On Saturday 7 November, I stood inside Mỹ Đình National Stadium for Liên Quân 10 Fest. After the final, I took the team out to eat. I looked around the table and counted more than 30 of our own people, players, media and commercial, every one of them in a GAM jersey.
A year earlier, I almost walked away from esports. GAM had missed Worlds, Levi had retired, and our HQ had shrunk to a fraction of the team it used to be. So 2026 became my year to reset, refocus and rebuild, and not just at GAM: at EO, in the ventures and at home too. This is the story of how we got from there to that table, and of the year Vietnam got a seat at a much bigger one.
The year at a glance
Act 1: Reset
Resetting started with the basics. January began with a sold-out New Year at Skylight Nha Trang and a new League of Legends season. The question for GAM was simple: could a small team from Vietnam keep up? In February we made the LCP playoffs.
February was also Tet, and the year started where it always should, with family in Nha Trang. Around the same time, EO Vietnam hosted EO's Global Board. Listening to Taunya talk about her journey from a small chapter to global leadership, I decided to say yes to our chapter's board.
In March, our brand new Arena of Valor team opened its first split 3-0, including a 3-0 against Saigon Phantom, the 10-time champions. We celebrated the only way you should, at Haidilao.
The same month I landed at LAX and went straight to Riot Games HQ, where I sat down with Brett, who I first met in 2021 when I was just starting out in esports. Then I flew down to La Paz in Mexico for Chris' wedding. Back home, I ran the midnight 10K at the VnExpress Marathon with the GAM crew, after a nap I definitely regret.
In April, Anna Leigh Waters, the number one pickleball player on the planet, crossed the Pacific for the Franklin Asia Pickleball Showcase, and somehow I ended up on court with her. My brother Dru turned 40. There is no TK without Dru.
Then the news that set up the rest of the year. Two years earlier, our chairman Randy and I had bought tickets to the Esports World Cup in Riyadh just to see what it was. In April, GAM was named one of its 40 Club Partners, and the only one from Vietnam. Next stop: Paris.
Act 2: Refocus
Refocusing meant putting my energy where it mattered most. Most of the year's miles were flown in the middle of it. Nineteen cities in all, from Nha Trang to La Paz, and Paris alone took three trips and most of the summer.
May came first. Hanoi hosted KRX Homefront, the first international LCK roadshow in Vietnam, and I got to welcome the KRX team on behalf of GAM and the Vietnamese League community. The same weekend, GAMeverse 2026 took over Ho Chi Minh City.
May was also my first EO APAC Moderator Summit in Manila, where I learned what a Forum is really for: a safe space to be honest. And I finished 12 weeks of early mornings with the Lions program at Primal, Murph challenge included. In June, for the first time, the whole GAM company stood in one room for our H2 kickoff: League of Legends, Arena of Valor and the HQ family.
Then Paris. We spent seven weeks going back and forth for the Esports World Cup. We faced T1 twice, beat Movistar KOI, and flew 30 Super Fans to the arena. Our players now know that stage, and they know they belong on it.
My most-watched reel of the year came from the other side of the barrier, in the stands with Karmine Corp's Blue Wall. People think we're still just playing video games. This is what a real esports experience, a peak esports experience, is like. One day, I hope we can build this same passion and energy in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia.
Eighteen years in the making
The moment from Paris that meant the most to me personally happened off the stage. For the Esports World Cup, GAM collaborated with the Jabbawockeez on a film, "From the Underground to a Global Movement".
I didn't meet the Jabbawockeez as a fan. We came up in the same dance community in California, and in 2008 I was working on JabbaTV, the crew's behind-the-scenes channel. On 27 March 2008 I stood backstage in a red JabbaTV shirt as they became the first champions of America's Best Dance Crew. In 2013 I was at the opening night of their show at the Luxor in Las Vegas, and in 2022 I brought them a GAM jersey backstage.
The Jabbawockeez took dance from the underground to the world stage. That's what we're building for esports in Vietnam. Back home, the film ran on seven LED screens across downtown Ho Chi Minh City for three days, reached 9.4 million views and was covered in 25 national press articles. I tell the whole story here.
Between trips, Skylight turned 11. Nha Trang brought me to Vietnam, and Skylight is where I learned how to bring people together. Then Dru, "Big Brother" and I took a few days in Venice.
In August, my first EO APAC Regional Leadership Summit in Phuket reminded me that the answers are usually already in the room. A few days later, Randy and I were back in Paris for the closing ceremony at the Grand Palais, representing Vietnam next to the leaders of the world's biggest clubs. I wrote about what that partnership turned into once the season was over.
Act 3: Rebuild
Paris showed us where the bar sits. The autumn was about rebuilding so we could clear it.
In September, I was back in Shanghai, the city I first came to more than 20 years ago as an exchange student, this time to meet Moonton as GAM became a partner of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Then Tokyo for Logitech G Play, and Osaka for our EO Forum's first retreat, where I learned that doing more doesn't always mean doing better.
In Busan, GAM, Team Secret Whales and Vikings played as one Team Vietnam against Korea and took a game off them. Then on 1 October, Kiaya and Taki brought home a bronze medal from the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.
October didn't slow down. We launched the #GAMGirls, our first women's Arena of Valor team, and they beat the reigning champions in their first playoffs. Riot Games named GAM a partner team for the 2027 VALORANT Champions Tour, so Vietnamese VALORANT fans finally have a home team. In between, I flew to Las Vegas for a wedding and slowed down for a belated birthday date night on the Strip with my mama.
Not everything went our way. We missed Worlds again, and that still hurts. EO kept me learning anyway, from factory visits in quartz and foam to a China immersion through Shanghai and Shenzhen. And then came Mỹ Đình, the national stadium full for a mobile GAMe, and that table of more than 30 people in GAM jerseys.
What November taught me
The vision was never wrong. It just needed time, and the right people.
A week later, I gave my talk, The Bigger GAMe, at EO Vietnam's RISE 4, where I serve on the board as Strategic Alliance and Partnerships Chair. Saying yes to that board in February was one of the best decisions I made all year.
The ventures
GAM gets most of my time, but it isn't the only thing I'm building. Each of these had its own milestone this year.
December, and what comes next
The year ends on a stage in Hanoi, at TEDxHanoi: PLAY on 13 December.
If 2026 taught me three things, they are these. The highs are never as high as they seem, and the lows are never as low as they feel; what matters is showing up again tomorrow. The right people push you past what's comfortable, whether that's the Primal Lions, my EO Forum or the GAM crew at a midnight 10K. And the real level up is knowing what deserves your time. I said yes to almost everything this year. Still working on that one. 😅
To the #GAMFAM, who filled arenas, watch parties and comment sections all year. To our players, coaches and the whole GAM team, in Ho Chi Minh City, Taipei and everywhere in between. To Randy and Dru, my partners in all of it. To our partners FPT Telecom, Vietjet, Monster Energy and Logitech G. To my EO Vietnam Forum and board. And to my family, who always make room for me when I finally come home. Thank you.
If 2026 was about resetting, refocusing and rebuilding, 2027 is about leveling up, in every part of my life. Next year, GAM's League of Legends team starts each split at home in Vietnam, GAM VALORANT makes its debut in VCT Pacific, and I plan to fly a little less. We'll see about that last one. If your brand wants to be part of the 2027 story, let's talk. And for the moments in between, follow along on Instagram.
Vietnam to the world. Let's level up in 2027!
