumptions to be reasonable, based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; the timing and filing of the final base shelf prospectus and corresponding Registration Statement; the potential offering of any Securities by the Company; uncertainty with respect to the completion of any future offering; the ability to obtain applicable regulatory approvals for any contemplated offerings; the ability of the Company to negotiate and complete future funding transactions; adverse industry events; and future legislative, tax and regulatory developments. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. For more information on the risk, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause anticipated opportunities and actual results to differ materially, please refer to the public filings of Enthusiast Gaming which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect our expectations as of the date hereof, and thus are subject to change thereafter. Enthusiast Gaming disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Neither the TSX Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.