Category: Uncategorized

Richard Lewis: Why ESL must get rid of the US Air Force sponsor Adela Sznajder/ESL Gaming via ESPATIn his latest column, Richard Lewis, Dexerto’s Editor-At-Large, calls on tournament organizer ESL to cease its partnership with the US Air Force. Esports as an industry is steeped in hypocrisy. There’s no changing that now. Too many people made too many backroom deals to get themselves paid. They sold out the industry and now, like everything else, it’s impossible to walk a straight moral line. I could tell you how it didn’t have to be that way but in reality it was the only way it could turn out. Too many people wanting too much, not wanting to pay for it, too many people of low moral fibre in positions of power and before you know it you’re owned by the oligarchs and the regimes desperate to wash the blood off their hands. Still, you have to at least try and so today I come to you with a very modest proposal, one I reckon we can agree on even if the opening paragraph immediately put you in a bad mood. Given the current geopolitical situation and the resulting decisions our industry has made in light of the death and destruction in Ukraine, I would very much like esports companies, particularly ESL, to stop advertising the US military. It seems to me to be utterly incompatible with our current trajectory and is doubtlessly upsetting to the many people around the world who have been served up a tactical strike of Western democracy. Since this is an opinion piece in an era where the worst thing anyone can do is have a slightly non-mainstream opinion, let’s frontload the article with all the childish caveats needed in such times. I understand the need for a military for defensive purposes. I understand that without one, any country would be at the mercy of a hostile force. I think there is nothing immoral about defending one’s country under such a threat. I do believe people should always have a choice in this. As such I do not support conscription, a draft of any kind or even national service. This article mostly addresses the United States military and to a lesser extent the British Armed Forces. Right, let’s begin. I do not want the military adjacent to esports and down the years I have argued about this quite consistently. The first half of the argument will be the easiest to get on board with. I think there is something perverse in the way the military recruits, the way it insidiously inserts itself into the lives of young, working class people and their interests. When I lived in one of Britain’s poorest towns, every week outside where I worked the big military bus with the fold out sides would roll up and a physically impressive man in uniform would step out and encourage the unemployed to enlist. “What else are you going to do with your life,” he’d say and for those people it was a valid question. You see, we can pretend otherwise if we like, but it is the working class that are targeted by the military. They come to you when you’re broke, depressed and riddled with self loathing and fill your head with nonsensical dreams of travelling the world, shooting guns, and making friends, all the while glossing over the fact that you will be expected to kill and die to further the agenda of the same government that left you to rot in the shit town they’re now airlifting you out of. It might surprise you to learn that I am from a military family, which also gives me insight into the way returning veterans are treated. On the way in you’re told you will learn a trade that will put you in good stead for the rest of your life. On your way out, often with your body mangled and your mind shattered with PTSD, you’re given a derisory pension and maybe a job as a night shift security guard. Your best years behind you, the government throws you on a scrapheap as you are no longer useful for their global machinations. To say it’s a bum deal would be a real understatement and yet we allow military entities to falsely advertise the soldier’s experience without batting an eyelid in a society that runs ‘awareness’ campaigns on drinking, smoking, gambling and fast food. My generation was propagandized by TV commercials showing us a character called Frank windsurfing, hang-gliding and drinking with a beautiful woman on his arm. “To be Frank, join the army,” they’d tell us. Why are they not legally mandated to show Frank with his guts hanging out around his knees, the same way tobacco companies have to show me lung cancer? As you get older you just get tired of The Machine and its endless stream of bullshit. Our industry is for the young. Our industry has a lot of impressionable and undersocialized teenagers in it. I’ve dedicated the best years of my life to trying to keep them safe from bad actors. There are few bad actors more malevolent than the military in the United States and Britain. So I’m of the viewpoint it would always be a bad thing to advertise the US military to a young and impressionable audience. However, it isn’t just tasteless; it is actually grotesque. Why? Because we, as an industry, have currently agreed that all Russians must be held accountable for the actions of their government and that anything we can do to reduce the quality of their lives is ethical as it will serve the long-term goal of them overthrowing Putin’s regime. It’s not a philosophy I subscribe to nor do I think it’s logical to believe it will work in what is functionally a dictatorship, but fuck it, I’m along for the ride with everyone else. We’ve seen the horror unfold in Ukraine. We’ve seen pictures of the bodies in rubble and the broken cities that act as their final resting place. Many of us know people who have either fled or gone to the frontlines. We know the reality is that the Russian military have targeted civilians who have refused to leave and they have not discriminated between men, women and children. We value human life and because of this we want peace and so we believe we can morally justify doing everything in our limited powers to apply pressure to anyone in a position to protest Putin’s megalomaniacal behaviour. Here’s the thing. I’ve also seen the horror unfold in Afghanistan. I’ve seen pictures of the bodies in rubble and the broken cities that act as their final resting place… Are you not similarly outraged? Do you not value that human life, the type snuffed out by American bombs dropped on civilian targets by ‘accident’ because the US government views the people they will kill as acceptable collateral damage? What about drones killing ten people, including seven children, for the act of trying to take water to refugees? The US did that and said it was little more than a tragic mistake, one for which no one will be punished. Let me give you a rundown of what’s been happening in the invasion of Afghanistan. There have been thousands of civilian casualties in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001, with record levels being reported in 2021.. The bulk of these are caused by shootouts between Taliban and pro-government forces, with 64% of the total number of dead being attributed to the former. Let’s just focus on the ones directly attributed to the US Air Force. Between 2016-2020 there were 2,122 civilian deaths and 1,855 civilian injuries as a result of US air strikes. Thirty-seven percent of the deaths were children. This period coincides with a significant increase in child deaths. Why? Because in 2017 the then Secretary of Defence General Jim Matthis announced that they would “loosen” rules of engagement for Taliban forces, meaning more bombs dropped overall and now in areas previously deemed off limits. That right there is what they mean when they speak about the banality of evil, that a man in uniform decided with the sweep of a pen that it would speed up the defeat of a military enemy if killing children was something we would be willing to accept. This is why you can’t just explain these things away as tragic mistakes. A choice was made, the value of those children’s lives was deemed to be lower than the cost of a longer victory with fewer civilian casualties. The logo of the people doing this is on your favourite esports products. Maybe you’re still not convinced. Maybe you need international outrage, right? Those of us who were around at the time Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded can tell you all about that. The UN charter, which is ratified by the member countries, including the US, states that a member country can only use military force in self defence or when the security council approves of such force. The US-led war in Iraq was illegal and recognised as such by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Marjorie Cohn, a former president of the National Lawyers Guild, described the US and British attack on Afghanistan as “a patently illegal use of armed force”. Yet we exist in such absurd times I have to see former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice nodding furiously in agreement to the statement that invading a sovereign nation is a war crime, one she herself advocated for repeatedly. Bring any of this up and people cry “whataboutism”, usually because they’re very smart and know all the words surrounding internet-based argumentation. But that isn’t what it is. It’s trying to find a consistent moral framework where we hold everyone equally accountable for what we deem to be transgressions. These are times when people are being fired from their jobs even as they condemn Putin’s actions. Meanwhile, we emblazon the logo of the preferred apparatus of international war criminals across your screens. Now the reason we could all tolerate this and make it nestle into our collective conscience without it being too uncomfortable is because we’d accepted as a rule that individuals exert little-to-no influence over government policy. That it is the political class that make the decisions they want to make and they will find any means, any lie, necessary to justify it. Even in the most open of democracies we’re a hostage to that reality. We have now decided that we no longer believe this to be the case, a belief that if followed through leads us into a very long process if we are to be fair to all nations that make up our global community. In the @usafrecruiting Barrier Breakers, @mosesgg breaks down a vintage 1v2 clutch by @xyp9x! #AimHigh Check out the 4K version here ➡️ https://t.co/M0RHYhrJr5 pic.twitter.com/Q7mMzUXoD0 — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 22, 2022 We must start with the easy ones. The US Air Force as an entity is viewed as morally reprehensible. It goes beyond just being politically divisive. It is very simple… If esports is populated by people who want peace then it cannot be acceptable to advertise those that would wage war. It is non compatible with our collective values. The solution is straightforward enough. To ESL, you don’t need the money. You sold out to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. It will not harm you financially in any significant way to immediately terminate this relationship and in doing so you will show a continued commitment to using your platform for good works. I would also suggest taking the total amount of the money you earned from this sponsorship deal and distributing it among the many fine charities that try and assist the civilians whose lives have only been ruined, as opposed to ended, by US bombs. You must also ban teams that have sponsorship deals with this entity from showing the logo on your broadcasts. Once this is in place we can move on to more complicated matters. We’ll have the conversation about Yemen next week. I’m sure a conversation about Taiwan will also be in our future. If I sound jaded it’s only because it’s hard not to be. The one thing I used to be was an idealist and as I’ve parroted down the years I believed in esports because I saw the untapped potential. I believed it could be a space where technology allowed people from all across the world to come together, be who they want to be free from judgment, all of us unified in a shared passion that transcended all of the other noise. Here, in our digital space, we could have chosen to fill it with anything we wanted. Sixteen years later I look at what we chose and I cannot abide it. Every week it feels we’re at some new crossroads, uncharted territory that our young industry is expected to navigate with aplomb. Obviously we’re not going to always get it right but this one is easy enough. The guiding principle is righteous. As things stand it’s only the execution that’s rotten.

Richard Lewis: Sean, Welcome to Riot’s World Riot GamesOn March 14th Valorant commentator Sean Gares announced that following the decision of Riot Games not to hire him for their upcoming Masters event in Reykjavik he would be quitting the world of commentary indefinitely. That decision came as a shock to many given his near omnipresence in 2021 and his usage at the end-of-year world final event, Champions. The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by Dexerto. The consensus among the fans on social media was that this was a “big L” their way of expressing that the broadcast would be diminished. Sean is now likely to walk into his choice of coaching role among North America’s biggest teams and make more money than Riot would ever pay him. How does something like this happen? Well, the assumption would be it was about money. Certainly, as we’re about to discuss, it’s often a factor. Not this time though. On the first stream since the announcement Sean explained: “It has nothing to do with pay… I gladly accepted a pay cut this year and I told them I would have worked Iceland for free.” So why then? Well, this is a textbook Riot Games play. I’ll elaborate but since as so many of you have a short attention span I’ll frontload. Riot do not like their games being kingmakers for people they do not have direct influence over. Sean was rapidly becoming a new Christopher “Montecristo” Mykles for them to deal with, an influential voice, who is well-liked by the community, who is not above criticizing what they do in public, and knows his value while doing it. This archetype has been Riot’s nightmare for years. Now, I’ll also say this upfront. In the freelance world, no one is guaranteed shit. No one is obligated to hire you nor give you a reason when they don’t. One of the first esports tests you’ll face from any big company is your reaction the first time you get left out. They often purposefully do it just to see how you react. And if that reaction is to take to social media to bellyache about what you thought you were entitled to, or even the more subtle “just letting the fans know…” spiel, just know you failed. The time to crow about it comes once you’ve had a hat-trick of knockbacks. At that juncture just accept they don’t want you and air whatever fucking dirty laundry you want to. There isn’t even a bridge to burn at that point. That said, the refusal to hire Gares is stupefying on the surface of it all. He is easily one of the most technically minded commentators the game has. He is in every way broadcast ready, and I say that as someone who has worked with him on ELEAGUE. He has a competitive background, giving him credibility that most broadcast talent, especially commentators, does not have. He is beloved by the community having circumnavigated his entire esports career with only one “drama” of note. The reason I feel compelled to write this piece is that it is not despite these things he was left out. No, it’s actually because of them. A quick history lesson for the Valorant zoomers who might have very naive ideas about the type of competitive scene Riot are going to build. I’m one of the few equipped to tell it because I’ve always known exactly who Riot Games are from the moment they came into our industry. Power-crazed, corrupt liars who abused every little bit of power and status they have to a level that would make you believe it was codified. They will never change, no matter how much they profess so publicly, to cater to the optics-obsessed internet. They very much like the way they do things. The company was founded in 2006, an unholy alliance of two people from the world of banking and marketing, placing them just behind the military-industrial complex and fentanyl distributors in terms of evil. They would go on to meet a narcissist who after completing a PhD in cognitive neuroscience wanted to turn videogames into conduits for influencing young people via the conduit of “player behavior systems.” No really, that was baked into the game from almost its inception. “League of Legends attracts around 67million players per month, who are all potential test subjects for Riot Games” one 2015 article proudly declared. This was the same year they sent out creepy surveys clearly aimed at children through their game client. Even before that they only understood success through the lens of the failure of others. Their original marketing strategy for League of Legends was mostly around tearing down DOTA, something they did in a very literal sense. Not only was some of their initial advertising obnoxious and full of impossible promises – check out the No More DOTA ad banner below – they actually hired the people behind the main DOTA forum, DOTA Allstars, and made them shut it down. Not just leave it in the hands of others you understand… Actually take it off the internet. Years of community content evaporated overnight without any prior notice for its creators. That was not by mistake of course. Many people who conceptualized heroes for DOTA stated that their ideas were stolen and used in League of Legends. Anyway, let’s rattle through some of the many sins as quickly as possible. They told esports organizations that they could not support both a LoL and Dota team, something that was stated by many industry people with stellar reputations despite Riot denying it to this day. I can tell you with absolute certainty it happened. They publicly covered up a Data breach that was the direct result of staff incompetence, something that allowed a hacker to steal people’s accounts and extort Riot staff. They banned a prominent player for a whole year because he criticized artwork for a skin they sold. They made Reddit moderators sign NDAs in exchange for meetings and access with the staff. This would later go on to be abused with Riot staff influencing content decisions, something that no longer seems a big deal given how much of Reddit is astroturfed. They tried to contractually prevent LCS players from streaming rival games on their personal channel and only removed the clause after it was made public. They shut down a better version of the League of Legends client because their egos couldn’t handle the fact they didn’t make it. They encouraged a partner, the now-defunct Azubu, to abuse DMCA laws to take down a stream that showed gameplay footage of the then-best player in the world and said it was “harassment” and compared it to e-stalking. To be clear – we’re against e-stalking. If we need to change our rules over and over to close loop holes to protect our players, we will. — Tryndamere (@MarcMerrill) February 22, 2015 They did this despite showing a random selection of other player’s games in the client and running a stream called “Teemodies” that broadcast footage of players dying without their knowledge. They refused to hire three of the game’s best commentators for their world finals because those individuals had been helping broadcast talent get an industry-standard amount of money for their services. The founder of the company had his own account boosted, despite accounts being regularly shut down for this practice. In response, Merrill donated $10,000 to charity… A charity called City Year, which is barely a charity at all, and one he just so happened to sit on the board of. Funnily enough, City Year are a group where people don red clothing and behave in a cult-like fashion. Stop me if you’ve heard of something similar to that. They banned a professional player who spoke out about corruption in the CIS region for six months, forcing him into retirement. They shut down an English LPL broadcast once the league got significantly popular and then refused to rehire one of the women behind it. They fucked with the woman they would hire eventually, Indiana “Froskurinn” Black, preventing her working events by third-party operators. In the end, her working experience with the company was stated by her to be one where she experienced unspecified “toxicity” from the management prior to leaving the LEC broadcast. Which I guess is as “good” a point as any to segue into the blockbuster 2018 article about sexism within the company which would lead on to them settling a $100 million lawsuit. Despite much talk about how happy they were to make things right, they, of course, fought tooth and nail at every step, tried to lowball the victims with an initial $10 million offering and a refusal to end the practice of forced arbitration for its staff. This, according to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, was done following backroom collusion with the plaintiff’s legal counsel, leading to their termination. So yes, there was much talk of changing and listening and learning after this but of course, it’s Riot, so it was only two years after the article about rampant sexism within the company they would try to sneak through a deal with Saudi Arabian owned NEOM by making sure it didn’t line up with Pride Week. They followed that up by firing one of their lead writers despite having recently lost his father and while he needed the money to pay for his wife’s cancer treatment because they requested the business take better care of the lore they crafted. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it should be enough to show you what they are. Each one of those stories has one thing in common – control. They control everything in their game’s orbit and if you won’t be controlled then they will use every tool at their disposal to penalize you for it. In short, it’s Riot’s world and you just happen to live in it. And if that list doesn’t convince you of how they view things, why not take it from the horse’s mouth, Marc Merrill. “Congrats on having a career revolving around the free game we made” reveals their worldview in just a few words. You owe them and you better pay up. This is the lesson that Sean is being taught right now. In his recent stream, he seemed at a loss as to why this had happened, despite the fact I warned him and all my good friends about what it means to be in Riot’s world. Indeed the fans are as equally bewildered, which isn’t a surprise as I’m sure most of you reading this article didn’t know much of the history chronicled above. As the person who has been chronicling all of Riot’s bullshit from the start, so much so the interview question “what do you think of Richard Lewis’s journalism” was used in their hiring process for a few years, I will explain it now. First and foremost they operate under the rule that no one can be allowed to be “too big” by which they mean bigger than them. It is their view that when talent becomes popular for casting their game, unless they are desirable to hire directly, then this only creates problems in their eyes. Those problems include being able to demand increased money for their services and, more importantly, being a credible critical voice somewhere down the road. You must have noticed all the things happening in the Valorant broadcast space already. Inexplicably leaving talent out of events, breaking apart duos, region locking talent, refusing to hire specific people despite their credentials certainly suggest they could improve their product. All the while they do this while pushing employees and loyalists that every fan knows isn’t as good. Behind the scenes, by the way, the psychological trickery that goes on is something people don’t believe until they experience it firsthand. Riot loves a good fealty test most of all. I’ve been told repeatedly that one such game they like to do is to tell both commentators in an established duo that they love their work but not their commentary partner and that they could guarantee future hires by uncoupling themselves. This is done to see who can be molded to be loyal to the company down the line but also stops the prospect of “must-have” pairings in the eyes of fans. Two in unison is certainly harder to break down than one person operating for their own self-interests. Another practice they love is to tell two parties with role overlap that they are in direct competition with each other for one spot, regardless of the reality. This further promotes the culture of “undercutting” thus saving them money and also keeps talent divided and further away from a unified front when it comes to bargaining. Sean’s mistake was to establish himself as one of the best in his field and popular with it. The decision to leave him out is simply to show that they can and that ultimately fans will watch anyway. Equally, I know from talking behind the scenes that he had markers against him he probably wasn’t aware of. For example, expressing a distaste for being used in an analyst role when he is one of the game’s leading commentators should be par for the course in any healthy relationship between talent and producers. He has also been critical of game balance issues in his content and work. Unfortunately for him, this is Riot’s world, where any criticism, no matter how mild, is treason. The fact that they wouldn’t even take him on the broadcast for free should really underline how pathological Riot management are when it comes to this doctrine. The second component of all of this is the rise of co-streaming. A hugely popular development in esports and gaming broadcasts, Riot have used this to great effect in order to bolster the reach of Valorant as an esport and as a way to cite huge viewing figures that leave out the critical details of how they were obtained. The reality is that no broadcast talent can rise to the level of a top Twitch streamer and Riot’s internal data shows what we all know, that co-streams provide more viewers for lower cost. Remember, Riot are the developer of the game and not a tournament organizer. They consider their official broadcast a loss leader because in their mind they see it as something separate from the game. It is a non-cost efficient form of advertising that is one of the downsides of a potentially lucrative esports product. Thus, there is no real incentive to promote the best talent on a continual basis. All that will serve to achieve is make their already expensive broadcast more so. This is why they cycle their talent, keep them unsure, never certain if they have done something wrong, zero communication around the decision. It stops them from getting ideas. Incidentally, if you think there’s no truth to them being less interested than the numbers on their main stream than the totality of co-streaming, take a look at some of the decisions they have made. Right now, the official VCT stream is emote-only. Sure, this makes moderation a lot easier as unless you’re one of the crazies that sees racism in cartoon frogs, little abuse can be expressed. That fixes one issue but being able to chat in real-time during a stream is one of Twitch’s biggest selling points and there’s no way that not being able to do it doesn’t impact the numbers. By the same token, the main channel doesn’t allow for clips to be made unless you are a follower, another downside that makes watching a co-stream more desirable. It also plays into Riot’s control strategies. You see, the only way to bring someone bigger than you to heel is to make them dependent on you in some fashion. For the streamers being approved for co-streaming is the dream content. They get to do very little and receive huge numbers for doing it. It is essentially react content, where they have expended no time or money into what they get to stream. You barely have to even say anything beyond the occasional exclamation and the zoomers lap it up. Now, if you want that free content and free money you have to toe the Riot Games line. No criticism, no behavior they deem “toxic,” they can now dictate other content and sponsors you might have because it’s “brand adjacent.” Keep it up and they may even bring you in for an activation. Even more money and eyeballs. The third and final component is storytelling. Riot don’t want their broadcast talent telling the story of their game. They want the content they create to tell the stories. Now Riot does a fantastic job with their content, no doubt about that. I worked in television and can tell you firsthand how much goes into the quick turnaround of a polished content piece. The team who works on them can be rightly proud. But where most sports use pieces like that to augment commentary and leave narrative up to the commentators and analysts, Riot wants the content to be the official version of the story. Why? Well, broadcast freelancers might actually tell a few inconvenient truths by mistake. They might introduce a vital component of the story Riot would rather be left out. They might not lean into the anime-style narrative bullshit and upset kids that aren’t yet old enough to have any expectations placed on them nor taste of life’s many bitter disappointments. No, it is far, far safer that the preserved and archived storylines are ones that Riot writes themselves. Right now so many of the broadcast talent pool over in Valorant live walking on eggshells. They know that Valorant will be successful in the long term and want very much to be one of the faces of that success. They won’t speak out when things like this happen because they know with a certainty that if they do they will be cast out. For them, there is too much to lose. It will almost certainly lead to Dan ‘DDK’ Kapadia choosing to throw in the towel as so much of what he wanted to do revolved around this partnership. Sean might also learn that if Riot are particularly upset with how this story unfolds in public they are not above back-channeling to the organizations who are looking to hire him and “advise” them doing so could come at a cost. They’ve been known to do that too you know. Of course, they do. It’s all Riot’s world and that’s the way we like it, right?

Richard Lewis: OpTic Gaming in turmoil as Immortals group makes cuts Immortals TwitterIn early June 2019, it was officially announced that Immortals Gaming Club – the investment group behind esports brands such as League of Legends franchise league via a backdoor after Immortals were turned down initially, with Riot Games citing concerns about their “business model”. The company has done little to challenge these perceptions after announcing that the OpTic League of Legends team will be rebranded as Immortals for the 2020 season. Also, in a recent interview with The Esports Observer, Immortals Group CEO Ari Segal said: “In some respects, I think this acquisition was born out of our failure to get into LCS originally two years ago. We were moving our business forward – but at the same time, we always felt that finding a way back towards LCS would be a fantastic outcome, particularly for the Immortals brand.” It was already common knowledge that, due to the rules about joint ownership in most professional Counter-Strike leagues and tournaments, they were going to release the Danish OpTic CS:GO team. The group have put their faith in the MiBR brand who, after yet another roster change, just crashed out of ESL One Cologne in last place. The Danish OpTic CS:GO team won DreamHack Open Summer just a few weeks ago though. A few days ago the owners also announced that they would be releasing their dominant OpTic Gears of War team that had won 17 championships from 19 events attended. However, there have been even more cuts and layoffs made in OpTic Gaming as the new owners look to put all the focus back on OpTic being a Call of Duty brand and not a multi-gaming organization. Sources close to the situation have told us that there have been approximately 30 layoffs across departments in OpTic Gaming and Houston Outlaws, with one adding that there were likely more to come as they only wanted a “skeleton crew” to keep the organization running ahead of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise league. “They don’t want OpTic to be anything other than a CoD team within this Activision franchise league,” they added. “Everything else is going to be cut or rebranded.” The month started with the new management team of OpTic announcing that they were going to be the Los Angeles franchise (a territory they had wanted since buying the most expensive LA slot in the Overwatch League), which prompted a negative reaction from several of the Call of Duty squad. OpTic legend Seth ‘Scump’ Abner responded with a GIF of Lebron James pulling a grimace in disbelief. Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter, who has been part of the organization since 2014, also replied saying the tweet was “bait” and mocking the management for accidentally leaking the branding of the league. In another tweet Porter also said he had “had enough” and asked his teammates if they had packed “the other jerseys” – using an image of Average Joes from the movie Dodgeball. Less surprisingly, Rodriguez himself was also critical, tweeting “that ain’t us” in response to the announcement. In the past, he has been vocal about the geolocation of esports organizations being a limiting factor and has said that OpTic is a global brand for everyone. He has also intimated in several interviews that the Call of Duty team will follow him to a new organization rather than play for a brand that doesn’t include himself in management. The tweets from the players certainly seem to corroborate this theory, which begs the question who would be representing OpTic Gaming in the CDL? The content creation department were the hardest hit by the layoffs and, although it has garnered little interest, several of the high profile photographers, videographers and content editors have spoken publicly about their dismissals. These have included Joe ‘NoScopeJoe’ Lane, Chris ‘notsogood’ Ott, and Julian ‘XpectMotion’ Sanchez among others. These cuts make it look like the Immortals group have no intention of following through on some of the plans that were in place at the time of their acquisition, which included expansive original programming and documentaries made around the players on the roster. Social Media Manager Jonathan ‘BlackBeard’ Schmid has also decided to leave the organization. Today is my last day with OpTic. IGC made me an offer, which I am thankful for, but I declined and instead decided to start a new chapter in esports. I appreciate each and every single person I’ve met in the last year and a half. Thank you all for everything:green_heart:#Greenwall — Blackbeard (@Blackbeard) June 28, 2019 Things are also a mess at the Houston Outlaws. Activision-Blizzard has given the Immortals Group 180 days to find a buyer for the brand or they will take control of the brand. It is our understanding that this has led to huge motivation problems within the remaining staff members as they understand that is it likely that they will be replaced as soon as a new buyer comes in. “The situation is a mess,” a source close to the Houston Outlaws team told us. “Blizzard have told Immortals that because they control Valiant they cannot make any changes that would be considered influencing the Outlaws Overwatch team. Right now there are people there who don’t want to work for them because they know, chances are they will be fired once the slot gets bought, but Immortals can’t directly fire them.” The same source also told us that due to the same rules the Outlaws essentially didn’t have any funding. “Immortals are paying the bills but it is bare bones operational costs,” they explained. “The sale can’t come soon enough for them but the staff are left in the dark as to their future while everyone waits.” Currently, it’s not clear who would be interested in taking on ownership of Houston Outlaws and whether a buyer would pay full price given the continuing decline in viewership. With it also having been reported that Activision Blizzard pocket 25% of any franchise slot sale price the sale could see Immortals Gaming Club losing money on the deal. That might be of little concern. The primary interests behind the acquisition appear to be twofold. Firstly, get the Immortals brand back into North American League of Legends at the expense of the inroads made by OpTic Gaming; secondly, occupy the Los Angeles territory with both an Overwatch and a Call of Duty franchise. The rest of the teams and staff are looking increasingly likely to be casualties of this marketing strategy. Disclaimer: Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd.

Esports photographer Chris Bahn banned from a number of FGC events for “Unwanted physical contact” Twitter: BahnismEsports photographer Chris Bahn has been banned from a number of fighting game community events, with one organizer citing “unwanted physical contact”. Allegations against Bahn, a former gaming journalist, surfaced on August 8 through a post made by James Fink on the On Blast Show Facebook page. In the post, Fink also named a number of alleged victims who had “compared FGC ‘war stories’” and noted that they all realized that Bahn’s alleged actions were a common theme throughout. Since that point, a number of FGC tournament organizers have stepped forward to ban him from attending. CEO Gaming, who host the annual CEO event in Flordia, tweeted that Bahn would no longer be welcome at their events or any hosted by CEO’s Alex Jebailey. “Due to recently revealed information, Chris Bahn is no longer welcome at any CEO Gaming event or related event hosted by @CEOJebailey. We believe in the safety of our attendees and will continue to provide a safe & fun environment for all to the best of our ability.” Due to recently revealed information, Chris Bahn is no longer welcome at any CEO Gaming event or related event hosted by @CEOJebailey. We believe in the safety of our attendees and will continue to provide a safe & fun environment for all to the best of our ability. — #CEOtaku on September 27-29, 2019! (@CEOGaming) August 10, 2019 A whole host of other North American based FGC event organizers, including COMBO BREAKER, Big E Gaming, and Texas Showdown, followed CEO’s example with bans and similar statements on attendee safety. “Combo Breaker LLC wants its attendees and fans to know that it will continue to work on providing a safe and inviting environment for you to celebrate competitive fighting games,” tweeted the COMBO BREAKER account. Combo Breaker LLC wants its attendees and fans to know that it will continue to work on providing a safe and inviting environment for you to celebrate competitive fighting games. — COMBO BREAKER (@ComboBreakerFGC) August 10, 2019 Dexerto have reached out to Bahn for comment.

Retired CoD pro & 100 Thieves CEO Nadeshot wants to compete in college esports Twitter, @Nadeshot / NCAA / PexelsFormer Call of Duty pro player and current founder, CEO of 100 Thieves is 30 years old and ready for his college redemption arc. After dropping out as a sophomore, he’s now ready to return as an NCAA D1 esports athlete. It’s no secret gaming and esports are getting bigger every year. Between amateur casuals and professional players, another scene continues to emerge: NCAA esports. Just this past year alone, Call of Duty was further engrained in the college world – with over 50 teams in the College CoD League and a number of former pros joining schools to compete. Now, Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag is considering joining the ranks. While he currently runs his gaming and esports organization, 100 Thieves, the former OpTic Gaming CoD captain seems ready to pick up the sticks again. 100T Nadeshot wants to play NCAA D1 esports Since I dropped out of college in my sophomore year, does that mean I still have NCAA eligibility? I’m trying to be the first 30 year old D1 Esports player. Call of Duty or Valorant is the only question. Any schools got a full ride for me? Shoutout @TheRealJRSmith — 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) March 1, 2022 Nadeshot dropped out of college as a sophomore to continue his CoD career, which lasted from 2009 to 2015. In the time since he’s made his mark on the community as a content creator and founder of 100T. Now, as he explained in a March 1 tweet, he’s wondering if that dropout means he’s still eligible to join a D1 school to compete. As far as Nade’s goals, he’s laid out a fairly simple desire: “I’m trying to be the first 30-year-old D1 Esports player.” Almost immediately, schools started responding – interested in helping him achieve that goal. Hey 🙂 we’ve got 3 national championships, 18 major tournament championships and multiple international appearances. Oh and we won Collegiate Program of the Year at the Esports Awards. Let’s talk. pic.twitter.com/koNDRMcgBC — Maryville Esports (@MaryvilleGG) March 1, 2022 While unsure whether he wants to play CoD or Valorant for a university, he seems ready to go and is already looking for offers. As the CEO asked in his tweet: “Any schools got a full ride for me?” At the moment, a number of teams seem ready to open up their admissions offices. So far, St. Edwards University, Maryville University, Illinois State University, and some others have all replied to Nade’s tweet with varying levels of interest in his services.

