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League streamer MissBaffy signed by LDN UTD as a content creator LDN UTD/MissBaffyUK esports organization LDN UTD have announced the signing of League of Legends streamer Ella ‘MissBaffy’ Skinner as an official content creator. The org pride themselves on approaching esports differently, opting to work in the industry to serve society by addressing societal issues and helping grassroots gamers to “take more of a path to pro.” Their latest signing continues their mission by tackling difficulties around being a woman in esports and dealing with “day-to-day toxicity” as a “marginalized gender.” Ella ‘MissBaffy’ Skinner, a well-known League of Legends content creator in the United Kingdom with almost 100,000 followers on Twitch, has signed with LDN UTD to continue growing her brand and raising awareness of their campaigns and values. MissBaffy will create content with the purpose of educating her viewers on operating in the industry as a woman and dealing with any toxicity that may come as a result. Another objective of the collaboration between MissBaffy and LDN UTD is to “raise awareness” of grassroots esports to the wider League of Legends audience, furthering the org’s emphasis on supporting the more nascent areas of the industry. 🚨 #UTDAgainstRacism IS LIVE! 🚨 We have an amazing broadcast for you today. Don’t just take our word for it, here is @rioferdy5 to tell you more! 📺https://t.co/hs2PQQ8a1J@riofoundation | @devon_petersen @MPeopleHeatherS | @ShaunaGames | @deanobri1968 | @colinsalmon24 pic.twitter.com/sdyE5VphRh — LDN UTD (@LDNUTD) May 30, 2021 “I am really excited to join LDN UTD,” said MissBaffy. “We both align on the same goals, and the support network to grow as a creator and ensure my voice is heard is invaluable. “An understanding of my direction and goals has always been important, and in LDN UTD I’m confident that I have found the right partner, to grow, and also continue to ensure LDN UTD’s messaging is heard”.

Esports org LDN UTD aims to grow from £100K to £40 million in just five years LDN UTDLDN UTD, a grassroots esports organization based in the United Kingdom, have made a bold claim regarding their financial performance in the next few years, expecting to turnover £40 million. Founded in 2019, LDN UTD describe themselves as using “esports to serve society by addressing societal issues” and they aim to help grassroots gamers “take more of a path to pro.” Considering they’re serving the grassroots, amateur aspect of esports, many may expect that they would not be able to access the same level of finances as major organizations at the very top of the industry — but they don’t believe that. Despite progress being stunted by lockdown, which meant they had to hold off on hosting events for grassroots competitors, their CEO Oliver Weingarten expects that they’ll see turnover growth of 400% within the next five years. In an interview with Forbes, Weingarten revealed that they had a turnover of £100,000 in 2020 and are currently attempting to raise £5 million in investment. They have plans to expand into locations outside of London, the capital of England, and are forecasting a £40m turnover in five years’ time. “The U.K. has some incredible esports talent, particularly in Call of Duty, Fortnite and FIFA,” Weingarten said of his company’s business model. “Our model is to discover, nurture and educate talent by harnessing the popularity of the relevant gaming title.” In the past, LDN UTD have hosted local events to raise awareness for societal issues such as knife crime, diversity, and education with the likes of rapper P Money, former footballer Rio Ferdinand, and London mayor Sadiq Khan. “We are seeing more organizations starting to embrace the notion of social responsibility, but while it’s very easy to say, it can be incredibly difficult to do authentically,” he added. “With our philosophy of esports for good, I’d like to think we are leading the way.”

LCK giants Gen.G announce partnership with Manchester City Manchester CitySouth Korean esports organization Gen.G has announced a collaboration with Premier League football club Manchester City. The partnership will see the two entities collaborate on a number of activities “tailored towards both sets of fans”, including content across multiple platforms and in-person events in various regions, including South Korea and the UK. Manchester City and Gen.G will also explore co-branded merchandise opportunities with a view to launching limited-edition products. With this collaboration, Manchester City aims to bolster its presence in the Asian region. The football team’s preseason tour will include a stop in Seoul, where it will play a friendly match against Atletico Madrid scheduled on July 30. “We’ve been on a search to learn from the sports world’s best about what it takes to maintain a championship mindset even under the brightest lights of competition, and we are excited to work with the newly crowned champions, Manchester City under the banner of GEN CITY,” said Gen.G CEO Arnold Hur. “We are incredibly excited about this partnership both for our competitive pro and educational academy teams and hope to build upon this collaboration into the future.” Manchester City’s esports division competes in FIFA and Fortnite. Over the years, the club has collaborated with FaZe on a number of activities, including a pop-up event at Etihad Stadium in March 2022, and have worn FaZe-branded training jerseys in pre-match warm-ups on a number of occasions. Established in 2017, Gen.G fields esports teams across numerous titles, including League of Legends, Valorant and Overwatch (under the name Seoul Dynasty). The organization’s League of Legends team is the reigning LCK champion and has made four Worlds appearances, reaching the semi-finals of the last two events.

LCS hand Echo Fox ultimatum following investigation into alleged racism LoLesportsThe others in the Echo Fox organization. Raizada is a founding partner at the Vision Venture Partners group that invested in Echo Fox following a $38 million raise of capital under the name Vision Esports. After the alleged racist abuse from Raizada, Fox said he would be willing to stay on Echo Fox if they severed ties with the shareholder, and the LCS are now pushing for a similar outcome. LCS could punish Echo Fox On Wednesday, May 15 LCS Commissioner Chris Greeley put out a statement concerning Echo Fox and the results of the LCS’s investigation into the accusations first made by Fox regarding Raizada. “Hate speech, threats, and bigotry have no place in the LCS,” they said on Twitter. “We have directed Echo Fox to take appropriate corrective action within 60 days.” Greeley went on to say that if Echo Fox didn’t take appropriate action by “removing any individuals whose actions violate League rules and agreements within the required time period” then the team’s future in the LCS could be in trouble. Echo Fox has been asked to cut all ties with Raizada twice now, first by Fox and now the LCS itself. If Echo Fox does not take action by removing any individuals whose actions violate League rules and agreements within the required time period, the League will take formal action that may adversely impact the future of Echo Fox in the LCS. -Chris Greeley, LCS Commissioner (2/2) — lolesports (@lolesports) May 15, 2019 Since Dexerto’s initial report on Fox’s intentions to leave Echo Fox following Raizada’s racist comments, emails show that the shareholder also appeared to threaten the former NBA player’s family. The LCS has given Echo Fox 60 days to cut ties with Raizada, even if they didn’t mention him by name, so now we’ll have to wait and see how the organization responds.

Lando Norris’ org Quadrant enter esports with Halo signing Quadrant/HaloGaming entertainment brand Quadrant, founded by Formula 1 driver Lando Norris, have now become a fully fledged esports organization with their first competitive team signing. Founded in November 2020 by F1 star Norris, in collaboration with his management company ADD Management and Veloce Esports, Quadrant started as a group of content creators. Now, just over a year and one major sponsor later, the company are deepening their reach in gaming by announcing their very first esports team — a team that will compete in the newly launched Halo Infinite, no less. They’ve signed the team formerly known as OEX, comprising of French players Sonny ‘Fragxr’ Marchaland, Paul ‘Nurix’ Villemont, Norwen ‘SLG’ Le Galloudec, and Sébastien ‘TchiK’ Darriet. Quadrant enter Halo Infinite esports The org will make their esports debut at the HCS Kickoff Major in Raleigh, North Carolina across December 17-19. As OEX, the French side finished second in the three tournaments they competed in: HCS Europe Open Series on November 21 and 28, and the HCS Europe Major Raleigh 2021 Qualifier. Teams to have cemented themselves as favorites early on during online play, such as OpTic Gaming and Sentinels, will be in attendance for the first big LAN event in Halo Infinite history. Quadrant will face off against tough opponents from the get-go, having qualified for the group stage of the tournament. “One of my main goals for Quadrant since I launched it last year has been to see our team compete on the biggest esports stages against some of the biggest names in the industry,” said Quadrant founder Norris. “What we announced today brings us to that point. “I’ve loved watching Halo since it launched last month and I made sure we moved quickly to sign one of Europe’s most talented rosters to our team. I’ve set the goals high and the team is just as passionate as I am, so let’s go get our first win!”

LaLiga aim to attract young fans with three-year Galaxy Racer partnership LaLiga/Galaxy RacerTop-tier Spanish football league LaLiga have entered a three-year, content-focused partnership with esports organization Galaxy Racer. One of the reasons legacy sports properties like the Premier League and the LaLiga operate in esports is to access the young demographic that loves watching the best of the best play video games. While Spanish football league LaLiga already has the eLaLiga, they’ve tapped Galaxy Racer to deepen their presence in esports through content over the next three years. Galaxy Racer are a relatively young esports org based in the United Arab Emirates that also operate in Southeast Asia. Now, they can say they’re officially helping one of the biggest sporting leagues in the world to attract new viewers. https://twitter.com/LaLigaEN/status/1424326208720982019 The deal will see the two organizations work together on a new original series featuring professional footballers and gaming influencers, which will initially last for three seasons. While the show is still in pre-production, it’ll see Galaxy Racer’s influencers travel to Spain to “experience LaLiga like no one has ever done before.” They’ll visit each of the major football clubs in the country, including Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia. The Middle Eastern organization recently hired Danny Lopez, the former director of brand and content at David Beckham’s Guild Esports, as their chief content officer. He’ll be leading the charge on all content initiatives for them. “We are excited for this three-year collaboration,” said LaLiga’s managing director in the Middle East and North Africa, Maite Ventura. “We expect to see a lot of positive feedback to this unique activation opening opportunities for us as we are entering a new digital era to connect with the younger generations.”

