Galaxy Racer appoints new Head of Marketing, India & South Asia

Former Garena Esports Project Manager for India, Romeo Misao, joins Galaxy Racer to head up the organisation’s rapid expansion plans for the region

Galaxy Racer (GXR), one of the fastest-growing esports, gaming and lifestyle organizations in the world, headquartered in Dubai, has announced the appointment of Romeo Misao as the Head of Marketing for India and South Asia. The announcement follows the organisation’s spate of new hires globally and the recent signing of Galaxy Racer’s Chief Marketing Officer, Allan Phang. 

Misao will lead the best-in-class regional marketing initiatives for both Galaxy Racer and Nigma Galaxy, the competitive esports division of Galaxy Racer, focusing on the company’s aggressive expansion plans across India and the South Asia region.

Misao was previously the first esports hire in India for Free Fire, the award-winning mobile Battle Royale game by the leading game’s publisher, Garena. He led and executed esports initiatives for Free Fire in India and Bangladesh as their Esports Project Manager. 

He spearheaded and launched the leading premium esports IPs in India that went on to be record-breaking such as the Free Fire India Championship Fall 2020 with 300,000 concurrent viewership and the Free Fire World Series, Singapore 2021 with 1.9 million concurrent viewership on local Hindi language streams.

Misao has also worked for award-winning brand BenQ-Zowie, where he drove gaming and esports projects and contributed to the success of the brand’s ranking as the No. 1 Gaming Monitor. He led all Marketing and Communications for US leading display brand, ViewSonic in India and contributed to the growth of the brand in the major display product line with a Top 3 ranking in India. This positioned the brand among the top display segments which led to major collaborative promotional projects with leading games publishers such as Tencent.

Galaxy Racer was founded in 2019 and currently has over 100 content creators across Middle East North Africa (MENA) and Southeast Asia (SEA), amassing over 370 million followers and generating over 2 billion monthly views.

Nigma Galaxy, the merger between Team Nigma,  champions of The International 7 Dota 2, and Galaxy Racer, will be leading the competitive esports team division, with an impressive roster of twelve esports teams in Dota 2, League of Legends, CS:GO, Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, BGMI and Free Fire, with over 60 male and female esports athletes from over 20 countries.

Allan Phang, Chief Marketing Officer of Galaxy Racer commented, “Romeo’s vast marketing experience and deep knowledge of the Indian esports industry is vital as part of our strategic initiatives for India. His work is exceptional and I am looking forward to working together with him. As Galaxy Racer pushes forward with our aggressive expansion plans, having a leader of his calibre is important to spearhead our marketing campaigns. We look forward to having Romeo onboard with us. Welcome to our galaxy!”

Romeo Misao, Head of Marketing, India and South Asia of Galaxy Racer commented, “I am excited to be working at Galaxy Racer, one of the fastest-growing esports, gaming and lifestyle organisations globally. I look forward to working with Allan and my fellow colleagues as we look to partner with brands who are interested in targeting Gen Z and Millennials. I cannot wait to unleash the awesome marketing initiatives I have in store for the Indian market and to put Galaxy Racer, Nigma Galaxy and India on the world map in the global esports industry.”

Galaxy Racer is creating a true 360-degree esports, gaming, content and lifestyle brand. Their group company, Riva Technology and Entertainment (RTE), have secured a strong streak of acquisitions, partnerships and brand licensing deals, including the iconic comic book series publisher Dark Horse Comics, with RTE producing multiple mobile games based on the massively successful The Umbrella Academy comic books and Netflix series.

Earlier this year, RTE invested in multiple companies including SUB2r who produce broadcast-quality streaming video cameras, Recast an over-the-top (OTT) platform, My LADS, an Augmented Reality (AR) technology engagement firm which powers fan engagement, the leading games publisher Rogue Games and OKLetsPlay, the leading platform for players to compete each other in competitions against other players across the world. 

RTE also owns a majority stake in global games producer Firefly Games, who have experience working with major studios and brands for world-renowned intellectual properties (IP) from Dreamworks Animation, NBC Universal, Skydance Media, and now MGA Entertainment, a consumer entertainment products company, to produce and publish mobile games based on their hit properties L.O.L Surprise!™ and Rainbow High, both featured on Netflix.

Galaxy Racer has recently brought onboard former Disney executive Guenther Hake, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Disney Consumer Products in Greater China and CEO at Oriental DreamWorks, who will be assisting in an advisory role with Galaxy Racer’s brand partnerships, consumer products, apparel and merchandising endeavours. 

Galaxy Racer has also recruited Danny Lopez as Chief Content Officer, who was formerly the Director of Brand and Content at Guild Esports, an esports team co-owned by David Beckham, where he led the creative content development and execution across the board.