Rekkles sheds light on move to Karmine Corp: “In the ERLs, KCorp is the best by far” Riot Games/Karmine CorpSuperstar AD Carry Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larssen has discussed his controversial departure from the LEC, and his plans for 2022. Rekkles’s surprise departure from the LEC was one of the most unexpected moves of the 2021 offseason. After an unsuccessful year at the helm of G2 Esports’s EU superteam, his future was uncertain- until he was picked up by LFL giant Karmine Corp. Fans got their first taste of KC Rekkles on December 16, when the team took on Spanish organization KOI in a show match at the Palau San Jordi in Barcelona. In an interview with Laure Valeé, he explained the decision to move, and his motivation behind stepping down from the LEC. Rekkles’ return to the stage Although they ended up losing to the Spanish side 2-1, Rekkles discussed the importance of playing in front of a live audience again, saying the encouragement from the crowd was a huge part of what motivated him as a pro. “For me, it felt like I was once again reminded of why I’m doing this,” he explained to Laure. The global health crisis moved esports online for almost the entirety of 2021 and 2022, and multiple pros have noted a decline in motivation while playing remotely. DU BRUIIIIIT LES ULTRAS DANS LA SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLE #KCORP pic.twitter.com/7tfyVBp6Jv — Karmine Corp (@KarmineCorp) December 15, 2021 The LEC has confirmed that the Spring split will take place online, but we’re beginning to see other esports events return to LAN with the loosening of strict COVID-19 protocols. Read more: Best League of Legends players of 2021 – The KCorp-KOI show match will hopefully mark a slow return to live events for European league esports, but fans will still have a while to wait until they can see their favorite teams face off live again. Personal evolution and stepping back from a leadership role In his short time on KCorp, Rekkles is already finding himself a new niche in the team environment. Tending to be amongst one of the oldest or more experienced on his team, the leadership role has often fallen to him. Now, on KCorp, the responsibility for leadership falls to top laner Lucas ‘Cabochard’ Simon-Meslet, a veteran of the league scene. “It’s so nice for me to not have to be that guy any more” he told Laure. “It takes such a huge burden off my shoulders.” As such an iconic figurehead, especially during his time as Fnatic’s franchise player, the pressure he faced from fans and teammates alike was extremely intense. Now, he shares the responsibility of leadership with an equally experienced player, allowing him more time to focus on his own personal development. Why KCorp? He sees KCorp as a second chance and the opportunity for a “fresh start” in the esports world. As one of the LEC’s most tenured players, he’s been in the European ecosystem since 2012. But this will be his first time experiencing the ERL system. He’ll be unable to attend the World Championship this year, and he explains that that factored into his decision-making. He told Laure that “without KCorp, I wouldn’t have played next year”, explaining that he had no interest in joining an LEC team midway through the season. The KCorp offer was a “lucky” opportunity to continue playing outside of the LEC ecosystem that had grown stale for him.

ReKTGlobal acquired by Infinite Reality in near half-billion-dollar deal Infinite Reality, Inc. has acquired ReKtGlobal, an esports and entertainment company that also owns Rogue and the London Royal Ravens, for $470 million, the companies announced Tuesday, April 12. ReKTGlobal is an esports conglomerate, essentially a holding company with its fingers in many pies across the esports and gaming space. The owner of Rogue, whose League of Legends roster competes in the LEC, and of Call of Duty League team London Royal Ravens, it also offers marketing and partnership services to brands in and outside of gaming and esports along with talent management and technology products. Since its founding in 2017, ReKTGlobal has acquired marketing company Greenlit Content, digital media agency Fearless Media, fan engagement platform FullCube and talent management company TalentX (which runs the Sway House, a TikTok influencer collective). Infinite Reality itself is a metaverse innovation and entertainment company. It helps brands and creators build communities in the metaverse with “integrated social, streaming, and tools to maximize engagements, entertainments and commerce,” according to its website. Infinite Reality was born out of the combination of social ecommerce platform app Display Social and entertainment production facility Thunder Studios. In February, it was made public through a merger with Universal Security Instruments, Inc. According to a press release by the companies, the acquisition’s goal is to consolidate ReKTGlobal’s esports business into Infinite Reality’s creative tools across “social, gaming, virtual and remote production, NFT minting, content, and metaverse creation.” “Our journey does not end today. We are beginning the next chapter in our evolution into the metaverse. The explosive combination of our shared collective assets together creates a dominant, unstoppable force in the marketplace,” said Amish Shah, ReKTGlobal Founder and Chairman. ReKTGlobal has a list of celebrity investors that include the band Imagine Dragons, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert and DJ Steve Aoki. “We believe that the future of business, entertainment, socializing, and learning will be conducted in digital environments and that [Infinite Reality] is the company that will bring it all to life,” said ReKTGlobal co-founder and CEO Dave Bialek in a press release.

Veteran host Redeye walks away from esports following abuse accusations ESLBritish commentator Paul ‘Redeye’ Chaloner has announced his retirement from esports after abuse accusations were made against him by fellow host James Banks. Redeye is known for his commentary in games such as Counter-Strike, Call of Duty 2, and Starcraft 2. He has broadcast in many countries since his start in 2002, and in both 2018 and 2019, hosted Dota 2’s The International tournament. The 48-year-old announced his retirement on June 29, citing the “attacks on his character” as the reason for his leaving. He called the allegations a “mix of half-truths” that he may have been able to deal with until his children were brought into it. He also claimed that while his mental health was already in a bad state due to the lockdown, these recent accusations have caused him to come close to “taking his own life” – and also added that stepping away was only way he was going to “survive.” Following the attacks made on my character over the last few days, I have decided to walk away from esports. pic.twitter.com/mWHFVG9VJb — Paul Chaloner (@PaulChaloner) June 29, 2020 On June 27, caster and host James Banks accused Redeye and his agency Code Red esports of “abuse of power” and threatening his career and journalists who tried to tell the story. Banks has been involved in the Counter-Strike scene for many years, and is an established host and presenter. Additionally, he claimed that Redeye went out of his way to stop him from being hired, going so far as contacting tournament organizers and telling them not to use him. He also included screenshots of others within the industry claiming to have suffered verbal abuse or had their careers held back because of him. The Truth about Paul ‘Redeye’ Chaloner’s abuse of power verbally & physically in the esports/gaming industry while his company Code Red threaten & blackmail me if I release the information: https://t.co/WAiVRMw9f8 — James Banks 🇺🇦 (@BanKsEsports) June 27, 2020 Redeye went on to deny the allegations in his own document, but after that, Banks posted more allegations detailing more abuse. “Further information on Paul ‘Redeye’ Chaloner & Luke Cotton. Info on his court case including Redeye’s trial for child abuse & assault. I am leaving this all for the journalists to work with and will help them contact the people involved,” Banks tweeted, along with a link to the document. Bringing up the court case, of which Redeye was found not guilty, seems to have been the last straw for Chaloner as he retired shortly thereafter. Before closing the chapter of his 18-year career in esports, Redeye gave an apology to those he might have wronged in the past. “I would like to offer those who I have not treated very well an apology,” he said. “I never intended to upset you and hope that you have long and successful careers.” He said he would be learning from this exchange to better himself, but noted any change that comes from it will follow into his new career outside of the esports industry.

Red Reserve relaunch despite still owing former players thousands Defunct esports organization Red Reserve has relaunched “under new management,” after the organization folded in April 2019. At the time, former players and staff claimed that they were owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. On April 15, 2019, Red Reserve shut up shop and cited the “operating cost of the [Call of Duty] team due to the players’ high salary requirements” as a major factor. Alongside competing in Call of Duty, Red Reserve previously had a content creation team and a team house, but this was also ended in May 2018 due to “rotting relationships.” When the players were released, Rhys ‘Rated’ Price claimed that the organization still owed them $40,000 each in prize money. Many staff also lost their jobs, with some also claiming they were owed pay. Red Reserve relaunch The organization is officially relaunching on February 14, headed by a new management team with CEO Kim Alden at the helm. They will first begin in mobile esports, but plan to “expand into all areas of esports.” They have acquired a PUBG mobile team, and will compete in the PUBGM PMCO Spring Split. “We completely understand the reputation that comes with the name RR, we will build trust back and we will show how RR should operate,” The new CEO, Kim Alden, said. “We have reverted back to its original logo to symbolize a return to its more successful years.” Former players not paid There is no mention of reparations with former players and staff of the organization, however. “Red Reserve is such a well-known brand and it’s our desire to re-establish this brand and make it great again,” Alden also said. Update, February 15, 6:46AM EST: Red Reserve has provided Dexerto with the following statement, when asked about the status of former players and staff: “We are aware of the issues the old management created and we are shocked as anyone how they could treat players like that. The issue is that we are a brand new company under completely new management. RR has nothing to do with any of the old management or board members. This question really needs to be asked to the right company that used to own RR. Moreover, all of the old contracts that the previous players had are with that company and we have never seen the details in those contracts. That being said, if the former players want to talk to us directly they can; we have nothing to hide from them and we are as shocked about how they were treated as anybody.” Regarding Red Reserve’s history and their decision to use the branding, management explained: “Of course we know the chequered past of RR. We understand the backlash that the community will bring but we also understand that RR has a huge fan base that is also reaching out to us showing love and support. Not to mention there are many teams that are already asking to join us and play under RR. We love the RR brand and we want to bring back the time when it was regarded with respect. We are honouring this by reverting back to the old logo.” Dexerto has reached out to a number of former players of Red Reserve, under previous management. Players have confirmed that they have received no payment, nor contact from the new management, at the time of writing. The organization has relaunched new social media accounts, with the handle RedReserveLtd. Red Reserve’s former Twitter account, which boasts over 360,000 followers, is now controlled by esports organization Nordavind DNB.

Redeye Rants About “Pompous” Olympics Committee on Bringing Esports to Olympic Games Renowned esports broadcaster Paul “Redeye” Chaloner spoke passionatley about the potential for esports events at the Olympics, calling those on the committee ‘pompous’. The Paris 2024 Olympics committee have reportedly discussed the potential of having esports as a medal event at the games, which has split opinion both within esports and in the mainstream. From an esports perspective, the main issue is that President of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach has said that any esports inclusion “must not infringe upon Olympic values.” That means any ‘promotion or demonstration of violence’ would be a “red line”, so there could be no Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Overwatch Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, Dota2, fighting games or even Fortnite, and the list goes on. Redeye suggests this “vetting” of esports is an entitled view, and that the Olympics needs esports more than esports needs the Olympics. “It’s time that we stopped pandering to other sports, to let them into us. They need us more than we need them now. I don’t care about the Olympics, I really don’t. I love Mo Farah and what he’s achieved, I think all the sports, the men and women and the disabled people involved are all incredible. It’s nothing to do with that whatsoever. I also happen to think that someone like s1mple or coldzera or Ryan Hart, or any of the amazing people involved in our world, are also capable of incredible things.” He goes on to say that esports already has the necessary infrastructure, events and talent in place to operate itself – without Olympics involvment. “We’ve already got it. We’ve got ESL One Cologne, we’ve got Katowice stadium, the majors coming to the UK. We’ve got FaceIT, DreamHack, StarLadder. We’ve got incredible people all around the world – North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, everywhere. Doing incredible things that make me smile, that give me enjoyment, that promote my passion for what we’re doing. I don’t need the Olympics to prove any of that. […] It just feels pompous as f*** to me that these olympian people can come in and think they can include this – I DON’T CARE!” Watch Redeye’s passionate rant in full below, courtesy of the official LuckBox YouTube channel where he is joined by Sujoy Roy.

Red Bull Conquest returns for 2019 with Street Fighter V, Tekken 7 and UNIST action Red BullRed Bull has announced the return of Red Bull Conquest, which challenges top fighting game players in the United States to RISE, RALLY and CONQUER in a tournament circuit featuring popular fighting titles. Red Bull Conquest will unite the leading fighting game communities (FGC) across the country by encouraging local pride during the circuit’s RISE, RALLY and CONQUER events. Games that will be included in the circuit are Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, TEKKEN 7, and the upcoming Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]. How do we compete? Hopeful players can attend RISE where they will be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of other teams for training purposes, scout out the competition and practice ahead of their region’s qualifier. Next step is the RALLY events, where players will compete to earn the top spot in their respective title at their local qualifier event. Finally, the winning competitors from the eight RALLY events in each of the three games will come together to form a team for the Red Bull Conquest national finals, where only one region will CONQUER and hoist the trophy for their region. The shift to eight qualifiers for Red Bull Conquest 2019 ensures a deeper pool of talent and more intense competition at each stop as top players are welcomed from around the nation. They’re also aiming for the qualifiers to serve as a shot for redemption for players who want another shot after last year’s events. How to sign up for Red Bull Conquest? Interested players in any of the three games included in the circuit can register for regional tournaments here. The full Red Bull Conquest schedule will be announced soon and all currently available information about the Conquest can be found at the event’s official site. RedBullConquest.com. While we wait for more information on the event, players have time to hone their skills and prepare to fight for the Conquest title.

Red Bull Ready Check looks to prove AimLabs is the future of esports training Red BullWith esports being an ever-evolving industry, AimLabs is focused on changing the ways that pros train for game days and creating tools that allow the average player to strive for those same heights. Dexerto spoke with some of the folks behind AimLabs to ask about the Red Bull Ready Check and their hopes for the future. When it comes to traditional sports, finding ways to train outside of game day is normal. Competitors train their bodies in all sorts of pointed, focused ways to stay at the top of their game. Meanwhile, when it comes to most FPS esports titles, even the best players often practice by just queuing for a game. However, the question AimLabs poses is whether or not focusing specifically on aim and all the ways in which it can be expressed in video games will help players improve, and whether or not the best esports competitors are truly the best aimers. The Red Bull Ready Check features several different scenarios meant to challenge even the greatest aimers, and it’ll pit pros from different esports titles against the best competitors on AimLabs’ leaderboard for the event-specific set of challenges. Ahead of the event, we spoke to Dr. Wayne Mackey, CEO and founder of AimLabs, as well as Jackson Kyle, their Head of Product, to get their insight on the creation of AimLabs and what they hope to accomplish with the Red Bull Ready Check. Drawing parallels and treading new ground In finding ways to establish esports as more than just a pastime, many of those who created the foundation for the current esports landscape of both practice and league formats have looked to traditional sports as, in many ways, a model. This approach has had just as many positives as it’s had negatives within the industry, but AimLabs CEO and Founder Dr. Wayne Mackey wanted to put together the best of both worlds when creating the initiative. His wealth of experience in neuroscience has given him a scientifically-driven perspective on how to facilitate the growth and improvement of those who want to get better at their favorite FPS titles. In esports, scouting is largely a venture in having an eye for what makes a star player. Game knowledge, split-second decision-making, and raw aim can all be observed, but quantifying them and finding places to improve can be difficult. This is where Mackey saw a problem and created a product that aims to fix it. “I don’t want to get anyone to get mad at me, because I’m not going to say that traditional sports are not very cerebral – because they are, I’m a big fan of combat sports. I would argue a lot of that is basically a chess match with a lot of physical powers involved. But [esports] is largely a head-up sport, is what we would say. I think that’s what attracted me to try and to solve some of the very first problems that started the company.” Mackey then cited part of an interview Steve Arhancet, owner of Team Liquid, had with ESPN about the difficulty of scouting good players and the importance of putting together a strong team. AimLabs putting a stat behind people’s aim has the potential to be a great tool for scouting new players. “He had mentioned something in there about scouting players and how difficult it was, because it’s not like they’re on a football field where you can throw a ball. You can measure how far they throw it, you can use that information, and he was talking in the context of scouting.” Aim is by no means the be-all and end-all to what makes someone great at a game like Valorant, but it certainly helps. Not to mention, in a setting like collegiate or amateur leagues, there are often players who are mechanically strong but need some extra help from good coaches to get where they need to go. Having accessibility and the proper environment to improve is important. Mackey himself started on a controller when he was young, simply because he couldn’t afford a PC. “Growing up, I was a big console player because, honestly, I was just too poor to afford a PC, right? To be able to compete at a high level on PC, you had to have some pretty good equipment.” Anyone who has played both knows that aiming with a mouse offers a level of precision controllers can’t. But getting to that level of precision requires a great deal of practice. With the number of college scholarship opportunities around games like Valorant and League of Legends, it’s not that far-fetched a concept to have school-facilitated practice for esports titles in the near future. “I think it’s an important part, from an educational standpoint, for people to understand the complexity and the depth of skill required to play games at a very high level, right? Like, and again, using traditional sports as an analogy – and I’m going to use LeBron because I’m from Northeast Ohio – if I look at LeBron, I go, ‘Holy s***, that guy’s an athlete, that guy is a specimen, he is something I am not.’ I can see a massive difference. “When the outside world looks at the average pro gamer, they don’t necessarily see or appreciate the tremendous level of skill – motor skills, perceptual skills, cognitive skills – involved in being able to perform at a high level, being able to break down the components of what makes you good at a particular game.” Mackey also spoke on how esports has a level of inclusivity that traditional sports can never offer and that, with enough practice, those who are determined to reach their goals can hit them. “I would argue that one of the wonderful things about gaming and esports is that I think it casts a wider net of who can participate. Because, you know, your height doesn’t matter, all these other kinds of physical characteristics don’t matter. You can still play at the highest level.” This is where the inspiration for Red Bull Ready Check comes in. It pits hopeful AimLabs prodigies against pro players in a test of raw aim across several different scenarios. While all these FPS pros have earned their place at the top in their respective titles, it doesn’t mean that they are shoo-ins to win the competition outright. If the eight challengers that have honed their skills through AimLabs’ scenarios can get close to or beat the pros, it says a lot about how effective practicing your aim can be even when pitted against esports professionals. Is there a “wrong” way to practice your aim? There are many who look at something like AimLabs and wonder, “Why wouldn’t I just play the game?” It’s a valid point in many ways, especially considering there are many pros out there who have never touched AimLabs. It’s entirely possible to become one of the best players in the world by purely playing the game and improving organically through it. However, it’s strange that practicing in a traditional sense is so rare when it comes to FPS titles. Outside of real-world sports parallels, a comparison can be drawn between FPS games and fighting games. In fighting games, spending time in training mode and practicing combos is standard, even for casual players. Practicing in a training mode for FPS games, on the other hand, wasn’t a part of most players’ routines up until recently. AimLabs head of product Jackson Kyle spoke at length about developing a compelling tool for players, even if it means spending less time in their favorite game. “It’s similar to if you were going to go play basketball on a competitive level or anything like that. You don’t just go and just play games: You practice, you do your shooting drills. And it’s not just shooting drills, it’s three-point drills, free throw drills, different positions, stuff like that. It’s isolating different skill sets in a specific situation to practice that skillset. “So, you know, for example, if you were to play something like Valorant or CSGO, those types of games, once you die, you’re kind of just sitting there for a while once you get eliminated. So, there’s a lot of downtime that actually doesn’t really lead to any sort of improvement, whereas playing AimLabs can help increase your skills at a faster rate.” Several popular esports titles have a lot of downtime where players aren’t improving. For instance, if you’re an Apex Legends player like iiTzTimmy, who’s dropping into the action and winning fights constantly, you get a lot of practice in-game. But if the average Apex Legends player goes around looting and playing for position in circle for 10 minutes and loses a firefight in 10 seconds, the only time you’re practicing your aim is in that brief firefight. In all fairness to a newer game like Valorant, there is a practice range that allows players to shoot at targets with some light elements that let them control how they practice, as well as some on-the-fly sensitivity adjustments for those looking to tweak their settings. Games like Apex Legends and Overwatch 2 also have similar firing ranges, albeit with even fewer options than Valorant. In contrast, AimLabs has a much more robust set of systems and functions meant to test a variety of different skills and train players to get better at more niche abilities, like flicks and spray transfers. Kyle spoke about how AimLabs can not only help players get better but also develop a sort of style and personality that makes players unique. “I think that, beyond just skill, showing off personality and who you are is not really done often enough in esports, in particular. I think events that really like kind of those characters show and shine, both and – especially in a format like the Red Bull Ready Check where you have a mix of pros and ‘amateurs’ or, you know, qualifiers that are coming in through via AimLabs. Getting to see these different types of personalities mix and see their different skill sets, I think is going to really show a more engaging storyline and also a more engaging community. It’s all about fostering and showing that there are really skilled people out there, and letting not only those skills, but those personalities, shine.” Community-focused esports-adjacent events like the Riot Games Fight Night and the Street Fighter 6 Crazy Raccoon Cup have had massive viewership and shown just how invested viewers can get into esports events outside of the main tournament circuits. The Red Bull Ready Check hopes to capture some of that casual esports audience in what promises to be a fun yet competitive event. That said, not everyone participating is entirely sold on AimLabs. Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro, a player for Cloud9’s Valorant team and an FPS veteran, claimed that he prefers to get into the game and practice for himself ahead of competing at the event. “I’ve always been a firm believer in just playing the game a lot. Like, I know there’s like some cases where some people don’t have to play and they’re just naturally talented or gifted. But, I think just playing the game a lot, doing stuff that makes you feel like your aim is like either improving, or it’s like something you just doing like your daily routine, AimLabs, or something like that. I think all those things like help. I feel like it’s dependent on the person, honestly.” Zellsis certainly didn’t denounce the usage of AimLabs, but he isn’t a firm believer that it’s a must to become a pro player. Considering he’s been competing for the better part of a decade, first in CS:GO and then in Valorant, it’s no surprise he’s developed his own methods of practicing since he became a pro before AimLabs even existed. It remains to be seen if Zellsis and the other featured players’ experience in esports can get them through the variety of AimLabs challenges during the Red Bull Ready Check on July 29, or if aspiring competitors can take them down. The Red Bull Ready Check features esports professionals and content creators facing the best AimLabs has to offer and puts them through 9 different scenarios that’ll test every part of their skillset. You can catch the action on Red Bull’s official Twitch channel:

Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale announces esports team for 11 different games Ellevensesports / wikicommonsReal Madrid’s Gareth Bale has announced his very own esports team, becoming the latest soccer player with his own organization. Professional sportsmen have slowly started to turn their gaze towards esports, with stars like Shaquille O’Neal, Ronaldinho, and Jimmy Rollins all announcing their own ventures in the last few years. However, things seem to be ramping up quickly in 2020 with Barcelona star Antoine Griezmann announcing his own team at the end of January, and now Gareth Bale, who plays for bitter rival Real Madrid, has followed suit by entering the esports scene. In a twitter announcement on February 3, the Welshman announced his new team ellevensesports, stating that the organization’s focus was currently on FIFA with the acquisition of three professional players and two content creators. Ethan ‘EthxnH’ Higgins, Pedro ‘Resende’ Henrique, and Tyler Phillips make up the competitive side of the roster, while YouTubers Ryan ‘ItsHaber’ and Tom ‘NerdFire’ join the content creation team. While FIFA may be the only esport officially announced, the team’s website confirms that Bale will be recruiting players across a variety of games, with an eye to competing in 11 different esports titles to match the name of the organization, and the number the players wears while plying his trade with Real Madrid and Wales. Welcome to Ellevens, my new team! Follow @ellevensesports ? for all updates #TimeToPlay pic.twitter.com/RbGduKfNYH — Gareth Bale (@GarethBale11) February 3, 2020 Aspiring esports stars who think they have what it takes to represent Bale in the world of esports are able to register on ellevens website, and send in an application explaining why they are the perfect fit for the 30-year-old’s latest venture. Currently, FIFA, Fortnite, Rocket League, CSGO, Rainbow Six, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Dota 2, Apex Legends, Streetfighter, and PUBG make up the list games players can choose from, meaning Bale’s team may have the ambitions to become one of the biggest teams in esports. Fans of any of those games will definitely have to keep an eye on ellevensesports, as the backing of such a high profile soccer player may attract some of the best players in the world.

Ralph Lauren enter esports with G2 in “long-term” partnership G2 Esports/Ralph LaurenAmerican fashion giants Ralph Lauren have entered the esports industry through a partnership with prominent European organization G2 Esports. Through what’s described as a “long-term” deal, Ralph Lauren will kit out G2’s players with their clothing and activate the partnership on digital platforms such as TikTok and Twitch. To kick off the collaboration, G2 Esports’ League of Legends star Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson will star in the fashion company’s Wimbledon campaign, celebrating their 16th year of sponsoring the tennis championship. This is the first move into esports for Ralph Lauren but they’re certainly no strangers to supporting sports teams and athletes, having already worked with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams, the US Open golf event, and the U.S. Ryder Cup team. G2 Esports have a number of prominent sponsors from outside of the esports industry, including the likes of BMW, adidas, Red Bull, Domino’s Pizza, Mastercard and Betway. While Ralph Lauren will provide clothing to the org as their exclusive fashion outfitter, Adidas are already the kit supplier for their official teamwear on match days. “Today is one of the most special days in my life and G2’s history,” said Carlos ‘Ocelote’ Rodriquez, CEO of G2. “A brand I have loved for many years is now part of the G2 family. “Ralph Lauren has entered the world of gaming in partnership with G2, and nothing makes us happier and prouder than to be able to execute on their strategy while doing our thing. With their support, we will continue to thrive and elevate the way we entertain you.”

Real Madrid star Vini Jr joins LOUD as co-owner LOUDOne of Real Madrid’s biggest stars, Vinícius Júnior — more commonly known as Vini Jr — has become a co-owner in Brazilian esports juggernaut LOUD. With plans to “produce content, elevate youth sports, and accelerate educational programs in the region,” Vini Jr has long been an avid gamer, including being spotted playing Call of Duty battle royale hit Warzone “every day” ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League final matchup against Liverpool in 2022. LOUD has become one of the most recognizable organizations in esports over recent years, particularly with their success in Riot Games’ FPS Valorant, becoming Valorant Champions in 2022, where they beat OpTic Gaming 3-1 in the grand final. They also participate in the Brazilian League of Legends pro league, CBLOL, where they are consistently one of the best teams in the league, but the organization started as a Free Fire team, winning the 2020 Copa America and the 2022 Liga Brasileira de Free Fire Stage 1. Vini Jr joins LOUD In an announcement made on December 14, it became official: Brazilian soccer star Vini Jr is now a co-owner of LOUD. Vini will produce exclusive gaming, sports, and creator-led content for LOUD’s various video and social channels as the org looks to bolster its content. He also wants to help further his existing education initiatives, namely the Vini Jr Institute, a non-profit organization that seeks to help provide better education in Brazil. “As a long-time gamer, I’ve seen the positive impact video games have on the lives and identity of Brazilian youth,” said Vini Jr. “Partnering with LOUD was a perfect fit. Together, we’ll produce great content, encourage young gamers to prioritize their studies, and support the next generation of athletes, either on the pitch or on the screen.” LOUD co-founder Bruno Bittencourt added: “Vini Jr represents how gaming culture is evolving beyond the screen and into fashion, sports, and even social causes. Together, we’ll exercise that new identity by developing original content, supporting youth education, and finding new ways to improve communities throughout Brazil and Latin America. We’re very excited to welcome Vini Jr to LOUD’s ownership group as we work to inspire the next generation gamer.” This follows a number of high-profile sports stars getting involved in the world of esports, including David Beckham’s involvement with Guild Esports and, more recently, Messi becoming a co-owner of KRU Esports, the organization founded by retired soccer star and Messi’s former Argentina teammate, Sergio Aguero.

Rainbow Six Siege Raleigh Major set for epic European Grand Finals UbisoftAfter a week of competition, it’s down to two of Europe’s top esports clubs – Team Empire and G2 Esports – to battle it out for the $200,000 grand prize at the Rainbow Six Siege Raleigh Major. G2 and Empire were two of the favorites going into Raleigh, so even though it’s no surprise, the matchup promises to provide plenty of great Siege to watch. Team Empire has mostly dominated, only giving up one match each to FaZe and Team Secret in the playoffs so far. G2 has yet to drop a single match in the entire tournament, something Empire will definitely be looking to change. How did we get here? Team Empire had two battles in the playoffs, first against FaZe and then on Saturday August 17 against Team Secret. Both FaZe and Secret managed to force a third match, but the Moscow-based club was able to pull through in both cases – thanks in part to some impressive play from Empire’s Danil ‘JoyStiCK’ Gabov. From @JoyStiCKR6 With Love :ru:#RaleighMajor :tv:https://t.co/10uFSFUYQO :globe_with_meridians:https://t.co/vvoXHIKpyE pic.twitter.com/1q4kAs0GqO— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6esports) August 17, 2019 G2 haven’t been slouches either though, with the Berlin-based club not dropping a single match in the Group Stage or Playoffs going into Sunday. If Empire want to take home the top prize, they’ll have to provide G2 with their first loss of the tournament – and get past Aleksi ‘UUNO’ Työppönen while they do it. The EXPLOSIVE double kill from @G2UUNO! :firecracker::firecracker: #RaleighMajor :tv:https://t.co/10uFSFUYQO :globe_with_meridians:https://t.co/vvoXHIKpyE pic.twitter.com/30be4ttZ96— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6esports) August 17, 2019 How can we watch? The Rainbow Six Siege Raleigh Major’s Grand Finals will be broadcast live on Twitch and you can always watch along with our official Raleigh event hub. Just before the Grand Finals, there will be a stream on the official Rainbow Six Twitch channel that provides full details on the upcoming Ember Rise pack – which also had screenshots apparently leaked earlier in the week. Sunday is set to be a big day for Siege fans – with some top-tier esports action and more info on the newest Rainbow Six content – It should be a good one.

FaZe Clan win Rainbow Six Sweden Major 2021 The Rainbow Six Major headed to Sweden in November, with 16 of the best teams in the world duking it out for $500,000, as well as Six Invitational points for 2022. We’ve got everything you need to know right here. FaZe Clan take down NiP in a 5-game series to win the Major – Sweden Major Grand Finals comes down to NiP vs FaZe Clan – $500,000 up for grabs, winner gets $200,000 – The Six Major was back again, and this time it headed to Sweden for the third and final event of the year. Taking place in Gävle, the Six Sweden Major saw 16 teams from across the world compete for $500,000, as well as some sweet Six Invitational points for the 2022 season. Similar to the Six Mexico Major held in August, the Sweden Major consisted of the same format. Group Stage took place from November 8 to 10, which then moved on to the Playoffs from November 12 to 14. The Major also saw no on-site audience, with strict sanitary rules also in place to keep all participants and staff safe. Rainbow Six Sweden Major 2021 recap The Rainbox Six Sweden Major was definitely one to remember as two of the greatest teams in Rainbow Six put on a show. After an impressive 5-0-0-1 from both FaZe and NiP in the group stage, they were destined for a Grand Finals showdown. NiP cruised to the finals dropping no maps in the knock stage while FaZe battled it out in the semis taking down DAMWON 2-1. In the Grand Finals, FaZe Clan jumped off to an early 1-0 lead but the Ninjas responded taking the next two maps putting the Brazilians against the wall. However, FaZe was able to keep their composure and win the final two maps taking the best-of-5 series 3-2 and lifting the trophy. https://twitter.com/R6esports/status/1460003492513435656 Rainbow Six Sweden Major 2021 final placements Rainbow Six Sweden Major 2021: schedule & results Playoffs (November 12-14) Day 1: November 12 Day 2: November 13 Day 3: November 14 Group Stage (November 8-10) Day 1: November 8 Day 2: November 9 Day 3: November 10 Group Stage placements 3 points for regulation win. 2 points for overtime win. 1 point for overtime loss. No points for regulation loss. Group A Group B Group C Group D Rainbow Six Sweden Major 2021: qualified teams A total of 16 teams — four teams from each region — will be meeting up in Gävle at the beginning of November to compete. The stakes are high, with $500,000, SI points, and the title of Sweden champions all on the line. Troy ‘Canadian’ Jaroslawski is making his big return after his retirement earlier in 2021, joining the DarkZero roster. Mexico Major champions Team oNe eSports also managed to qualify to defend their title. Here’s the list of the full 16 teams attending the Sweden Major. Rainbow Six Sweden Major 2021: format The November Major will follow the same format as the Six Mexico major that we saw in August. The Group Stage from November 8 to 10 will consist of four groups of four teams battling it out in a double round-robin, best-of-one format. We’ll then see the top two teams from each group progress to the Playoffs, where they’ll be faced with a best-of-three single-elimination bracket, with a best-of-five grand final.