Lamborghini announces its very own esports team for virtual racing events Youtube: LamborghiniLamborghini first dipped their toes into the world of esports with The Real Race in 2020. Since the success of their virtual racing competition, the company is now diving headfirst into virtual racing with the Automobili Lamborghini Esports Team. Not content with only running the track in the real world, Lamborghini is seeking to dominate on the virtual tarmac now too. Launching with a strong Italian presence in an attempt to stamp the team’s name onto the virtual scene. Starting with a team of three racers, the Italian supercar makers have pulled no punches with the pedigree of the drivers they have chosen. Jordan Sherratt, Gianfranco Giglioli, and Giorgio Simonin are the talented crew selected to fly Lamborghini colors. The team has announced they’ll be coming out of the gates hard, aiming for the trophy in the SRO-hosted GT World Challenge Esports Sprint Series. The top title in the simulated racing world. We are glad to present you our first Esports Team for virtual racing. Our sim drivers will be @jsherratt37, Gianfranco Giglioli and @SimoniniGiorgio, and they will represent our brand in the SRO Esports championships. And we are so excited about that!#LamborghiniEsports pic.twitter.com/WsxOuzR6a2 — Lamborghini (@Lamborghini) April 6, 2022 All three drivers have extensive track records in high-end competition. The South-African Jordan Sherrat destroyed the competition in 2021’s ‘The Real Race’, Lamborghini’s open-access virtual competition, coming 1st in 9 of his 10 races. This catapulted him straight into the Lamborghini team, a dream long held by the F4 racer. As stated in an interview with Traxion.gg, Jordan said “To become the official driver, that’s pretty much my goal. I’ve always worked towards that, even in the real world.” The driver even linked his early experiences gaming on console to his current success: “I used to play Gran Turismo for fun back on the PlayStation 3 back in the day. I had the G27 wheel which was huge back then in 2013 or 2014. I used my old wheel last year. That’s how I got into sim racing.” Beyond Sherrat as captain, both Gianfranco Giglio and Giorgio Simonini have the experience to go the distance. Simonini won the Sim Grid World Cup 2020 as well as placing 4th in the SRO Esports 2020 championship, making the 22-year-old Italian an exciting pick for both his country and the sportscar brand. Putting his name on the map back in 2020, Italian-Venezualan Giglio took out 5th place in The Real Race of that year as well as taking the title at the Porsche Esports Carrera Cup Italia. Commenting on the importance of the formation of the new esports team Lamborghini’s head of motorsport Giorgio Sanna had this to say: “After several decades of development in the industry, simulated racing is getting closer and closer to its real-life counterpart and now has nothing to envy from professional motorsport,”

Kyedae teases involvement in VCT Game Changers after streaming scrims Twitter: KyedaeKyedae, QuaterJade, Sydeon and more have teased a possible team up for VCT Game Changers after streaming scrim sessions. It is quite unexpected that a who’s who of female Valorant streamers would want to play in a professional tournament. However, in a recently streamed coaching and scrim session, the possibility of the collaboration becoming a reality was heavily hinted at. Kyedae, QuaterJade, Sydeon and TrulyTenzin all streamed the session. The four were joined by Tupperware, a former player for Immortals’ Game Changer team, and Ruin, a former coach for Complexity. The stream started off with Ruin and Tupperware discussing planned set plays, default positioning, and protocolling for enemy executes and pushes. With Tupperware taking the role of in-game leader as the most experienced out of the five. The squad played multiple scrims against TenZ, Kyedae’s fiance and star for Sentinels, and his friends to test out what they’ve learnt. They even were playing against collegiate Valorant teams. It’s usually frowned upon to stream scrims in Valorant, but it appeared as though all the teams were alright with setup. Unfortunately, the squad didn’t win any of the maps they played. However it’s important to note they were up against one of Valorant’s greatest players and still managed to keep the scoreline close. Kyedae hints at potential involvement in VCT Game Changers In addition, it was clear the four streamers were able to execute the planned set plays and follow Tupperware’s mid round calling very well. Throughout the stream, Kyedae kept teasing her chat of possibly squading up to play in Game Changers. Responding to a question from chat, she said sarcastically, “I can’t confirm, but I know you’re not stupid.” Tenzin too teased her viewers in a tweet sarcastically saying they were just scrimming for fun. Even though they had an entire coaching session before hand. Series One of the VCT Game Changers NA starts on April 7, and the open qualifiers are starting very soon. And it seems it won’t be too much of a surprise if we see Kyedae somewhere on the players list.

Laid off TSM employee claims less than 10 people left at esports org Riot GamesA recently laid-off TSM employee took to social media after he was let go, and revealed the esports organization is running a barebones operation. The esports industry went through a tough period in 2022 and 2023, with many companies and organizations laying off employees or merging with other companies to survive. One of the impacted organizations was TSM, which was at one point the highest-valued esports company, according to Forbes. TSM went through multiple rounds of layoffs across 2022 and 2023. The company’s CEO Andy ‘Reginald’ Dihn said TSM over-hired and expanded its headcount too quickly. Reginald also said at the time that the current staff is “stronger and more performant.” The company, however, let go of its Head of Global Social on January 29, 2024, and the former employee said that TSM is now down to just eight workers. TSM down to less than 10 employees Duncan Cox, who has worked at TSM for over four years, said in a social media post about his exit from the company that he was one of the few people still left. “I’m currently in shock and am working on processing it. As the team around me was cut and I inherited more responsibilities, and with only 9 people left working on TSM, I didn’t expect to be next, but here I am,” he said. Cox goes on to say that he was technically classified as a contractor because he works out of the United Kingdom, and TSM is based in Los Angeles. In November 2023, TSM also lost Stephan Cieplik, its Chief Revenue Officer who was hired in December 2022 to help monetize the brand. TSM has scaled back its operation since its heyday as an esports company as it only has professional players and teams in five esports at the time of writing. The organization left the title it started in, League of Legends, by leaving the LCS in late 2023. This news also comes on the heels of multiple layoff announcements across the gaming industry.

Korean LoL pro explains how OCD led to his retirement RiotAfter a six year career in the LCK and LPL, Heo ‘PawN’ Won-seok has retired from professional League of Legends, and in his goodbye post, revealed his struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder over the years. On September 28, PawN took to facebook to announce his retirement from esports. PaeN joined Kingzone DragonX in November 2018, but has been inactive since May of this year. In his farewell post, PawN provided an explanation why. “The reason I’ve been on break is because of my OCD.” PawN explains that he was diagnosed with OCD in 2018, and found that he wasn’t able to play the game at all if his set up was not exactly the way he wanted. He tried therapy and going to different clinics but wasn’t able to find a solution. He opted to continue playing during the 2018 World Championship, and at the time, was able to play with a setup that worked. But even though his spring split with Kingzone DragonX went just fine, PawN says that the OCD returned at the beginning of the summer split, and has been affecting him differently than before in a way that’s now forced him to retire. In his post, PawN apologized to and thanked the fans who supported him along the way, as well as the Kingzone DragonX organization. PawN has been a beloved, top player in the Korean LoL scene since 2013. Aside from KDX, PawN has played for a handful of prominent Korean teams including KT Rolster, Samsung Blue, and Samsung White. His time with Samsung White is considered to be the most legendary part of his career, as he helped carry SSW to the 2014 World Championships, and was a constant foil to the legendary player Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok. PawN also had great success in China, winning two different LPL splits and making the playoffs of Worlds twice during his two-year tenure with EDward Gaming. He retires at only age 22. PawN’s team Kingzone DragonX were one game short of qualifying for Worlds this year. They fell 3-2 to DAMWON Gaming in the finals of the LCK Regional Finals earlier this month.

