ESPO vs HERO

ESPOBVanEck Video Gaming and eSports ETF

HEROBGlobal X Video Games & Esports ETF

In short

ESPO Video games, straight up. ESPO tracks a global index of game developers, esports companies and the hardware and software behind them, in a concentrated basket of roughly 30 names, running since 2018.

HERO A pure play on the companies that make and monetize games: roughly 40 video game and esports names in one index fund, priced under the typical fee in its niche.

Stated mandate

ESPO The ETF seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS Global Video Gaming and eSports Index. The index covers companies involved in video game development, esports, and related hardware and software.

HERO The Fund seeks to deliver investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the Solactive Video Games & Esports Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• ESPO A tight read on the theme: the index covers video game development, esports, and related hardware and software, so the basket stays near the console and the code instead of drifting into general entertainment.vaneck.com
• Global mandate. Gaming's biggest publishers are listed all over the world, and ESPO's index is built to reach them rather than stopping at US-listed names.vaneck.com
• Priced at 0.55%, right at the middle of the gaming and esports ETF group, and one of the stronger overall implementations among its peers.
• Launched in 2018, making it one of the elder statesmen of gaming ETFs, with a few hundred million dollars of assets behind it.

• HERO Costs 0.50% a year, below the 0.55% median for gaming and esports funds, including VanEck's ESPO at 0.55% and Invesco's GGME at 0.71%.
• Does exactly what the label says: tracks the Solactive Video Games & Esports Index, not a broad tech basket with a few game studios sprinkled in.
• Launched in 2019, part of the first wave of gaming funds, and it grades in the upper half of its peer group.

Worth knowing

• ESPO Roughly 30 holdings. One publisher's flopped launch or blowout quarter lands harder here than it would in a broad index.
• Not the cheapest seat in the arcade: HERO and NERD both charge 0.50% for their own takes on gaming.
• Trades lighter than mainstream index funds, so spreads can widen in fast markets. Distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly.

• HERO Thinly traded. Limit orders matter here, and spreads can widen when the market gets jumpy.
• About 40 stocks in one industry. Concentration cuts both ways, and the fund rides the gaming cycle with little to cushion it.
• Distributions come once or twice a year. This is a growth-theme equity fund, not an income line.

Full ESPO profile⁠

Full HERO profile⁠