Team Empire defeats G2 Esports at Rainbow Six Major Raleigh: Results, standings and more The first ever Rainbow Six Siege Major to take place in the United States is underway in Raleigh and you can find all the latest standings and results right here. Raleigh is the first time a Siege Major has come to the United States and teams will be competing for their share of the $500,000 prize pool, with $200,000 up for grabs as the first place prize. The Major began on Monday, August 12 with group stage play – which is broadcast on Twitch, and will continue through the week with playoffs starting August 16 and going through the 18. Also happening on Sunday is the Creator’s Cup Showmatch, which will feature popular Twitch streamer Michael ‘Shroud‘ Grzesiek, and an exclusive panel unveiling Rainbow Six Siege’s next Operation and upcoming Year 4 updates. You can tune in to all the action right here on Dexerto with our exclusive Raleigh Major event hub. Group Stage standings and results The Raligh Major will have four groups of four teams each competing in the Group Stage, which began on Monday, August 12. Below are the current results for the Rainbow Six Siege Raleigh Major Group Stage matches: Group A Group B Group C Group D Playoff Schedule – August 16-18 After the group stage is over, winning teams will battle it out in the playoffs over the weekend of August 16-18. The full playoff schedule is listed below: August 16 – Quarterfinals Quarterfinal 1 – 10 AM EST – Quarterfinal 2 – 1 PM EST – Quarterfinal 3 – 4 PM EST – Quarterfinal 4 – 7 PM EST – August 17 – Semifinals Semifinal 1 – Team Secret vs. Team Empire – 12:30 PM EST – Semifinal 2 – forZe vs. G2 Esports – 3:30 PM EST – August 18 – Finals Grand Finals – Team Empire vs G2 Esports – 2:30 PM EST –

Pusha T and Logic acquire Chaos EC esports team Chaos EC / via GeniusThe GG Group have acquired Chaos EC and Do Not Peek Entertainment, with an ownership board that now includes Pusha T, Logic, Upscale Vandal, Billy Levy, and more who will lead the esports org to address wider industry and cultural change. In their open letter to the fans, the GG Group are looking to “organize chaos,” identifying the state of the world and how it will act to support causes that fight for social justice and solving racial disparities, particularly in the gaming community. “As we expand Chaos’ non-competitive roster we are committing that a meaningful number of our new signees will be people from underrepresented communities,” President of the GG Group Ramon Gamble wrote in the open letter. With the help of A-list talent from different industries, the company plans to “re-introduce” Chaos EC with a new identity that realigns with the announced initiatives. Organizing Chaoshttps://t.co/JqMbmfnbcX pic.twitter.com/K1wICDwDqW — Chaos EC (@ChaosEC) August 25, 2020 “I’ve been a part of this ownership group close to two years now and since the beginning my main call to action was to focus on the lack of inclusion and diversity in the gaming industry,” Pusha T told Complex of the announcement. “Any business I’m a part of has to be proactive in using its resources and platform to support the fight against social injustice.” While they’re aiming to include broader pushes to address issues in the world, the company outlined what it’s doing in 2020 to support grassroots organizations who are protesting against systemic racism, police brutality, as well as mass incarceration with focus in addressing the racial inequality in the justice system. With “the world in a state of chaos,” the GG Group and its partners are going to use its platform to initiate meaningful change where it can. “As a business owner and creative it’s imperative to use your platform and resources for the greater good,” Upscale Vandal said. “I know I speak for Pusha T and Logic when I say that before anything we have to lend a hand to organize Chaos not only figuratively but literally.” GG Group raised a call to action for anyone with “high impact opportunities for us to serve and support with our resources and networks” and is committing to raising or developing at least one idea before the end of the year. Pusha T has already been showing support for his new org’s CSGO team after Chaos EC’s 2-1 win over 100 Thieves in the ESL One Cologne NA online qualifiers. At the time, it looked like a far-removed diss to Drake, who is an investor for 100 Thieves and longtime musical rival. While it could have still been a dig at the Canadian rapper, Pusha T’s connection to Chaos EC is much more apparent now as he, Logic, Upscale Vandal, and more plan to “support anyone organizing chaos to leave this world better than we found it.”

Important questions Astralis shareholders need to ask BLASTDexerto’s Richard Lewis takes a look at Astralis’ history and asks a set of questions that the organization’s shareholders should be asking right now to protect their investment. At the end of 2019, as they prepared to celebrate their fourth anniversary, Astralis were an esports organization like few others. Having dominated Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with their flagship team of Danish talent for two years, the brand’s reputation was stellar. Indeed, there have only been a handful of faster ascents to the top of a highly competitive space. To the stars indeed… And maybe beyond. A purchase of Origen offered the new frontier of competing in League of Legends. 2019 was also the year they resolved the convoluted ownership situation between themselves and parent company RFRSH Entertainment, which also owned the BLAST tournament operator. While this conflict of interest had brought some criticism their way, the CS:GO team’s continued success and likable personalities acted as a shield that ensured that it barely made a mark. At this time it made total sense that the company would go public and so in December 2019, they started to trade on the Danish Nasdaq. By the start of 2020, the share price would increase to 8.88 Danish Krones a share, and the future was looking positive. What would follow was a protracted battle between management and players over getting time off and better contracts. This then segued into the global pandemic, which saw the organization request players took a 30% pay cut in order to adjust operating costs to a more sustainable level, which would then seemingly be contradicted by expanding the CS:GO squad to six and then later seven players. The whole fiasco was detailed in an extensive report published on Dexerto in June of that year, and it wouldn’t be the last negative headline the organization would generate. Over the course of 2020, despite the CS:GO team’s results still being very respectable, the share price would continue to drop, ending the year at 4.22 Danish Krones a share. 2021 would see the team’s performance dip significantly, and eventually, the legendary roster that had achieved so much was slowly dismantled. A surprise sale of Nicolai ‘device’ Reedtz to Swedish organization NIP would see an ineffectual replacement in the form of Philip ‘Lucky’ Ewald that continued to drive poor results. By the time the PGL Major in Stockholm rolled around, they were in bad shape, suffering humiliating defeats at the hands of the device-driven NIP, as well as eternal rivals Heroic and French side Vitality, ensuring that they didn’t play in the stadium. Even as that tournament continued, Astralis announced that they would be signing Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke and Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer, a move that confirmed Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif and Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen would not be re-signing with the team. The end of an era, but of greater concern would be the departure of the greatest coach in CS:GO history, Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen, who agreed to follow his Danish compatriots out the door. Since then, the organization has been in freefall, consistently generating bad results and negative headlines. In tandem with that has been the downward trend of the Astralis share price, now at 1.63 Danish Krones per share. Incompetence in esports is the norm, and it seems that is never set to change, but it’s worth noting that publicly traded organizations are to be held to a different standard than the ones that exist by pissing venture capital against a wall. A publicly traded organization, like any public company, has a fiduciary duty to its shareholders, which means it must be committed to making decisions that enhance shareholder value, while also adhering to any appropriate laws and regulations. As we can see, Astralis have ended in one direction, both on and off the server. Now, I am wisely not a shareholder of Astralis, but maybe you are one of the few, outside of Nyholm and his associates. If that’s the case, then you might want to ask some questions about why the board of directors is making decisions that seemingly fly contrary to their obligations. If you’re unsure of what those questions might be, then don’t worry. You can use this article as a checklist. Maybe you’ll get the answers Astralis seek to deny the general public. Why was it deemed so essential that you employ Nicola ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen, especially as it now conceivably appears to be a reward for negative actions taken while in the employment of your local esports rivals Heroic? The lengths Astralis have gone to in order to employ HUNDEN are beyond extraordinary. Not only is he a convicted cheater but he also engaged in the type of unprofessional behavior that would make his hire easily described as risky. Heroic, his former employers, took legal action against him for the sharing of confidential documents (with Astralis) and breach of contract. In addition to that, in a bid not to prove his innocence but to assert his former players’ guilt, he manipulated a vulnerable person by abusing a position of trust. Despite this, not only did Astralis follow through and employ him in a “head analyst” role (recent footage of him operating at BLAST would heavily suggest he is the de facto coach of the team) but they even leveraged a sponsor to provide him with work while he lodged his ESIC appeal. Aim Labs is a prominent partner for Astralis and yet seemed completely unaware that HUNDEN was working on a joint project as part of their sponsorship. Equally, many sources in Denmark believed it was a “Trojan Horse” style operation to enable Petersen to work with the players without it generating the negative publicity such an announcement would provide. In addition to that, when confronted about the relationship, they stated that “once Mr. Petersen’s ban has expired, should we have the need, we would not have any second thoughts about offering him a position as an analyst or the like”, tipping their hand to future plans. In regards to the optics surrounding the timeline, it would be a reasonable conclusion to believe that HUNDEN deemed the actions of sharing competitor intelligence from Heroic and trying to have their players banned as an additional service to Astralis ahead of future employment. The fact that Astralis Chairman Nicolaj Nyholm went from irate at the Heroic team to being willing to work with the architect of the cheating seems to be a strange about-turn. Even just judging HUNDEN on his merits would raise questions. His coaching experience amounts to a little over a year, even if you include the time spent working as an analyst at Heroic while he concluded his suspension. This was during a time when the pandemic was limiting the true competitive experience of Counter-Strike, and even so, the team only won a single major tournament either side of HUNDEN’s suspension. In his absence, Heroic have gone on to greater things and have ascended to being ranked as the No.1 team in the world, a feat Astralis themselves haven’t achieved since March 8, 2021. All of this, combined with the immediate results after his hiring, raises questions about the determination to bring him into the team, especially when considering the detrimental hit he brings to the brand’s already ailing reputation. Given that a part of HUNDEN’s transgressions involves the attempt to exploit someone with Asperger’s Syndrome, what safeguards are in place to ensure that any players he might work with at your organization are protected? As mentioned above, part of ESIC’s report from the second time HUNDEN was convicted of violating its code of conduct was that he abused his position of trust and targeted someone with both ADHD and Asperger’s syndrome in an attempt to have them self-incriminate. ESIC described the actions as “ruthless” manipulation and characterized it as a “set-up.” Given that HUNDEN’s role will involve him working unsupervised with other potentially vulnerable people under his duty of care, what safeguards are the management putting in place to ensure there’s not a repeat of this incident? Why does being a convicted cheater seem to increase your chances of employment at Astralis? Astralis’ hiring policy regarding the coaching and analysis roles since zonic left has seen them employ a total of three individuals convicted of cheating offenses in the online era. This seems at odds with the strong stance taken by Nyholm and the CS:GO players, who themselves seemed to be vocally against cheaters during that time. Alexander ‘ave’ Holdt was employed by the Astralis organization between November 2021 and May 2022, working with both the main team (as head coach and assistant coach) and the academy squad (as head coach). Peter ‘casle’ Toftbo took charge of Astralis’ academy lineup in August 2022, but less than two months later, he was named interim coach of the main squad. Before the end of the year, Astralis confirmed that he would remain in the role in 2023. Both ave and casle (in addition to HUNDEN) were among the 37 coaches banned by ESIC in September 2020 for using the spectator bug for competitive advantage. Naturally, the community sentiment about the coaches that cheated during this time is negative, and the fact one organization has hired so many has eroded a lot of good faith outside of Astralis’s dedicated fanbase. How do your sponsors feel about their brand being associated with convicted cheaters? At the time of writing, the following companies sponsor Astralis: Bybit (a cryptocurrency exchange) – Logitech (a consumer electronics company) – Omen (a computer maufacturer) – Hummel (a sportswear manufacturer) – Bob Sports (official regional partner for the Asia Pacific region) – Boyu Sports (official regional partner for the Asia Pacific region) – Garmin (watch manufacturer) – Secret Lab (gaming chair manufacturer) – Power (Nordic electric retail outlet) – Dribe (car sharing start-up) – FACEIT (gaming and tournament operating platform) – Stimorol (chewing gum manufacturer) – Go Mate (Energy Drink brand) – A number of these brands are staples in their respective field, many of them working with multiple elite-level teams. While it is the norm that team business would never be discussed with sponsors, given the potentially damaging association with their own brand values, it would not seem unrealistic that Astralis would have briefed them ahead of their announcement. As an organization that has demanded that broadcast talent face sanctions or be removed from the broadcast for things they’ve said on multiple occasions, can you explain what action you will take against your staff for making public threats akin to blackmail? For context, Astralis has lodged complaints on multiple occasions about the conduct of broadcast talent on social media. For example, during BLAST Premier’s 2020 Spring European Showdown, following this exchange on Twitter, Astralis back-channeled and requested BLAST make demands about CS:GO analyst Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shield’s use of social media during the event. Thorin refused and left the broadcast. It seems unthinkable that the Astralis organization couldn’t have predicted the reaction to a controversial hire being negative and yet their Director of Communications, Steen Laursen, had what people in modern parlance refer to as a “social media meltdown” over one such example. Prominent CS:GO analyst Janko “YNk” Paunovic exclaimed that the “org had turned to shit” on Twitter, prompting a strange response from Laursen. Intimating he would expose something negative about YNk, he then immediately withdrew the threat when his bluff was called. He explained his behavior away as “disbelief” at the criticism being leveled. While the incident was discussed on multiple social media platforms, it seems no action was taken. Externally, such behavior could be perceived that Astralis have hiring issues across the board, the one trait you would want from a Director of Communications being a cool head. As the brand’s mouthpiece, an inability to behave appropriately in public could be detrimental to Astralis as a whole. Can you explain Kasper Hvidt’s role in recruitment and his input into the team? He has provided tonally inconsistent messaging around roster size and has even directly undermined the CS:GO team coach in doing so. At the start of 2020, after members of the CS:GO team complained about issues of burnout, having completed a grueling tour of five tournaments across a 43-day span, (traveling from Denmark to China, China to the USA, the USA to Denmark, and finally Denmark to Bahrain), the organization decided it would look to expand the roster. Concerns about this colored contract negotiations and resulted in two members of the squad taking a leave of absence from the team. The moves were clearly unexpected, with the organization scrambling to find stand-in talent so they could meet their attendance obligations to their partners. In came two players well below the Astralis standard. A few days later, Hvidt would write a blog entitled “We Need A Change”, in which he opined about how Astralis hadn’t actually caused the burnout and that it was an industry-wide problem, despite this roster being one of the only examples in the modern era of CS:GO. He added that fans were being encouraged to buy into “conspiracies” as pundits questioned the timing and manner of the departure with contract negotiations about to get underway. Some had suggested the players were brought in as “scabs” to demonstrate to the players they would be willing to play without them if it was necessary. Hvidt has always maintained his vision for a ten-man roster, with five starting players and five substitutes constituting an academy team. However, this vision didn’t seem to overlap with that of zonic, who had publicly stated that there wouldn’t be a seventh player on a rotational roster. While likely unintentional, undermining such a valued and respected member of staff, one who directly contributed to the success of the CS:GO team can’t be a net positive for a team in transition. Can you explain the thought process in handing a lucrative four-year contract to a player in their mid-20s and struggling for form? Similarly bizarre was the decision to give a reputedly lucrative four-year deal to the aging and out-of-form Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth. Xyp9x had been in talks with other organizations as he explored his options, and many felt he was destined to leave. That he was able to get a type of deal that isn’t in keeping with the industry standard is a testament to the desperation of Astralis at that time. It’s fair to say, based on performance levels since, which represent some of the player’s lowest in an illustrious career, the deal has not represented value for money. After having produced several busts when it comes to player scouting are there any plans to evaluate how this process is done? Ever since the legendary core of Astralis broke apart, the organization has really struggled to identify the correct caliber of talent necessary to fill those metaphorical shoes. In that time, four players have left the organization, including one who was seemingly salaried to not play across the main or academy team, and one transfer was reversed with the return of device. This all represents a significant investment for not much return. Another new player with little elite-level experience has also been added to the roster, and so far he looks like he has a long way to go in terms of development. Based on this, it would probably be a good idea to re-evaluate the scouting and recruitment policy in place as it has been a waste of money that has not yielded any noticeable improvements on the server. Recently, you had to cut a player from the roster after he injured himself in a drunken fistfight while representing Astralis at an event. Is this hugely embarrassing incident indicative of how Astralis players behave when at events? Where are the managers to ensure professional behavior from players when in the field? It has been written about repeatedly but for the record, a player billed as a star for the team, Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke, let his drunkenness get the better of him at an ESL event in Malta. After being refused entry to a nightclub and ejected roughly, he waited outside the venue and then decided to confront the person he deemed responsible for denying him entry. In the resulting melee, he managed to break his own ankle and then was on the receiving end of physical retribution from his intended victim. This meant that k0nfig had to return to Denmark for surgery on his broken leg and missed a must-win qualifier for the CS:GO Major. Astralis failed to qualify, losing out on the opportunity to sell digital merchandise in conjunction with the event, which cost them significant revenue. The irony was that k0nfig had already been passed over as a recruitment option in the past by Astralis due to his attitude. Since you publicly present yourselves as an elite-level esports organization with an equally elite-level support staff, how do you explain the consistently terrible performance of your LEC team? Since they applied the Astralis brand to their League of Legends team, they have regularly ranked among the worst teams ever to compete in the LEC league. Having finished no higher than joint 7th/8th out of 10 competing teams in four seasons, two of those saw them finish dead last in the league despite a roster that boasts some veteran talent. In the aftermath of their 30% pandemic salary reduction, it was reported that the pay cut was partially used to fund the recruitment of players, suggesting Astralis have tried to operate their LoL team at a minimum expenditure. Given that Riot’s LEC is considered by many to be one of the best esports products to be involved with right now, the fact that the team’s performance continually stains the brand is far from ideal. Astralis in general have really struggled to establish themselves as a great esports organization, having close to no success in any other game they’ve participated in. Instead, they’ve established themselves as an organization made great by the efforts of one team, a team that no longer plays together. Can you provide more context about what happened regarding the cancellation of the Roobet sponsorship deal? It’s not your first time taking money from sources that the public might deem dubious, so how will the process of screening sponsors for suitability change in the future? In May 2022, Astralis entered into a sponsorship deal with online casino Roobet. This deal came at a time when Roobet were under heavy criticism for being an offshore, unregulated, crypto casino, as well as for their use of influencer advertising that would inadvertently target those underage for gambling requirements. At the time, Astralis said of the deal: “Roobet came to us looking for a partner to help establish and grow the Roobet brand in the international esports community. It did not take long to establish that there was a match between our common ambitions and our digital position and capabilities, so it was all about tailoring a partnership agreement to meet the high expectations of both parties.” A lot can evidently change in 24 hours as it wasn’t even a full business day before Astralis announced they would be terminating the deal. They said: “In this incident, we did not perform our due diligence well enough around local legal matters, and when you make a mistake, you must correct it. This is what we do now. With good reason, Astralis is an icon in Danish and international esports, and we must always be aware of our responsibility. There can never be any doubt about our actions, but in this case, we have not met our own standards, which we regret towards all parties implicated.” This, however, isn’t Astralis’s only dealings with a sponsor that would be deemed “dodgy” by the general public, which suggests they really need to work on how those famous standards are applied. It was only in 2018 they proudly announced a $2 million sponsorship with esports.com. They were, prior to selling the name and URL to an esports publication, an Etherium-based cryptocurrency that claimed they were going to build a betting platform and content website. A clear and obvious grift from the start, their white paper was a garbled bunch of nonsense, and nothing on the roadmap was executed. Although the nature of the deal remained unclear, the esports.com project as it was then was widely reported as a scam, with its founding executives leaving the project amid allegations of misrepresenting their business partners, not paying contractors, and using the ICO as a classic rug-pull.

Every public esports company & organization Guild/AstralisEsports is a growing industry but some would say that we’re building the plane as we’re flying it, especially since much of what is happening has never been done before. It’s developing on a constant basis and many trends are emerging because of that — one of which is companies in the space listing themselves publicly. While the majority of the biggest esports organizations are notorious for raising huge amounts of venture capital funds in order to continue their expansions, we’re slowly seeing companies opting to go public instead. They’re effectively selling part-ownership in their business to continue to raise money, fueling further growth. Some credit Guild Esports, a British esports organization co-owned by famed footballer David Beckham, for illustrating that different paths can be taken. While the likes of Cloud9 and Envy Gaming are raising eye-watering amounts privately, Guild chose to go public just months after launching. With this trend taking form at an interesting pace, it’s worth compiling all of the current esports companies and organizations that have taken the necessary steps to allow retail investors to grab a piece of the pie. We’ve done just that. Public esports companies and organizations Allied Esports Entertainment Company base: United States Operations: Venues, tournament operations Trading as AESE on the Nasdaq, Allied Esports Entertainment went public in August 2019 as part of a transaction with Black Ridge Acquisition Corp. They operate an affiliate program for esports venues, the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas, the HyperX Esports Studio, and HyperX Esports Trucks in Europe and North America. Astralis A/S Company base: Denmark Operations: Teams Trading as ASTGRP on the Nasdaq First North Growth and as ASGRF on the OTCQX Best Market, Astralis A/S is a Danish organization that operates teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and FIFA. They first went public in Denmark in December 2019 and began dual-listing on the OTC market in April 2021. Read More: Astralis now listed on US stock market – Enthusiast Gaming Company base: Canada Operations: Teams, media Trading as EGLX on the Toronto Stock Exchange and as EGLX on the Nasdaq, Enthusiast Gaming are predominantly known in esports for owning and operating Luminosity Gaming, Call of Duty franchise Seattle Surge, and Overwatch franchise Vancouver Titans. They also own over 100 gaming websites, including esports publication Upcomer, and live expo EGLX. ESE Entertainment Company base: Canada, Poland Operations: Teams, infrastructure Trading as ESE on the TSX Venture Exchange and as ENTEF on the OCTQB, ESE Entertainment have a portfolio that includes competition (K1CK Esports), technology (Virtual Pitstop), OTT and esports infrastracture (WPG), and entertainment (ESE Gaming). Esports Entertainment Group Company base: Malta Operations: Gambling, tournament operations Trading as GMBL on the Nasdaq, Esports Entertainment Group is an online gambling company that specializes in esports, notably operating the VIE.gg bookmaker and UK-based tournament organizer EGL. They also partner with traditional sports entities such as Kraft Sports and Entertainment to launch competitive gaming tournaments. Esports Technologies Company base: United States Operations: Gambling Trading as EBET on the Nasdaq, Esports Techologies are focused on online betting in the espots industry. Reportedly able to accept wagers in 149 jurisdictions, they allow punters to bet on titles such as Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Dota 2, and Rocket League. The company was founded in September 2020. Fragbite Company base: Sweden Operations: Media Trading as FRAG on the Nasdaq First North, Fragbite is a Nordic-specific media company that launched in 2002. As well as serving as a community hub for esports in the Nordics, the company also hosts events to provide a platform for budding professional players. The Gaming Stadium Company base: Canada Operations: Venues Trading as TGS on the TSX Venture Exchange, The Gaming Stadium went public in August 2020. They operate a competitive gaming venue in Richmond, British Columbia, that hosts viewing parties, organized events, and coaching. They’re said to have run over 500 events with participation from over 50,000 players. GameSquare Esports Company base: Canada Operations: Agency Trading as GMSQF on the OCTQB Venture Market, as GSQ on the Canadian Securities Exchange, and as 29Q1 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, GameSquare Esports are looking to acquire new companies alongside their current ownership of agency Code Red Esports. The agency has worked with game publishers, esports teams, tournament operators, and publications. In June 2021, GameSquare acquired legacy esports organization Complexity Gaming for $27m. In July 2021, they acquired gaming agency Cut+Sew for $7.85m. Gfinity Company base: United Kingdom Operations: Media, event operations Trading as GFIN on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM, Gfinity operate in three main sectors. They own and operate a suite of digital media outfits, they enter joint ventures and partner with companies, and they “develop and deliver commercially viable programmes” for games publishers, rights holders, and media organizations. Guild Esports Company base: United Kingdom Operations: Teams Trading as GILD on the London Stock Exchange and GULDF on the OTCQB Venture Market, Guild Esports launched in June 2020 and listed themselves publicly in October 2020. Known for their ties with David Beckham, they compete in titles such as Rocket League and Valorant, create content with their signed influencers, and have an academy system. Leet Technology Company base: Malaysia Operations: Tournament operations Trading as LTES on the OTCQB Venture Market, Leet Technology have a flagship product named Matchroom which aims to make “competitive esports easily available to everyone” by providing competitive matches with prizes, content, ecommerce, and community facilities. Modern Times Group Company base: Sweden Operations: Tournament operations Trading as MTG-A and MTG-B on Nasdaq Stockholm, Modern Times Group is a holding company for esports event operators ESL, DreamHack, and DreamHack Sports Games. ESL are best known for competitive events in Counter-Strike and Dota 2, DreamHack host gaming and esports festivals, and DreamHack Sports Games partners with sporting bodies to create esports-adjacent competitions. Mogul Company base: Australia Operations: Tournament operations Trading as ESH on the Australian Securities Exchange, Mogul have an online tournament platform and host esports events for other companies. They’ve partnered with the likes of Microsoft, esports organization Team Secret, and Southeast Asian esports company Mineski. OverActive Media Company base: Canada Operations: Teams Trading as OAM on the TSX Venture Exchange and OAMCF on the OTCQB Venture Market, OverActive Media own and operate team brand MAD Lions and franchises Toronto Defiant and Toronto Ultra. They’ve partnered with major non-endemic brands like Red Bull, Bell, Canon, Kappa, SEAT, and Universal Music Canada. Real Luck Group Company base: Canada Operations: Gambling Trading as LUCK on the TSX Venture Exchange and LUKEF on the OTCQB exchange, Real Luck Group operate esports bookmaker Luckbox. They offer markets for sports as well as all of the major esports titles and are fully licensed under the Online Gambling Regulation Act. Rivalry Company base: Canada Operations: Gambling Trading as RVLY on the TSX Venture Exchange and 9VK on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, esports betting company Rivalry have grown quickly since their launch in 2018. They offer markets for both esports and sports and are rapidly expanding out into traditional offerings like casino games with a modern, gamified twist. Semper Fortis Esports Company base: United Kingdom Operations: Teams, management Trading as SEMP as on the AQSE Growth Market, Semper Fortis Esports quietly launched in 2020 with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell as a board director and made headlines upon going public in April 2021. As well as operating a European Rocket League team, they plan to form partnerships with technology companies, provide business advisory services, and utilize professional footballers as ambassadors. Simplicity Esports and Gaming Company Company base: United States Operations: Teams, venues Trading as WINR on the OTCQB market, Simplicity Esports and Gaming own and operate North American esports team brand Simplicity Esports and gaming lounge PLAYlive Nation. They also operate the esports division of Brazilian football team Flamengo, one of the long-term partners in Riot Games’ premier Brazilian competition for League of Legends. Super League Gaming Company base: United States Operations: Tournament operations Trading as SLGG on the Nasdaq, Super League Gaming aim their services at the amateur and grassroots level of esports. They describe themselves as operating a gaming community and content platform, regularly hosting online competitive events for budding competitors. Tiidal Gaming Company base: Canada Operations: Teams, betting Trading as TIDL on the Canadian Securities Exchange, Tiidal Gaming is the parent company of esports organization Lazarus and business-to-business esports data provider Sportsflare. Their mission to enable the “next generation of esports” and build the “future of game-based entertainment”.

Punk’s emotional EVO victory was seven years in the making but it’s just the start EVO / Stephanie LindgrenVictor ‘Punk’ Woodley crashed onto the Street Fighter scene in the early days of SFV, quickly rising in the ranks to become one of the game’s most formidable players. Although he’d won a total of eight Premier events in the Capcom Pro Tour, EVO continued to elude him… until now. Punk delivered one of the best performances of EVO 2024 against Big Bird, but he’s far from finished dominating the competition in Street Fighter 6. There was nary a dry eye in the room when he clutched out a heart-stopping victory against his friend and fellow competitor on the main stage Sunday night. This marked a major moment in his career seven years after he lost on that very same stage against Tokido in the 2017 Grand Finals. Now, it’s Punk who has finally cemented himself as an EVO champion. The realization brought him to tears as thousands of fans chanted from the stands: “You deserve it.” We got the chance to speak with Punk in a press conference after his explosive win over Big Bird, where he opened up about his future plans for the CPT and how he managed to stay calm despite his opponent’s overwhelming pressure and facing technical difficulties mid-match. In fact, Punk’s headphones stopped working at the tail end of game three after Big Bird’s bracket reset — something that would have thrown most players off of their mental game. We asked Punk about how he managed to bounce back from this moment… but for him, it wasn’t a big deal at all. “It was at the end of the round. I had almost pretty much won, but it cut out during my level three, and I just knew I had to finish the match,” he told us. “I don’t really need sound when I play, but I like to have it. So even when the sound gets cut off, it’s okay for me to just keep playing.” “Sometimes bad things happen,” he added in another comment. “You see, today, Nemo had a controller issue. So, sometimes things just happen that are out of your control, and it could definitely affect you mentally, but I don’t want things like that to affect me anymore.” That’s a big part of Punk’s current game plan when it comes to competitive fighting games. When asked about how he managed to keep a level head during such an intense match, the EVO champ admitted that he’s allowed himself to get comfortable with losing, something he started doing at the beginning of this current competitive season. “The only thing I feel like I changed is being okay with losing,” he said to the press. “I feel like that’s been helping me do better these past few months.” EVO marked the first Premier event on the 2024 CPT. Having taken home the championship, Punk is now qualified for a spot at Capcom Cup later this year — but despite already having a seat at the table, he wants more. “Capcom Cup and trying to win EWC,” he answered when asked what’s next for his game plan. “Those are our two big, important tournaments, and I want to win a lot of money.” This victory is just one of many that Punk has enjoyed throughout his career, but it’s no doubt the biggest on his resume. Now, other young players are making a splash in the competition like 17-year-old EndingWalker, hearkening back to Punk’s own origins as a talented youngster breaking out onto the scene. This prompted the press to ask him about his thoughts on his legacy as an EVO champion… but he’s not certain how he feels about it just yet. “I’m not really sure, to be honest,” he admitted. “I only really care about myself. I just want to win for myself mostly. I don’t really know what I want my legacy to be. I just want people to know that I was an amazing player. That’s pretty much it.” If they didn’t before, the world most certainly knows about it now. Punk couldn’t even leave the venue without being greeted by throngs of fans cheering him on as he exited the Las Vegas Convention Center. His victory was an emotionally charged moment that followed seven years of hard work, giving him feelings that he wasn’t sure how to articulate to curious reporters. “It’s really hard to put it in words,” he laughed. “You know, I’m just very happy and relieved because it started so bad in the last round. I was getting very scared, and then I got a little lucky, and everything just turned around for me. I was just very relieved and just excited, happy. I don’t know. It’s so many emotions. It’s hard to describe it.” Punk made sure to give Big Bird his flowers, saying that the two are good friends and often train together. Watching them duke it out in Grand Finals felt like watching Street Fighter V all over again in the best way. Although they’re still in their mid-twenties, it’s clear that this duo are the new pillars of Street Fighter’s competitive scene. Their nail-biting fight to the finish will forever live on in the hallowed annals of fighting game history — a match that crowned a well-deserved winner who’s still hungry for more.

PUBG Invitational Viewership Tops ELEAGUE and Overwatch Finals July was a massive month for esports with the Overwatch League Finals, ELEAGUE Premiere and Call of Duty Stage 2; however one game beat them all in viewership count. According to data shared by CS:GO organization owner Andreas Thorstensson, the PUBG Invitational had more peak viewers than Overwatch and ELEAGUE combined. Thorstensson shared the numbers that were reported by Esports Charts, a website dedicated to esports and streaming trends. According to Esports Charts, The PUBG Invitational peaked at a staggering 39 million viewers, while Overwatch was at 1.2 million and ELEAGUE Premier clocked in at a little over 750,000. Viewership numbers are not an exact science, so the data cannot be verified. Esports journalist Thorin is skeptical of the reported numbers. This is interesting on many levels. pic.twitter.com/QRGicGeyxE — Andreas Thorstensson (@andreas) July 30, 2018 38.7 million of the 39.2 million viewers of the PUBG Invitational were from Chinese streams. OMG, a Chinese organization, won the First Person half of the PUBG tournament. Overwatch and ELEAGUE had a good amount of viewers from the Chinese streams as well, though the differences were not as drastic. Read More: Here’s the Real Reason Why Shroud’s “Bugged” Grenade at the PUBG Charity Showdown Didn’t Get the Kill – The Twitch numbers were closer but it was still PUBG leading the pack. PUBG’s Twitch viewership peaked at at almost 600,000; Overwatch was around 340,000 and about 220,000 were watching ELEAGUE Premiere. ELEAGUE Premiere did lead in Russia, with 60,000 peak viewers. PUBG had around 37,000 viewers from Russian streams. Russian numbers for the Overwatch League were not available. The length of each competition may also be a factor in viewership numbers, with each competition taking place over a varying amount of days. The PUBG Invitational was a four day event and had a day featuring popular streamers Ninja and Dr DisRespect playing for charity. The ELEAGUE was a multi-day tournament, though the Grand Finals took place on one day. The Overwatch League Playoffs featured five matches over the course of two weeks and the Grand Final was a two day event.

