Harry Blackmore, known in the gaming world as Hashtag Honey Badger, is about to represent New Zealand at the inaugural FIFA eNations Cup in London with team mate Campbell Knowles, who plays under the alias of Breakaway airbrn.

We sat down with the 24-year-old, who now makes a living in England as a professional gamer, to find out more about his unique lifestyle. 

How did it feel to become one of the inaugural New Zealand Football FIFA 19 National Championship winners?

It was pretty cool, I’ve been playing for New Zealand competitively at tournaments for three years now, there’s never been an official title but it’s definitely something I’m proud of.

You were made to work hard for the win by your opponent, JMKKing. How did you feel you played over the two matches?

I went 2-0 down in 15 minutes in the first game but I thought the goals were quite unlucky so I was pretty confident. Even in the second game, it was a little bit tight but I definitely felt like I was going to hold on for the win. So it might have looked tight but I felt pretty comfortable in both games.

We understand it was quite an effort for you to take part in the event, can you talk us through that?

I live in the UK, just outside of London and play for Hashtag United. So it was a long journey to come over for two games of FIFA but I had to do it. This tournament will be a massive event and it’s an honour just to be able to say I’m the New Zealand champion – it’s definitely something to add to the bio.

How did you end up living in England and being a professional gamer for Hashtag United?

I was born in the UK and moved to New Zealand when I was 16, I finished high school here and was studying in my conjoint degrees at Auckland University. I was there for five years and was playing competitive FIFA whilst I was at university and then last year on FIFA 18 I finished fifth in the world at the FIFA eWorld Cup. Then I got involved with Hashtag, they saw me play real football and liked the way I played – it’s all about producing a combination between real football and eSports so I definitely bring something unique of being able to kick a real football as well as one on the virtual pitch.

How did you get into playing FIFA in the first place?

Since I was a kid, it would be finish school, go for a real kick about and then come home and play FIFA. I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember and then when it became competitive I just wanted to give it a crack and I won about $20,000 in the first year. It was a real wake-up call in terms of what I could do. I have my marketing and management degrees at university so I’m trying to develop my own brand online but last year was my first real year of making a lot of major events and travelling all around the world – it’s a crazy career but I absolutely love it.

When did you realise you were really good at FIFA and could actually make a career out of it?

I never really lost to my mates when we played before it got competitive, I was always quite good at it. Then it became competitive in 2017 and it was open to everyone to try to make the events. It wasn’t actually my goal – my goal was just to get my degrees and go into business but I ended up making all the events and it went from there. I absolutely love doing this and hopefully I can do it for as long as I can.

It’s quite an unusual career, what's it like to live the life of a professional gamer?

There’s hardly any people that have it as their full-time job and I think I’m probably one of only a handful. I don’t have fixed hours, I don’t have targets and there’s no goals set upon me. I go in when I want and practice when I want but over the weekend I do a lot. I have to do 30 games minimum which takes about 10 hours. Then I also have qualifiers running most weekends. It’s an unusual way of living and people always ask what I do and how I do it but, at the end of the day, it’s like anything – the harder you work then the better you become. So moving to Europe was massive for me and I’ve become much better since going there.

Your career would be the envy of many young people, how does it feel to make a living out of what is just a hobby for most?

I’m very comfortable and it’s nice not to have a nine-to-five job – I don’t think that’s for me after doing this for three years now. But it’s difficult because, even though I have my contract and have flexibility, it could go instantly if I don’t perform. So coming to the New Zealand nationals and putting on a show and some of the goals I scored were definitely down to the hard work I’ve put in. It’s pretty unique and it’s a growing industry but it’s definitely something that more and more people are earning full-time jobs off – it’s crazy but I love it.

How much work does it take to become that good and keep improving all the time?

There’s a lot of pressure, especially after what I did last year – I’m just trying to replicate that. I really have that winner’s mentality to try my best every day and put in a lot of practice and grind so many games. But it’s just like anything, the harder you work, the more success you’ll get so that’s what I’m trying to do. My hashtag when I post stuff online is EmbraceTheGrind so I’m always up. To qualify for this tournament, I started at 8pm on a Friday and didn’t finish until 8am on the Saturday and then I went into another qualifier at 10am so I did a full 24 hours in a row, which you don’t get in a nine-to-five.

What do your friends think of what you do?

I think I’m just known as the FIFA guy. They love it but when they come over and want to play video games they don’t let me play FIFA!

How did you come to be known as Honey Badger?

It just kind of fell to me but it’s ended up to be crazy in terms of marketing. We watched that video of the Honey Badger Don’t Care with the commentary over it. Then my mates came over and we had to make an account so we just called it Honey Badger – it’s just stuck ever since. It’s been an absolute blessing. Some things you don’t really think about but that name just sticks. People remember it and when I go to tournaments internationally people know who I am so it’s definitely good for myself and the brand as well.

You will compete as part of a New Zealand team with fellow qualifier Breakaway airbrn at the FIFA eNations Cup, what do you think of your chances?

I think we can definitely do some damage. There’s the PS4, Xbox and 2 v 2 legs so I’m going to get airbrn over to my house, we’ll put him up and get in a lot of 2 v 2 practice. The group has got some tough games but definitely some winnable ones as well so hopefully we can put in a good shift. But most important are the pro points for myself for the rest of the year, I’m really close to making some big events this year so hopefully we can do well and get a lot of wins and points.

Being a professional gamer is probably not a long-term career, can you imagine yourself doing anything else?

For me, I think there’s always that ability to fall back on my degrees. It’s something that I can do but, with the growth in this industry, there’s not just being a player. There’s being a manager, social media manager and a lot of other stuff I could fall back into. But, for now, I’m still quite young so I can definitely do this for a lot longer. As long as I’m good and competitive I’ll carry on. 

Article added: Monday 08 April 2019