Kelsey Moser: Why a rookie jungler substitution worked for iG and not TSM Following the North American Regional Gauntlet that qualified Clutch Gaming for the 2019 World Championship after they reverse swept Team SoloMid in the Gauntlet Final, a lot of discussion pointed fingers at Team SoloMid’s management. Rather than staying committed to Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham as the team’s announcement earlier in the split claimed, Team SoloMid chose to sideline not only him, but their other starting jungler, Jonathan “Grig” Armao, for Academy jungler Mingyi “Spica” Lu. Obviously, a lot of controversy surrounded the announcement and the manner in which it occurred, but fan ire failed to identify that another team, one Pacific Ocean away, had a story very similar to Team SoloMid’s this split. Just like Team SoloMid, Invictus Gaming advanced to the Grand Final of their Spring Split. Just like TSM, iG struggled in the regular summer split, and only qualified to the first round of their Summer Playoffs. Just like TSM, iG subbed in a rookie jungler from their Academy (LDL in China) team for the closing matches of the regular season, playoffs and Gauntlet. Just like TSM, their Gauntlet Final lasted five grueling games. Unlike TSM, Invictus Gaming qualified for the 2019 World Championship. Fans went wild after Invictus Gaming qualified for Worlds. The difference in iG’s success over TSM’s comes from the approach and game plans each team took to integrating their new junglers. In the Gauntlet Final, iG came with a clear plan that allowed their rookie player to succeed by playing the game around him. TSM, on the other hand, lost control of their solo lanes independently and played more defensively and conservatively with the jungle. Leyan’s story For most of the split, TSM committed to one starting jungler and a consistent starting roster overall. Invictus Gaming, following their semifinal loss to Team Liquid at the Mid Season Invitational played with a much less consistent starting five. When Invictus Gaming began 2019 Summer, the first player they brought forward from Academy was support Litan “Lucas” Paoao, who played the first three series for iG following criticisms of starting support Wang “Baolan” Liuyi. iG lost two of those three series, with one notable loss to one of the lower-ranked teams in the LPL, Victory Five. Following Baolan’s return, star mid laner Song “Rookie” Euijin took a step back for substitute mid-laner Deng “Forge” Jie while he tended to a family emergency. iG had considerably more success over the next five series with Forge, winning four of them, but as a result, the team didn’t play with its MSI starting five at all until Rift Rivals. Victory 5 after an upset win over Invictus Gaming None of the substitutions seemed to address a large criticism analysts levied iG’s way: the inconsistency of starting jungler Gao “Ning” Zhenning. For two of the team’s final three series of their regular season, iG promoted Lu “Leyan” Jue to the LPL team’s jungle position. Much like Spica for TSM, Leyan appeared inconsistent, but promising. Also like Spica, Leyan had a particular reputation for aggressive jungle champions. His most played LDL champions in Summer included Sylas, Gragas, Nidalee, and Olaf. While Spica played mostly Sejuani and Jarvan IV in North American Academy, his reputation as a solo queue monster stems more from the likes of Nidalee and Graves. Adaptation from Playoffs to Gauntlet Both TSM and iG had near-humiliating losses in the first round of Playoffs. Rookie’s underperformance was very clear, draft priorities gave iG very limited win conditions, and the team left Leyan mostly to his own meandering devices on picks like Karthus. Team SoloMid’s Quarterfinal series against Clutch featured a similar story. Clutch applied strategies like swapping Heo “Huni” Seunghoon’s Gangplank into Akali to secure a pushing mid lane and prioritizing heavy skirmish mid-jungle duos like Sylas-Qiyana. While TSM played two games of Akali, priority on Corki and Sejuani limited their 2v2 capabilities as a duo. The main difference-maker came from how both teams adapted during the long break from the first round of Playoffs until the Regional Qualifier Gauntlet. Team SoloMid and Invictus Gaming both had multiple weeks of radio silence to integrate their new jungle additions better into their teams. While iG had to play two five game series for their Gauntlet, TSM slotted into the Qualifier final, so for the purpose of further investigation, this article will focus only on the two final best-of-fives. Team SoloMid have not been as fortunate and will sit out from Worlds for the second time. Both TES and CG, the respective opponents of iG and TSM in the Regional Final, have a reputation for putting the priority on securing strong picks for their solo laners. Much of CG’s climb through Playoffs and the Gauntlet featured Gangplank, Rumble, and Qiyana bans. Meanwhile, TES has a reputation for Akali, Corki, and Irelia. Akali and Irelia are among the most banned against id laner Zhuo “Knight” Ding during LPL Summer Split. In the first game of the Regional Gauntlet, TSM continued the trend of banning CG’s priority solo lane picks in Rumble and Gangplank. iG, meanwhile, reserved bans for Jarvan IV and Sylas with the option of a Sejuani pick on the table. TES jungler Xiong “Xx” Yulong has a history of low Sejuani priority, having lost the majority of his games on the pick and not selecting it often when other options are available. iG likely reasoned they could secure Sejuani, and limiting possible counterpicks to give Leyan a favorable matchup would stand the rookie in good stead. To follow this up, iG also first picked Qiyana. Not only does Qiyana synergize very well with Sejuani as a melee champion, but she has fast and easy roam timings, providing good jungle assistance in two-man gank setups. iG also looked for Kai’Sa early, which can easily get set up in lane by strong crowd control combos and snowball in the context of the LPL. iG rounded it out with another melee top pick in Aatrox that can also scale up in a more bot-focused game. By contrast, TSM’s draft plan looked very different. The team also favored Sejuani as a champion that tends to be forgiving for experienced and rookie junglers alike due to all-in potential in later fights and straightforward 2v2s with popular melee picks. TSM left Sylas open and banned the typical Gangplank and Rumble against Huni, putting more of the burden on Spica to absorb counterpick pressure. The only lane TSM picked with an easy setup for the jungler was top lane Jayce for Sergen “BrokenBlade” Çelik, as Jayce-Sejuani is a classic combo. CG selected Neeko and Pantheon along with Xayah and Rakan bot lane and Sylas jungle. As a result, the draft had two volatile solo lanes with unfavorable bot and jungle matchups. Pantheon-Sylas and Neeko-Sylas should also win 2v2s against Sejuani-Jayce and Azir-Sejuani early on. This scenario didn’t set up many options for Spica if Clutch had strong jungling. In game, the approach to the jungle also played out very differently. Leyan made some initial fumbles in pathing that TES failed to punish. TES’ Olaf could have easily bullied him out for pathing from the bottom of his jungle to the top, but Olaf chose to avoid the situation. Leyan did get punished by playing for an early bottom play while the opposing top laner had push and Teleport. The turn allowed TES’ Lucian-Alistar lane to regain control and closed a lot of TES’ win condition. But Rookie responded by taking up a lot of the early map pressure responsibility. Following the thrown bottom play, Rookie rotated top on his next reset for a dive to relieve pressure and still give iG a win condition to snowball through top and allow Kai’Sa and Sejuani to scale instead. In TSM’s Game One, Clutch force a split map scenario that made Spica start on his Blue Buff. This also forced BrokenBlade to leash so that he wouldn’t get to the lane first. But instead of opting into the split map scenario, Spica’s Sejuani cleared his top side and then went bottom for Krugs so that he could play more defensively and prevent a potential dive or play onto Sona and Tahm Kench. Accelerating Jayce would have worked more in line with the team’s win condition, but TSM forced a more defensive clear. Both iG and TSM managed to win their first games, but the approach outlined more or less how each team differed in playing with a new rookie jungler. iG opted into drafts and setups that gave Leyan a lot of room to make plays and control the map with other members taking a lot of the burden for map control when Leyan made mistakes anyway. TSM played with lanes more in isolation, leaving Spica to look for defensive gank opportunities or simply scale for Sejuani-centric team fights. iG accelerated this focus and played much more smoothly after Game One. They adapted by prioritizing the Kai’Sa and Nautilus heavy skirmish bottom lane in Game Two. They continued to prioritize a mobile mid champion that Rookie could roam with like Taliyah after Knight opted for his signature Corki. Almost every play in the next two games was instigated either through Rookie leading a duo mid-jungle invade on his priority or support Baolan clearing a brush with Sweeper and setting up a gank or resetting and roaming top on Leyan’s natural clear timers. iG’s most successful game was the Game Three 25 minute obliteration of TES. They early picked a Qiyana-Elise duo. Rookie gave up waves to make plays on enemy buffs or a side lane with Leyan. They played almost as if they were double-jungling, and Rookie had four kills by 11 minutes while Leyan had 30 CS and two levels over Xx’s Sejuani before a blunder at Blue Buff. The blunder occurred mostly because Rookie and Leyan separated in the play. Overall, iG invested a great amount of resources into making Leyan look good. He varied his jungle pathing game-to-game, and Rookie and Baolan only failed to back him up in Game Four where Knight’s Zoe pushed and confined Rookie’s LeBlanc to lane. Giving up waves mid doesn’t always solve every situation, but it became clear that iG had spent their time away from the stage refining a strategy that would allow Leyan to excel despite a lack of experience. Team SoloMid actually had a game where it seemed as if they had the same plan in mind, and it was by far the team’s best game despite almost losing late-game fights with triple Infernal. Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg’s Sylas and Andy “Smoothie” Ta’s Nautilus seemed joined to Spica’s Sejuani in Game Two. Spica’s initial path of clearing the full red side of the jungle and looking mid burned Tanner “Damonte” Damonte’s Flash. Smoothie roamed from bottom lane priority to finish the kill in a dive. Following that, all three of them roamed top side to answer Clutch’s gank on Broken Blade. On reset, they continued to work together, four-maning bot side and pressing their lead as a trio. After Game Two, however, TSM seemed to regress more toward scaling mid lane picks like Azir and Corki that didn’t create as advantageous 2v2 opportunities with Spica’s Sejuani. Part of this also came from Clutch adapting to pick Jarvan IV in the next game and pressure mid before Spica’s Sejuani who kept repeating the same full red buff and red buff side clear predictably. Despite having a strong bottom lane in Game Three, Smoothie and Spica failed to synch up before an Infernal dragon fight around nine minutes. The most Bjergsen seemed to help Spica with jungle control came with small leans, and Spica continued to primarily gank defensively. Meanwhile, CG’s solo lanes continued to excel with picks that didn’t necessarily ensure prior, but could gain it through the skirmishing that TSM failed to draft toward. Debrief iG seemed to draft around allowing their jungler to create skirmishes and excel, while TSM’s game plan, with the exception of one game, felt more like a game plan of a team that had little faith in their new jungle prospect. They even placed him into a situation where they first picked Skarner, a champion he didn’t seem particularly comfortable on, to deny Lira. Spica stuck to more of a full clear approach, and laners didn’t seem to create opportunities for him as well as Clutch’s laners did for Nam “Lira” Taeyoo. While jungler or laner could take the fall for that, most of iG’s jungle-centric plays were clearly lead by Rookie and Baolan picking up the slack. One can also argue that the metas differ substantially in LCS and LPL. Choosing champions for Sejuani and Azir-centric team fights proves a main staple of a slower-paced early game region, but Clutch accepted openings left by TSM’s approach well. In fact, it’s arguable that Spica could have excelled with an iG style approach. Though Sejuani and Jarvan IV served as his main staples in LCS Academy matches, he seemed much more comfortable on the likes of Lee Sin. His engages also need more work, as fights engaged by mid laner Nicholas “Ablazeolive” Antonio Abbott with an Azir ultimate or a Twisted Fate port always seemed to yield better results for TSM Academy. This seemed consistent in his LCS matches. Of course, perfecting the primary engage role should be something any jungler works on, but if TSM aimed only to win and qualify for Worlds, maybe giving him the reigns on some of his favorite solo queue champions could have worked better. TSM also have a bit of a history and reputation for not succeeding well by playing through mid-jungle 2v2. I’d argue that iG’s natural approach to the game is also horrible for junglers, and their previous roster put an undue amount of responsibility on Ning. iG have a tendency to play all three lanes as if the enemy jungler doesn’t exist and simply rely on their own jungler to accelerate one side of the map harder, at times to disastrous results. Even so, they managed to adapt their usual approach to assist Leyan in the Regional Qualifier. iG’s success in integrating a rookie jungler in a short period of time came from the team’s approach to enabling Leyan. Both iG and TSM’s young junglers made mistakes, but Leyan had more free reign to execute. I still look forward to seeing more from both him and Spica as they improve.

One key detail you might have missed in the 100 Thieves HQ announcement 100 ThievesEsports organization 100 Thieves recently announced a new Los Angeles headquarters, but the pivot into a retail storefront might be the ultimate endgame for them and what really allows them to soar in popularity. 100 Thieves continues to dominate the headlines in 2019 with the numerous high-profile signings, most recently Fortnite World Cup-bound pro Arkhram, and with the announcement of their new headquarters, it looks like they aren’t slowing down. Lost in the shuffle of all this is a simple announcement that the team was looking to open up a retail storefront for fans to purchase apparel and other items. This year has been really kind to 100 Thieves. Former CLG CEO Devin Nash pointed this out during his stream and said this could be a major part of 100 Thieves’ growth going forward. “There are going to move into retail storefronts and they’re going to start building retail chains with this kind of funding,” he explained. “And that’s the ultimate end goal, I believe.” (Nash begins this thought at the 6:00 mark.) Many big-name streamers have branched out into selling their own merchandise so this is nothing new, but few of them are able to get their brand into actual retail stores. One name that comes to mind is Tyler ‘Ninja‘ Blevins who was able to expand his Twitch footprint into stores such as Walmart where he is able to sell an exclusive headband, amongst other things. When 100 Thieves debuted new apparel earlier this year they sent it out to many of the top streamers so people like Ninja, Tim ‘TimTheTatman‘ Betar, and Dennis ‘Cloak‘ Lepore all sported an advertisement on their chests as they streamed to thousands of people. It’s hardly a coincidence that since the apparel came out and was advertised it has consistently been out of stock. There’s no telling how long it’ll take for you to see 100 Thieves merchandise in a big retail store like Walmart but if the funding keeps up like this, it could end up being a whole lot sooner than you think.