PUBG PCS4 Americas Grand Final: Players to Watch Week 3 PUBGPUBG PCS4 Americas Grand Final will conclude this week as one team is crowned Champion. Valuable PGC Points will accompany the first-place prize money earned this week. Week 3 of the PCS4 Americas Grand Final is shaping up to be the most exciting series yet. Twelve matches remain and sixteen teams are preparing to close out PCS4 with their best performance yet. The standings are topped by the region’s most consistent team, the Soniqs. The Soniqs’ play throughout the Grand Final has reinforced their reputation as the Americas strongest team. It’s also reintroduced the thought that perhaps the best squad throughout PUBG Esports is playing in North America. Heading into the final week, there is only one team that is mathematically within range of surpassing the Soniqs to claim first-place. So, this week could potentially end up feeling like one big victory lap for the PCS4 Champions. While we can be fairly certain about the series’ champs, numerous positions with additional prize money and PGC Points are still on the table. 1. Roth (Spacestation Gaming) Spacestation Gaming was one of the more consistent teams last week but fell short a couple of times. Collecting the second-highest number of kills with 66 over twelve matches, SSG was in an excellent position to add to their PCS4 earnings. Despite their strong showing, the lack of at least one Chicken Dinner kept SSG from claiming any prizes in Week 2. At the helm for Spacestation Gaming is ‘Roth’, the team’s in-game leader. Considering his role with the team, his individual performance and decision-making will directly affect the team’s success overall. As we head into the third and final week of play, SSG will need to trust into their IGL’s shotcalling and lean into their preparation. 2. M1ME (Soniqs) It can be easy to overlook the unbelievable players fighting alongside TGLTN each week. Individually, each of these players could help carry a team to this stage of a major event. Luckily for them, all four are devoted to accomplishing their goals as a team. Not to mention, there are very few teams who have accomplished what these four players have. Last week, M1ME showed off his close-quarter-combat in the opening match. The Soniqs ultimately claimed Match 1 of Week 2 and would go on to claim the final match of the week too. M1ME is an invaluable piece to the Soniqs’ roster and his play during Week 3 will be working the prize of admission. If you don’t believe me, just check their results when he sat out the last event. 3. aLOW (TSM) After a challenging start to the series in Week 1, the team arrived in form last week and claimed top-three. TSM’s efforts appeared similar from week to week, but now their results were trending in the right direction. The format change has affected every team in different ways, and it seems TSM is no different. They’ve continued to play their game, but the results hadn’t materialized until last week. Maybe it was the Group Stage curse after all? aLOW lands on our Players to Watch following his 10 kills and 13 sssists over 12 matches last week. We’ve already been treated to some incredible highlights from him this year, and Week 3 of the Grand Final could produce more.

PUBG Esports announces more bans as four pro player suspended for cheating The esports division of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds has suspended four more pro players for cheating. The news was announced by PUBG Esports on December 31 via a release posted to their official Twitter page. The rulings have come against Reapers’ Christian “Cuhris” Narvaez, Almosts’ Liam, “Liammm” Tran, Death Row’s Tyler “DevowR” Sti, and Totality’s Mark “Tefl0n” Formaro. The players will be banned from all official esports competitions and competitive events beginning on December 31, 2018 and ending on the same day in 2021, a suspension that amounts to exactly three years. This suspension follows an investigation that PUBG Esports conducted after all four players had received permanent in-game bans on December 19 for using unauthorized software. The investigation concluded and confirmed that the players had indeed illegally used third party software during their National Pro League Qualifiers in early December, which resulted in the qualifying for the NPL’s Preseason. It is not yet clear whether any or all of these teams knew that their players were using unauthorized software, but they have all paid the ultimate price as a result of it. Disqualification from the Preseason has cost all of these teams and players the chance to compete in Stage 1 of the 2019 NPL Season, at worst the Contenders division, which all teams that qualify for the Preseason are guaranteed a spot in. As for the four teams that will replace the disqualified sides, PUBG Esports will be revealing them sometime prior to January 7, which is when the NPL Preseason begins.

Prodigy Agency’s star players get dedicated health coaching with Gscience Liquid/ESLPlayer management firm Prodigy Agency will provide their stars with committed health and performances coaches. [jwplayer pG2zWDZ0] The agency has partnered with esports health and performance company Gscience in a commitment to all of their players. They represent some of the biggest stars in esports, with players across Counter-Strike, Valorant, League of Legends, FIFA, and Rocket League. The likes of Team Liquid’s ScreaM, Team Vitality’s apEX and ZywOo, Cloud9’s $1.65m signing Woxic, G2 Esports’ Mixwell, and FunPlus Phoenix’s Ange1 will all now look to get a boost in-game from their efforts away from the server. Gscience will provide tailored performance coaching and workshops to those on Prodigy’s roster in an attempt to “improve the performance of the players whilst optimising their health and wellness.” “Our main mission with Prodigy Agency is to take care and support our players from all angles,” said Jérôme Coupez, Prodigy Agency’s CEO. “Health, wellness and performance is obviously one of the most important verticals for esports players, especially with the current global situation, and it was important for us to find the right partners.” The health and performance specialists will complete performance audits with each of the agency’s players, allowing them to create specific programs for the competitors to follow. The alliance will also see Prodigy and Gscience promote mental health across gaming and esports. In Counter-Strike, this has become a pertinent topic following Astralis’ gla1ve and Xyp9x temporarily stepping down from the legendary roster due to ongoing stress and burnout. The CSPPA, Counter-Strike’s player association, launched their own mental health program to tackle such issues. Professional CS:GO player apEX spoke on having dedicated performance specialists at hand: “Being an esports player is more and more stressful and demanding. Nowadays, we need to be real athletes, handling a high level of competition and pressure, an intense schedule and always being on top.It’s crucial to be supported in terms of performance and health, in the long term. “Some of us already have great support from our organisations, but a lot of players don’t have that chance yet, even from the best teams. So I find it fantastic that Prodigy Agency is taking the initiative, commiting for their players.”

PSG partner with Tundra Esports in Rocket League return PSG TundraPSG Esports, the esports division of French football club Paris Saint-Germain, have announced a partnership with British organization Tundra Esports to field a competitive Rocket League team. The move marks the return of PSG Esports to Rocket League after competing in Psyonix’s title between 2017 and 2019. In August of that year, just weeks after winning DreamHack Pro Circuit Valencia 2019, PSG Esports parted ways with the entire roster, stating, however, that they were “not done with Rocket League.” According to a press release, the partnership “will be leveraging the PSG brand’s growing stature in gaming with the expertise of Tundra in esports performance and content creation to build a highly engaged global audience of fans”. The team will compete under the name ‘PSG Tundra’, with the roster still to be determined. Fabien Allègre, Chief Brand Officer at PSG, stated that the partnership with Tundra Esports is another chapter in PSG Esports’ expansion and increases the organization’s portfolio to seven teams. Founded in 2019, Tundra Esports are mostly known for their Dota 2 squad, which won last year’s The International. Based in the UK, the organization have also competed in Rocket League in the past, with their roster, made up of two Germans and one Frenchman, being released only last month. The announcement comes just days after PSG extended their League of Legends partnership with Talon Esports for three years. The winners of the PCS Spring split, PSG Talon are currently competing at MSI 2023, in London, where they won their first Play-In match.

Potential visa change could make it harder for esports pros to become US residents Overwatch LeagueThe United States Senate is currently considering a new bill that could potentially increase the waiting time for esports athletes to get a green card – to compete and live in the U.S. – by up to seven years. According to esports immigration lawyer Genie Doi, esports players looking to work in the U.S. can apply for an EB-1A visa, or Extraordinary Ability Green Card, which gives permanent residency to foreign nationals who demonstrate “extraordinary ability” in their field. Doi explained on Twitter that the green card grants esports athletes the freedom to live in the United States long term, obtain in-state tuition at universities, or defer military service in their home country. What would the changes mean? Currently, EB-1 green cards are take at least 18-24 months and up to 3+ years for residents of most countries except India and China, according to Doi. “The current system of employment-based immigration has an annual cap on the total number of green cards, as well as a 7% per country cap,” Doi explained. “In other words, India and China each get the same total number of immigrant visas every year as Korea or Germany.” Essentially, the new act (S.386) would result in an immediate stoppage in employment based green cards for approximately seven years for all other countries that are not India and China, Doi said. This means, esports pros from any other country besides India or China could wait up to seven years to have their green cards approved, which is almost a lifetime and a half in the world of esports. The new bill could be very bad news for esports leagues based in North America, such as the Overwatch League, which has a high percentage of South Korean athletes. “For many players, it is not worth upending your life in your home country to move to the United States without the potential benefits of permanent residency,” Doi explained. “In the LCS [League of Legends Championship Series], for example, a team must have at least three of five players on the starting roster be permanent residents of the United States or Canada.” “Under the current system, a Korean player could join the LCS and potentially get a green card within a few years and open a roster space for an import,” she continued. “S.386 would essentially make it so that no foreign player could join the LCS and become a resident.” Many esports players, and traditional athletes, cannot wait that long. Seven years is a lifetime in esports, during which a player’s career or the game itself can come and go. 7/12 — Genie Doi:soon:GameDaily Connect (@PureGenieUS) August 12, 2019 Will the new bill become a law? S.386 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 365-65, but Doi admits that it would take a “perfect storm” for the bill to make it through the Senate and become a law. Still, the ease with which the act passed through the House has Doi and other immigration lawyers working in esports very worried “about the potentially devastating impact the bill would have on esports immigration.” Even though there’s a slim chance of the bill making it through, it would be a huge blow to North American esports in general, were it to pass. Unfortunately, the impact on the multi-million dollar esports industry in the United States probably wasn’t even considered by lawmakers who voted for the bill.

Premier League’s Wolves partners with Evil Geniuses in new investment for esports growth WolvesNorth American esports organization Evil Geniuses have partnered with English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers and received an investment from the club’s parent company, Fosun. Said to be now valued at $255 million, Evil Geniuses have received an undisclosed minority investment from the company that owns and operates the Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers. This isn’t the first rodeo for the club in esports by any means, as they also operate Wolves Esports and compete in titles like Rocket League, FIFA, FIFA Online in China, and Call of Duty: Mobile. Evil Geniuses are looking to establish themselves in Asia through the partnership, creating English and Chinese language content and utilizing training facilities in the region. We are delighted to announce we have partnered with esports giants @EvilGeniuses! The full story 👉 https://t.co/ddb79AOQ2V pic.twitter.com/uUApxpCJDB — Wolves (@Wolves) July 28, 2021 Wolves’ branding will be featured on Evil Geniuses’ uniforms and the companies will collaborate on merchandise featuring both of their brandings. Read More: Envy Gaming enters competitive tag – The partnership makes sense, according to a release, due to the companies holding shared values of “supporting inclusion, education, innovation, teamwork and competition.” “We are thrilled to partner with Wolves, a storied football club and strong sports and entertainment brand that aligns with our values and mission,” said Evil Geniuses CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson. “This deal will help power Evil Geniuses’ expansion into the Asian markets while also providing new capital to sign more world-class players and grow into new esports titles.”

Post Malone teams up with HyperX HyperXAmerican rapper and record producer Austin ‘Post Malone’ Post marks another celebrity teaming up with a gaming organization, this time partnering with gaming hardware company HyperX. Post Malone will represent the company in a series of ad campaigns, wearing the HyperX headsets while streaming games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, among others. His ad campaign has been reported to extend into 2019. While the HyperX team has signed a series of athletes to its ranks, such as De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings and Gordon Hayward of the Boston Celtics, Post Malone marks the first musician to join its roster of ambassadors. “HyperX is an innovative gaming company that shares my passion about gaming and its community,” Malone said of his partnership in a report by HipHopNMore. “I am honored to be the first musical artist to join the HyperX ambassador family, and look forward to the collaborative projects ahead.” Additionally, HyperX will sponsor Post Malone’s very first convention, “Posty-Fest,” which will feature other artists like Tyler the Creator and Travis Scott. Posty-Fest will take place in Dallas, Texas on October 28. This is far from Post’s first foray into gaming: the rapper was recently involved in Black Ops 4’s CODNATION campaign, which Treyarch celebrated in a humorous video on Twitter that featured a rendition of the rapper’s ‘Rockstar’ single. Post Malone is just the latest celeb to partner with a gaming and esports organization, following Drake’s recent partnership with 100 Thieves and Michael Jordan’s investment in Team Liquid shortly thereafter.

Porsche and iRacing partner for $100,000 World Championship Series German car manufacturer Porsche has partnered up with racing simulator, iRacing, to launch the Porsche iRacing World Championship Series. The competition will run online over 10 racing weekends which will span several months during 2019. The series will feature 40 participants from across the world racing in the virtual 911 GT3 Cup to win a share of the $100,000 prize pool. Dr. Kjell Gruner, Vice President Marketing at Porsche, said: “Porsche is more and more involved with esports and racing simulations. Putting together a world championship like this one is important evidence of our increasing commitment to the sport. The championship is not the first partnership between the two companies, which have been working together since 2017 focusing on the realistic implementation of Porsche vehicles and online racing. But the competition will be the biggest so far, following the recent Porsche SimRacing Trophy at the Nürburgring in September 2018, and the Porsche SimRacing Summit on December 15 and 16 in Leipzig, where 32 players competed for a share of €30,000. Steve Myers, Executive vice-president and executive producer at iRacing, said: “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Porsche as a partner for the Porsche iRacing World Championship Series. This is a milestone year for our world championships – it is the 10 year we have hosted and sanctioned world championships and to be able to offer a $100,000 prize pool shows how far we have come. We wouldn’t be able to do this without the fantastic partnership we have with Porsche. Qualification for the competition will begin in January, with more details to be released in the coming weeks.

Post Malone announced as co-owner of Envy Gaming Envy Gaming[jwplayer RDIo8tSY]Chart topping singer Post Malone has bought an equity stake in Envy Gaming. The popular artist is now a co-owner of Call of Duty team Dallas Empire, and Overwatch League’s Dallas Fuel. For many, Post Malone has been the face of popular music over the last five years. The star has won numerous Grammys and sells out stadiums around the world. On August 28, it was announced that the singer is now dipping his toes into esports by becoming a co-owner of Envy Gaming. The 25-year-old has a long history with video games. Post Malone becomes co-owner of Envy Gaming Malone has never been shy of his love of gaming – the star was an avid fan of battle royale PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and even professed his admiration for former Counter-Strike pro Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek on social media. On August 28, the star acquired an “undisclosed” equity stake in Envy Gaming which owns Team Envy, Dallas Empire, and Dallas Fuel. In a press release, the organization revealed that he had “joined the ownership group.” “I grew up in Texas and I’ve been gaming my whole life, so this just really felt right,” Post said. “I have always wanted to be a part of bringing gaming into the professional sports world so to be involved with what Envy is doing in my hometown feels like such a perfect fit.” The announcement comes just before the Call of Duty League Championship Weekend on August 29-30. On Twitter, the star commented on his new partnership, exclaiming, “Happy to announce i’m now part owner of Dallas Empire. Let’s take this throne and win these playoffs :)” Dallas Empire player James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks was pumped by the announcement, and welcomed the singer on Twitter. “Let’s go!!!! Hyped for this! Now just gotta win this weekend to already get him a world championship under his belt.” CEO of Envy Gaming, Adam Rymer, praised the artist, calling him a “cultural icon,” while the org’s owner and Chief Gaming Officer Mike ‘hastr0’ Rufail revealed he had met him last November at Posty Fest in Texas. Whether he’s making a chart-topping album or streaming on Twitch, the singer’s new deal brings him closer to his love of gaming. His new venture is sure to bring in a new audience into esports.

PlayStation buys EVO in move to tighten ties with fighting game community Playstation, EVOIn a massive turn of events, Sony announced that it has purchased hugely popular fighting game tournament EVO after a year of offline tournaments has made huge changes to the fighting game community. On March 18, Sony revealed that it acquired the Evolution Championship Series – arguably the biggest fighting game tournament in the entire world, which brings competitors from all across the globe to Las Vegas, Nevada for a weekend of jam-packed FGC action. In their tweet, PlayStation revealed that it has partnered with new esports org RTS for this venture, making for a never-before-seen collaboration in the fighting game space. EVO itself has published a statement regarding the matter, thanking fighting game fans and players for their dedication amid an entire season of offline play. Welcoming @Evo into the PlayStation family: https://t.co/I3J5iOKhha Sony Interactive Entertainment and new esports venture RTS have jointly acquired the Evolution Championship Series pic.twitter.com/efOkbf61lU — PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 18, 2021 The event likewise touched on former allegations of sexual harassment against former co-founder Joey ‘Mr Wizard’ Cuellar, who was accused of misconduct in 2020. Evo Online was then canceled amid these allegations, with many fans wondering as to the future state of the tournament, considering its importance within the community. This new move from PlayStation and RTS has players hopeful that EVO will grow to greater heights in wake of the past year, although some speculated that this would render the event a console-exclusive tournament. Also very important to note. @EVO is still open to all platforms. The teams at PlayStation and RTS are enabling us to continue working with our community to support fighting games. https://t.co/NKMQUSvkfj — Mark Julio 『マークマン』 (@MarkMan23) March 18, 2021 EVO Business Developer Mark Julio clarified that this is not the case, stating that “EVO is still open to all platforms. The teams at PlayStation and RTS are enabling us to continue working with our community to support fighting games.” EVO Online 20201 announced That’s not all; PlayStation also announced that EVO Online will take place from August 13 – 15, and will be free to enter. Regions that can participate thus far include North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. EVO Online 2021 is slated feature such games as: TEKKEN 7 – Street Fighter V: Champion Edition – Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate – Guilty Gear -Strive- – These games will be open-format tournaments, with online qualifiers being streamed for fans. More details will be revealed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to Dexerto for more on this huge moment in fighting game history as tournament season approaches.

Pokimane reveals why she will never join an esports org YouTube: PokimaneTwitch star Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys opened up to viewers about why she won’t join an esports team, despite getting numerous offers over the years from various organizations. With over 7.7 million followers in 2021, Pokimane is not only one of the top female streamers on Twitch but is also one of the faces of the popular live content website. Despite many of her peers running to sign with an esports org though, the OfflineTV star revealed why she won’t be joining another team anytime soon, if at all. Pokimane on why she won’t sign with an esports org In a stream highlight video posted to her YouTube channel on April 28, Anys addressed the topic of her ever signing with an esports organization after a fan asked her if she had any plans to join a team in the future. “No. For years and years I have been offered plenty of times. Plenty of teams. But I’m on OTV. And you know, we created OfflineTV and I feel like if I joined a team, it kind of diluted my brand and it diluted the OTV brand,” the Morocco-Canadian explained. She then added that there would be too many obligations: “That’s a lot of deliverables. I would feel like I’m spreading myself too thin, you know? I’d rather if I’m gonna devote myself to something, do it one-hundred percent. Whereas if I’m a little OTV, a little bit whatever org, it’s like you’re not fully anything.” When asked if OfflineTV had any plans to expand with spinoff content groups like the Hype House, the popular streamer had an interesting explanation for why that wouldn’t necessarily be beneficial to her or her partners. “It is something we have considered. OTV branches in regions. OTV Texas, OTV Canada. Could be interesting. But what is the structure? What is the benefit, what is the liability?” she said. Pokimane also pointed out that OfflineTV is “not just an org” and that people associate the brand with members such as herself, Michael Reeves, and Disguised Toast. Read More: How does Pokimane make money? – She circled back to the liability aspect and added that if something bad were to happen in one of their branch divisions then that responsibility would come back on the founding members of the group. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Anys has given a deep dive into the business side of streaming. In July 2020 video, the star revealed the “insane costs” run a streaming channel as a business.

Smash player known for rowdy drunken behavior banned from Super Smash Con Twitter/@0sirisTheGreatA Smash player with a history of negative incidents at tournaments, including using racially-charged language and fighting has been barred from Super Smash Con. “Osiris197 will no longer be attending SSC19,” the event’s Twitter account said in an image post. “[The] safety of our attendees is the absolute priority. We have heard your feedback on how his presence will make many attendees feel unsafe, which is the last thing we want as an event.” The decision to ban James “Osiris197” G came after Michael “RiotLettuce” Heilman reached out to Super Smash Con directly about the player’s attendance and it has caught the event’s staff off guard. Security Update and Announcement: pic.twitter.com/ggb62DVvpW — Super Smash Con (@SuperSmashCon) August 6, 2019 In a private message, which RiotLettuce screen grabbed, Super Smash Con said he would be on a very strict one-strike policy, which Osiris was okay with. The strike could even have been as simple as staff thinking something was “fishy”. Read More: Fistfight and racial slur plagues CEO 2019 – Smash Con thanked RiotLettuce for reaching out and that was believed to be the end of it, until two hours later when the event decided to ban Osiris outright. They really letting Osiris attend just saying don’t do it again.. lol. Be careful everyone pic.twitter.com/N7otTlE81P — King K Riot (@RiotLettuce) August 6, 2019 Osiris has had a bad reputation in the Smash Bros scene. Most notably, there was an altercation between him and RiotLettuce in a bathroom at CEO 2019. Read More: Disgraced pro CaptainZack barred from competing at multiple events He later admitted to being “pretty merrily drunk”, but owned up to his actions in a Twitlonger post. “I own up to my part and wrong-doings in all of this including throwing a punch or getting physical, the controller, the use of slurs, and so on, but really to stop this narrative being established that Riot didn’t instigate at all and I just punched him with no provocation, because that is completely untrue,” he wrote. Osiris isn’t the only Smash player banned from competing at Super Smash Con. CaptainZack is also banned after he confessed to matchfixing by blackmailing former professional player Ally. Additionally, Super Smash Con has announced they will be taking extra measures to ensure the safety of its players. All attendees will be going through metal detectors and will have their bags checked. Super Smash Con starts Thursday, August 8 in Chantilly, Virginia.

PCS4 Americas Grand Finals: Players to Watch – Week Two The opening week of PCS4 Americas Grand Final is in the rearview mirror. Now, it’s time to highlight three ‘Players to Watch’ during Week Two, beginning this Thursday. Week One of the PCS4 Americas Grand Final laid the groundwork for what should be an exciting set of matches during Week Two. Teams have now had their first shot at this lobby while playing the ‘Most Chickens’ format and should feel more comfortable. Of course, that won’t be the case for every team. There’s still plenty of hurdles for a few of the sixteen squads. Some are engaged in turf wars for their primary loot location, others are simply struggling with the ‘must win’ mentality. If we learned anything from Week One it’s that the Soniqs will supersede regardless of what format they’re placed in. This team stockpiled kills while playing their traditional style of PUBG. Soniqs weren’t going to overthink the new format and fix something that wasn’t broke. They stepped into a unique lobby, under an unfamiliar format, and performed as they have all season. In Week 1 of the PCS4 Americas Grand Final, we had our first look at the best 16 teams in the region drop into the battlegrounds where survivability is key 🔑 Here are your Week 1 Highlights from the PCS4 Americas region! 📰https://t.co/mM549EniDG#PCS4Americas #PUBGEsports pic.twitter.com/zAf3STdMAW— PUBG Esports (@PUBGEsports) June 14, 2021 Looking ahead to Week Two, there are three players who come to win when previewing this week’s matches. Producing their own moments of glory, these players and their team had impressive moments last week and could be champs this week. 1. Relo, Oath Gaming After a quiet Day One with a couple of fourth-place finishes, Oath Gaming erupted during Day Two and claimed back-to-back Chicken Dinners. These wins sent the team flying up the leaderboard where they would ultimately finish Week One in fourth. The performance earned the team $8,000 USD and points them in the right direction entering Week Two. ‘Relo’ secured the first Chicken Dinner for Oath Gaming in the PCS4 Americas Grand Final during Match 10. Able to isolate and challenge the last two members of Wildcard Gaming individually, Relo closed out his clutch performance. After knocking the first member of WC in the open, ‘Relo’ fought an intense one-versus-one to claim Oath’s first victory of the final. 2. NecroAQN, Trogloditas Trogloditas didn’t quite have the first week they had hoped for coming into the Grand Final. However, the team did display moments of success against an incredibly talented lobby featuring the region’s best. Of the team’s four-man roster, the player I would like to see have another high-grade performance during Week Two is “NecroAQN”. Potentially my favorite highlight from Week One, “NecroAQN” locks onto his targets while moving to the zone and quickly eliminates two from Wildcard Gaming. His aim and ability to control the spray during the first knock is incredible, he follows it up with another to drop Wildcard down to one. During Week Two, keep an eye on Trogloditas and “NecroAQN” to have an even better display than their ninth-place Week One finish. 3. TsoK, Wildcard Gaming Already a recurring theme in this week’s ‘Player’s to Watch’ but for a positive reason this time. Wildcard Gaming had a productive opening week but fell short of their ultimate goal a couple of times. Their two second-place finishes would typically sting somewhat, but it’s magnified when the only objective in this series is to win a match. Perhaps the silver lining is their ability to find late-game circles and give themselves a chance to win. Which is something other teams are begging for this week. “TsoK” was noticeably one of the stronger players this past week, and he outplays Latin Dominus in this particular clip. His ability to evade and create individual fights wins him this engagement. Unfortunately, his mates were eliminated in the process of this highlight. Nevertheless, we can appreciate his play and expect more from him and the rest of WC during Week Two. The PCS4 Americas Grand Final returns for Week 2 on Thursday, June 17.

Plans for $28m Ohio esports arena revealed to enhance Cedar Fair sports center Cedar FairAmerican amusement park and entertainment company Cedar Fair have announced plans to develop an esports arena in Ohio that’s worth $28 million. Best known for their amusement parks and water parks, the publicly traded company are turning to esports to appeal to today’s youth. Partnering with Esports Development Co. LLC, they’re actively developing plans to build an arena in the midwestern U.S. state Ohio as an extension of their Cedar Point Sports Center. Costing an estimated $28m to build, the esports arena would be able to host events for up to 1,500 spectators and include 200 gaming stations and is penned to open in the first half of 2023 should it be approved and financed successfully. As with many esports arenas and stadiums that are in construction or already in use, the plans for Cedar Fair’s own could “also host concerts, youth-orientated camps and educational opportunities.” The first floor of the proposed arena would contain the aforementioned gaming stations, the second would have a restaurant and broadcast studio, and the third and fourth floors would house dormitory rooms for event attendees. “The opening of our Cedar Point Sports Center in 2017 was consistent with this strategy and has proved to be enormously popular with amateur sports teams and other large groups,” said Cedar Fair president Richard A. Zimmerman. “Given the booming popularity of esports, we believe there is an opportunity to tap into the growing appetite for that form of entertainment and package it with all that Cedar Point has to offer.”

Patiphan makes Valorant return in Talon Esports after Overwatch retirement Riot GamesTalon Esports has announced that its Valorant roster for VCT 2023 will feature Patiphan ‘Patiphan’ Chaiwong, who had left the game to return to Overwatch competition. The announcement marks Patiphan’s return to Valorant almost a year after he left Riot Games’ FPS title to compete again in Overwatch, the game where he took his first competitive steps. The Thai player began his esports career in Overwatch as a 15-year-old and notably competed for his country in the Overwatch World Cup. He also played for Talon Esports and Eternal Academy before making the jump to Valorant in 2020. Patiphan quickly made a name for himself in the game as part of X10 Crit (formerly X10 Esports), helping the team to appearances at VCT Masters Iceland and Valorant Champions 2021. At the event in Berlin, X10 Crit managed to reach the playoffs before losing to Gambit Esports. Patiphan would retire from Valorant in December 2021 to return to Overwatch with a spot in an Overwatch League team. The young player has stepped away from competition multiple times due to wrist injuries, but his reason for leaving OWL was not specified in his retirement announcement. In his one year in the OWL, the Thai player helped the Los Angeles Gladiators win the Kickoff Clash and Midseason Madness tournaments. Patiphan rejoins former X10 teammates Joining Patiphan on the new Talon roster are three of his former teammates from his time on X10 Crit: Thanamethk ‘Crws’ Mahatthananuyut, Itthirit ‘foxz’ Ngamsaard and Panyawat ‘sushiboys’ Subsiriroj. At the beginning of 2022, the trio moved on from X10 Crit and joined Xerxia Esports, with whom they qualified for all three international Valorant tournaments held this year. Also joining the team are Jittana ‘JitboyS’ Nokngam and Apiwat ‘garnetS’ Apiraksukumal. JitboyS played for FW Esports in 2021 and 2022, while garnetS competed with X10 and 47 Gaming in 2022. The full Thai squad will be coached by In ‘Creative’ Moo-keun. The new squad will showcase its talent against the rest of the VCT field in February when they take on the other 29 partnered teams at the VCT Kickoff Tournament in São Paulo, Brazil.

Good Week, Bad Week: PUBG PCS4 Americas Grand Final Week 2 recap Week Two of the PCS4 Americas Grand Final has laid the groundwork for the series finale next week. Excellent play from the Soniqs added another $20,000 USD to their total prize pool earning. The more things change, the more they stay the same. It didn’t take long before last week’s winners returned to form during PCS4 Americas Grand Final Week Two. Following the two opening matches, Soniqs and Dignitas jumped out to an early lead, regaining they held just one week prior. Many teams saw major improvements from their Week One showing, including TSM and Trogloditas. Parallels between the two weeks didn’t stop there, as the Soniqs marched on to claim their second victory in consecutive weeks. Despite the Soniqs dominant showing, the lobby has continued fighting for its share of the prize pool and PGC Points. Due to PCS4’s ‘Most Chickens’ format, no team in the first-place position is truly safe. Teams must either stockpile kills or win at least two matches more than their nearest competitor. It made for an exciting finish to this week’s 12-match series as Soniqs sought their second win of the week. The @SoniqsEsports have done it again. Back to back PCS4 Americas Grand Final Weekly Winners picking up another $20,000! CONGRATS on Week 2 teams! 👉https://t.co/2crVimkmFu 👉https://t.co/5Pmkr9pLng 👉https://t.co/Or24T1MphL#PCS4Americas #PUBGEsports pic.twitter.com/9egmRmWPnj— PUBG Esports (@PUBGEsports) June 19, 2021 Chicken Dinners seemed easier to come by for several teams during Week Two. Ten different squads claimed a match victory over the twelve rounds, with the Soniqs and Oath Gaming securing two. Those two would highlight the 12th and final match as each fought to claim the $20,000 USD first-place prize. GOOD WEEK: Soniqs, Oath Gaming, TSM, Spacestation Gaming Soniqs recovered their position atop the standings after an incredible final match to close out Week Two. In the matches prior, Oath Gaming claimed two victories, sending the Soniqs into the final match one win behind. Their only chance of claiming a second consecutive week victory was with a win on Erangel in Match 12. Soniqs had gathered enough kills to surpass Oath if they could capture their second win, but the pressure was on. From the perspective of Oath Gaming, a simple strategy would have been to hot-drop Soniqs — spoiling their chances of winning the final match. The problem for Oath was that Soniqs, TSM, and Trogloditas were within striking distance heading into the last round. It forced the team to stick to their guns and hope that their leaderboard neighbors dropped out early. Unfortunately for TSM and Trogloditas, the two would be eliminated early, ending their impressive Week Two performance. The removal of the third and fourth place teams meant that everything would come down to the Soniqs and Oath. Needless to say, both teams wanted this final win more than anything. In the end, Oath Gaming played the final round extremely well, but the Soniqs played better. Looking over the Week Two leaderboard, you wouldn’t expect Spacestation Gaming on this half of ‘Good Week, Bad Week.’ If I were to hand out an award for the most unlucky team, SSG would be runaway favorites. The team ranked inside the top three of nearly every important statistic this past week: Kills, Damage Dealt, and Average Placement. They’re doing everything right, but this format has not been kind to them. They may not have been awarded for their play, but this team is a formidable contender heading into Week Three. BAD WEEK: Latin Dominous, Guadalajara Gascans It was a tough week for the Guadalajara Gascans and Latin Dominus. The two finished in 13th and 14th respectively, extending their struggles from Week One. Fortunately for both teams, the only direction on the overall leaderboard was up after a challenging Week One. Gascans had two top-five placements and collected enough kills to contest the top-eight teams. Had the team found at least one Chicken Dinner this past week, the Gascans could have finished inside the top-six easily. Moving into the series’ third and final week of play, the Gascans have some positives to build on. As for Latin Dominus, the team managed to put together a decent number of kills. However, their problems rest within match placements – the primary focus in this format. They improved their total kill count from Week One to Week Two but failed to find a single top-five placement over 12 matches. Their roster of excellent players is more than capable of fragging with the region’s best. Still, team performance their placement will need to improve for Week Three. The PCS4 Americas Grand Final returns for Week 3 on Thursday, June 24.

