*By Jacqueline Corba* Video games and esports are front and center at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, and they've caught the eye of entrepreneur and digital advertising exec Gary Vaynerchuk. "I have been lurking in the grass, as they say," VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk told Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg in an interview Monday, alluding to the uber-popular game Fortnite. The title dominated conversation at last week's E3, and the broader video game industry is looking to capitalize off that interest at Cannes Lions. Interactive entertainment company Activision Blizzard [positioned its tent](https://twitter.com/jonsteinberg/status/1008380696052846592) front and center at the festival, an apparent effort to lure more advertisers to the industry. And Vaynerchuk sees the appeal. He told Cheddar he plans to have 40 of the top 500 players on Twitch's game streaming platform come to his office in three weeks for a jam session. "I have an enormous Twitch studio right outside my office. I speak to Ninja once a week, if not four times a week," said Vaynerchuck. Ninja, whose real name is Tyler Blevins, is one of the biggest celebrities in the gaming world, with 8.5 million Twitch followers. In an interview from E3, the Fortnite champion told Cheddar's Alyssa Julya Smith he thinks the game is ready to take the eSports stage. "They are just consistently updating and upgrading it," [said Ninja.](https://cheddar.com/videos/ninja-on-fortnites-future-in-esports) "No one really does that." For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/gary-vaynerchuk-launches-one37pm-brand).

Share:
More In Technology
Skype shut down for good, but users still have these alternatives
Skype users are scrambling to find an alternative after Microsoft shut down the pioneering internet phone service which let people make cheap long distance calls and chat with other users. Google Voice lets users make calls from a smartphone or a desktop web browser but it's only available to people in the U.S. Viber users can call phone numbers but can't get a number to receive calls. Zoom offers phone options too. You could get a number from a low cost virtual carrier or try other internet phone services. Microsoft says some Skype features will migrate to Teams, but its Teams Phone feature is only for businesses.
Load More