Kelsey Moser: Which team can break the First Seed Curse at Worlds 2019? At the 2018 World Championship, three Play-In level teams advanced to the Quarterfinal of the main event. Major region third seeds Cloud9, EDward Gaming, and G2 Esports all grinded from Play-In to Bracket, while first seed Team Liquid did not make the cut. On top of that, potential Grand Slam winners Royal Never Give Up, who had nearly dominated every event they attended that year, didn’t win the World Championship. They lost out in the quarterfinal to G2 Esports while second seed Invictus Gaming managed to surge through quarterfinals and semifinals to take the Summoner’s Cup. Historically speaking, only two first seed regional representatives have ever won the World Championship. One did so in the context of a less rigorous format. The other only after a nearly unprecedentedly dominant domestic season and heavy context surrounding 2015’s League of Legends landscape. The reality of the matter is that first seeds historically have come into the World Championships with disadvantages to both third and second seed teams from their own regions. Each seed (first, second, and third) come with their own alleged advantages in World Championship qualification, but what third and second seeds gain outpaces what first seeds gain. Much of the difficulty in assessing the advantages of the first, second, and third seed comes from the changes in tournament structure, so this discussion focuses primarily on World Championships after 2013. In earlier seasons, certain regions were excluded, the third seed qualification structure was different, and quarterfinals were best-of-threes. In 2013, despite winning Champions Korea Summer, something that would qualify SKT T1 2 as a first seed the 2019 qualification system, SKT T1 2 only came in as third seed. SKT T1 2 is, then, beyond the scope. Beginning in 2014, the sister teams Samsung Galaxy Blue and Samsung Galaxy White qualified as first and second seeds respectively. Despite Blue defeating White in both Champions Spring and Summer, experts pegged Samsung White as favorites. What resulted was one of the most one-sided best-of-five semifinal series in World Championship history. Much of the background leading up to Samsung White’s success pivoted on the close relationship between them and Blue. The teams scrimmed frequently, and Blue had a reputation for adapting to patches more quickly. When the dragon gold value was increased just before Worlds qualification in 2014, Blue had a better game plan revolving around Teleport and bot wave setups to let them use dragon fights against White. By the time Worlds rolled around, however, White had enough time to adapt to this change. They pivoted heavily around top lane teleport advantage allowing their bottom lane to play aggressively and blew Samsung Blue out of the water. As such, the fact that White understood vision control and had generally better players than Blue shone through more decisively in the World Championship Semifinal that year. In 2016, a different yet somewhat similar narrative followed ROX and SKT. Unlike the Samsung story, however, ROX didn’t play against SKT in the bracket to qualify as Korea’s first seed at the World Championship. Instead, SKT lost 2-3 to KT Rolster prior to the grand final. KT’s strategy against SKT revolved around using bottom pressure from the Jhin vs Sivir matchup and using roaming control from mid laner Song “Fly” Yongjun to reverse sweep the long-time juggernauts. ROX didn’t play like that. They used the passive strength of their bottom lane to open opportunities to snowball top and set up a 1-3-1. That is not the way to challenge SKT, and it is the source of many of the Tigers’ losses to SKT through two long years of battle. Historically, SKT T1 have been the best team at playing around the top side of the map, and ROX used a lot of their map control to allow Smeb to succeed. But because of the debut of Miss Fortune support in that series, many focused on that pick and not the Ashe pick that was more pivotal. Ashe as a pick decided four of five games in the series. The match ROX lost with the pick got countered by Zilean and Karma shutting down ROX’s side lane picks while Gnar could bully Rumble out of the lanes. In 2017, a first seed team with PraY on the roster failed again. Longzhu Gaming dropped 0-3 in the quarterfinal to a Samsung Galaxy team that gained experience playing around the bottom side of the map from Royal Never Give Up: a Chinese team they lost to in the Group Stage. The bot-heavy pressure was something a roster not known for catering to Khan’s side laning prowess had experience dealing with. Royal Never Give Up appeared in 2018 as giants who had won everything from Demacia Cup, LPL Spring, majority representation on the championship Asian Games roster, MSI, Rift Rivals, and LPL Summer. But when they showed up to play against G2 Esports, their penchant for funneling gold onto Uzi combined with their insulation competing against borderline sister team Flash Wolve in scrims, caused them to lose to a solo lane centric G2 in a BO5. That paved the way for a similarly solo lane centric Invictus Gaming to win the whole thing. All of this points to the value of experiencing losses and watching some of the strongest teams in adapting for a victory. That puts Championship teams at apparent immediate disadvantages in the Worlds qualification format. Dominant domestic teams play less games in that they are less likely to experience third place matches, more best-of-fives in the LCK playoffs format, domestic Gauntlets, or the World Championship Play-Ins. The second seed team usually comes in second place. That means that their primary advantage is in making it to the bootcamp earlier than the third seed, but also in understanding reasons for their own losses. Teams that win definitively domestically can face a multitude of problems in improving. They can win scrims so convincingly that it becomes hard to judge which picks are strong. They can have a very ingrained system that allows them to win domestically that they don’t have to inspect until international competition rolls around. Second seed teams have the advantage of all the prep time of first seed teams with the added benefit of already understanding some of their flaws. They’ve competed tirelessly against the first seed domestic team all year, butting heads against not only them, but their own ingrained flaws as a team. That gives them better scrim partners and better road maps for improvement. As such, it isn’t surprising to see second seeds get the majority of Worlds titles since the format change in 2014. Third seeds, since 2017, have a very different qualification system to first or second seed teams. Previously, third seeds gained additional best-of-five experience from having to qualify through a Gauntlet that made them play one additional best-of-five domestically at minimum. Since 2017, third seed teams have also had to participate against emerging region teams in the Play-In. Despite most major region teams considering Play-In participation something of a high risk nuisance because they have to prepare for teams they likely haven’t watched all year, Play-In participation has continuously proved beneficial in leveling up a region’s third seed. Play-In teams get to try more picks on stage, removing scrim bias from meta understanding and giving their players more time to get over the stress of a higher level of competition. Despite most major region teams considering Play-In participation something of a high risk nuisance because they have to prepare for teams they likely haven’t watched all year, Play-In participation has continuously proved beneficial in leveling up a region’s third seed. Play-In teams get to try more picks on stage, removing scrim bias from meta understanding and giving their players more time to get over the stress of a higher level of competition. Since a lot of third seed teams will usually field younger players who haven’t quite reached the levels of veterans on the first and second seed teams, the grueling Play-In process can prove invaluable in bridging the gap. 2018’s advancement of three Play-In teams from main stage Groups is a logical result that analysts should consider predicting for 2019 as well. What does first seed get? More prep time against their opponents after the Group Draw compared to third seed teams, but compared to second seed teams, they’ll have been more burnt out after giving it their all the entire season to remain first. In addition, they’ll have less of an understanding of their flaws having not been adequately pressed domestically. First seed teams in the past like G2 Esports in 2016 and 2017 have floundered because they didn’t adapt to the meta quickly or had a poor read going into the tournament. Arguably, staying on top domestically didn’t give them a leg up in analyzing trends or understanding key concepts that would be tested at Worlds. In addition, in the past, being first seed from LPL, EU LCS, or NA LCS meant you didn’t get placed in a group with the first seed from LCK. First seed LCK teams were the only ones that historically managed to escape groups without dropping a game. That created less punishment for the strongest team in a group because a first seed LCK team was less likely to drop games to other teams and made a second seed out of Group Stage easier to secure. Since then, gaining a first seed into Group Stage has an even more ambiguous advantage. Because of the format of the LoL season, there isn’t a very adequate metric for ranking the relative strengths of teams. After 2018’s Worlds and 2019’s MSI, there isn’t much of a regional tier list. As the 2016 LCK Playoffs proved when KT had a better matchup against SKT than ROX, the lack of a double elimination can be extremely detrimental to determining the true domestic rankings of teams that don’t have to face each other. Stylistic matchups end up mattering, and seeding feels more like a roulette than ever. Instituting double eliminations in Worlds Qualification would test first seeds even more than they’re being tested now rather than waiting until the World Championship to force them under fire. Of course, if you’ve been paying attention in this argument, you’ve noticed I skipped 2015. Since the Worlds format changed, SK Telecom T1’s victory in 2015 stands out as the only first seed victory at Worlds. This one requires a great deal of context. 2015 marked the first competitive year after the great Koean exodus. Of all teams, SKT retained the most interesting talent name (Faker), while a lot of high profile players went to LPL. On top of that, LPL’s transparent lack of prep leading up to the event threw off a lot of teams at Worlds. For example, two LMS teams made it out of Groups, something that has never happened at a World Championship since. Both most of the LCK and all of LPL effectively handicapped themselves going into that event. A lot of that is reflected in SKT’s sweeping victories leading up to Worlds. In 18 series that summer regular season, they only lost one, and they 3-0’d their Grand Final. That level of dominance in a summer split by a team from a decidedly dominant region — after the LPL’s self handy-cap — is almost unheard of. I see a lot of power ranking lists leading up to this Worlds pitting G2 Esports, Fun Plus Phoenix, and SK Telecom T1 as favorites to take this tournament. None of them, except FPX, enjoyed anything approaching the level of domestic dominance that SKT did in 2015. And FPX doesn’t have the same international circumstantial backdrop as that SKT team. So I have to wonder, with all the evidence of the first seed disadvantage, perhaps it isn’t best to raise our estimates of the likes of Fnatic, who took G2 to two five game series leading up to Worlds, or DAMWON, a roster with a high level of talent and the ability to experience the grueling nature of the Play-In for the very first time for any LCK team? And if a first seed team doesn’t take it this year, it is definitely time to re-examine the seeding and qualification format that has put domestic winners at a disadvantage to domestic losers season after season.