Parth Naidu announces departure from TSM Peter Zhang/Parth NaiduParth Naidu announced that after seven years with TSM he’s departing the esports organization. Parth has worn many hats for TSM since he joined the org back in 2015. He’s served as an analyst, Head Coach, and General Manager for the club throughout his tenure, and became a staple of TSM LoL throughout their multiple LCS titles. Naidu became known for his proficiency in fostering TSM’s young League of Legends players. Parth’s time with TSM is coming to an end, however, just before the kickoff of the LCS 2022 Spring split. 7 years, 5 championships, and an IEM later, we sadly announce the departure of @parthenaan. From an analyst to Head Coach and GM, you’ve been an integral part of TSM’s legacy of winning. We’re going to miss you. Good luck with your next step in life, we’re proud of you. pic.twitter.com/kuJwSfugBh — TSM FTX (@TSM) January 30, 2022 Parth leaves TSM Parth announced that January 31 would be his last day with TSM, announced in an emotional video where he gave a heartfelt goodbye. He shared some thoughts on his exit, “It’s been an absolute privilege working alongside so many talented and hard-working people, and to contribute my part in TSM’s growth over the past seven years.” Tomorrow is my last day at @TSM. It’s been an absolute privilege working alongside so many talented and hard-working people, and to contribute my part in TSM’s growth over the past seven years. Thank you for the incredible memories and friendships that I will cherish forever. pic.twitter.com/nUEvtjuq5W — Parth N (@parthenaan) January 30, 2022 Naidu is not the first longstanding TSM member to leave the club as of recent, as there’s been a wave of talent to say goodbye to the North American esports team. Leena Xu announced her exit from TSM on November 20, citing new management concerns. Star streamer Myth announced he wouldn’t be renewing his contract with the club, and said: ““TSM sort of lost that family feel that I had with it, and that was a really big deal.” TSM’s most iconic League player Bjergsen, who served as a player and coached for the team since 2013, also left the team ahead of the 2022 season. Parth now joins the long-running list of top-tier talent who have left TSM the last calendar year.

Paris Hilton to Esports – How Jason Moore’s trying to control the chaos Jason MooreInfluencers and gamers are finally being taken seriously. Jason Moore, former manager of reality TV star Paris Hilton, and his new company Renown Management, are now hoping to take professional gamers and influencers to the next level, by showing them the path into mainstream popular culture. [jwplayer C884pVlv] With a wealth of experience and several years in Hollywood, Jason believes he’s perfected the formula that turns minor celebrities into major personalities. This time, he’s hailing gamers and social media tycoons, like Stephanie “missharvey” Harvey and FaZe Bizzle, as the new kind of celebrity worth investing in. Jason has just launched his new pro gamer and influencer management company Renown – it was formerly known as Agency for Professional Esports aka APE Agency, and the focus was only on esports. Who is Jason Moore? Managing Paris Hilton, he said, “kind of fell into my lap by accident.” At the time, nobody understood what the value was working with her, but the moving parts that launched Paris to fame were intriguing, Jason told Dexerto; “I really felt like I was creating a new culture and that fired me up.” Rather than coming from a business background, it was his artistic experience that made him able to “connect on a personal level” with the clients that his company managed. “I felt like art had to be natural and these people that I was surrounded by didn’t actually have that… I kind of came in a different direction and I got lucky.” Jason now believes that over the years, he has built up the perfect formula for pushing these social media stars as far as they can go. From Paris to Gaming Jason made Paris Hilton into the legendary figure she is today, but this type of celebrity is no longer new. Today’s still come with their own challenges. But the gaming industry is different from Hollywood. “Gamers think their career is going to end in four years no matter what,” he said. When Jason first started working in Hollywood, there weren’t so many opportunities to have influence. Now there are so many different platforms and a plethora of influencers out there, which means they’re also quick to get rid of. He described cancel culture as “like a battle royale hunger game.” “Imagine Fortnite with the lobby of a million people. People aren’t paying attention to the game until it gets down to the final 30. Even then you’re not really paying attention until it gets down to the final 20.” Jason thinks gamers and influencers should be treated the same as athletes, explaining that “gaming is a passion, it’s a hobby, it’s a lifestyle, it’s no different than traditional sports.” But while the scene makes a lot of noise, it still hasn’t broken through to the mainstream. “Once they start inviting people outside of that world and onto the red carpet that means they’re established,” “All it needs is controlled chaos.” Jason emphasized that having a manager is about connecting the dots, “It’s the overall vision of where this brand is going.” His client Stephanie “missharvey” Harvey “is a pioneer in female pro gaming and a 5-time world champion” while FaZe Bizzle “will go down in history.” Controlling the chaos So, how can Renown management actually transform pro-gamers and influencers into mainstream stars? Just like how he connected with Paris one-on-one, Jason’s tactic is deep personal involvement in the client. This is Jason’s philosophy: Rather than projecting your ideas onto the person, you should first find out who they are as individuals, and work up from there. “How do they envision themselves? What do they want to do?” For example, aside from gaming, Jason explained that FaZe Bizzle is very into golf. Through this other interest, “you have an opportunity where Bizzle could transcend over into the golf industry and that awareness.” Tapping into a “larger fan base, which then will bring in more people that want to market withed you.” When it comes to missharvey, Jason wants to capitalize on her “influence as well as what she’s done, her dynamic as a pro and her position.” missharvey has the ability to talk about inclusion, diversity issues, and gender issues. He added that without her, “CLG wouldn’t be able to have those conversations at panels or at conferences and represent the organization. They wouldn’t be able to do partnerships with certain brands that are looking for that relevance. She brings that to the conversation. ” Perhaps this kind of support for influencers is needed now more than ever. “It would now be more accepted and understood to evolve from an agency into a management company,” Jason said. “Now is the perfect time in the industry.”

Paris Legion & Paris Eternal confirm Las Vegas relocation in 2023 DM EsportsThe ownership company behind Overwatch League and Call of Duty League franchises Paris Eternal and Paris Legion have filed trademark applications hinting at a relocation to Las Vegas. After some early speculation, it’s now confirmed that the transition is indeed going ahead. DM Esports, the parent company of the two Paris-based franchises, abandoned their trademarks for Paris Eternal and Paris Legion in 2021, which prompted fanbases in both leagues to question whether they would be leaving entirely. Early in 2022, DM Esports filed trademarks for both Vegas Legion and Vegas Eternal. The trademarks were filed for both names on March 7, 2022, for clothing and entertainment services alike. After this news spilled out online, both teams have since confirmed the plans to relocate in 2023. “The rumors are true!” a joint statement across both Paris Legion and Paris Eternal social channels confirmed on June 1. “We’re excited to announce a new chapter for Legion/Eternal fans. “In 2023, the Legion/Eternal will be relocating to Las Vegas.” So while it’s now official, both teams will continue operating with existing branding for the remainder for 2022. It wont be until the next calendar year that the Call of Duty League and Overwatch League both feature new Vegas teams. So… regarding those rumors ♥️♠️♦️♣️… pic.twitter.com/8hRJzLaBlr — Paris Legion (@ParisLegion) June 1, 2022 Both Paris Legion and Paris Eternal have faced criticism from fans in the past, accused of showing a lack of care towards their performances in the leagues or building their brand alongside them. At the time of writing, Paris Legion is dead last in the CDL standings ahead of Major 3, with a disappointing 2-16 record. In the Overwatch League, Paris Eternal has started the season 0-6. Vegas is no doubt one of the biggest markets available for any franchise in any sport, so it’s naturally a huge coup for DM Esports.

Pakistan government officially embraces esports with Free Fire league YouTube: GarenaThe Government of Pakistan has officially recognized and embraced esports through a new initiative named E-PAK, which includes an official competitive gaming event. Hoping esports will be an effective way of engaging with the youth and allowing them to build careers, E-PAK will work with games developers to launch more gaming events in the nation. The first official event from the venture is the Free Fire Pakistan League, a competitive series taking place on Free Fire. The game, which is published by Garena, is a battle royale title that’s available on both Android and iOS. This move was first kicked into gear in January 2021 when an agreement was made between the Pakistan Sports Board and Pakistan Science Foundation. Now, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has formalized it. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting introduces E-PAK biggest Esports initiative of Pakistan starting with Free Fire Pakistan league. In this regard, @MoIB_Official has signed an MoU with Garena and Bigo Pakistan. ~Federal Minister of Information, @fawadchaudhry pic.twitter.com/RgnJPW1lu5 — Government of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) July 19, 2021 The Free Fire Pakistan League will see 567 teams participate and the government is actively encouraging more gamers to get involved with their esports programs and competitions. The competition is sponsored by BIGO Technology and mobile phone company Infinix. The prize pool is 10 million Indian Rupees, an equivalent of almost £100,000 or $134,000. The winning team will move on to the Free Fire World Series in Singapore later in the year. Garena hosted their first global event in 2021 in May, with 22 teams from 14 regions competing for a total of $2 million. Squads hailed from countries such as Brazil, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Parent company OverActive Media to shut down Splyce brand as part of restructuring Riot GamesOverActive Media, the parent company that owns esports brands Toronto Defiant, Call of Duty Toronto, Mad Lions and Splyce, has decided to shut down the Splyce brand as part of a restructuring within the company. Employees affected by the decision contacted Dexerto with the news after they were notified and offered severance packages. The final closure will take place in December, with OAM heading into 2020 focusing on their Toronto themed brands. “OAM came and told us that we had the choice to stick around until December or we could leave now with severance pay,” said one affected employee. “The majority of the staff took the payouts so a lot of people left Splyce yesterday.” It’s not clear how many staff this decision will affect in total nor what the future of Marty Strenczewilk, the former CEO of Splyce turned Senior Vice President of Team Operations for OAM during the acquisition, will be. One former employee suggested that Strenczewik was extremely disappointed with the decision and would be considering his options moving forward. Splyce, formed in 2015, was purchased by OverActive Media in November of 2018 for an undisclosed fee. The formal purchase was announced shortly after it became known that Splyce had been awarded a slot in the Riot Games European franchise league, LEC. According to one former employee, the strategy now for the naming of League of Legends franchise is to rebrand the Splyce team as “Mad Lions,” a Spanish esports organisation that was acquired by OAM in May of this year, and that the Spanish LoL team will be dropped as a result of this. Reasons for the closure aren’t entirely clear. The Splyce brand represented the oldest and therefore most storied in their portfolio, as well as having the broadest social media reach due to it housing teams in multiple titles. One source affected by the lay-offs told us that internally the staff suspect it is just for financial reasons. “Personally I think they are doing it because of taxes” they told us. “It is more expensive to pay American employees for a Toronto based company.” Another said that the focus on the franchise model also made more financial sense for the company as it freed them from supporting multiple teams competing in open circuit systems. “They have three franchise teams in three of the biggest esports franchise leagues. Doing this enables them to drop teams that don’t generate any value for them and lets them focus on League of Legends, Overwatch and Call of Duty.” This development is the latest in a recent trend of endemic esports brands being taken over by investor groups, only to end up being either gutted or shut down just a short time later. Most notable among them would be Infinite Esports & Entertainment’s complete failure in the handling of OpTic Gaming that saw them sell to the Immortals Gaming Club Group in less than two years. That move came not only after the company had haemorrhaged money but also after they had lost the core of the staff that made up OpTic, notably the organisation’s longtime CEO Hector Rodriguez. The impending closure of Splyce seems to be another indicator that the new type of esports investor has little attachment to brands.

Overwatch pro Nero announces retirement after six years Ben Pursell//Overwatch LeagueCharlie ‘Nero’ Zwarg had stints with Guangzhou Charge, San Francisco Shock, and Atlanta Reign during his time in the Overwatch League. Nero was a top DPS player in all of Overwatch for years, but his journey as a professional player has come to an end. The 21-year-old announced his retirement on the morning of February 19, citing problems with the game as the primary reason for his decision. Although he’s still young, Zwang was an OWL veteran, having played in OWL and Contenders since their inception. He hasn’t been on an active roster since he parted ways with Atlanta Reign in November, though, and now he’s shared some insight into why that is. Nero retires from Overwatch League competition In his brief retirement announcement, Zwang noted that he thinks the franchise is headed in the wrong direction, and this is simply the right time for him to get out. “Just wanted to give an update because people have been asking me: I’m done competing in overwatch, I’ve had plenty of time to think and I’ve realized that the game is getting consistently worse IMO and not worth it to commit another year of my life to,” he tweeted. This follows his longstanding concern over the state of Overwatch 2, which dates all the way back to the September 2021 playtest. “It’s just not my cup of tea,” he said of the game back then. “I don’t like the idea of playing 5v5. I trust Blizzard to fix the other imperfections…coaching might be fun.” Zwang also confirmed that he wouldn’t be going far away from the community so that two-year-old coaching tease could be something for to get excited about in the future. For now, they’ll have to wait and see what’s next for one of the best players to ever touch Overwatch.

Oxford University To Offer Esports and Gaming Courses in Partnership with Tencent Left: Oxford UniversityPrestigious UK university Oxford have teamed up with one of the biggest games publishers in the world, Tencent, to offer esports courses as part of a trade deal with Britain. Chinese Tencent, who also run social media and music networks, have struck the trade deal with the UK in order to increase cooperation between the two countries, focusing on film, video games and even fashion. The deal called the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ will involve projects with the BBC, as well as a focus on developing esports with Oxford University. It is not clear what these projects will entail, but by the sound of it, Tencent is keen to expand their massive business (the second largest in China) across to the western world. As reported by Reuters, the deal was announced last week by Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, and Tencent Senior Executive Vice President Seng Yee Lau. “[Tencent] will work with Oxford University to host games and courses designed to promote the development of the e-sports industry”. What exactly these courses will teach or develop is unknown, but is likely similar to other esports projects in academics such as the scholarships in the US or York University. Tencent of course are the company behind some of the biggest esports titles including League of Legends, and also own the majority Epic Games, creators of Fortnite, which they hope to bring to the Asian market soon. They recently invested around $15 million into developing and promoting esports for Fortnite in China, and are one of the most influential companies in global esports. It doesn’t sound as though these projects with Oxford will necessarily mean esports scholarships, but there is certainly potential for that in the future.

Overwatch League accidentally shows fan’s explicit poster at Shanghai LAN Overwatch LeagueDuring the Chengdu Hunters match against the Seoul Dynasty on July 11, one fan managed to get on camera with an explicit sign that probably shouldn’t have been broadcast to tens of thousands of viewers all around the world. The Chengdu Hunters managed to beat the Seoul Dynasty 3-2 on July 11 and advance in the Summer Showdown playoffs. A great win for the team to be sure, but viewers who tuned into the match were treated to a shot of one fan’s poster that probably should have stayed as just an idea. You can even see it in the VOD on YouTube, at about the 4:45 mark. I am proud to be a @ChengduHunters fan. pic.twitter.com/qJPnRud1e7 — Guipsy (@GuipsyOff) July 11, 2021 As you can see in the tweet above, the sign depicts a tiger (Seoul’s mascot) getting sexually assaulted by a panda bear (Chengdu’s mascot), so it’s no wonder quite a few people weren’t pleased when it popped up on the stream. “I’m sorry but why tf is the broadcast showing images like these?” OWL fan gatamchun tweeted. “Does the Chinese live event cameraman need to be explicitly told that ‘fan signs graphically depicting sexual assault as a metaphor for winning’ shouldn’t be captured for broadcast????” A lot of people agreed with them, calling the poster “gross” and definitely in bad taste. When it was first tweeted by @GuipsyOff though, the official Chengdu Hunters account replied with the smiling emoji surrounded by hearts. To be fair, the social media manager for the Hunters might not have seen the sign in question in the screenshot before it was too late and the tweet was already sent. They did delete it shortly after though, possibly after they realized what was on the poster. Hours later and Overwatch League Vice President Jon Spector even issued a response. “Thanks for flagging this for me,” he said to a fan on Twitter. “We will address this with our broadcast team and the venue team. This should not have happened. I’m sorry it did.” Considering the drama we’ve seen over signs in Overwatch League in the past, and the fact it’s touted as a “family friendly” broadcast (remember when matches were on Disney Channel?) having this slip through the cracks and somehow make it on stream has understandably confused and even angered a lot of longtime fans.

MAD Lions & Toronto Ultra owners raise $40m from Montreal Canadiens and NHL stars Montreal Canadiens/Michal Konkol/Riot GamesEsports ownership group OverActive Media has received a $40m investment from NHL team Montreal Canadiens, as well as two current hockey professionals. The company owns and operates Spanish brand MAD Lions, Call of Duty franchise Toronto Ultra, and Overwatch franchise Toronto Defiant. This funding marks the first involvement for the Montreal Canadiens, a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec, Canada. They have joined OAM’s ownership group alongside a bevy of athletes and celebrities. Phil Kessel of the Arizona Coyotes and Carl Hagelin of the Washington Capitals, two professional ice hockey players, have also contributed towards the investment. This funding follows on from OverActive Media announcing in March that they intended to go public. The company are looking to merge with Abigail Capital Corporation, who completed their initial public offering in August 2019, to become a publicly-listed entity. These are not the only notable names to be involved with the owners of the Ultra, Defiant, and MAD Lions. Toronto Maples’ Mitch Marner and Grammy Award-winning artist The Weeknd are also part of the company’s ownership group. OverActive Media are coming off of the back of a successful weekend of competition among their brands. On April 12, MAD Lions completed a reverse sweep against Rogue to win their inaugural title in Riot Games’ LEC. On the same day, Toronto Ultra took home the trophy from the $500K Stage 2 Major in the Call of Duty League. GET THE CHAMPAGNE & MAPLE SYRUP 🍾🍁 We are your #CDL2021 Major II CHAMPIONS!@Bance | @CammyMVP | @InsightGawd | @TCleanX | @Methodz | @MarkyB | @RBOFLX #StrengthInTheNorth #CDL2021 pic.twitter.com/M675wVVINP — Toronto Ultra (@TorontoUltra) April 12, 2021 “We are thrilled to be joining this already strong partnership group led by the Kimel family, Sheldon Pollack and Bell,” said Geoff Molson, CEO and Co-Owner of the Montreal Canadiens. “We have been following the incredible progress of the OverActive Media team for more than two years. They are an impressive operation and clearly a leading organization in the global esports industry. We could not be more excited for our future together.”

OverActive Media shuts down MAD Lions CSGO after $15.4M net loss MAD LionsOverActive Media has announced the closure of the MAD Lions CSGO side after the company posted a loss of over $15 million in 2021. MAD Lions are a Spanish org fielding a League of Legends team and, until April 19, 2022, a Counter Strike team, as well. With one tweet, the CSGO side was no more, with all of their players officially without a home. MAD Lions cease CSGO operations In a Spanish tweet on April 19, MAD Lions announced the closure of the CSGO team, which had previously competed at the highest level. “Today we close a stage in MAD Lions. We announce the closure of the CS:GO division,” the tweet said, according to Google translate. “We have incorporated our players into the transfer market and we will work together with them to find them a new home.” Hoy cerramos una etapa en MAD Lions. Anunciamos el cierre de la división de CS:GO. Hemos incorporado a nuestros jugadores al mercado de fichajes y trabajaremos junto a ellos para encontrarles un nuevo hogar. Queremos agradecer a todos los que han formado parte de este proyecto. pic.twitter.com/pyCCsSvaH8 — MAD Lions KOI (@MADLionsKOI) April 19, 2022 While the tweet didn’t name the exact reason for MAD Lions calling quits on CSGO, the side saw little success after winning Flashpoint Season 1 in 2020. However, a lack of success might only be part of the story. In their fourth quarter financial results from 2021, OverActive Media revealed a net loss of $15.4 million. Taking into account the lackluster performance, and the financial losses of their parent company, it makes sense then that OverActive chose to axe MAD Lions CSGO side, instead of the more successful LoL team. MAD Lions players are now free agents, but it remains to be seen which teams will end up picking them up. The org could return to CSGO in the future, but for now it seems that MAD Lions and OverActive media are bidding farewell to CSGO for the foreseeable future.

Outrage in F1 esports as player banned after caught cheating on stream CodeMasters / PSGLThe F1 esports community is greatly concerned by the rampant cheating in the game after another player was caught red-handed in a competition. Cheating is once again a hot topic among F1 players after a driver called Bugrahan Duman was found to be cheating in the 11th tier of PC racing in the Premier Sim Gaming League (PSGL). Duman streamed the race and uploaded the footage to his YouTube channel. He made the video private as soon as the cheating accusations began flying, though a clip of it has since been posted to Twitter by PSGL director Louis ‘Criptoniite’. In a statement to Dexerto, Connor McDonagh, PSGL’s owner and CEO, said that the league opened an investigation into the player after it became evident he had raced at a level far above what he had previously shown. “Duman claimed pole by nearly one-second, while he won the race by 30 seconds,” McDonagh said. “In the previous races, he had struggled to finish inside the top five in our slowest tier. Instead, he suddenly was able to set a time that would be competitive in our very best tiers. “Once video evidence of him driving was found, it was very clear that his driving was very unnatural and he had an excessive amount of grip simply not in the game.” The incident has reignited the conversation about cheating in competitive F1 and the lack of measures put in place by Codemasters and EA, the game’s developer and publisher, to combat this issue. On January 22, F1 YouTuber Tiametmarduk said that “F1 needs an anti-cheat”. In response to the latest cheating case, two-time F1 Esports world champion Jarno Opmeer wrote on Twitter that “league racing and esports are about to die if nothing happens”. Why cheating is a rampant problem in F1 esports Cheating in F1 is very sophisticated, and without an anti-cheat in place, it’s incredibly hard to detect foul play if a driver is not streaming his POV. To enter the PSGL, drivers must complete an evaluation race and a short qualifying event. The only exceptions are players who compete for official F1 Esports teams. McDonagh said that PSGL was “fortunate” that Duman streamed the race as he made it easy to spot that he was cheating. “PSGL is convinced there are other drivers cheating in our league but it’s nearly impossible to detect them,” he added. A team manager contacted by Dexerto, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the growing number of cheating cases has led to suspicion among drivers. Earlier this month, another F1 player, Jamie Mels, was disqualified by PSGL after a suspicious video of his driving was posted by Mercedes esports driver Dani Moreno on Twitter. “At the moment, there are no counter-measures,” the manager told Dexerto. “The cheats can be easily downloaded and hidden. It’s left up to members of the F1 community to self-police. “As the last two seasons of F1 Esports have been online, there really is no telling if there have been cheats used at any stage. I’d like to think that isn’t the case but the level of trust between the drivers in the series and the game developers is at an all-time low.” On Instagram, Duman rejected the accusations. “I find it sad that people forget that I have feelings, too,” he wrote. “Putting any person down and accusing me of cheating just because the race didn’t go as they hoped. It’s sad that there are still people like that. Shame on you.”

ORDER fail to find buyer, Oceanic esports org staff contracts terminated Lee Aiksoon for Riot GamesOceanic esports giant ORDER is one step away from liquidation after administrators told Dexerto they had failed to find a buyer for the organization. Staff have had their contracts terminated as their teams make their final showing at DreamHack Melbourne. Despite a more than $5 million AUD ($2.94 million at the time) investment just 12 months ago, Oceanic esports titan ORDER is just one step away from disappearing into the history books. The top side, who boasted championship-winning teams in five titles domestically, went into voluntary administration in August after running out of cash. Two weeks on, administrators have failed to find a buyer in time, and the organization’s days appear to be numbered. ORDER staff had their contracts terminated as of September 2, 2022, sources told Dexerto. This includes all backend staff and players. “Employees have now been terminated on the basis of not finding a purchaser to fund the business,” David Holton, director at Rodgers Reidy, the firm handling ORDER’s case, said. “The company hasn’t gone into liquidation, although it’s likely at the second meeting of creditors [later in September].” Administrators said there were 17 interested parties in ORDER, but sources told Dexerto that only one or two seriously considered a purchase. Investors pulled the pin on ORDER in August due to “market volatility” and the global health crisis. “Essentially it’s a start-up where many people have invested a lot of money in trying to invest in Australia’s best esports teams and get ahead of the curve,” Holton said. “Financial markets put their company into a position where their revenue wasn’t as strong as hoped and they required additional investment.” If the company is liquidated, employees and contractors will be paid their dues first before any outstanding debts. These debts run into six figures. “We’re still dealing with a number of claims against the company or other entities and their legitimacy,” Holton continued. “The trade creditors are out $200,000, then you’ve got employee entitlements on top of that, which will crystallize with redundancies for all the staff — but there’s no picture of total entitlements on that yet. “There are some other issues, such as players and whether they’re going to be determined as employees or contractors.” ORDER were expected to have two teams compete on stage at DreamHack Melbourne 2022, the first major Australian esports LAN in three years. Their League of Legends roster is competing under the banner, but ORDER’s Counter-Strike team has returned to its Grayhound origins. Grayhound currently sits in the loser’s bracket of the ESL Challenger event, duking it out against fellow Australian side Vertex to stave off elimination. The League of Legends side is fighting against Pentanet.GG for a spot in Sunday’s LCO final and the chance to go to Worlds 2022.

OpTic’s H3CZ breaks down perfect way to prioritize streaming during tournament season H3CZ, YouTube / MSIAs competitive gaming and streaming become more entwined, many professional players are opting to stay home and stream rather than travel in order to retain their viewership. OpTic Gaming owner Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez and MLG co-founder Adam Apicella took to Twitter to discuss this phenomenon, with Apicella predicting that esports venues might implement special streaming stations to remedy this problem in the near future. “As tournaments begin to lose high profile players due to fear of losing subs on their personal platform, I feel this will be another logistics advancement esports will incorporate,” Apicella said of the issue. As tournaments begin to lose high profile players due to fear of losing subs on their personal platform I feel this will be another logistics advancement esports will incorporate. Just like we added in travel day warm up access you will start to see ‘stream stations’ for players — Adam Apicella (@MrAdamAp) February 22, 2019 H3CZ went on to suggest a live, podcast-like production, with players streaming live at the event on their personal channels before switching over to host the main feed as they play. Read More: Here’s why Apex Legends is taking over – “This was discussed in early 2013 (6050 Days) during UMG events – a live, podcast-esque scenario with crowd involvement,” H3CZ commented. Now, it would be easier… ready? TFue streaming at the venue, “”ok guys, I’m up”

OpTic Victor embarrasses ScreaM with knife kill after Valorant Champions blunder Lance Skundrich/Riot GamesTeam Liquid’s Adil ‘ScreaM’ Benrlitom made a massive blunder by getting knifed in the back during an intense 1v1 in the Valorant Champions quarter-finals. We’re nearing the end of the second-ever Valorant Champions, and with just a week to go until a winner is crowned, the competition is certainly heating up. Sixteen teams from around the world have gathered in Istanbul hoping to lift the biggest trophy of the year and collect their share of a $1 million prize pool. Kicking off the second day of playoffs on September 10, fans got to see some good old EU vs NA rivalry, and Team Liquid and OpTic Gaming certainly put each other to the test. However, Liquid star ScreaM made an unfortunate misplay that he and his fans probably won’t forget. ScreaM makes massive blunder on Valorant Champions stage The EU side took the first game of the series on Breeze. However, OpTic bounced back in game two with a convincing win on Bind. With both teams now on match point and the fear of being sent to the lower-bracket lingering, the pressure was piling on. Continuing on with their momentum, OpTic got off to a great start in game three on Ascent, swiftly taking the first four rounds. The next round looked promising for Liquid, as it seemed they were about to get their first win of the match. However, they fell short once again after ScreaM made a blunder while trying to clutch a 1v1. With the spike planted and time ticking, ScreaM used his Phoenix ultimate to push onto the B site to get info on his opponent. However, the Valorant star didn’t anticipate what would follow, as he was knifed in the back by Victor when the ultimate expired. OpTic continued with their momentum, dominating the first half 10-2. While many believed the series was long over, Liquid put up a noble fight, bringing the scoreline to 11-8 before the NA titans eventually closed the game out. Team Liquid will now be hoping for a miracle run in the lower bracket, with them set to face EMEA rivals FNATIC on September 11 for their elimination match.

OpTic yay responds after shroud doubts org’s future in Valorant Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesValorant pro Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteake has hit back at shroud after he cast his doubts on OpTic’s future in Valorant after 2023 franchising. We’re now just a short while out until we learn what teams will be joining Riot’s partnership for the 2023 Valorant Champions Tour. It’s expected that only eight to ten teams will be accepted into the Americas league for the 2023 season, leaving much uncertainty to the over 150 North American organizations alone that applied for partnership. It’s understood that no organizations have yet been notified whether or not they’ve made it into the partnership. Regardless, cryptic tweets from OpTic yay and Chet have led shroud and Tarik to debate whether or not the organization has a future in Valorant. Just a short while ago on August 23, a tweet from yay stating there are “interesting times ahead after champions” left fans feeling uncertain about the organization’s future. At the same time, the team’s coach Chet also put out a rather vague tweet. Despite OpTic already making their mark in Valorant, taking home the Masters 1 trophy this year and putting in great performances at other events, shroud speculated that the tweets could mean they didn’t make it into franchising. “I don’t know what it means. I don’t know if there’s drama amongst the team or if they didn’t make franchising. I don’t know which one it is,” shroud said during his Champions watch party. The Sentinels pro then noted that a player on OpTic’s roster was previously involved with Counter-Strike match-fixing allegations, which could be causing the organization issues trying to join Riot’s partnership. “Wait, didn’t one of the teammates on OpTic have allegations for throwing? I don’t remember who but I swear someone does,” shroud noted, referring to Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen being named among many players suspected of match-fixing in CSGO. Tarik and Shroud talking about OpTic either not making franchising or Marved not allowed because of prior fixing allegations in CS pic.twitter.com/idIMIIusgH — Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) September 3, 2022 However, Tarik argued that Marved’s controversial past wouldn’t be as big of an issue as shroud thinks, especially when considering that it is just allegations that have been made. The Twitch star also added that he’d be surprised if OpTic didn’t get into the franchise, and if they were denied due to Marved’s allegations they’d make the roster changes needed to join. Speculations were then shut down as yay claimed his cryptic tweet was a meme and questioned those looking for a deeper meaning in them. “my tweet was a meme, why people looking so deep,” he wrote. Riot is expected to notify teams on whether or not they’ve made it into the partnership before the end of Champions 2022, which is set to end on September 18. It’s unclear whether or not we’ll see teams announce their status on whether or not they made it into the franchise. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing OpTic among the teams accepted.

OpTic Gaming’s H3CZ gives message of hope to fans amid Immortals buyout speculation OpTic Gaming CEO Hector ‘H3CZ‘ Rodriguez has given another update on the ongoing situation around a potential buyout of the brand from Immortals, as parent company Infinite Esports look to sell the organization. Immortals are still thought to be front-runners in the buyout bidding, which would potentially see the OpTic brand effectively dissolved. With teams competing in Call of Duty, League of Legends, CS:GO and the Overwatch League with the Houston Outlaws, as well as the popular content team, there is a lot at stake. Rodriguez has confirmed that he is “trying” to take back the brand himself, perhaps outright, or as part of a deal that would see him return to the daily operations of the organization. He reportedly met with Immortals representatives in May, although the outcome of such a meeting is unknown. Returning to his daily vlogs, Rodriguez has confirmed that he is still “fighting”. “As of Wednesday 29, still no final ‘no’” H3CZ explains, “[I’m] still fighting, and I’m hoping to be able to get some good news to you guys very soon.” Timestamp at 1:46 for mobile users. Although clearly dancing around giving away any specifics, H3CZ does state that “no matter what, I’m going to give you guys good news – I feel.” With the negotiations still ongoing, and no end date in sight, fans will have to remain patient as the future of their beloved organization is debated over. H3CZ also revealed on episode 30 of his Eavesdrop podcast, that in 2018 Infinite management had attempted to drop OpTic’s world famous Call of Duty team, but the move was prevented at the last minute. H3CZ confirmation that there will be “good news” no matter what perhaps indicates that there is a plan B, or a secondary option, should he fail to secure the deal he desires initially. Disclaimer: Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd.

OpTic parent company Infinite Esports layoff a host of staff including president Chris Chaney Infinite Esports & Entertainment President Chris Chaney has been replaced by Ryan ‘OpTicJ’ Musselman as more changes are made at the organization. According to SportsBusinessDaily, the move comes amid sweeping changes at the OpTic Gaming parent company, with 19 employees being laid off. Musselman is one of the most veteran figures within the organization, having been one of the earliest members of OpTic Gaming in its infancy as a Call of Duty team before returning later to help expand it as a business. “Generally speaking, we think we grew too fast,” Musselman told SportsBusinessDaily, “I do want to emphasize we’re not losing sight of the model of what we built.” Chaney will retain his co-founder and ownership position. The news comes following a series of high-profile departures in recent weeks, most notably with the likes of Infinite Director of International Development Ali ‘Alicus’ Saba, OpTic Gaming General Manager Romain Bigeard, and Houston Outlaws assistant coach Kyle ‘KyKy’ Souder leaving their respective positions. The staff reductions aren’t limited to the organization’s various esports teams, however, with Online Editor Obscurica, Software Developer Justin Clarke, and Graphic Designer Matlock also announcing their departure from the organization. Read more: Scump and H3CZ discuss OpTic’s approach to content in Black Ops 4, streaming scrims and WWII struggles – Though no announcement has been made yet, according to OpTic content creator Hitch, OpTic Gaming CEO and Owner Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is currently considering returning to a more active role in the organization. Following OpTic Gaming’s acquisition by Texas Rangers co-Owner Neil Leibman and the establishment of Infinite as a holding company, H3CZ revealed that he would be taking more personal time as the new structure allowed for some of the weight to be shared. Now, however, it seems he could be considering reclaiming more control over the direction of the organization, a prospect that is sure to excite OpTic fans. Full disclosure: OpTic CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd

OpTic Gaming, Team Envy and CompLexity secure major partnership with GameStop Three major North American esports organizations, OpTic Gaming, Team Envy and CompLexity Gaming, have announced their partnership with game retailer GameStop on March 27. In addition to the main teams, OpTic and Envy’s Overwatch League franchises, the Houston Outlaws and Dallas Fuel respectively, are also partners in the deal. CompLexity’s esports training facilities and headquarters in Frisco, Texas is the focal point of their deal with GameStop. In fact, all three of the organizations partnering with GameStop are Texas based. GameStop itself is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, and so is very much supporting the “local” esports scene in the state. The partnership comes only a week after OpTic Gaming announced a major non-endemic sponsorship with car manufacturer Nissan, who also sponsored FaZe Clan. The influx of these large partners is perhaps as necessary as it is exciting. Organization’s like OpTic, Envy and CompLexity are charged with obtaining millions in investment if they are to secure spots in the franchised leagues which are taking over many of the biggest esports titles. OpTic are already fielding teams in the LCS and Overwatch League (with the Houston Outlaws), both of which required buy-in fees of upwards of $10 million. Team Envy were unsuccessful in their application to the LCS, but similarly purchased an Overwatch League spot in Season One with the Dallas Fuel. Both OpTic and Envy will undoubtedly be aiming to secure a spot in the 2020 Call of Duty World league, but reports have claimed that Activision will be charging a whopping $25 million for a spot, making these big name sponsorships almost a requirement. GameStop will know that the large fanbases of these teams is likely more than enough to warrant the partnership, and with esports audiences growing at an almost exponential rate, it’s no surprise they are getting in on the action.

OpTic Gaming’s H3CZ launches competition platform Ryvals Ryvals/YouTube: H3CZRyvals, a new online competition platform co-owned by OpTic Gaming CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez, has launched in beta as of May 28. Described as providing a system that will “revolutionize the ways player react,” Ryvals will facilitate competitions across a number of yet-to-be-named esports titles. The platform states that it will allow online users to not only compete against one another but “track their growth” and accurately see how they stack up against others. Ryvals will utilize Shift4 Payments, a secure payment processing company, to dish out prize winnings to those using the platform. It’s stated that they will only use cash, forgoing a reliance on credits to pay out the victors. H3CZ is a co-owner of the company alongside former UMG chief technology officer Michael Martin, Chris Shaya, and Sean Murphy. It was incorporated legally in late 2017. To hype up the launch, H3CZ ran a giveaway on Twitter for an OpTic Gaming jacket. He requested for participants to reserve their username and sign up to the platform. The company has also worked with custom gaming controller company Battle Beaver for promotion ahead of the beta coming to the public. It’s unclear if popular OpTic players such as Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper will be brought in to get more eyeballs on the venture. ** GIVEAWAT TIME! ** Make sure to follow @ryvals and go reserve your name at https://t.co/EVso8ZJsyZ once you do, reply to this post with your username, will be picking someone on Friday! pic.twitter.com/aYGEATjAhs — OpTic HecZ (@H3CZ) May 24, 2021 “As a seasoned veteran in the competitive space, whether casual or tournament play, across different platforms, when the opportunity arose to become part of Ryvals, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to help create a platform that was built for the gamer,” said H3CZ. “Ryvals has built something special, and I look forward to seeing Ryvals launch, grow, innovate, and evolve into the marquee esports tournament platform.”

OpTic Gaming Owners Infinite Esports Cut Ties with an Investor After Managing Partner Arrested for Assaulting Wife with Hammer Infinite Esports, the ownership group of OpTic Gaming and OWL team Houston Outlaws, has reportedly cut ties with one of its investors, after a managing partner was arrested for assaulting his wife with a hammer. According to a police report, the managing partner of Deep Space Ventures, Stephen Hays, was arrested after an alleged attack on his wife with a hammer in their home in Frisco, Texas. As reported by ESPN, according to sources Infinite Esports & Entertainment has now ‘cut ties’ with Deep Space Ventures as a result of the arrest. Hays is a former investment banker and one of the co-founders of Deep space Ventures, a $20 million investment fund. He posted $50,000 bond on Tuesday, August 7. The police report states that Stephen Hays’ wife, Christine Hays, told police in hospital that her husband had assaulted her after attending a Panic! At the Disco concert, from which she had returned home in an Uber. She told police that Hays awoke her at around 4am, walking into her bedroom with a hammer in hand and assaulting her with it and other items which he threw at her. After police searched the premises, they found the bedroom door broken and a hammer stuck in the wall above the bed. Hays also previously pleaded guilty to the attempted assault of another woman in November 2017, but says he was forced into making the plea and maintains that he is innocent of this offense. Deep Space Ventures investment deal with Infinite Esports started in December, and they also invested in a number of other esports related companies. Source: ESPN

OpTic Gaming and FaZe Clan secure major car sponsorship FaZe Clan / Nissan USA / OpTic GamingTwo of esports largest organizations landed a major deal, as Nissan has become an official partner for both FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming. The organizations announced their individual partnerships moments apart from each other with videos of different members of their respective orgs. In a brief video, FaZe’s Alex ‘Adapt’ Pinkevich was the focal figure in announcing that the Japanese automobile manufacturer would now be a sponsor for the popular Clan. Please join us in welcoming the @NissanUSA family as FaZe Clan’s newest sponsor, for 2019 & beyond!#NissanEsports x #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/yTGvuKwr0L — FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) March 21, 2019 In the same video, Adapt showed off the new 2019 FaZe Clan jerseys, which tout an awesome new design with the Nissan logo printed on the front above the left breast. “Big surprise, we got Nissan here on the shirt because we’re going to be partnering with them throughout the year,” Adapt said. “They’re going to be helping us to make a lot of dope videos, or giving us some cars for the houses.” Please help us give a warm welcome to our newest partner, @NissanUSA. This landmark partnership is a tribute to the power of the #Greenwall! #NissanEsports pic.twitter.com/qiYsZIRC7E — OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTicGaming) March 21, 2019 OpTic’s announcement was much more subtle, and showed various members of the Greenwall taking scenic drives around the city. “Please help us give a warm welcome to our newest partner, NissanUSA,” OpTic said in the tweet. “This landmark partnership is a tribute to the power of the Greenwall.” Big Body Whip for the crib! @NissanUSA @OpTicGaming pic.twitter.com/YMdy0pKGLH — MBoZe (@OpTicMBoZe) March 21, 2019 Though no further information was given, OpTic might have struck a similar deal that included providing vehicles for the team’s house and beyond. This isn’t the first time vehicle sponsorships have etched their way into esports, as Kia partnered with Riot Game’s LEC while Team Liquid partnered with Honda in January 2019. It’s a great day for the industry, as two of the most recognized brands in esports showed even more growth in signing with the worldwide auto maker.

OpTic Gaming releases Gears of War roster following Immortals buyout Gears Pro CircuitGears of War roster were moving on from the Greenwall after a dominating three-year reign. There are many changes happening within the Greenwall in the aftermath of the Immortal Gaming Club’s (IGC) buyout of OpTic parent company Infinite Esports. Now the new ownership has parted ways with one of the most winningest teams esports has ever seen. In a July 1 announcement, the OpTic brand announced that the Gears of War squad that locked down 17 championships out of its 19 events has been released and will no longer represent the Greenwall. In a heartfelt farewell message to the OpTic fans, the team gave a brief synopsis of their success while the org delivered the unexpected departing message for their longtime champions. “Thank you to the greatest Gears of War team ever,” OpTic said. “Per their request, we will be releasing the roster. We will miss the 17x champs in GOW4. We hope for nothing but victory after victory for these phenoms of console esports as they continue competing in GOW5.” Thank you to the greatest Gears of War team ever. Per their request, we will be releasing the roster. We will miss the 17x champs in GOW4. pic.twitter.com/87dF4mO2Tk — OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTicGaming) July 1, 2019 The team consisting of Gilbert ‘Xplosive’ Rojo, Billy ‘MentaL’ Putnam Jr., Alex ‘SuMuNs’ Ascencion, Brian ‘SoLuRs’ Valenzuela, and Arody ‘Praized’ Dipre as well as coach Nick ‘Ashes’ Ridgeway will retire their OpTic jerseys. The Greenwall fans were obviously blindsided by the news, but there’s been various questionable developments since the IGC buyout that’s slowly conforming OpTic in the new leadership’s vision. What’s next for the elite Gears of War team? Meanwhile, previous OpTic CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez also gave his former team a fitting goodbye, as it seems the ties that the old OpTic guard still hold strong. “Thank you, you’re the definition of champion,” H3CZ said. “You and the team brought great times and memories to our team. You and your team will forever be OpTic. ANYTHING you need I got you.” Players and fans all over the scene were taken back by the news, but looks like they will be sticking together for whatever may come next in their shining careers. “My teammates Xplosive, MentaL, Sumuns, Solurs, and Praized and I are currently looking for a new organization to represent in Gears 5 and beyond,” Ashes said. While the teammates remain longtime friends, fans will hold their collective breath to see what comes next for the dominant force as they look for a new banner to represent.

OpTic Gaming Co-Founder leaves in aftermath of Immortals buyout Travis Gafford YouTube / ImmortalsControversial OpTic Gaming co-founder and Infinite Esports President Ryan ‘J’ Musselman has departed from the company following the Greenwall’s sell to the Immortals Gaming Club. Greenwall fans have been on an emotional rollercoaster ride since Immortals gained control of the OpTic brand on June 12, which has been resulting in what seems to be non-stop changes to the legendary name. Although Immortals gave a pretty clear guideline on how they were going to manage the OpTic Gaming brand post buyout, there’s still been troubling developments that have left onlookers scratching their heads. OpTic Gaming is already seeing major changes in the Immortals era. A new development first reported by ESPN’s Jacob Wolf revealed that OpTic veteran and key executive during the brand’s buyout saga J is departing the organization in the aftermath of the transaction. “OpTic Gaming co-founder and Infinite Esports President Ryan ‘J’ Musselman left his post as the company’s top executive on Friday, following the Immortals acquisition of the teams,” Wolf said. The report says J had resigned his position as early as Friday July 19, after he had been the target of a wave of backlash forcing him to take a step back from popular social media platforms. .@OpTicGaming co-founder and @InfiniteEsports president Ryan “J” Musselman left his post as the company’s top executive on Friday, following the @Immortals acquisition of the teams. https://t.co/wy785zCsL9 — Jacob Wolf (@JacobWolf) July 20, 2019 Previously, relations between J and various members under the OpTic umbrella had been slowly deteriorating as the former executive allegedly at one time tried to “Thanos” the star-studded Call of Duty team. J really lost favor with OpTic fans in the build-up and fallout of Immortals’ purchase of the brand, which has finally culminated in the executive from severing ties with what’s left of the Greenwall. At the time of writing, it is unknown where the former Infinite Esports President will land next following his long term with OpTic Gaming. Immortals buyout changing OpTic Gaming Fans of multiple esports are seeing big changes in OpTic Gaming’s teams since there’s already been surprising changes made following the buyout. So far, one of the biggest developments to come out of the buyout was the release of the entire legendary Gears of War team that had been a longtime fixture of the Greenwall. The Immortals Gaming Club have been making controversial decisions since acquiring the OpTic brand, including letting go of their GoW team. People on the outside looking in have been heavily critical of the changes happening to the OpTic brand, while former members of the Greenwall have already started up a new org to live up to the Greenwall’s former ways. Fan reaction to J’s departure has been positive so far, but it just marks another major change for the OpTic brand following Immortal’s takeover.

OpTic Gaming cut ties with several international pro teams and content creators North American based esports organization OpTic Gaming have cut ties with several of their international pro rosters and content teams. A flurry of announcements filled social media on November 2, revealing that OpTic had let go of its teams based around the world, including Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Brazil. This includes the regional Gears of War team in Mexico, which participated in just a single major event under OpTic – 2018 GPC New Orleans Open – placing 7-8th and winning $5,000. “As we part ways with our regional Gears Team, we are thankful for their time and unwavering training to bring the local fans a trophy,” OpTic Mexico tweeted. “We’re proud of their resolve and we believe they will see future success in the Gears Pro Circuit. Thank you.” “We would like to thank our content team for sharing their creativity and energy with Southeast Asia,” OpTic SEA tweeted. “As the regional teaming comes to close, we know they will continue to drive fan engagement in SEA and we wish them well in future projects. Thank You.” only been put together in early September. The team competed for two events under OpTic, placing first in both.“Since OpTic has decided to put an end to their international rosters, we do not represent OpTic BR anymore,” tweeted out pro player ‘Showliana,’ “We’re looking for a new org, DM is open.” Today, we conclude our chapter in Brasil. We are grateful for the competitive accomplishments and professionalism of this regional team and we’re excited to see them push forward with future achievements. Thank You. pic.twitter.com/XwuGthwDxA — OpTic Brasil (@OpTicGamingBR) November 2, 2018 OpTic have not put out any official statement as to whether they’ve given up on their international competitive ventures completely, but for now it seems as though the org is focusing its efforts on their main domestic teams. It has certainly been a busy few weeks for them, with the OpTic India CS:GO team recently dropped after pro player ‘Forsaken’ was infamously caught using a cheat at a major tournament, which was followed by a massive realignment of personnel within the corporate side of the org.

OpTic H3CZ returns to CEO role Instagram: Hector RodriguezHector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez will return as CEO of OpTic after he stepped down from the role in 2021. H3CZ’s history with the OpTic brand has been quite up and down. After joining the organization OpTic Gaming in 2006, H3CZ has held many positions within OpTic, from player to CEO and President. Although H3CZ did briefly leave to become the co-owner and co-CEO of NRG in 2019, after he lost ownership of the OpTic brand, he reacquired the brand from Immortals Gaming in 2020. He led the organization through the acquisition and merger with Envy Gaming, which led the organization to rebrand as OpTic Texas. Envy’s former CEO Adam Rymer stepped into the leadership role as OpTic’s CEO, while Rodriguez remained as President. Now that power structure is changing. H3CZ returns as CEO of OpTic In a press release, OpTic announced that Rymer would be stepping down from his position as CEO effective immediately and would “transition into a strategic advisory role”. H3CZ will step back into the vacant CEO role, though there is no indication if this will be a temporary or permanent shift. It’s also unclear as to why this change is being made. As the release says, Rymer was integral in rebranding Envy as OpTic and helping the organization secure major professional partnerships. OpTic, H3CZ, and Rymer have not spoken publicly about this decision, and we will update once more news becomes available.

OpTic Podcast reveals how regular players will be able to play at the Arlington Esports Stadium Since the announcement of the Esports Stadium, a specialised venue for competitive gaming built in Arlington, Texas, fans have been interested in what the proposed arena will be like. Thankfully, Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez, Will ‘BigTymer’ Johnson and Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop took their popular Texas-based OpTic Podcast on the road, and made the short trip to discuss the future of the Esports Stadium with project head Corey Dunn. While discussing the plans for the future of the arena, Dunn revealed that the stadium won’t be exclusively used for professional gaming events, but will be open to the public during the week, allowing them to test their mettle against each other. Dunn also announced that they will be running leagues for local players out of the stadium, across numerous games, with players competing for prize pools and the ability to play on the Esport Stadium’s massive stage. the stadium will hold over 2000 spectators in its main competition area, which features the world’s largest esports stage, standing at 85 feet wide, along with a huge 85-foot-long LED screen behind it. Along with the massive main stage, there is also space for side stations to allows numerous matches to take place at once, along with a feature stage connected to the main arena portion of the stadium. Something that Dunn is proud of is the “8 team rooms” that they have built and are ready for use, which will give teams private areas to practice before their matches. The Esports Stadium will officially open on Saturday, November 24, and will host the FACEIT ECS Grand Finals, meaning that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will be the first competitive game played in the arena. Disclaimer: OpTic CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd

OpTic Dashy set three CDL season records in Atlanta FaZe reverse sweep Call of Duty LeagueOpTic Texas faced off with Atlanta FaZe in the final CDL Major 2 qualifying match for both squads and Dashy’s record-setting performance rallied the Greenwall to a 3-2 reverse sweep victory. Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell started off Major 2 qualifiers on the bench for OpTic Texas, but after Scump’s surprise retirement, the young star returned to the lineup and made an immediate impact. After losing the first two maps of the series in a first-seed deciding match, Dashy turned up the Texas heat on FaZe and scored three season records en route to taking home the series. The FaZe squad didn’t go quietly either, as star SMGs Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr and Tyler ‘aBeZy’ Pharris each nabbed a record of their own along the way. Dashy leads OpTic Texas to record-breaking win over Atlanta FaZe OpTic as a whole turned on the gas in the back stretch, but Otell’s stats jump off the page when viewing the final scoreboard for the series. According to BrianStats, Dashy’s 41-kill Breenbergh Hotel Hardpoint performance set the single-map kill record and his 13,760 damage broke the record previously set by Scrappy at Major 1 as well. He wasn’t finished there though, as he collected 114 kills across the series, additionally taking home that record. As mentioned before, Abezy set the record for most first-bloods in a series at 9, with Simp collecting the high mark for engagements at 237. OpTic Shotzzy also nabbed the ‘most-times first blooded’ label, dying first in 10 different rounds across the five-map marathon. Both teams scored Winner’s Bracket spots for Major 2, with OpTic Texas facing off against Los Angeles Thieves and Atlanta Faze taking on Boston Breach in their opening matches. This event represents OpTic’s first LAN without Scump in the CDL era but their performance during the qualifier stage suggests they’re ready for the challenge.

One year into the war in Ukraine, NAVI are thriving and expanding NAVI/Riot Games/ESLOn the anniversary of the war in Ukraine, NAVI CEO Yevhen Zolotarov opens up about the impact of the conflict on his personal life and the company. This time last year, Yevhen Zolotarov was preparing to flee his home in the Ukrainian city of Hostomel, located northwest of Kyiv, with his wife and infant son. Russian forces had occupied a local military airport, and clashes had begun to shift to the nearby areas. Zolotarov left everything behind and moved to Lviv, in western Ukraine, not knowing when he would see his home again or what he would find when he returned. It turned out that his house was spared from the destruction that Russian troops have rained down on much of Ukraine’s territory since the start of the invasion because the bridge used to access his neighborhood had been destroyed. A mere three kilometers separated his house from the area that was occupied by Russian forces for several weeks. Zolotarov returned to the Kyiv area in May, though it was only in August that he and his family reunited at home. Life went back to ‘normal’ for a while, but in the fall, Russia started launching a barrage of strikes on critical infrastructures across Ukraine, resulting in sudden and constant blackouts. Just after New Year’s, he sent his family away while he stayed behind. Video calling helps him stay connected, and his wife sometimes visits him during his layovers in Europe, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult or sad. “I’m okay so far,” he tells Dexerto. “I don’t know. It’s hard, I want to see my kid every day. Right now at least, the electricity problems in Kyiv are solved. Hopefully, if everything continues like this, we’ll be able to be together in Kyiv again in March or April.” Like Zolotarov, millions of Ukrainians have seen their lives uprooted by the war in the last 12 months. Many of NAVI’s esports talents and members of the senior management team have moved to other countries, but most of the employees remain in Ukraine. Some are even fighting in the Ukrainian Army. (They are still on the company’s payroll, even though they aren’t working, and their jobs will be waiting for them after the war ends, Zolotarov assures.) The last year has posed NAVI all sorts of challenges. In addition to launching campaigns to raise funds for the Ukrainian people, the company has also had to relocate players and staff to other countries. An in-house psychologist provides mental health support to those who need it. “We haven’t dismissed a single person because of the war,” Zolotarov says, proudly. “Everybody is doing as well as possible, considering the circumstances.” Building a sustainable business model Zolotarov is speaking from a hotel room in São Paulo, which held the VCT owners’ meeting ahead of VCT LOCK//IN. NAVI are one of the 10 organizations picked by Riot Games to compete in Valorant’s international league in the EMEA region, alongside the likes of Fnatic, Team Liquid, and Karmine Corp. NAVI’s successful application was, in Zolotarov’s eyes, a resounding victory for the organization, not only because it was the result of months of hard work in unprecedented circumstances, but also because he believes that Valorant’s partnership program offers “the highest potential” in esports at the moment. Since the start of the war, NAVI have been cutting down on the number of esports titles in which they compete, with 12 teams at the moment (three of which are in CS:GO and two in Valorant). Zolotarov says that he doesn’t see many opportunities outside of the games NAVI are already involved in, with the exception of League of Legends. In August 2022, NAVI were reported to be in the race to acquire a slot in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC). In the end, talks didn’t go anywhere, though two league slots changed hands that summer in mega deals. “We had some talks regarding [entering] LEC,” he admits. “But as you know, the prices for LEC slots are super high. Right now, we have no plans for LEC. We’ll be looking around and seeing how things go. “At the moment, the market trends are rather negative, and sponsorship money is decreasing for all esports entities, like TOs, clubs, studios and publishers. It’s not a good time for 30 million-plus investments.” As the industry enters what has been commonly referred to as “the esports winter”, with declining viewership, layoffs, and reduced advertising budgets, NAVI seem to be in a better position than most other organizations. Despite dropping “several partnerships” with Russian entities since the outbreak of the war, NAVI are still making money, Zolotarov says, in part because of their efforts in recent years to be less reliant on sponsorships. Not too long ago, sponsorship money accounted for “80 or 90 percent” of NAVI’s total revenue. That figure is now close to 50 percent. “There is a huge part that comes from league revenue,” he says. “We are a partner in BLAST and in ESL. We have a partnership program in Rainbow Six, PUBG, Brawl Stars, etc. “We are partnering with publishers in almost all games we are in and having revenue share sources. We are not that sponsorship dependent, and our business model is much more balanced than before. The other thing that helps us a lot is our relatively light structure. We don’t have tons of C-level staff, different presidents and vice presidents, etc., so no huge company payroll. Our C-level consists of three people (CEO, COO, CMO) and four mid-managers (Head of Media, Head of Merch, Head of Team Management, Head of Esports). So I can say we are quite a cost-effective company. “We have been profitable since 2020, when we had a six-figure profit. 2021 was a record-breaking year by all accounts, and we increased our profit tenfold compared to 2020. Last year was not that successful but we were able to maintain a seven-digit profit, and we’re projecting the same for 2023. We are more than alive, I would say.” With money much harder to raise now, more and more esports organizations have looked to expand their business models. Misfits Gaming Group launched a $20 million creator fund. TSM’s “real selling point” is, according to Forbes, the company’s tech businesses. 100 Thieves and FaZe, meanwhile, have developed into lifestyle brands. The former acquired gaming peripherals company Higround, launched an energy drink brand and is developing its own videogame. Meanwhile, FaZe, which became public last year, “has leaned heavily into merchandising and direct-to-consumer sales,” according to Venture Beat. For many organizations, the esports side of the business has become something of an afterthought. But for NAVI, it remains very much at the core of their strategy. “It’s a business model that is different from ours,” Zolotarov says of his competitors’ interest in the creator space. “We will be cooperating with some international content creators in Valorant, but we are not considering this as a change in our business model. It’s kind of a tryout thing. “The reason we haven’t built a streaming alliance or community is that we’re operating in our home region, where the monetization of one viewer is very different from how it works in North America. “But even in NA, if we look at FaZe, I’m not sure that’s the best business model,” he adds, in a reference to the North American company’s plummeting stock. “They’ve built a really huge brand with enormous engagements and reach, but costs are too high and the revenue needed is not there yet. “Personally, I think we should do what we are good at but look around at the same time. Things should not be black or white. The lifestyle approach also gives you a higher viewership, which may bring you higher league revenue because your KPIs in some leagues are not only tied to your performance. We should do everything, but we will still focus on esports.” From a strategic perspective, not much has changed for NAVI in the last 12 months. The two state-of-the-art gaming penthouses that the organization launched in Kyiv in 2021 are practically empty as hosting bootcamps in the country is impossible while the war rages on. But NAVI’s headquarters in the Ukrainian capital still burst with activity, while the company is ramping up its infrastructure in Berlin with an office and a gaming house that will serve as the Valorant team’s base for the VCT league. NAVI made a statement of intent with the signing of the core of FunPlus Phoenix’s highly successful Valorant team, which was joined by 2021 world champion Mehmet ‘cNed’ İpek. The decision to move from a Russian-speaking lineup to an international project is part of an ambitious agenda to elevate NAVI’s global profile. Content around the Valorant team will be done in English only — “even if it’s English with an accent,” Zolotarov notes — to capitalize on the game’s growing audience. This international expansion will happen without NAVI ever losing sight of their roots. The organization is making an effort to produce more Ukrainian-language content around the CS:GO and Dota 2 academies, and special projects for Ukrainian fans — such as a new NAVI esports camp — are under consideration. “We will always be a Ukrainian club,” Zolotarov says. “But at the same time, we want to be a global brand.” Opening the gates to international talent As much as Valorant is the esport that the industry is the most excited about for 2023, CS:GO remains the jewel in NAVI’s crown. It is the franchise that put the organization on the map, over a decade ago, and that consistently flies Ukraine’s flag high at the biggest venues. But NAVI’s CS:GO team have been a far cry from the dominant side they were in 2021. The war in Ukraine and the removal of Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhaylov due to outside-the-game factors took their toll on the squad, robbing them of an era. Results have been lackluster, and star player Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev’s criticism of his teammates and public questioning of his coach’s decisions have made it all too clear that there is some strife behind the scenes. Andrii ‘npl’ Kukharskyi’s promotion to the main team has been met with criticism in the CS:GO scene. Two months after his first match, he still looks out of his depth, and the team continues to miss the firepower that was provided by Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov on a regular basis before he took over as in-game leader. To be fair, the talent pipeline in Ukraine has not supplied many interesting non-AWPing prospects in recent years, and things are likely to get even worse in the future because of the war. Last year, NAVI had their eyes on Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov but quickly ended their interest in the Kazakhstani player due to his ties to Russian organization Virtus.pro. Is the decision to stick to Ukrainian talent politically motivated? “To be honest, it’s a difficult topic but I don’t see how we could buy a player from a Russian club, even if they are covering themselves with Armenian flags,” Zolotarov says, referring to Virtus.pro. “Long term, of course we want to focus on Ukrainian talent, and this is shown with our academy project, which is currently made up of Ukrainian players only. “But such changes take time. We know we can’t put 16-year-olds on the main roster. They need to spend a couple of years inside the system to know the expectations, the rules, etc. “We want to be a club where the best Ukrainian players are going to play. At the same time, we are building a global brand, so there is a chance that we will consider international players for all disciplines. Our academy projects may become international relatively soon.” As we enter the second year of the full-scale invasion, Zolotarov says that the impact of the war on Ukraine’s esports industry is hard to predict and will largely depend on how long the conflict lasts. NAVI are committed to doing their part to help Ukrainian esports through the academy project. At the same time, Zolotarov sees the recent growth in the viewership of Ukrainian-language broadcasts and CS:GO teams like Monte, B8 and IKLA as positive indicators for the future. The first two are still in contention for spots at the BLAST.tv Paris Major. “The main thing is that for young players to develop there are a lot of difficulties,” he explains. “They’re unable to bootcamp, they can have problems with electricity, with traveling, etc. “If the war ends this year, we as Ukrainian gamers will come back stronger. But if it’s going to be a frozen conflict for many years, I don’t know. But I want to stay positive” After a period of much confusion in which the focus was on raising awareness of the crisis in Ukraine and figuring out how to operate under extremely difficult situations, NAVI are pushing full steam ahead with their expansion plans. Despite narrowing down their focus and prioritizing specific esports in the last 12 months, the organization is still keeping an eye out for opportunities in new regions and new games. At home, the work to help the Ukrainian population doesn’t stop. Just two months ago, NAVI raised half a million dollars through UNITED24, a global initiative launched by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to collect donations to help the country. As he waits to reunite with his family at their Hostomel home, Zolotarov offers a reminder that humans are able to adapt to even the direst situations. In a parting message, he asks that the esports community continues to back his country. “As you can see, we have survived,” he says. “We are strong, and such difficulties — if you can call war that — only make us stronger. Keep on supporting us. Keep on supporting our country, as the outcome of this war will affect the whole world. We will be doing the best we can, both for Ukraine and on the esports servers.”

Athlete marketers OneTeam acquire Theorycraft to expand esports business OneTeam/TheorycraftOneTeam, a company that helps athletes to manage and increase their commercial value, have acquired esports and gaming advisory firm Theorycraft. Founded by players associations across some of the world’s biggest sports leagues, OneTeam are looking to strengthen their expertise and presence in competitive gaming. By acquiring Theorycraft, the company bring on board co-founders Lauren Gaba Flanagan and Nathen McVittie as their director of strategy and director of creative, respectively. OneTeam hope to increase their footprint in gaming and esports through this move, presumably aiming to work with prominent players associations such as League of Legends’ LCS Players Association and the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA). Bryce Blum, an esports lawyer that also co-founded the advisory firm, will join the sports marketing specialists as a consultant. He has experience working with sports teams by assisting them in their ventures into the esports industry. OneTeam are backed by the NFL Players Association, MLB Players Association, and investment firm RedBird Capital Partners, helping athletes to make the most of their name, image, and likeness rights. They also work with athletes that are part of the MLS Players Association, US Rugby Players Association, the Women’s Women’s National Basketball Players Association, and the U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association in soccer. The LCS PA is proud to announce new leadership and our vision for helping players: pic.twitter.com/teqduxUn4w — LCS Players Association (@NALCSPA) May 26, 2021 Now, with Gaba Flanagan, McVittie, and Blum on board, they’ll help aid former Splyce CEO Marty Strenczewilk to operate the group’s activities in gaming and content creation. Theorycraft are perhaps best known for facilitating a partnership between finance company SoFi and League of Legends developers Riot Games to support the amateur and semi-professional scene in North America.

One of Germany’s biggest esports orgs, cowana Gaming, closes doors cowana GamingIn a statement released on December 6, cowana Gaming, one of the biggest esports organizations in Germany, announced that it is ceasing operations at the end of 2022. The statement, released on Twitter in a Twitlonger post, explained that their closure is due to an “international crisis” and the fact that many parts of their business were “no longer executable.” “The protracted nature of these circumstances has led us to decide to discontinue the [business] at the end of the year,” cowana Gaming’s statement said. The German esports organization said that it will pay out the remaining salaries of its esports players and staff by the end of the year, and that it will release them of their contracts, as well. The organization’s website lists itself as having a CS:GO roster, a WarCraft player, and four sim racers. The CS:GO team parted ways with the organization in November 2022. The org previously had a Rainbox Six squad, a Call of Duty roster, a Valorant team and a League of Legends roster. cowana Gaming shuts down after two years The German esports organization is owned by cowana Marketing, a marketing agency based out of Langenzen, Germany. The company also organizes sim racing events in conjunction with its esports arm and covers sim racing news with SimRacing Unlimited. While not on the international awareness level of BIG, another German esports giant, cowana Gaming had a decent reach in Europe and at one time had esports teams in multiple titles. The org’s highest achievement in esports was the CS:GO roster’s fifth-place finish at ESL Meisterschaft: Autumn 2022. The organization also qualified for the European Pro League in Rainbow Six. The organization has also been accused of not paying salaries to its former CS:GO players, with many stating so in their posts about leaving the German esports organization.