Kakeru breaks Street Fighter 6’s meta with jaw-dropping win over EVO champ AngryBird Twitch: Gamers8 / CapcomStreet Fighter 6 pro Kakeru dropped jaws across the fighting game community after defeating EVO champ AngryBird at Gamers8 in a stunning display of adaptability. EVO 2023 kicked off the very first tournament in this year’s Capcom Pro Tour, with players from all around the world flocking to Vegas in the hopes of showing off their Street Fighter 6 skills. NASR Esports’ ‘AngryBird’ took home the coveted title of EVO champion over MenaRD in a magnificent Winner’s side run, earning himself a spot at Capcom Cup early next year. His performance with Ken was nothing short of dominant, cementing him as a player to keep an eye on throughout the rest of the season — but it looks like another competitor has his number. The Gamers8 Street Fighter 6 invitational tournament took place just a week after EVO as part of an eight-week-long esports festival. 32 players were invited to take part in a 1v1 tournament at the event, with a whopping $400,000 grand prize up for grabs. As expected, AngryBird came out of the gate swinging, making his way to the Grand Final in Winner’s side against Japanese JP main ‘Kakeru.’ AngryBird had actually defeated Kakeru earlier in the tournament in a 3-0 set — but Kakeru wasn’t about to lose again. Kakeru defeats AngryBird in viral victory at Gamers8 In a stunning comeback that left the entire Street Fighter scene completely slack-jawed, Kakeru managed to pull off 32 perfect parries against AngryBird’s Ken, giving himself the advantage to pull off high-damage punishes or create the perfect setup with his character’s long-range abilities. The window to execute a perfect parry is quite small: Two frames to be exact, a mere fraction of a second, making Kakeru’s achievement all the more impressive. After trouncing Punk in the Loser’s Final, Kakeru reset the bracket against AngryBird 3-1 in the Grand Final and took home the victory in a stunning 3-0 final set. It’s clear that Kakeru had carefully studied the JP-Ken matchup after his losses to both AngryBird and Tokido at EVO just a week prior, marking himself as a serious threat to the rest of the competition. The fighting game community has praised Kakeru’s “untouchable” Grand Finals performance at Gamers8, with even the likes of legendary Street Fighter pro Daigo ‘The Beast’ Umehara saying he suspects his “adaptability is beyond anything the dev team expected to see.” Although Street Fighter 6 is still in its infancy, it’s certainly fascinating to see how the competition shakes out in the early days of this brand-new fighting game. With pros like MenaRD, Punk, AngryBird, Kakeru and more on top of the pile, we have to wonder if these fighters will continue their reign — or if other players will come to take a piece of the pie.

Karmine Corp won’t be in LEC in 2023, says Kameto Riot GamesIn a stream to fans, Karmine Corp CEO Kamel ‘Kameto’ Kebir revealed that the French organization will not join the LEC in 2023, though he did not rule out entering the league in the future. Kameto told fans on Twitch that KCorp won’t be in the LEC after it was reported that the organization could secure the franchise spot owned by Astralis. The deal might not have been an outright purchase of the slot, according to League of Legends reporter Brieuc ‘LEC Wooloo’ Seeger, who said that a loan of the LEC berth through Riot Games was considered. Karmine Corp is a giant esports organization in the French community and has been one of the most popular teams on social media in 2022. The organization also has experience working with Riot Games in the French European Regional League and the new EMEA Valorant Champions Tour league. Kamento said in an emotional address to fans that he hopes to join the LEC “the right way,” Seeger added. Response to Karmine Corp not being in LEC Fnatic Academy player Rúben ‘rhuckz’ Barbosa joined the chorus of KCorp fans who expressed their disappointment that the French organization will not be in the LEC in 2023. KCorp have built a large fan base over the past two years, with their League of Legends team, headlined by former Fnatic and G2 AD Carry Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson, having a history of success in the LFL and the European Masters. The LEC will have two new faces in 2023 after KOI partnered with Rogue and Team Heretics acquired Misfit Gaming’s slot. Both KOI and Heretics are based in Spain and, like KCorp, will be part of the EMEA VCT league in Valorant. As it stands now, Astralis will keep its LEC slot in 2023 and continue to compete in the European league.

Just Stop Oil protesters take over Street Fighter 6 tournament & “throw paint on main screen” Twitch: CapcomFightersJust Stop Oil protesters interrupted a Street Fighter 6 tournament during Grand Finals, splashing paint all over players’ monitors and delaying the competition. The 2023 Capcom Pro Tour is well underway, pitting the globe’s best Street Fighter 6 pros against one another in a high-stakes, worldwide competition. The CPT’s third Offline Premier event took place from November 3-5 in Paris, France, as part of Paris Games Week. During the tournament’s Grand Final, which saw two-time Capcom Cup champ ‘MenaRD’ face off against Hong Kong pro ‘Chris Wong’ in a nail-biting fight to the finish, something happened that totally upended the competition. Just Stop Oil protesters storm Street Fighter 6 tournament At the very beginning of the Grand Final, a group of unknown people ran up on stage and appeared to smear something all over the two players’ monitors. Both MenaRD and Chris Wong quickly got up from their setups and left the stage — leaving attendees, competitors, and even the commentators quite confused. “What has happened?” commentator ‘Jammerz’ asked as he watched the scene unfold. “I would love to know.” Luckily, fellow commentator ‘FWord’ was able to keep the conversation flowing despite the drama, and later revealed exactly what went down at the tournament in a short video on Twitter/X. According to FWord, protestors supposedly representing Just Stop Oil – a “nonviolent civil resistance group” protesting the UK’s use of oil and gas – had “stormed the main stage and thrown paint all over the main screen.” The tournament had to take a quick break to clean things up but was able to resume the competition after a short intermission. FWord updated fans on the situation with a short statement after the break. “Everyone’s safe, no one has been harmed,” he stated. “An incident occurred, and the team has handled it swiftly and quickly.” As a result of the interruption, the fighters had to start over from square one. Ultimately, Chris Wong took home the Premier victory, leaving MenaRD — the man who won Capcom Cup 2022 — to qualify for Capcom Cup 2023 in the remaining Online Premiers left throughout the season, or perhaps the Last-Chance Qualifier in February. This isn’t the first time this has happened at a fighting game tournament, either. An almost identical incident took place during a Tekken 7 tournament in October, which saw Just Stop Oil protestors halt the match and smear paint on players’ screens, as well.

K’Sante is already dominating League of Legends pro play Riot GamesThe Demacia Cup has given League of Legends fans a first look at pro play in Season 13, and one of the biggest takeaways is that K’Sante is really, really strong. So far, the Demacia Cup has had its fair share of surprises. The tournament stands as an off-season staple for the LPL, bringing the best players China has to offer into one big event. While there have certainly been some highlights this year like a streamer team making it to the Quarterfinals after beating FPX 2-0, to Azir support being picked twice in one set, one thing has remained constant through the tournament: K’Sante is a first pick/ban champion. He has the highest pick/ban rate at the tournament, and the highlight clips showing off what this champion can do have been very illuminating as to just how strong this champion is. K’Sante dominates League of Legends pro play K’Sante’s win rate on release wasn’t anything special— or, well, it was special for all the wrong reasons. His win rate upon release was similar to the way Zeri launched; K’Sante’s win rate was on the edge of going below 40% in his very first days on the Rift. As people learn these complex champions, the win rate will naturally rise. But K’Sante’s is still fairly low overall, still not breaching the 50% threshold. Outside of pro play, at least. In the hands of pro players, however, this champion is a top lane demon. Players who have grasped the mechanical complexity of League of Legends’ newest character are tearing apart the competition. This is an impressive solo kill as it is, but context makes it even more impressive. Bin, the Aatrox player here, is the very same player who won MSI 2022 with RNG and is playing one of the strongest champions in the meta. HOYA’s always been a strong individual performer and has had his fair share of highlight moments over the years, but it wasn’t expected for him to have such a massive skill gap against a player of Bin’s caliber. By the time this game was over, HOYA was 11/1/5. He snowballed his lead and carried the game for his entire team, all off the back of some smart dives and strong mechanics. Pros have also gotten creative with K’Sante, finding new tech that’s pushing the champion to new heights. For instance, in this clip you can see chaomeng, a player straight from the Chinese super server, using Wukong’s clone to get over a wall an avoid getting killed on a dive. The fact that this was pulled off by a player who doesn’t have any prior pro play history is a testament to how strong players on the Chinese super server can be, but also that there are players in the region finding unique ways to use his kit even outside of pro play. It remains to be seen whether or not the champion that’s been dominating our very first look at pro play for the year can maintain that high level of performance in other regions.

jojopyun wins LCS Rookie of the Year award Twitter @lolesportsEvil Geniuses’ teenage mid laner Joseph Joon “jojopyun” Pyun has been voted the League of Legends Championship Series Rookie of the Year. In his second full LCS split, the 17 year-old player has earned the title of best rookie in the league. Over the course of the Summer Split, jojopyun has averaged a 4.7 Kills/Deaths/Assists ratio and 30 gold up at 15 minutes. With Evil Geniuses, the Canadian player finished first in the Summer Split with a 15-3 record and secured a bye into the LCS 2022 Championship. Evil Geniuses only lost to the second, third and fourth place teams in the LCS over the course of the split. In the Spring Split jojopyun became the youngest player to win the LCS in the playoffs, besting 100 Thieves for a spot in the Mid-Season Invitation in 2022. At the international event Evil Geniuses placed third-fourth after a 3-0 loss to Royal Never Give Up. jojopyun and the next generation of LCS talent Other players most voted for in this category include FlyQuest’s Loïc ‘toucouille’ Dubois and Philip ‘Philip’ Zeng along with Cloud9’s Kim ‘Berserker’ Min-cheol. TSM’s Ji ‘Takeover’ Cha Hyeun-min and Cheng “Alex” ‘S0ul’ Luo also made appearance on the ballot sheets along with Shane Kenneth ‘Kenvi’ Espinoza from Immortals. Out of the field of players, toucouille and the Evil Geniuese mid laner seemed to be the resident top two players in terms of voting. The two player have a chance to fight for the award in the Championship bracket, albeit in the finals as FlyQuest was knocked into the lower bracket in the first round. Fans can see the resident Rookie of the Year fight for another spot at an international event on August 28 as Evil Geniuses take on Cloud9 in the second round of the tournament.