Olympics criticized over choice of games for ‘Olympic Esports Series’ International Olympic CommitteeThe International Olympic Committee announced its game lineup for the Olympic Esports Series featuring titles like Just Dance and Virtual Regatta angering the esports community. In June the IOC will host an Olympic Esports week, which is coming off the back of the Olympic Virtual Series the international body put on in 2021. The IOC Twitter account announced the slate of esports titles that will be played at the event. To the dismay of many esports fans and the general community, the lineup does not feature any mainline competitive titles like Overwatch 2 or Rocket League. The Olympic Twitter account gets clowned on by esports fans Instead, the IOC chose to pick games representing traditional sports like Virtual Taekwondo, Just Dance and Zwift, the virtual cycling game. The full lineup of titles that people will compete in for the series includes Tic Tac Bow, WBSC eBASEBALL: POWER PROS, Chess, Zwift, Just Dance, Gran Turismo, Virtual Regatta and Virtual Taekwondo. The announcement tweet has over 1,000 quote retweets, many of which are from esports personalities, players, media members and even organizations that are making fun of the lineup. Some of the titles are at least esports-adjacent, like Just Dance and Chess, and some have had some tournaments in the past, Gran Turismo and Zwift have had their own circuits. But, overall, the esports community has responded to the announcement with criticism and has generally made fun of the IOC for its out-of-touch lineup and marketing. The Olympic Esports Week starts on March 1 with qualifying matches with the in-person competition set to start on June 22-25 in Singapore. The Summer Olympics are set to start one year from now in Paris.

Olympics finally embrace esports with Virtual Series event IOC/ZwiftThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) have finally decided to embrace esports, somewhat, with their first licensed event for “non-physical virtual sports” starting May 13. After years of back and forth as to whether the IOC would ever include esports in their event, the Olympic Virtual Series appears to be the start of that very thing happening. The team behind the sporting spectacle have partnered with sporting federations and game publishers to bring five “non-physical virtual sports” together as part of the event. Konami’s eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020, online cycling platform Zwift, international rowing federation World Rowing, sailing race simulator Virtual Regatta, and racing gaming Gran Turismo have all been tapped for the event. The Olympic Virtual Series starts on May 13 and runs until June 23, serving as a precursor to the Olympic Games Tokyo to “mobilise virtual sport, esports and gaming enthusiasts all around the world.” It’s being produced by DreamHack Sports Games, who focus on turning traditional sports leagues and tournaments into esports. Read More: Ole Gunnar Solskjær enters esports – While the IOC may still stand by their previous stance in which they believe esports titles such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are “promoting violence” and “contradictory to the Olympic values,” this event could be seen as them truly dipping their toes into the waters until postponement occurred. In September 2019, technology giants Intel announced the $500,000 Intel World Open — a tournament featuring Rocket League and Street Fighter V on the lead up to the Olympic Games. This was viewed as an exploration of esports and the Olympics engaging with each other. An update from @IntelGaming regarding the Intel World Open. pic.twitter.com/7YASBTP8nN — Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) April 8, 2020 The virtual series is aiming for “online mass participation” with each title being different in form and concept, and the IOC believe it will encourage more sporting activity in line with their Olympic Agenda 2020+5. “The Olympic Virtual Series is a new, unique Olympic digital experience that aims to grow direct engagement with new audiences in the field of virtual sports,” said IOC president Thomas Bach. “It encourages sports participation and promotes the Olympic values, with a special focus on youth.”

Olympic Esports Games officially approved by IOC IOC/Greg MartinThe International Olympic Committee has voted to approve the creation of the Olympic Esports Games in its 142nd session. The inaugural event will be hosted in Saudi Arabia in 2025. The committee voted on creating the games just over a week after the IOC announced its partnership with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia to host the tournament on July 12. Some fans and industry veterans criticized the initial announcement over the choice of host country. The IOC voted unanimously to create the new event but has not nailed down any specifics, such as the host city, venue, dates, or which esports titles will be featured. “This is truly a new era for the IOC. With the confirmation by the IOC Session of the creation of the Olympic Esports Games, we are keeping up with the pace of the digital revolution. The esports community, represented in our Esports Commission, has enthusiastically engaged with this initiative,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a press release about the decision. The Olympics has had a contentious relationship with gaming and esports over the years leading up to this announcement. In 2018, Bach said that most popular competitive titles like Counter-Strike, League of Legends, and Overwatch were too violent and “contradictory to the Olympic values.” In 2021, the international sports body sanctioned a DreamHack event called the Olympic Virtual Series in tandem with the 2020 Tokyo Games that featured “non-physical sports” like Zwift, Virtual Regatta, and Gran Turismo. Those odd choices of games have continued up to 2023 when the Olympic Esports Series was revealed. The slate of games was expanded for the event but still did not feature any titles that fans associated with esports. This lack of representation caused the games to be in a weird spot for the esports industry. While the validation from appearing in the Olympics could be a boon to investment, the committee was not keen on adding traditional titles that featured violence or guns. However, thanks to lobbying from Saudi Arabia and its track record running Gamers8 (now the Esports World Cup), the Esports Olympic Games has been created and could reportedly feature more traditional titles.

Olympic Esports Week 2023: How to watch, schedule, games played IOCThe second edition of the International Olympic Committee’s virtual sports competition, and the first edition of Olympic Esports Week, is starting its final stretch of matches on June 22. Here is everything you need to know about how to watch the first Olympic esports event. The first Olympic Esports Week is upon us as players across 10 titles compete for Olympic glory. The festival is set to take place at the Suntec Centre in Singapore from June 23-25. Participants started their journeys by competing in their respective tournaments starting back in March. The very first Olympic esports event will feature multiple exhibition matches with professional esports teams, and the final stretch of matches for the nine competitive titles the committee has chosen to showcase. The 131 finalists will compete for a shot at gold, silver and bronze Olympic Esports Series 2023 trophies. This event has not gone on without controversy, however, as its announcement was met with harsh criticism from the esports community over its lack of representation for titles that have defined esports like League of Legends and Counter-Strike. Here is everything you need to know for the event. Olympic Esports Week 2023: How to watch The exhibition matches and competitive finals will not be streamed on Twitch or YouTube. Viewers will instead have to navigate to the official Olympics website and find the esports tab. The matches will be streamed on the Olympics’ own platform and start at the times listed later in the article. Olympic Esports Week 2023: Games The 10 titles featured in the Olympics showcase are not your typical esports. They closely mirror physical sports, like cycling or archery. The exhibition matches, however, will feature some titles that esports fans are more accustomed to. The Olympic Esports Week 2023 games are: Zwift – Tic Tac Bow – Virtual Regatta – Just Dance – WBSC eBASEBALL: POWER PROS – Chess – Tennis Clash – ISSF Challenge featuring Fortnite – Gran Turismo – Virtual Taekwondo – The Olympic Esports Week 2023 exhibition match games are: Rocket League – eFIBA exhibition on NBA2K23 – Street Fighter 6 – Virtual Table Tennis – Arena Games Triathlon – Olympic Esports Week 2023: Schedule The event will start on June 23 with both exhibitions and main stage matches. The final slate of matches is set for June 25. Here is the full schedule for the Olympic Esports Week 2023. All times are in EST. June 23 Zwift Finals: 11 p.m. – Tic Tac Bow Finals: 1:15 a.m. – Rocket League Exhibition: 2:30 a.m. – Virtual Regatta Finals: 5:30 a.m. – Just Dance Finals: 7:45 a.m. – June 24 WBSC eBASEBALL: POWER PROS Finals: 11:45 p.m. – VR ELeven Exhibition: 2 a.m. – Chess Finals: 3:25 a.m. – Tennis Clash Finals: 5:50 a.m. – ISSF Challenge featuring Fortnite Finals: 7:45 a.m. – June 25 Arena Games Triathlon Exhibition: 10 p.m. – Gran Turismo Finals: 12 a.m. – Street Fighter 6 Exhibition: 1:45 a.m. – Virtual Taekwondo Finals: 3:30 a.m. – eFIBA Exhibition on NBA2K: 5:45 a.m. –

Man Utd’s Ole Gunnar Solskjær enters esports with Ulti Agency investment Manchester UnitedManchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær has entered the esports industry through an investment in Norwegian company Ulti Agency. The player-turned-manager has acquired a significant interest in the esports agency alongside sports agent Jim Solbakken, both obtaining a 12.5% stake. Established last year, Ulti Agency have been operating for just over six months and represent over a dozen Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players and coaches. The agency claim to use a similar model to football when managing and representing talent, also providing “marketing advise and branding strategies.” Ulti Agency made a statement in February 2020 when they hired former journalist Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis as a media consultant and esports agent. Read More: MAD Lions & Toronto Ultra owners raise $40m – They currently represent players such as EXREMUM’s Joakim ‘jkaem’ Myrbostad, Dignitas’ Håkon ‘hallzerk’ Fjærli, and Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen, who most recently played for Astralis. Coaches Jonatan ‘Devilwalk’ Lundberg, Luis ‘peacemaker’ Tadeu, and Neil ‘NeiL_M’ Murphy are also signed to the agency. Financial details of the investment have not been disclosed at the time of writing. The founders of Ulti Agency believe that their new co-owners will help them realize their plans to expand into Asia and South America. ULTI Agency is now representing Fredrik “”roeJ”” Jørgensen 🇩🇰 Welcome on board, @roeJcsgo! Read more at our website in the link below ⬇️https://t.co/Km84os80Dm#WELCOME #ROEJ pic.twitter.com/EQo6xmlbWN — ULTI Agency (@ultiagency) March 20, 2021 “Esports have become bigger than anyone would have dared to predict just a few years ago,” said Solskjær. “It spreads the joy of sports worldwide. That is exciting, and Ulti Agency is a company with big plans. They’re all about seeing the players and giving them a chance.” “We receive many inquiries from many interesting investors,” added Asgeir Kvalvik, the agency’s chief executive. “The coming year will be very exciting for Ulti Agency.”

Olympic Esports Games 2025 faces backlash after announcing Saudi Arabia as host IOCThe International Olympic Committee has announced Saudi Arabia will host the 2025 Olympic Esports Games. General fans as well as industry veterans aren’t thrilled by the news. The governing body revealed the news in a social media post and press release, which features a quote that’s getting panned by both those who work in esports and those who are fans of them. “By partnering with the Saudi NOC we have also ensured that the Olympic values are respected, in particular, with regard to the game titles on the program, the promotion of gender equality, and engagement with the young audience, which is embracing esports,” said IOC President Thomas Bach in the press release. “Yeah Very nice joke,” said one esports fan in response to the quote. Some called the statement hypocritical, as the Middle Eastern country has a history of restricting women’s rights and that the event furthers its sportwashing agenda. “The Olympics needs esports more than esports needs the Olympics. This is another shameless cash grab further perpetuating sports washing by the Saudi Government. What a waste,” League of Legends esports veteran Myra Davis said on social media. Kevin Hitt, an esports reporter for Sportskeeda, has claimed that the IOC is censoring response to the announcement. The IOC has long had a controversial take on esports. Many in the industry criticized its choice of games for its Olympic Esports Week in 2023, which did not feature any titles that fans would expect like Counter-Strike, League of Legends, or Dota 2. Instead, the event hosted games like Tic Tac Bow and Just Dance while Rocket League, Street Fighter, and NBA2K were given exhibition matches. The decision to host the Olympic Esports Games 2025 event in Saudi Arabia has been in the works for a while, as members of the kingdom have gotten close to the IOC through collaborations with the Esports Leadership Group. The specific times, dates, and featured esports have not been specified at the time of writing. However, French outlet L’epuip reported that the publishers behind League of Legends, Rocket League, and Street Fighter are having conversations with the IOC about appearing at the event. This announcement comes as the Esports World Cup is still marching on in Riyadh with almost every major competitive title seeing play at the massive event.

oLARRY2K’s miraculous NBA 2K League return beats Ninja for ESPY Best Esports Moment 2019 NBA 2K LeagueNBA 2K League pro Timothy ‘oLARRY2K’ Anselimo won the ESPY for Best Esports Moment of 2019 for his return to competition after surviving a shooting in August 2018. For 2019, ESPN’s ESPY Awards, which celebrate the top players, teams, and moments of the sporting year, added a new category for Best Esports Moment. The award was decided by public vote, and ultimately it was oLARRY2K’s miraculous return to the NBA 2K League that emerged victorious. On August 26, 2018, oLARRY2K was at a Madden esports tournament in Jacksonville, Florida when a gunman opened fire at the event, killing two people and injuring fourteen more before turning the gun on himself. oLARRY2K was one of the fourteen injured, and though he was fortunate enough to survive, he suffered three gunshot wounds, to the chest, hip, and thumb. While it may not have been the most life-threatening of his wounds, the damage to his thumb might have spelled the end of his career as a professional player. Thanks to surgery and physical therapy, however, oLARRY2K was able to make his return to the NBA 2K League, as a starting player for Cavs Legion. oLARRY2K was up against Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins and popular DJ Marshmello in the final vote for their win at the E3 Fortnite ProAM. Ninja stated on Twitter that he “(didn’t) wanna win” after realizing who he was up against, but that didn’t stop other NBA 2K pros from criticizing the streamer, arguing that he should have made a clearer endorsement of oLARRY2K. Ninja’s proclamation apparently had enough of an effect, however, because oLARRY2K, who had previously been trailing behind the Twitch superstar, ultimately ended up taking the award. Upon accepting the award, oLARRY2K said that it had been a “long journey” with “lots of mental and physical rehab”, but that he’s glad to be back and might even be playing better than he had the previous year.

OG Esports rake in almost $1 million with just three NFT drops OG EsportsEuropean esports organization OG Esports have embraced NFTs since they rose in popularity at the top of 2021, generating close to $1 million in the process. Home to players that are the two-time victors of The International in Dota 2, OG have the second-most prize earnings of any organization in the industry — behind only Team Liquid — collecting over $34.5m at the time of writing, according to Esports Earnings. Now, utilizing blockchain technology, they’ve amassed almost one million dollars since January 2021 by releasing three collections of digital artwork. The org have sold a variety of artwork as NFTs, which stands for non-fungible tokens, which assign a unique identifier to each digital piece sold so buyers technically own items that are one-of-one. Dexerto have done the maths across OG’s three drops and calculate their total gross income as $986,709.36. There are fees associated with NFTs, such as ‘minting’ the products and then commission for the marketplace hosting the transaction, so the total revenue amassed by the org is unknown. Read More: Trovo launches NFTs of streamers’ clips – The first drop from OG was on January 23, 2021, where they held an auction, sold 1099 mystery boxes, and 79 versions of artwork created by artist Filip Hodas. It generated a total of $272,089.88. $203,624.33 was amassed from the second drop, which commenced on March 28, which consisted of more auctions and both “open” and “closed” editions of custom-made artwork. 10 art pieces. 3336 NFTs. 10 seconds. Everything sold out.#DreamOG | @binance @TheBinanceNFT @AmbreCollective pic.twitter.com/44T8izjXSv — OG (@OGesports) July 6, 2021 OG’s third NFT drop to date wrapped up on July 6 with them selling 10 art pieces with 3,336 associated tokens as well as hosting three closed auctions. Everything sold for a total of $510,995.15. Other companies in esports have gotten into selling NFTs to their fans since the start of 2021 too, with the likes of 100 Thieves, Dignitas, CS:GO tournament organizers Flashpoint, and McLaren Shadow all dabbling in the trend.

Ohio State University to build state-of-the-art esports facility Ohio State/The Overwatch LeagueThe latest institute of higher learning to jump on the esports wagon is none other than The Ohio State University, who recently announced they would be building a brand-new esports arena for students. The arena will “not only be a place for our teams to practice and compete, but it will also encourage open gaming, and virtual reality experiences,” Brandon Smith, director of esports in the Office of Student Life at OSU said in the report. The area will include 80 seats, with computers and virtual reality systems, as well as a broadcast booth for students interested in shoutcasting or streaming. Ohio State esports teams will compete with other Power 5 universities in a newly formed league commissioned by the Electronic Gaming Federation and the University will also help to develop the governance body of the league. Medical researchers will also be involved in the new arena, studying esports athletes brains, bodies and behaviours in an effort to get on the cutting edge of esports sciences. “The methods are the same as any other sport, the skills are just different. We have a lot to learn from studying esports athletes, from their exceptional reaction times and rapid decision-making abilities to their physical attributes and health behaviors,” James Onate, co-director at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center told interviewers. A rendering of the new esports arena at Ohio State University.https://news.osu.edu/the-ohio-state-university-launches-first-of-its-kind-comprehensive-esports-program/ Ohio State hopes their research into esports will “help individuals and teams optimize and sustain high levels of performance through assessment, analysis and augmentation.” They’re is certainly taking a big step into the world of esports, now we’ll have to wait and see if other universities follow Ohio State’s lead.

Oceanic esports org ORDER enters administration one year after $5.3m investment @ordergaming_gg on TwitterThe ORDER organization has reportedly entered voluntary administration, after a funding round in 2021 was insufficient to keep it afloat. ORDER, once one of the largest esports organizations in the Oceanic region, have run out of money and entered voluntary administration, according to a report by The Australian. One of the most successful esports organizations in the OCE region, ORDER raised $5.3m AUD, or $3.69m USD, in capital last year. They also hired appointed former Melbourne Football Club executive Marc Edwards as the company’s CEO. Edwards has deactivated all social media after the announcement of ORDER’s collapse. What went wrong for ORDER ORDER have consistently been one of the highest-performing esports orgs in the OCE region., The 2021 fundraising round was their second – they had also raised $360,000 through crowdfunding in late 2018. Their most notable rosters included teams in League of Legends and CS:GO – and, according to Swan’s report, the CS:GO team was paid “as much as $750,000 annually”, a number which is “far higher than that paid by other local esports teams.” Numerous members of staff have begun looking for other opportunities, including Chief Gaming Officer Chris ‘GoMeZ’ Orfanellis. However, former Head of Events Josh Swift confirmed in a tweet that employees will remain employed by ORDER until the end of the administration period. What happens now ORDER’s future, and the future of their multiple esports teams, is uncertain. Graeme du Toit, head of sales and marketing at ESL Australia, has confirmed that ORDER’s League of Legends roster will continue to compete in the LCO Split 2 playoffs. He stated that “fans who have already purchased a ticket to watch the team will still have the opportunity to cheer them on”, despite the org entering administration. The future of their remaining esports teams is, as yet, unclear. Their CS:GO roster recently failed to make it out of play-ins at IEM Cologne. Only two days before the report of their entry into voluntary administration, the organization signed rifler Declan ‘Vexite’ Portelli on August 15. With Vexite, the team secured a spot in the closed qualifiers for the Oceanic RMR, bringing themselves one step closer to qualifying for the IEM Rio Major later this year. However, it’s unclear whether they will continue to compete under ORDER’s name.

OG Esports partner with BMW, entering rivalry with G2, T1, and Fnatic OG/BMWEuropean organization OG Esports are the latest team to join forces with BMW, entering their group of partner teams that are ‘United in Rivalry.’ The partnership was teased on Twitter, with a manga series explaining OG’s alliance with BMW due to be released on April 8. Eight episodes in the series are expected, with a new installment releasing each week. The org is now the sixth global esports partner of the German automobile giant, joining Cloud9, Fnatic, G2 Esports, FPX, and T1. They launched their ‘United in Rivalry’ campaign in April 2020 to show comradery across the teams despite them often competing against each other on international stages in League of Legends. Presuming OG’s deal is the same as their fellow teams, there will be activations across social media, jerseys, and technology. Interestingly, OG are the only organization out of the six that currently don’t compete in League of Legends esports. Instead, they are best known for twice winning The International — the standout annual Dota 2 event. Read More: 100 Thieves launch NFTs – OG have earned more than almost any other organization in the history of esports. They have taken home $34.4m in prize winnings across 109 tournaments, whereas Team Liquid have won $36.5m across 1,930 events. “It’s an honor for us to part of this amazing group of teams,” OG’s CEO JMR Luna told Dexerto. “We think that BMW has been doing a great job to craft a real story inside esports, and we are happy we can be part of it. Maybe… in the future… we can also show them how it’s done in League of Legends!” This night will not only change their lives … but shift their entire reality. 👀Prepare for a whole new dimension of #UnitedInRivalry!https://t.co/JE0Vw29kll#HeroesOfRivalry @Cloud9 @FNATIC @G2esports @FPX_Esports @T1 @OGesports pic.twitter.com/sDOBUwjJrC — BMW Esports (@BMWEsports) April 7, 2021 BMW are perhaps the biggest company to partner with OG to date. They’ve joined Red Bull, betting company Fun88, peripherals brand SteelSeries, crypto companies DMScript and Socios, and chair manufacturers Secretlab on the organization’s roster of sponsors. As well as Dota 2, the European org have teams in Riot Games’ Valorant and Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

NRG unveils insane $10 million ‘Gaming Fantasy Factory’ YouTube: NRG EsportsAmerican organization NRG Esports has revealed the ‘NRG Castle,’ an over the top, $10M gaming facility designed to mirror Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory but for esports competition and content creation. [jwplayer QIWQDyD7] Custom gaming facilities have been all the rage throughout 2020. From the fresh 100 Thieves Compound unveiled in January to a multimillion-dollar Fortnite team house, many top orgs have been jumping on the trend. NRG is the latest to reveal its very own property in Los Angeles with the NRG Castle. While it’s not an actual castle from the outside, it’s an enormous, multi-level spot with one of the more unique looks in the industry. It’s not a standard house, nor is it a traditional office space. It’s a fully customized facility designed from the ground up to have a completely original look. Here’s what’s inside the 20,000 square foot “Gaming Fantasy Factory.” Right when you enter the so-called castle, you’ll be met with a red carpet leading into an open area with a custom screen. A huge projector is all set up with one of every single gaming console equipped. “You can technically play every video game ever created on this giant movie screen,” Executive Producer Grady Rains explained. While that’s an eye-grabbing introduction to the facility, it then leads through to a one of a kind, million-dollar “double-decker gaming couch.” On the bottom, there’s a circular couch to lay in while gaming. However, there’s also a ladder to reach a second floor, along with a slide to quickly get back down. All of that for a single couch is certainly fitting with the broad idea for the NRG Castle. The LA facility was “made specifically for the creation of over the top and viral gaming content.” Adding to this over the top theme, water fountains aren’t just regular water fountains here. Instead, they “spit out energy drink.” Of course, there’s actual office space tucked away in the building as well. It’s already come in handy back to back Overwatch League champions the San Francisco Shock. This is only the grand reveal of the NRG Castle, so expect to see tons of unique content coming out of this location in future.

NRG launch Asian org & enter LoL with VCS team GAM Esports NRG AsiaNorth American esports organization NRG have partnered with Vietnamese fitness company CMG.ASIA to launch a joint venture dedicated to Asian esports. NRG Asia, the new outfit founded by the two companies, have acquired current Vietnamese League of Legends national champions GAM Esports to represent them as their first team. Described as an “esports management & media company,” the joint venture will specifically focus on representing and developing talent in Southeast Asia. It’s unknown which other titles they are looking to expand into at the time of writing. NRG’s Asia division will be managed and overseen by brothers TK and Dru Nguyen, founders of Vietnamese hospitality company See The World Group. The former has taken on the role of the chief executive officer (CEO) and the latter is serving as the chief operating officer (COO). NRG Asia’s first team have won big in 2021 so far, placing first in both the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) Spring and the Spring Playoffs. They have a history of success in the region, having also emerged victorious in VCS 2020 Summer, VCS 2020 Spring, and VCS 2019 Summer. Read More: Astralis now listed on US stock market – Earlier in May 2021, Dexerto exclusively reported that NRG co-CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez was looking to divest from the org to entirely focus on OpTic Gaming — the brand he reobtained control of in October 2020. NRG reportedly attempted to expand into Asian League of Legends in 2020 when they applied to acquire a permanent spot in the Korean top-flight competition, LCK. They later withdrew their letter of intent, however. “With the expansion of NRG into Southeast Asia, we are excited to begin this new journey headquartered here in Vietnam,” commented NRG Asia CEO Nguyen. “Starting off with the 5-time League of Legends VCS Champions, GAM, our goal is to elevate GAM from being Vietnam champions to leading World championship contenders by providing them additional resources and knowledge by top esport leaders.”

NRG investor Alex Rodriguez claims today’s kids won’t outlive parents due to esports Unsplash/Instagram: ARodFormer Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez has claimed that the current generation of children will be outlived by their parents due to video games and esports. As esports and the acceptance of making a career from video games continues to grow, the stigma around sitting in front of a screen for hours upon end has died down a little. Yet, some still harbor the older mentality of gaming titles being dangerous towards someone’s health. Yet, even stranger thoughts were aired – in a video tweeted out by esports consultant Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau – by NRG Esports investor Alex Rodriguez who warned that parents would outlive today’s generation of children due to video games and esports. 600Rodriguez made the claim on August 18 while commentating a Sunday Night Baseball match-up between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates – which was being played in front of a crowd made up of participants in the Little League World Series. “This is the first generation of kids that will not outlive their parents – and to think that there are more kids today playing esports than physical sports,” stated the former Yankees star. “It’s something that as parents, we have to really promote going outside and playing. When we grew up, there was Atari but you had to go outside and play for 4 or 5 hours. Kids today, too many times, choose to stay inside and play video games.” tonight while casting baseball @AROD said dumb things “”this is the first generation of kids that will not outlive their parents. to think there’s more kids today playing esports than physical sports…kids today too many times decide to sit inside and play video games”” @bkoo pic.twitter.com/Lp1aKA5jys — Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 19, 2019 While he clearly disagreed with ARod’s overall point, Slasher did note that exercise and leading a healthy lifestyle is still important – even if you are an esports star or just a casual player. “Being active, working out is something everyone should do to stay healthy,” he tweeted. “And esports pros & all gamers should be mindful of this when in front of a screen for long hours. But, saying this generation’s kids will die before their parents ‘bcuz video games’ is some true boomer shit” being active, working out is something everyone should do to stay healthy. and esports pros, all gamers should be mindful of this when in front of a screen for long hours but saying this generation’s kids will die before their parents ‘bcuz video games’ is some true boomer shit — Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 19, 2019 Of course, as Rodriguez may well know from his investment into NRG, esports teams themselves have employed people to ensure that players lead healthy lifestyles as it does help with their performance. That switch is helping to make the classic meme of chugging Mountain Dew and tossing back Doritos a tad outdated.

Nintendo under fire for lying about players lagging at Smash tournament Nintendo is under fire for hiding in-game lag during a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate online tournament from fans – cutting away from a game that was suffering from the issue. The company was been hosting the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North America Open event, when the Nintendo Switch’s online services began suffering with lag, affecting games in the North East region of the tournament. During the middle of one of the matches, the game started to visibly lag and in an apparent attempt to hide that fact, the broadcast team cut away to the analysts studio, as to not show that the match was buffering mid-game. After cutting away the game, the host stated: “During this viewing, you might see a little bit of a slowdown or buffering but do not worry, the players aren’t seeing that – that’s not affecting them and that will not affect the VODs afterwards, of course.” Viewers were unconvinced, given that in-game lag is common when playing yourself, and so Smash players would have instantly recognized it as an in-game issue – not a broadcast issue. One of the players involved in the game, isnacks, refuted those claims by stating on Twitter that they had experienced lots of lag during the match. “A lot of lag. We don’t know where it came from because game 1 and 2 were pretty decent,” he said, responding to a fan who asked if he had suffered from the issue. A lot of lag. We don’t know where it came from because game 1 and 2 were pretty decent. — Isnacks (@Chef_Isnek) February 10, 2019 Esports reporter Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau highlighted the clip of the game on his Twitter account, adding that the host had “presumably lied to viewers” by claiming the players had not run into any lag issues – while also stating that Smash Ultimate online is “notoriously laggy.” Nintendo cut stream of a match in this weekend’s Smash NA Open qualifiers due to lag in the match, and then the host presumably lied to viewers saying the players did not experience lag while playing. Smash Ultimate online is notoriously laggy. #NintendoNAO19 pic.twitter.com/cxFtA9bdeg — Rod Breslau (@Slasher) February 9, 2019 Twitch streamer DMBrandon also chimed in, stating that what had happened was akin to false advertising while also describing the event as a ‘mess.’ “Nintendo saying on a broadcast that the players aren’t experiencing lag is akin to false advertising,” he tweeted. “This event is a mess and I hope the talent says something.” Nintendo saying on a broadcast that the players aren’t experiencing lag is akin to false advertising. This event is a mess and i hope the talent says something. — dmbrandon is King Arthur (@juiceDiem) February 10, 2019 There has been no official response from Nintendo yet on the accusations, but what transpired seems like a clear cover-up attempt, and fans were not happy about it.

NIP to launch “mystery” NFT collection on Binance João Ferreira/DexertoSwedish esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas, also known as NIP, have announced an NFT collection inspired by ninjas and vikings. A whole host of esports organizations have embraced NFTs as the crypto technology has emerged into prominence within internet culture, allowing fans to buy unique, non-fungible digital art. In partnership with fan token platform NFKings, NIP are gearing up to launch their second collection of ‘non-fungible tokens’ as a means of allowing fans to “own a piece of NIP history” from December 1. Said to be inspired by ninjas and vikings, the launch comprises a mystery box that contains digital items of different rarities — namely normal, rare, and super rare — and will be available on Binance’s NFT marketplace. Fifty boxes will be given away at random to those who follow the designated rules. https://twitter.com/NFKingsPro/status/1465607272445329411 NIP are also planning additional activations to supplement their new collection, allowing collectors to enter giveaways for $15,000 in cryptocurrency Binance USD (BUSD) and a special NFT edition of their jersey. The Swedish org are permanent members in the ESL Pro League, a CS:GO competition with 15 partnered teams. In October 2021, ESL added three teams to the league for $20m and revealed that they would be selling NFTs of the ESL Pro Tour CS:GO circuit’s “most memorable moments”. “For this NFT we’ve used weapons, ninjas and viking elements in an exaggerated and artistic way to outline the remains of humanity after the destruction of the world,” said NFKings CEO Matthew Lim. “We’ve aimed for a strong and surreal style in scene design through neon colors to express the atmosphere and mood — reflecting the strong contrast between high-tech development of human civilization and vulnerable individuals. It might seem opposing, but in fact the visual effect is a perfect combination of the digital future and a virtual world.”

Nintendo finally sponsors Smash Ultimate circuit – events, dates, venues and more Nintendo / ElecspoAfter years of largely neglecting the competitive scene, Nintendo finally unveiled support for a new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate circuit. Fans of Super Smash Bros. have had to put up with Nintendo’s disregard for the esports industry for many years now. There are countless examples of tournaments lacking support from the major company or even being held back in the case of EVO 2013, where Nintendo’s lawyers pushed to remove Melee from the main stage. On September 10 however, Nintendo announced its support for a massive Super Smash Bros. Ultimate European Circuit. Read more: Leffen gives his tips to improve in Ultimate – Kicking off in the Netherlands with Syndicate 2019, the European circuit spans seven major events through until Stunfest in May 2020. Here is a full list of all of the circuit competitons, and information about how to register for them can be found via each respective link. Syndicate 2019 (Oct 25 – Oct 27, 2019) – DreamHack Winter 2019 (Nov 28 -Dec 1, 2019) – Valhala III (Jan 9 – Jan 13, 2020) – DreamHack Leipzig 2020 (Jan 24 – Jan 26, 2020) – Tech Republic V (Mar 6 – Mar 8, 2020) – Icarus VI (May 2 – May 3, 2020) – Stunfest (May 11 – May 17, 2020) – The European Circuit will culminate in a huge grand final at DreamHack in 2020 as players compete “for the title of Europe’s best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player!” Prize pools and grand final winnings are yet to be disclosed, however this marks the first time in 2019 that Nintendo has properly supported the competitive Smash Bros. scene. Taking place across seven events around Europe before culminating in a grand final, the Super #SmashBrosUltimate European Circuit will determine Europe’s best player. It all kicks off at Syndicate from 25/10 – 27/10!See events here: https://t.co/eFAjB7EOVZ pic.twitter.com/ICudDT4Jnf — Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) September 10, 2019 It’s undeniable that the franchise has an extraordinary reach within the Fighting Game Community and the esports industry as a whole. Most recently, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate shattered the EVO viewership record with 200,000 viewers glued to their screens for the 2019 Grand Final. In our exclusive documentary series with one of the all-time great Smash Bros. Melee competitors, Hungrybox shed some light on just how toxic the community can be. Perhaps a result of the esport long being neglected and shut down by Nintendo. Will this show of support be a one-off from Nintendo, or does this mark the first real step in the right direction for a blossoming esport scene?

Ninjas in Pyjamas return to League of Legends with Victory Five merger Ninjas in PyjamasSwedish esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas have completed a merger that will see them compete in the LPL, the premier League of Legends competition in China. Following earlier reports, it has been confirmed that Ninjas in Pyjamas have completed a deal with Chinese esports group ESV5 to create a new entity: NIP Group. As part of the finalized agreement, the veteran esports brand will expand into new titles. This will start with the LPL, as ESV5’s Victory Five brand will be replaced in the competition from 2022. Though not formally announced at the time of publication, it was previously reported that the deal between the two companies would see the new entity become publicly listed on the NASDAQ by the end of 2021. NIP x ESV5@lplenglish, we have arrived.https://t.co/9ERVO0YFs3 pic.twitter.com/7gbdRffu8n — Ninjas In Pyjamas (@NIP) August 10, 2021 Ninjas in Pyjamas ushered in a new era in January 2021 when they announced their new branding and team colours to a mixed reception from fans and industry figures alike. Their CEO Hicham Chahine described the redesign as “crucial” to the future of the org, at the time of announcement. Read More: LCS announce 7-year FTX sponsorship deal – They will also incorporate a League of Legends: Wild Rift team as part of the deal, according to Forbes’ interview with Chahine regarding the business move. ESV5 themselves are a result of a joint venture between two organizations, namely eStar Gaming (now known as Ultra Prime) and Victory Five. They also own esports venues in Shenzhen and Wuhan, as well as streaming platform DouYu, and anti-virus company Qihoo 360. Ninjas in Pyjamas’ return to League of Legends comes after their most recent stint in the Riot Games title back in 2018. They signed a roster for the European Masters in April and subsequently released the players in early October.

NIP establish five-year deal with public blockchain Zilliqa Ninjas in Pyjamas/ZilliqaSwedish esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas, otherwise known as NIP, are the latest to enter the world of cryptocurrency through a five-year partnership with Zilliqa. The worlds of esports and crypto have converged at an unprecedented rate in 2021, with many of the former’s major teams joining forces with various companies that are focused on the latter. Ninjas in Pyjamas are the latest to cash in on this trend, entering a sponsorship agreement with “high-performance, high-security” blockchain Zilliqa. While financial details of the deal were not disclosed, the collaboration will initially last for five years. The crux of the sponsorship is for NIP to create “tokenized and incentivized” experiences for their fans, aiming to deepen fan engagement and subsequently help the org to better monetize their supporters. As the official blockchain partner of NIP, Zilliqa will be promoted on the jerseys of the org’s teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rainbow Six Siege. The jersey sponsorship will debut at the upcoming PGL CS:GO Major in Stockholm, Sweden. Specifically, the org’s new partner provide blockchain solutions for companies. Their offering includes platforms that they claim will “enhance” money-making opportunities for clients. Other recent partnerships between businesses in esports and crypto include the $210m, 10-year deal between TSM and FTX and the $15m, five-year deal between Fnatic and Crypto.com. The physical and virtual worlds are merging. Esports is no exception.Let’s build the future @zilliqa pic.twitter.com/ntjbPsM3hc — Ninjas In Pyjamas (@NIP) October 18, 2021 “The physical and digital worlds are merging, and it has left no one behind,” said Zilliqa’s head of growth, Matt Dyer. “Esports is a great example of this. Over the past year, aficionados looking for new means of engagement realized how esports could be enjoyed as a remote social experience with peers. “Crypto joined in, adding immersive, play-to-earn components to this world. Zilliqa didn’t miss a beat and has been amping up our efforts to revolutionize the creator economy.”

NiKo declines Falcons transfer to stay with G2: “I’m not leaving” G2 EsportsNikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač has declined a blockbuster transfer to Team Falcons and decided to stick with G2 Esports. NiKo declined a reportedly agreed-upon transfer between his team and the Saudi Arabian-owned Falcons. Team Falcons had apparently agreed to a million-dollar buyout to acquire the player and join its burgeoning super team. NiKo would be the first big piece of the puzzle for Falcons and its head coach Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen. The former Team Vitality and Astralis coach is reportedly crafting a super team for the start of the Counter-Strike 2 era. Team Falcons is also reported to have added Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif and IGL Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer to its team and planned to add NiKo and his G2 teammate Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov. NiKo staying on G2 Esports, declining Falcons move G2 released a video statement, trolling their fans, with NiKo saying he is sticking with the team. “You guys know I’m not really leaving right?” NiKo said in the announcement. According to a report about the transfer, G2 Esports had already begun to look for a replacement for the star rifler. With G2 Esports, NiKo has won multiple IEM tournaments and a BLAST championship but has failed to secure a Major tournament trophy. The closest he and the team have come was in the 2021 PGL Stockholm Major where they lost to NAVI in the grand final. The team’s roster has undergone significant changes since that run. Team Falcons is currently taking advantage of the chaos hitting the professional Counter-Strike market which has teams adjusting to the new title with a flurry of player moves. The organization has already announced the benching of four players from its starting roster, keeping only Mohammad ‘BOROS’ Malhas in the starting lineup as of now. A new target for the Falcons super team has not been revealed but with the rumored implosion of FaZe, and other high-profile targets now on the market, zonic and his new squad have many stars to choose from.

Ninjas in Pyjamas reveal “crucial” logo rebrand with new team colors Ninjas in PyjamasLegendary Swedish esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas have unveiled refreshed branding, marking the fourth logo in their 21-year life span. The rebrand is “crucial” to the org’s development in the future as they look to “create transformational experiences that entertain, inspire, develop and connect fans.” The changes extend beyond tweaks to their logo; the logotype and team colors that fans have grown used to over the years no longer remain. The new branding approach is inspired by ancient Japan, playing into the “Ninjas” aspect of their name. A new collection of merchandise has also been devised alongside the rebrand which aims to “embody the feeling and values of being a Ninja.” They’re in line with the organization’s new team colors — neon, yellow, black, and grey. Ninjas in Pyjamas are said to have worked on this rebrand for well over a year, employing careful consideration into any changes as to not alienate any of their existing fans. They utilized several agencies for research and insights, e-commerce expertise, and visual design. Read More: 11 worst esports rebrands – “NiP has grown so much that we’ve outgrown our base set of assets, and changing them up actually allows us to create much better content, both for fans and for partners,” Ninjas in Pyjamas CEO Hicham Chahine told Dexerto. “Our previous and iconic logo was very hard to work with; it was too detailed to use. We missed a real brand story to work with, a story we wanted to create on our own with the people working at NiP today. “We explored creating a new visual identity from scratch but decided not to. We kept the iconic star and added additional meaning inspired by Katakana; we incorporated the «NIN» character into our logo, making it a more meaningful mark to us and the community. Also, the name Ninjas in Pyjamas was something we wanted to explore further; it’s unique to us and something only we can own. Ninjas originated in Japan so it was natural for us to draw a lot of inspiration from the Japanese culture.” Perhaps best known for their legendary Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster back in 2013, the organization now also competes in FIFA, Rainbow Six Siege, and Valorant. 2021 has seen a host of esports rebrands already. The likes of North American org Dignitas, ReKTGlobal’s Rogue, and League of Legends competition LCS and LCK have all changed their visual identities to start afresh. Dexerto asked experts in design and strategy about this trend earlier in January 2021, attempting to answer the critical question of why esports organizations keep rebranding.

Nigma merge with Galaxy Racer to create “better opportunies” in the Middle East Nigma GalaxyMiddle Eastern esports organizations Nigma and Galaxy Racer have merged to create Nigma Galaxy, a new competitive entity that will focus on the MENA region. Founded by the former Team Liquid Dota 2 roster, perhaps best known as the victors of The International 7, Nigma will now join the ranks of Galaxy Racer and take control of their competitive efforts as Nigma Galaxy. While they will continue to focus on the Middle East, South America, and Southeast Asia, Nigma Galaxy are eyeing the lofty goal of becoming “the number one esports organization in the world.” The new entity, which will serve as a business unit under Galaxy Racer, will incorporate the teams from both organizations. Nigma Galaxy will field competitors in Dota 2, League of Legends, CS:GO, Fortnite, Free Fire, Valorant, PUBG Mobile, and Wild Rift. Galaxy Racer have five distinct divisions: content creation, tournament operations, merchandise, their new GXR Records music label, and the Nigma Galaxy competitive brand. The org announced a three-year deal with Spanish football competition LaLiga in August 2021. In an effort to expose their brand to the Spanish audience, they’ll be working with the league on custom content where they bring together gaming influencers and football players across the nation. “The boys at Nigma met my head of esports and they started out talking about Dota 2,” Galaxy Racer CEO Paul Roy told Dexerto in an in-depth interview about the merger. “We all later met for a beer and figured out that we liked each other, one thing led to another and it felt like a good marriage. Some of our verticals are doing really well but we’re fairly new in esports, that’s where we were lacking. We weren’t a tier-one organization. This opportunity was too good to pass on.” “When we started our journey, we figured out that we wanted to put a lot of emphasis on the MENA region,” Nigma co-founder Mohamed Morad added in the same interview. “We saw Galaxy Racer as our main competitor and, over time, we saw them expanding and growing and we naturally developed a relationship with them. We share a passion for competition.”

Nike signs endorsement deal with first esports player Nike, the largest apparel and sports equipment company in the world, has just signed Jian ‘Uzi’ Zihao, a League of Legends player for Royal Never Give Up. This is the first sponsorship of an esports player for Nike and marks a major step in the company’s esports initiatives. The partnership is to promote LeBron James’ new documentary “Shut Up & Dribble,” which covers the intersection of sports and social issues. Joining Uzi and James in the ad is Chinese actor Bai Jingting. At the time it is unclear if this is just a one-off sponsorship to promote the documentary in Asia or part of a larger esports push for the brand. Nike has been involved in gaming but their previous initiatives were centered around in-game activations with the sports simulation titles like NBA 2K, Fifa and Madden. Those initiatives were basically a given as those games represent physical leagues with large Nike presences. The games would feel weird if the brand wasn’t included in some way. A partnership with a League of Legends player is a step towards future partnerships with esports athletes in the most popular esports that aren’t as naturally intertwined with the brand. Esports apparel is an interesting, largely unexplored frontier. Adidas has a couple partnerships with esports organizations including Team Vitality and FC Copenhagen esports. Esports has a large sneaker culture and custom fan-made Nikes have gained a lot of traction on social media. Whether this represents an opening of floodgates for major apparel brands in esports or is just a one-off partnership still remains to be seen.

Nigma Galaxy founders on their merger: “We want to be the biggest esports organization in the next three years” NigmaWhen the growth and success of the esports industry is discussed, typically the conversation includes Asia, Europe, and North America. Galaxy Racer, a Middle Eastern organization, are looking to develop the region by achieving global recognition while retaining focus on their origins. To help with this mission, they’ve merged with fellow Middle Eastern org Nigma. The few esports organizations that are actually profitable at this stage in the industry are those that have diversified streams of revenue, with emphasis on those away from competing. Merchandise, content, sponsorships, and membership schemes are common means of generating revenue for most high-profile companies. Galaxy Racer, based in Dubai, are no different. They have five divisions, namely content creation, tournament operations, merchandising, their new music label GXR Records, and their competitive operation. The latter will now be known as Nigma Galaxy as a result of their new merger with Nigma, another seldom prominent Middle Eastern esports org. Founded by Team Liquid’s former Dota 2 roster, and victors of The International 7, they’ve joined forces with their former competitors to strengthen their collective foothold in their nation and beyond. Both Galaxy Racer CEO Paul Roy and Nigma co-founder Mohamed Morad spoke with Dexerto to explain the reasoning behind the union and how it will set them up for further success moving forward. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the (Nigma) Galaxy Comparitively, this merger is like FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming joining forces — they’re two of the biggest esports brands in North America, much like Nigma and Galaxy Racer are in the Middle East. While the two NA giants have recently launched their own collaborative merchandise, that’s likely to be the extent of their working relationship. How exactly did the MENA region’s biggest competitors decide to stop competing and instead work together on a permanent basis? “The boys at Nigma met my head of esports and they started out talking about Dota 2,” Galaxy Racer CEO Paul Roy told Dexerto. “We all later met for a beer and figured out that we liked each other, one thing led to another and it felt like a good marriage. Some of our verticals are doing really well but we’re fairly new in esports, that’s where we were lacking. We weren’t a tier-one organization. This opportunity was too good to pass on.” “When we started our journey, we figured out that we wanted to put a lot of emphasis on the MENA region,” added Nigma co-founder Mohamed Morad. “We saw Galaxy Racer as our main competitor and, over time, we saw them expanding and growing and we naturally developed a relationship with them. We share a passion for competition. “Nigma means ‘star’ in Arabic and Galaxy Racer’s name fits into that theme. They understood that Nigma is an established brand and already developed an affinity to it, we wanted to have a natural integration of the two entities and figured that Nigma Galaxy was a perfect combination. A galaxy full of stars.” Many major organizations have divisions for their different endeavours that are all named the same, creating a uniformed, all-encompassing brand where the lines are certainly blurred. Self-evidently, Galaxy Racer aren’t on board with that strategy as demonstrated by the formation of Nigma Galaxy. “There are a few leading organizations where you can’t really distinguish what they are,” explained Roy. “Are they a competitive team, are they a content team? We like each of our departments to have their own clear identity and this distinction allows Nigma Galaxy to concentrate on what they do best: esports.” The Middle East and beyond ‘Global expansion’ is a growingly popular, somewhat-buzzwordy phrase that has been spouted by every organization with international ambitions over the past couple of years. While franchised leagues like those seen in Call of Duty League and Overwatch League are built around specific locations, most organizations are built for global fandom. Despite this, the industry is keen on categorizing team brands into the region they were founded in — Nigma Galaxy isn’t interested in such constraints, though both Galaxy Racer and Nigma have looked to develop their home region from their get-go. “If you look at our competitive rosters, we only have one team in the Middle East,” Roy said. “We’ve always had a European base when it comes to esports. With Nigma coming in, there will be a new strategy where they will expand into a few titles and cut a few titles. We’re not entirely a Middle Eastern company, I just happen to live in Dubai — a lot of our team are in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia. There are certain territories that we want to be in, South America and Far East Asia are areas we really want to be in. “We’ve got a little bit of insight into emerging markets for gaming and esports because another of my companies makes games. I track a lot of user data across the world and it’s the reason we got into female esports. Females control about 78% of all game spending; 40% of them play games themselves and the other 38% control the decision-making with in-game spending. There’s a huge opportunity there.” “We have both been putting a lot of emphasis on developing the region and trying to build the infrastructure,” Morad told Dexerto. “We both spawned from that region but we want to be global entities, right now we’re the only two here with that positioning. “We’re sure there’s talent in the Middle East, a lot of our talent have backgrounds in the region and all they needed was a chance. Everybody used to be afraid to pick up a player from the region — are the cultures going to clash or will they fit into a European team? Now the two biggest organizations from the region are working together, we think this will create more chances to give back to the community and give more chances to the people of the region. It’s a huge win for the Middle East because of the resources Nigma Galaxy will have.” We’ve seen the likes of LOUD focus exclusively on underserved and emerging markets and it certainly seems like Nigma Galaxy are aware of how lucrative this can be for them, never mind how beneficial it can be for the entire industry and the nations they focus their development efforts on. 𝗔 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗘𝗿𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀🌟 We’re excited to announce Nigma Galaxy, the new competitive division of Galaxy Racer, a merger between @TeamNigma and @GalaxyRacerDxb! For more information, visit https://t.co/T7eSkDPypR#StarsAlign #NigmaGalaxy pic.twitter.com/R24ecZrCKo — Nigma Galaxy (@NigmaGalaxy) September 20, 2021 While they’re going to continue providing opportunities for players in the Middle East, they’ll continue on their path of having a significant presence in areas that are already well-established. Trying to combine the best of both worlds is a costly and attention-heavy practice, but as Galaxy Racer’s CEO goes on to explain, they feel equipped for the lofty task. “Right now we have about 185 people working under Galaxy Racer, and we’ll probably be at 205 with this merger,” Roy revealed. “As a group, Galaxy Racer is a profitable operation. If you pick it out per vertical, that may change. One vertical feeds off of another so I always view the units together. “We want to be the biggest esports organization in the next three years. Titles, fan following, and revenue will be the key indicators there.” The jury is out on whether these metrics can be met. There are already dozens of options for fans looking to support a team, considering the global appeal of the bigger organizations, so it will take something extraordinary to stand out and also produce products and services that esports’ young demographic is willing to part with its cash for. While three years sounds like a slog, this industry is developing all the time with record-breaking partnership deals, unexpected collaborations, and new titles always appearing to be on the horizon.

Ex-NFL star launches G1 esports organization G1NFL pro Kenny Vaccaro has retired from American football and launched an esports organization named Gamers First, or G1 for short. Making a name for himself at the Tennessee Titans and New Orleans Saints, Vaccaro has hung up his professional sports jersey and traded it for competitive gaming. The athlete has launched Gamers First, also referred to as G1, alongside entrepreneurs Hunter Swensson and Cody Hendrix with three core values of competition, content, and culture. Vaccaro cites his preference to identify as a “gamer first” while he was competing in football as the inspiration for the team’s name. The press release states he’s left his chance to win the Super Bowl to “instead shoot for a Halo World Championship.” At launch, G1 have signed four professional Halo players and four content creators for Bungie franchise Destiny. As well as competing, they plan to produce “community-focused initiatives” such as tournaments for charities. G1 is similar in name to established and prominent organization G2 Esports, founded by former pro player Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodríguez, and the recently revived gaming network G4. A host of NFL players and athletes from other sports recently joined Complexity Gaming as part of a new division that aims to bridge the gap between gaming and other entertainment sectors. “This isn’t a reflex decision for me; it’s something I’ve thought about for a long time,” said Vaccaro. “I’ve been a gamer for even longer than I’ve played football, and I’ve always thought of myself as a gamer first. So this is the realization of a long-term dream for me. “And while football has been how many have defined me, G1 is evidence for other athletes as well that life doesn’t end just because you put down the helmet. You can reinvent yourself.”

NICKMERCS lures Snip3down back to ALGS following TSM departure Respawn Entertainment/Nickmercs/Snip3downNicholas ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff and Halo veteran Eric ‘Snip3down’ Wrona have announced that they will team up for the upcoming ALGS event. This comes only two days after the reveal that Nick and fellow Apex competitor Deeds were a team of two and looking to make a move for the upcoming Apex Legends Global Series event in February. As things developed, the duo tried to play it coy when asked who the team’s third member would be but they have now confirmed that Halo legend and former Apex pro Snip3down will be rounding out the squad. NICKMERCS and Snip3down to compete in ALGS in February While Snip3down’s return has been speculated about ever since he left TSM, the official reveal came in the form of a tweet from Kolcheff. It was business as usual for the streamer when he dropped the announcement: “The team is locked in for ALGS. Deeds, Snip3down & I. Tournament in late Feb. We’re all stoked, let’s get it done! Apex Ranked grind, all f****n’ day. See ya in there.” Good afternoon ☀️ The team is locked in for ALGS. @yaboydeeds @Snip3down & I. Tournament late Feb. We’re all stoked. Let’s get it done! Apex Ranked grind, all fuckin’ day. See ya in there 💥https://t.co/Etk8WeG3Wa #MFAM | #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/1bv1w89WUZ — FaZe Nickmercs (@NICKMERCS) January 26, 2022 Wrona didn’t have much to say in response to the announcement either, simply opting to let his fans know that things were going to get spicy soon: “Now this is going to be fun.” Now this is going to be fun 😈 https://t.co/LGGyOyRAR4 — FaZe Snip3down (@Snip3down) January 26, 2022 This means that the veteran Apex and Halo player will be making a run at both professional circuits simultaneously. In Halo, he’s supported by teammates Bound, Bubudubu, and Falcated — and together they placed third at the inaugural HCS Raleigh open event. While some fans might worry what this means for Snip3down’s Halo prospects, Kolcheff has confirmed that both parties took that into account when trying to make it all work: “We looked at the schedules of what he’s doing at the moment and what we’re prepared to do and they do not conflict. There’s no scheduling conflict, so that’s a good sign.”

New UK Esports Team Committee criticized for gatekeeping UK Esports Team CommitteeSeveral organizations that were not invited to the newly announced UK Esports Team Committee have accused the collective of “gatekeeping”, comparing them to the clubs involved in the now-defunct European Super League in football. Dexerto revealed on July 1, 2021 that several prominent team brands would be later announcing a not-for-profit committee with the goal of “progressing and growing the UK esports industry”. Seven teams were officially announced as the founding members of the UKETC on July 8, coming together to provide a collective voice for their domestic scene. EXCEL, Fnatic, Vexed, Endpoint, MnM Gaming, London Spitfire, and London Royal Ravens are involved. Since UKETC became public knowledge, Dexerto have spoken to anonymous sources in 10 organizations outside of the committee about a range of issues connected to it, with only one of them claiming to have received an invite. There was another issue regarding the criteria set out by the collective for prospective members, as it soon became clear that exceptions were allowed for founding members London Royal Ravens. The ReKTGlobal-owned Call of Duty League franchise was formed in September 2019, therefore not passing the three-year brand history requirement laid out on the official website. Other entry requirements detailed include having a “respectable track record of competing in UK esports competitions” and a “good reputational history of senior leadership members,” two criteria which multiple sources considered to be subjective, unfair, and by-design in order to “gatekeep”. Some of the excluded organizations that weren’t invited to the UK Esports Committee compete in the same domestic League of Legends and Counter-strike competitions as those involved. They also meet other requirements laid out by the venture but were left out for reasons unknown to them. One prominent UK organization excluded from the committee is Guild. Sources close to the org have confirmed to Dexerto that they weren’t even invited. Granted, they haven’t been in existence for three years, but nor have London Royal Ravens, and since forming in 2020, Guild’s presence has grown dramatically. They have amassed over 500,000 followers across their social media platforms and compete at a high level in Rocket League, Valorant, and Fortnite. They’ve also secured £7.5m in sponsorship revenues over the next three years, with more deals expected to be announced in the coming months. Several sources said they suspect “jealousy” is at play, with some of the teams involved perhaps being threatened by Guild’s rapid growth. Dexerto has also been informed that there are personal issues between senior-level staff at rival UK esports organizations. Many of the teams we spoke to believe that these issues influenced which orgs were invited to the committee. Several sources have expressed strong belief that “exclusivity like the European Super League” is being utilized to help grow the committee members, while stifling those outside of it. The European Super League was proposed by 12 of the biggest clubs in the continent and its format excluded ‘smaller’ teams. The venture only lasted three days, with associations, fans, players, managers, and governments campaigning against it. It was accused of fostering elitism and reducing competitiveness while prioritizing financial gain for the involved teams. Moving forward, members of the UK Esports Team Committee have publicly encouraged other organizations to apply to join the collective. As stated on their website, they will review applications once every six months. New members will be granted access by receiving the majority vote of all existing UKETC teams.

New York judge dismisses several claims in FaZe Clan vs Tfue lawsuit Following our report last week that both FaZe and Turner ‘Tfue’ Tenney were seeking summary judgments in their ongoing lawsuit, a New York court has ruled to dismiss several of the claims and counterclaims made by both parties. While the lawsuit will still be ongoing this will streamline the arguments made by the respective legal teams and should speed up the resolution of the case. The esports organisation FaZe, who were the plaintiff in the New York counter filing, had been arguing that Tenney had learned trade secrets while he was representing them. These trade secrets supposedly included how to draw attention to YouTube videos via the use of formulaic thumbnails. As expected the court has dismissed this argument and the claim for “misappropriation of trade secrets” will no longer make up part of their complaint. In addition to this the court has dismissed FaZe’s claim for “intentional interference with contract,” where it was alleged Tenney had encouraged other representatives to leave the organisation. The same complaint that is made in regards to brand deals and sponsors will remain under consideration when the court convenes. Finally, the judge also dismissed FaZe’s claim that because Tenney had publicly recommended that up and coming talent don’t sign with organisations like FaZe, he had commercially disparaged them. The argument that such opinions are protected under New York law and free to be expressed was upheld. For Tenney’s legal team, the judge dismissed counterclaims for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. All other counterclaims that revolve around the validity of the contract are still recognised as having potential merit. Currently, Tenney’s case against FaZe in the state of California is on hold pending the resolution of the New York filing by FaZe. While these dismissals should speed up the resolution of the lawsuit there is still a long way to go before it is over. We shall keep you up to date with the latest here at Dexerto.

New TikTok trend makes esports fashion go viral Twitter: Imamethystt/BaileyGoat_/100T/FaZe/RogueA new TikTok trend, ‘What I’d wear if…’, has started to take off where esports fans show off outfits they’d wear as members of different organizations. TikTok trends are a constant and evolving cycle of memes, music and dances. As the Beijing-based app has grown exponentially, so have the number of people making and watching TikToks. Accompanying this growth has been countless ‘trends’ – similar TikToks made around a common theme. Although some have been denounced as inappropriate, most are enjoyed as harmless fun. And now there’s a new one for esports fans specifically. In this latest trend, TikTok stars showcase different outfits, that they’d wear if they were members of varying esports organizations. This includes some of biggest orgs in the world, such 100 Thieves, FaZe Clan and Luminosity Gaming. One content creator, known as Amethystt, seems to have kicked things off by sharing her TikTok on Twitter, showing off what she’d wear to Twitch Con if she was a member of different organizations. As a Luminosity member, she showcased pigtails and reflective sunglasses, while her 100 Thieves outfit was a red vest and black beanie, matching the colors of Nadeshot’s organization perfectly. Jumped on the “what id wear if…” trend! @Luminosity @100Thieves @Rogue @FaZeClan What I’d wear to Twitch Con if I was in this gaming org… pic.twitter.com/EVkAHzsYoq — Aims (@Imamethystt) July 3, 2020 Another Twitch streamer, known as Bailey, shared her version of the TikTok trend. Her 100 Thieves outfit also includes a beanie, but a read one paired with an oversized black hoodie. Her FaZe outfit is also unique, while also adding in Team Liquid and TSM. What I’d wear in different orgs ? Which was your fav? @100Thieves @TeamLiquid @TSM or @FaZeClan ? (Inspired by @Imamethystt) pic.twitter.com/oU3VY2fha9— BaileyGoat? (@BaileyGoat_) July 4, 2020 Whether the trend really takes off like some others remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a creative look at how fashion and esports can intersect. 100 Thieves is perhaps the brand leading this charge most, with almost an equal focus on their apparel as their esports success.

New look at sprawling Dallas esports facility for Empire, Fuel, & Envy Team Envy CEO Mike ‘hastr0’ Rufail has unveiled a first look inside the upcoming Dallas-based esports facility that is set to house multiple powerhouse rosters. Dedicated esports facilities are on the rise throughout North America of late, with organizations such as 100 Thieves and Complexity all locking down enormous headquarters to call home. With both the Call of Duty League and the Overwatch League kicking off home and away games in 2020, hastr0 has showcased the Dallas-based training facility that his teams will practice out of when not on the road. From the recently announced Dallas Empire roster to the restructured Dallas Fuel lineup, as well as a wide array of Team Envy players and staff, there’s a space for everyone to hone their craft. Starting the tour of “one of the premier esports facilities in the world,” hastr0 first walked through the giant office space and addressed the fact that one of the conference rooms would be built into a state of the art production studio. “One of the things we’ve always wanted to do with our content is [to] create live, scheduled programming,” he explained. From live podcasts to high-quality roundtable discussions with all manner of professional players, content is set to be a huge focus once the facility opens its doors. Continuing on, it was revealed that the Dallas Fuel and the Dallas Empire teams would be training in close proximity. Backing onto one another, each team will receive its own private space to scrim and strategize at will. Additionally, the Team Envy Overwatch Contenders roster will have an exclusive space as well as the CS:GO team under the black and blue banners. “All of the support, front-office, back-office staff” will be working out of the new facility in order to truly centralize the organization’s efforts. Read More: Modern Warfare leak reveals 13 new Operators – Furthermore, hastr0 described how in the future, “people from the public, fans of our organization” will be able to enter the enormous facility and enjoy a luxurious ‘player lounge.’ It’s here that Team Envy will host watch parties, meet and greet sessions and a whole lot more in order to get dedicated Dallas-based esports fans engaged in new ways. There’s no set date as to when the doors will officially open, however with the Call of Duty League and Overwatch League kicking off in the very near future, it’s a safe bet to assume that early 2020 is the targeted window. With various other high-profile organizations having recently revealed large-scale headquarters of their own, it certainly seems as though the trend will continue for many teams down the line.

New Smash Bros fighter Hero is already getting banned from tournaments NintendoSmash Bros Ultimate’s newest fighter Hero has officially been banned in South Australia due to the character being “anti-competitive.” Ever since his release, there has been a lot of controversy regarding the Dragon Quest character’s moves and random nature of his kit. While luck does work both ways, the fact that the fighter’s success is heavily centered around RNG has been met with skepticism, especially from those who consider competitive integrity to be the utmost importance. However, not all agree with the ban. Smash icon Gonzalo ‘ZeRo’ Barrios recently made a video about the fighter drama and remarked that the “ban hero” movement was a “tremendous knee-jerk reaction”. Despite this, South Australia Smash Central, the main network for the scene down under, decided to ban Hero. The announcement was made via a Twitlonger post on August 14. “After deliberation and plenty of discussion we have concluded that Hero’s design as a character is fundamentally dependant on randomness to the point that it is not reasonable in a competitive environment,” South Australia Smash Central declared. “RNG permeates every element of Hero’s design, from spell selection to random critical hits and hocus pocus effects. While randomness has to varying degrees always been present in competitive games and other Smash games, Hero is so dependent on randomness that it cannot be ‘played around’ or accounted for in competitive play. The argument is similar to the reason why items are banned in competitive play.” In organized Smash Bros tournaments, stage hazards, items and final smashes are all disabled in an attempt to limit randomness. That does not mean that unexpected situations can still occur, but SASC addressed those as well. “Additionally, even other random effects in the game, such as G&W’s Hammer or Peach’s turnips, still require the player to connect with the move. Although it is not a central issue, many of Hero’s random tools, such as magic burst edgeguards, unblockable kamikazees or psych up critical shield breaks are frequently unavoidable and decide whole stocks.” Some additional points since this got a bit more attention than expected – The ban is indefinite and not unilateral. Will the game get patched? Will other scenes follow suit? We’ll look at Hero’s results in a month or two and decide again. https://t.co/ZY5XotfBPP — South Australia Smash Central (@SASmashCentral) August 15, 2019 “We want to emphasise that this ban is not because hero is too strong, but because he is anti-competitive. We believe that tournaments are meant to provide an opportunity for players to demonstrate their skill and that, as a general rule, the player who plays more skilfully should emerge victorious,” they added. The ban, however, could be lifted in the future. In a follow-up tweet, the Australian account said that Hero’s barring is indefinite and could change in the event of a patch. “Will the game get patched? Will other scenes follow suit? We’ll look at Hero’s results in a month or two and decide again.” Only time will tell if more scenes side with the ban and agree to ban Hero. In any case, it’s yet another chapter in history book of controversy in the Smash Bros community.