Jin Air Green Wings become first ever team to go winless in LCK After their last match ended in a loss, League of Legends Champions Korea team the Jin Air Green Wings entered the history books as the first ever team in the league to go 0-18. After failing to get a single W in the Spring, they join the 2018 Shanghai Dragons in the elite club of winless esports teams. Going without a win is no easy feat, but the Green Wings pulled it off after falling to Griffin 2-0 in the final game of the season. What happened this season? Like a lot of their matches this season, the Green Wings were unable to keep up with Griffin and fell apart midway through each of the two games. On paper at least, the team should have been able to keep up with other LCK squads, but like the Dragons – they just never found a way to put a win together. After a winless split it’s hard to say whether or not Jin Air will remain in the LCK, but they do seem to be able to get wins in Promotion Tournaments. In esports, anything is possible, so we could even see the Green Wings redeem themselves, like the Dragons did by winning the Overwatch League Stage 3 Championship (with an entirely different squad than in 2018). What else is going on in LCK? Just because the Green Wings are out doesn’t mean the Spring Split is over and playoffs begin on August 21. The team that the Green Wings lost to on Friday, Griffin, is at the top of the standings and is a lot of people’s favorite to win the Spring split. No matter the outcome though, it will be tough to top the Green Wings impressive, in a way, winless season.

Johanna Faries reportedly set to lead both CDL & OWL as Head of Leagues Activision Blizzard[jwplayer 91I9RIGm] Following a resignation by the Overwatch League’s commissioner, Peter Vlastelica, Activision Blizzard have apparently named the Call of Duty League’s commissioner, Johanna Faries, as a new “Head of Leagues,” overseeing both esports. In 2019, the Overwatch League’s first commissioner, Nate Nanzer, resigned in order to head up Fortnite’s burgeoning esports scene as Epic Games’ Head of Competitive (before moving on to become their Head of Global Partnerships). In 2020, the OWL’s second commissioner, Vlastelica, resigned just before the league’s Grand Finals. Now, instead of announcing a third commissioner for Overwatch esports, Activision Blizzard are reportedly set to make the Call of Duty League’s commissioner, Faries, the head of both esports leagues under a new title: Head of Leagues. This comes after she headed up a very successful, albeit tumultuous, inaugural CDL season. As reported by The Esports Observer’s Kevin Hitt, league sources expect Faries to be announced as Head of Leagues on October 12. The role will have her oversee team and broadcast operations while also serving as administrator for both of Activision Blizzard’s esports. In another shuffling of responsibilities, current Chief Commercial Officer Brandon Snow is also expected to take on more management of the leagues’ marketing and analytics. All of this news comes during the CDL offseason and amidst the OWL’s 2020 Playoffs. In a statement about Vlastelica’s resignation, the overruling company confirmed that the former CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports and OWL commissioner “will transition from his role in ABE to focus on new entrepreneurial ventures on behalf of Activision Blizzard, following the Overwatch League Grand Finals. He was fundamental in building the company’s esports business and driving the industry forward, and we thank Pete for his contributions and impact on our business over the last four years.” As for Faries’ experience leading into the role, the new joint commissioner is a former Harvard University graduate who spent 11 years with the NFL, finishing as the Vice President of Club Business Development after five-plus years as the VP of Marketing Strategy and Fan Development. Subsequently, she joined Activision Blizzard as the Call of Duty Esports commissioner, a role in which she drew tremendous praise from owners, most notable from Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez, and players alike in an impressive inaugural season for the CDL. Now, she brings a wealth of experience to both leagues ahead of pivotal 2021 seasons.

Jason Lake buys back Complexity Gaming for $10M Complexity, TimTheTatmanGameSquare Holdings has announced the sale of Complexity Gaming, the storied esports organization, to Jason Lake and Global Esports Properties, for $10.36 million. The deal is set to close upon approval from the TSX Venture Exchange. The figure is far below what Lake sold coL for in 2021 – $27 million. In a press release, GameSquare says that Complexity Gaming experienced significant growth under their ownership, with sales soaring by over 175%. The org also brought on big-name streamers like Ninja and TimTheTatman as investors. GameSquare CEO Justin Kenna expressed mixed feelings about parting ways with Complexity, but said it was a strategic move in preparation for GameSquare’s acquisition of FaZe. Jason Lake, founder and CEO of Complexity, expressed gratitude for the successful collaboration with GameSquare and excitement for the future. “It’s now time to write the next chapter in our legendary story and I’m confident our loyal fans will greatly enjoy the years ahead,” Lake said. As part of the agreement, GameSquare will receive an initial payment of $0.75 million, with the remainder to be paid over three years. Additionally, GameSquare will receive a share of any additional funds raised by Global Esports. With this transaction, Complexity enters a new chapter under Global Esports’ ownership, while GameSquare looks to replicate the success with FaZe, an org that has suffered numerous setback financially since going public. After being made CEO, FaZe Banks posted on X/Twitter that all FaZe staff were being fired.

Jeff Kaplan explains why he wants Blitzchung ban dropped Blizzard Vice President, Jeff Kaplan, has revealed that he believes Ng Wai ‘Blitzchung’ Chung’s suspension should now be “eliminated” amid the controversy that has ensued, after the Hearthstone player used his GrandMasters victory to support the Hong Kong protests. After Blitzchung called for the liberation of Hong Kong during a post-match interview, Blizzard clamped down on the Hong Kong native — dishing out a one year ban, retracting two season’s worth of earnings and stripping Chung of his GrandMasters status. Following on from the community backlash, Blizzard refined the suspension to a six-month ban and reinstated Chung’s earnings. However, fast-forward to one month after the incident and the Blizzard VP has expressed his views on the situation. Blizzard President, J. Allen Brack, addressed the BlizzCon 2019 audience with an apologetic opening before stating: “We will do better moving forward. Our actions are going to mean more than these words.” One week after the convention, Kaplan has expressed his thoughts on the current state of affairs in an interview with the Washington Post, explaining that “the suspension should be reduced more or eliminated.” “It got to me personally,” Kaplan said. “I think the punishment was too harsh and I was greatly relieved when they gave (Blitzchung) his money back — I think that was extremely important.” The Blizzard VP then went on to explain how there are conflicting emotions flying around Blizzard: “I think as individuals, we all have very different feelings about what happened in regards to the Hearthstone tournament and Blitzchung. There is a lot of very different reaction among all of us.” Richard Lewis has also weighed-in on Kaplan’s comments, stating: “We can assume that the punishment came from the very top of the company” since the Blizzard executive appeared to have little to no say in the punishment that was served. Blizzard VP and head of development for Overwatch, Jeff Kaplan, has told the Washington Post he believes that Blitzchung’s punishment should be reduced further and that he doesn’t support it. As such we can assume that the punishment came from the very top of the company. pic.twitter.com/sLaBpiR2w7 — Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) November 8, 2019 “I’m obviously a huge supporter of free speech; it’s something that’s very important to me,” Kaplan said, as he edged in his personal standpoint during the interview. Although Blizzard have already reflected upon their decision and made amendments accordingly, there are more twists to this tale which now appears to internally refute the company’s core value of “every voice matters” (as per their mission statement).

Japanese ad and rumors suggest Hero could be released for Smash Ultimate during Evo finals Twitter/@PushDustinAs everyone anxiously awaits the arrival of Hero from Dragon Quest to Super Smash Bros Ultimate, a display at a 7/11 in Japan has revealed a possible release date at an interesting time. Twitter user PushDustin uploaded a photo of a 7/11 display for Fire Emblem and Hero. It says that Hero will be released in the summer, which was already confirmed, but the interesting thing is that the display is only until the 4th of August. Evo is the biggest fighting game tournament of the year and Super Smash Bros Ultimate is going to be headlining the Sunday primetime slot on August 4. 7/11 in Japan has a pop up display for Fire Emblem and Hero. (it just says that Hero will be released in the summer). The pop up display is only until the 4th though. pic.twitter.com/ZXTOwSHogc — PushDustIn (@PushDustIn) July 24, 2019 If Hero’s release announcement is planned for the 4th, it would make sense for it to be during the Smash Bros finals at Evo. It’s unlikely it would happen earlier on at the event, because as we’ve previously reported, PlayStation will be sponsoring Evo and 8 of the 9 titles are presented by PS4. Previously, Nintendo uploaded a video hyping up its July releases and included Hero’s arrival in Smash as part of it. The company quickly edited the video’s title and changed July to summer. It’s possible that Hero’s release date was in fact intended for August. Hero was unveiled alongside Banjo and Kazooie as the next two downloadable characters for Smash Ultimate. The Dragon Quest character has already undergone some changes since his reveal. In a column, the game’s creator, Masahiro Sakurai, said that the amount of MP – Magic Points – the Hero uses for attacks have changed. Magic points deplete whenever Hero uses a spell during a battle. It’s unknown if he can regenerate them during a match. If Hero’s release is announced at Evo it would be guaranteed to get a lot of fans in attendance hyped up. Super Smash Bros will have the most participants at Evo this year with nearly 3,500 players vying to win it all. Evo starts August 2, 2019 and will run until August 4 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

Japanese Smash Ultimate pro says Hero’s language barrier may have cost him NintendoSmash Bros Ultimate games are often decided by a competitor having a better grasp of matchups than their opponent, but, as one Japanese Smash Bros pro discovered at a recent Major tournament, Hero is making things difficult for players who don’t understand English language. Following on from his defeat to Saleem ‘Salem’ Akiel Young, Ishiguro ‘Raito’ Tetsuya argued that his inability to read Hero’s moves cost him the game. Ever since the Dragon Quest character made his debut in Ultimate in July 2019, he has become one of the most polarizing fighters in the game. The fact that some of his moves randomly result in an RPG-style critical hit. is enough to rile players, but the English language text box the drops down with his down+b special is also proving controversial. This special pulls up a text dialogue box with four random spells that can be selected, including the incredibly powerful Snooze and Thwack. Both of these moves can result in a guaranteed KO if they land. This can be a big problem for players who don’t know how to read English. A player with a grasp of the language could read the menu and would be able to react quicker than someone who doesn’t – and in Smash Bros, these split-second decisions can prove crucial. Salem, who had already caused controversy at the event by refusing to shake Melee God Adam ‘Armada’ Lindgren’s hand following a victory, decided to play Hero against Raito’s Duck Hunt and Banjo & Kazooie. At the top 16 stage, the Hero specialist took out Raito in a clean 3-0 win. After the match, the Japanese pro took to Twitter where he appeared to blame his inability to read English for the defeat. “I don’t think it’s unfair at all about Hero language issues,” Raito said on Twitter. “English is a universal language, and I was bad because I didn’t study properly.” For his part, Salem says that he didn’t even take English into account when deciding to play Hero. “I wasn’t even thinking about all this,” he said. “But I know Hero is extremely strong vs camping characters.” There has been a lot of discussion over Hero’s legality in tournaments due to the emphasis on RNG and the fact that it forces Japanese players to learn English for the matchup. Hero was banning not only Hero, but all future DLC characters from all upcoming Smash Bros Ultimate competitive tournaments.

Jankos leaving G2 after 5 years: “Everything has to end” Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesAfter 5 years of excellence on G2 Esports, Jankos has officially departed the organization. He spoke about G2’s struggles for the past few years and his reasons for leaving in an announcement video. Rumors of Jankos leaving G2 were floating around, but nothing had been confirmed. Rather than waiting for someone else to confirm his departure, Jankos released a video of his own. Rather than a quick announcement tweet released by an org like most other pros, Jankos went out of his way to put together a video speaking about his years with G2, as well as what went wrong at Worlds 2022. And, according to Jankos, he didn’t intend to leave G2 after this year. Rather, the organization wanted to “try with a different jungler” going into 2023. Jankos is leaving G2, but he’s not retiring Jankos has become a core part of G2’s identity over the years. From their MSI win that restored faith in Western League of Legends in 2019, to all their strong showings both domestically and internationally, Jankos has been at the center of all of them along with players like Caps and Perkz. Despite the news, Jankos seemed pretty optimistic about the future in his announcement video. He said that G2’s decision “makes perfect sense”, and that this change could be good for him in the grand scheme of things. While Jankos isn’t retiring, he did say that he’d like to play at his best with “the last few years I have left in me”. Jankos is already 27 years old, and, while he’s still one of the best junglers in Europe, he’s getting on in years compared to many other players in the LEC. In his announcement video, Jankos said that “everything has to end” in relation to him leaving G2. And, unfortunately, that will be true of his career at some point as well. Just not quite yet. Jankos doesn’t yet know where he’ll end up, but he said that he had the “best years of his life” while playing under the G2 banner. The end of an era, but not the end of Jankos’ career.

Jankos “considering” swap to full-time streaming in 2023 Jankos | YouTubeJankos left G2 after 5 years of playing under their banner. While he intends to play professionally in 2023 if he can, his expensive contract buyout might make a swap to full-time streaming his best option. Jankos’ departure from G2’s roster came as a shock to many, even the man himself. According to Jankos’ original announcement that he wouldn’t be playing for G2 Esports in 2022, he was originally planning to keep playing before he was taken off their starting roster following Worlds 2022. And, while Jankos may not be playing under G2, he’s still contracted with the org until the end of 2023. This makes his contract buyout expensive and makes him a pricy proposition for any team that would want to put the superstar jungler on their starting roster. This is similar to Rekkles’ account of why he couldn’t play in the LEC in 2022. So, rather than trying to wade through contract hell and find a team willing to pay a hefty buyout, Jankos might not be playing professionally in 2023 at all. Instead, he’s “considering” the swap to streaming full-time. Jankos might swap to full-time streaming in 2023 Out of all the League of Legends pro players, Jankos has one of the largest individual followings. His streams consistently garner thousands of viewers, with people sticking around for his high-level gameplay and vivacious personality. Streaming has always been an option for Jankos. His existing following would make him one of the biggest League of Legends streamers regardless of whether or not he’s playing professionally. And, due to the fact that his contract with G2 doesn’t expire until 2023, there’s a very real chance that we don’t see this internationally recognized jungler on a pro team for the year. Jankos has been streaming himself bootcamping in Korean solo queue, and he got into a conversation about how realistic his chances of playing professionally next year are. His existing contract with G2 makes this complicated. “To get a decent salary plus a buyout from G2 will not be that simple for me this year, I think. I cannot tell you how much my contract is, I don’t think I’m allowed to do that, but it’s very expensive.” The complications involved with joining any of the LEC teams for Jankos may make it easier for him to swap to streaming full-time than to pursue pro play in 2023. “Honestly, I was considering just streaming.” He spoke at length about the issues involving his contract, and concluded by saying he wouldn’t be satisfied by just any team in the LEC. “I would like to play with a good roster, or at least make it worth it. And, from my understanding, if I stream for a bit, hopefully teams won’t lose interest in me and I can just grind solo queue. And watch pro play. And wait until a team decides to really hard commit to changing their jungler.”

Jamppi’s tragedy: How a VAC banned CSGO Pro was forced to play Valorant Pro player Elias ‘Jamppi’ Olkkonen has learned the hard way that friends don’t always do you favors, and with his name tied to a VAC banned CS:GO account, the young player is currently unable to take part in Counter-Strike’s Majors. With his whole career ahead of him, Jamppi is now set to be moving across to Valorant – is this the right move for the Finnish talent? Previously starting out with a passion for ice hockey before being introduced to CSGO by a friend, the star eventually fell in love with the esport title. The unfortunate downfall for the star who’s known to carry his teams came about when bought and sold his account to a friend when he was 14. The consequences of what that person did with the account have changed the landscape of his career forever. With organization OG looking to put together a superteam that consisted of players like Nathan ‘NBK’ Schmitt and Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen alongside the Finnish star as the main fragger, the discovery of a VAC ban tarnished the star’s name, and the deal was dropped. While many throughout the community feel sympathy for the star, Valve still has the ban in place, and Jamppi has moved onto greener pastures in Valorant. Citing that it would be a “fresh start” for him mentally, the ban was always in his mind, and Valorant’s Future Earth allows him a do-over to compete with the best. For all Valorant news and events, make sure to head over to our dedicated hub.

Introducing Realm Royale Esports – Details and Breakdown of Upcoming Weekly Tournaments Hi-Rez Studios has announced that the competitive and esports scene for its popular Realm Royale BR game has officially launched. The developers have been at work with third party hosts and organizers to put together weekly tournaments and events that will feature massive prize pools. As of now, there will be two major competitive series that will be played on a weekly basis – the Realm Royale Invitiational and 100K Thursday tournaments Both competitions will be organized by Skillshot Media, a community-driven esports production company and subsidiary of Hi-Rez Studios, while the latter will be a collaborative effort with popular YouTuber Daniel ‘KEEMSTAR’ Keem. We are thrilled to announce the beginning of @RealmRoyale esports! Check out our new esports site to get more info on upcoming tournaments. This week will feature the Realm Royale Invitational and a competitive bracket hosted by @KEEMSTAR! :open_book: https://t.co/XY9sOfQDtf pic.twitter.com/psFAShgDHE — Skillshot Media (@SkillshotMedia) July 17, 2018 In a video released by Hi-Rez Studios, Community Manager ‘HiRezJNASH’ provided details for each of the tournaments, starting with the Realm Royale Invitational, which will be held every Wednesday starting at 3 PM ET / 12 PM PT. “Skillshot Media will launch its first weekly Invitation tournament. This will feature players from North America and Europe that are both highly ranked Masters players as well as broadcasters. Each Invitational will offer a prize pool of $10,000.” The second major competition, which is being called the KEEMSTAR Realm Royale 100K Thursday tournament, will be held every Thursday starting at 4 PM ET / 1 PM PT. Just as with KEEMSTAR’s weekly Friday Fortnite event, this tourney is set to feature popular broadcasters and content creators, and will include a whopping $100,000 prize pool. Both of these tournament series will be live-streamed by Skillshot Media hosts and casters on the Realm Royale Twitch and Mixer channels, as well as the participating broadcasters on their personal channels. We will also provide a dedicated hub for the KEEMSTAR 100K tournament, including all rules, details, streams, and the full bracket once it is officially released. The entirety of the Realm Royale esports announcement can be viewed below:

IWNL wins Fortnite Streamer Bowl 2: results & recap Epic Games/TwitchFortnite hosted it’s Streamer Bowl II on January 16 through Twitch Rivals, and we’ve got the full rundown along with the final top 10 standings from the event. The Streamer Bowl II cup took place from 4 PM to 7 PM EST on January 16, and featured hundreds of regular players, along with a ton of well-known streamers like Ninja and Bugha to name two of the biggest names. There were even a few NFL stars in the mix, including Tampa Bay Bucs Wideout Mike Evans, Carolina Panthers Running Back Christian McCaffrey, and Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Kyler Murray to name a few. It was a tough battle at the top of the bracket, but eventually, a winner was proclaimed, so let’s take a look at who came out as the winner of Streamer Bowl II. Fortnite Streamer Bowl II results & final standings Coming in first with 3 wins out of 9 total matches played, Fortnite esports player IWNL was eventually crowned the champion with 129 points. But, fellow Fortnite comp player Nevify was actually tied with the same amount of points, but fewer average elims, and total matches played at just 8. Below are the top 10 placements of the Fortnite Streamer Bowl II on Twitch Rivals: Fortnite Streamer Bowl II rules The Rules for Streamer Bowl II were fairly straightforward if you’ve watched or participated in any competitive Fortnite events before. Players had 10 matches to drop into Solos games and attempt to increase their score as much as possible. Five points were awarded per Victory Royale, with three for reaching the top two and one point from there. Kills also were worth a point each, which was of course the main focus for all of our top 10 finishers.

Insomnia Gaming Festival 2024: Dates, tickets, games and more InsomniaInsomnia the Gaming Festival is returning in 2024 as the biggest LAN part in the UK is set to host more casual and pro gaming tournaments, along with cosplaying and other community events. Here is everything you need to know about the event. The Insomnia Gaming Festival is just around the corner as the 72 edition of the LAN party is bringing back its casual gaming tournaments, festival entertainment, and iSERIES open tournaments for 2024. Attendees can expect to see people cosplaying and tent areas for camping along with evening entertainment as the days move along featuring a Pup Quiz and a Dark Room adventure. Here is everything you need to know about the event. More information will be added to this article as it comes out regarding the event. Contents Insomnia Gaming Festival dates The event will take place at the NEC Birmingham on March 28 through April 1. The tournaments at the event for casual gamers and esports pros will start on March 29. Each esports event will start on that Friday and run throughout the event, however, the casual events will take place in a specific time slot. Read on for more info on the specific games and titles featured at the Insomnia Gaming Festival. Insomnia Gaming Festival: Tickets Attendees can purchase a wide variety of tickets for the event, including day and weekend passes, premium LAN party passes and space for camping out at the venue. The price breakdown, and what kind of passes people need for specific parts of the event are listed below: LAN Party tickets (includes space in the LAN and Esports Hall along with amenities) LAN Lite (3-day pass): £91.67 – LAN Standard (4-day pass): £113.30 – Lan Plus (5-day pass): £133.90 – LAN Premium (5-day pass with more benefits): £216.30 – LAN VIP (5-day pass with merch and even more benefits): £290.00 – – Days pass (access to the festival on the day along with Fan Zone, stage seating and all show content) Friday Standard: £30.90 – Friday Premium: £41.35 – Saturday Standard: £30.90 – Saturday Premium: £41.35 – Sunday Standard: £30.90 – Sunday Premium: £41.35 – – Weekend pass (access to the event from Friday through Sunday along with Fan Zone, priority stage seating, and all show content) Standard Weekend: £86.92 – Weekend Priority (includes an i75 goody bag): £112.92 – – Camping pass (camping space from Friday to Monday, people also need to purchase a valid Insomnia72 ticket to camp) Camping for 1: £46.58 – Camping for 2: £45.53 – Camping for 3: £43.44 – Camping for 4: £41.35 – – LAN Rentals RTX2080: £141.67 – GTX1080TI: £120.77 – MONITOR ONLY: £42.40 – PS5 CONSOLE: £52.85 – – Pub Quiz and Dark Room Pub Quiz: £15.23 – Pub Quiz VIP: £22.54 – Dark Room: £19.41 – – Casual tournaments The casual gaming tournaments will be featured across the entire festival. Here is the schedule, including the game featured and what time they will start. iSERIES The festival’s esports tournaments will feature amateur players and professional organizations from the UK area across six different events and five games. Registration for every tournament is still live so teams can still sign up for spots in the tournaments. Registered teams will need to check in with the festival on March 29 and the tournaments will begin on the same day. Here are the tournaments running through the Insomnia Gaming Festival and their prize pools: Valorant Women’s Cup presented by EE GIANTX: £10,000 – Counter-Strike iSeries Open – i72: £5,000 – Overwatch 2 iSeries Open – i72: £3,000 – Rocket League iSeries Open – i72: £2,000 – Valorant iSeries Open – i72: £5,000 – League of Legends iSeries Open – i72: £3,000 –

Insane Link play against Mr R sends Smash Ultimate crowd into a frenzy NintendoAt Ultimate Fighting Arena in France, a Link player got the better of Smash Ultimate pro Ramin ‘Mr.R’ Delshad with an incredible play that has to be seen to be believed. In any major tournament there’s always the possibility of an upset. Part of the reason why is because there are so many skilled players who main fighters that the top seeds may lack matchup knowledge against. With a game like Smash, there’s so many characters with a variety of play styles that staying fresh in every single matchup is incredibly difficult. Combine that element with raw player skill and even seasoned veterans like Mr R can be put in difficult positions. In the Winners Round of 48, Vincent ‘VinS’ Goossens found himself down 2-1 in a Best of 3 against the Dutch prodigy. With both players on their last stock in Game 4, a single solid attack would clutch out a win. VinS found himself in a precarious position after being unlocked off stage. While he could have used his Up Special to recover and grab the ledge, the French Link player decided to switch things up and pulled off one of the most ridiculous plays of the tournament. Throughout Smash’s history, Link has had the ability to use his own bombs to help him recover. By taking damage with your own bombs, Link players can adjust their positions, something VinS took advantage of. After dropping the explosive, the Link specialist detonated it, launching him towards the side of the stage. It was there where he performed a perfect tech, which is when a play hits L or R right as they hit the ground or the side of a stage to avoid going flying off if it to their doom. With his position now under Mr R, VinS was able to perform his Up B, but in such a way that the last hit sent the Chrom legend off the stage and to his death. VinS’ play sent the French crowd into a frenzy and the casters reaction was absolutely wild. “What is this sorcery!?” they screamed. “Are you kidding me?! What is this sorcery? What was that?” 600The commentators were so impressed they didn’t stop there, adding: “Link! He’s speed-running Breath of the Wild! I saw that on Awesome Games Done Quick!” The comparisons to a speed run were quite comedic and the crowd was worked up too, madly cheering for their fellow Frenchman who just took Mr R to a fifth game. Unfortunately, while VinS put up a valiant effort, he fell short in game 5 as the experienced Mr R sent the French Hero of Time to the losers’ bracket. Regardless, the play in game 4 was one for the ages. With a lot of attention of the Smash community on The Big House major tournament the weekend of October 5, it’s good to see European events get their moment in the spotlight too.

Inside the Incredible Futuristic Esports Training Facility of Chinese Team OMG GuTeng designer studioBest known for its League of Legends team, Chinese organization ‘Oh My God’ (OMG) provides their players with an incredible training facility – in the shape of a spaceship. Formed in 2012, OMG started its esports division by recruiting a Chinese League of Legends team. In the six years since, it has had great success, a staple in the Chinese Pro League, and managed a top 4 at Worlds 2014. They also have a PUBG team, who are currently dominating at the PGI 2018 PUBG Global Invitational first-person tournament, with a strong lead in the standings after the first day of competition. To keep their players at the top of their game, OMG offers them a gaming house just like many other top esports teams do, especially in Asia. More: But if you’ve ever been impressed by Team Vitality’s castle-like gaming house for its League of Legends team, it’s nothing compared to OMG’s new home since March 2017. Located in Shanghai, it was designed by the GuTeng studio. It measures 2,000 square meters, and has been imagined as a true three-storey spaceship in a science-fiction style. The official project page shows the ground floor is dedicated to the administration and management of the structure. The first floor mainly hosts the Overwatch and King Pro League teams, while the second floor is dedicated to League of Legends. The studio also claims to have been inspired by Gavin Hood’s The Strategy Ender movie, released in 2013.

Immortals president on revitalizing the brand: “I’ve always been attracted to comeback stories” ImmortalsImmortals have been around since late 2015 after buying their way into the North American LCS but, at least in the eyes of some, the brand has grown stale over the years. Underwhelming performances in the premier NA League of Legends competition and a shortage of entertaining personalities representing the brand have led it into relative obscurity versus regional peers like 100 Thieves, TSM, and Team Liquid. Now, under a new leadership, Immortals are gearing up for a comeback. Immortals Gaming Club — the parent company behind Immortals, MIBR, and Overwatch League franchise Los Angeles Valiant — realized the worrying trend and sought to change it earlier in 2021. They hired Jordan Sherman, as reported first by Dexerto in May, as their new president in an effort to revitalize the organisation. The hire was made with a change in mind; Sherman’s background is in generating revenue for sports and esports properties through developing partnerships and sponsorships with, mostly, prominent companies. Joining Immortals is his first crack at the whip when it comes to leading an entire company, and he’s devised his own strategy to reinvent the team brand. Part of this new approach to developing long-term, engaged fans is with a new merchandise strategy that will see the org take no profits from sales of their t-shirts, hats, hoodies, and other merch they may produce in the future. To delve into his decision to take this challenge, and exactly how he’s tackling it, Dexerto sat down with him to ask a few questions. A new challenge “I’ve always been attracted to comeback stories and business stories and growth,” Sherman explained to Dexerto. “My career was always on the revenue side, I worked in revenue [generation] in Major League Baseball and I always felt like I was telling narratives. I never really saw myself as a salesperson. Having the opportunity to manage at a higher level and work across sales, marketing, finance, and legal is a huge challenge. I knew what I was signing up for.” When an executive is brought in to lead a company as part of a reinvention initiative, there’s likely going to be some expectancy for immediate impact. They need to be seen as somebody who can identify what’s working, what isn’t, and the best way forward. Sherman wasted little time in making his presence known, shuffling around personnel, hiring new talent, and entering into new titles. “We have really good people who love the brand so I wanted to reposition the organization a little bit to accelerate people’s strengths,” he said. “We just announced a round of promotions and we needed to bring in some outside talent. We’re going to keep bringing in new talent. We want to be actually activating the brand in areas of scarcity around the U.S. and showing up for people in places that they don’t expect us to, both physically and digitally. Those are the initial steps that we’re taking and we’re already seeing some good dividends in terms of new followers and the team being successful. “What I think is really interesting about the company is that there’s this narrative that Immortals is going in a direction that it’s not actually going in. When I was going through the process of evaluating this opportunity and talking to the team and the board, I saw how well run it has been from a revenue perspective and the setup with the different business units. I don’t know of any other esports companies where all of their units have a positive contribution margin.” The claim of profitability, especially in a nascent, struggling competition like the Overwatch League, stands out. While many esports organizations have received tens of millions of dollars of venture capital funding, that doesn’t equate to financial success. The majority of the competition is reliant on sponsorship dollars, with other revenue streams like league revenue share and media rights slowly working their way into the equation in a meaningful way. “We are going to do a broad expansion of our business units and we’re able to do that because we participate in franchise leagues that have stability,” Sherman said. “We have a really strong thesis around player selection, we’re healthy with our revenue payments with leagues, and the sponsorships that we’re bringing in are able to offset the costs of activating the team and running it. We think that this is going to grow over time with our league revenue share payments and more sponsorships. “There’s such a rush to get to the top, especially because it’s a new industry and it’s digital. Everything is so fast. I think the fans are the ones who have suffered from that because you don’t get to grow alongside somebody. In football, you have people that are with you for 20 plus years, you grow up with them, you’re there through the ups and the downs, and that’s why you have such a strong connection to them. I feel like in esports, people ask ‘What can we do in two or three?’” Read More: Are cryptocurrency sponsors bad for esports? – Over the past couple of years, especially in the West, there’s a trend emerging where organizations are becoming increasingly bullish on so-called global expansions. Making use of esports’ digital nature, they want to accommodate fans outside of their home market and serve regional markets in Asia. The likes of Fnatic and TSM have made moves into India and Japan, for example. Immortals don’t have the same goals in that respect — not in the short-to-medium term, at least. It takes a lot of resources and attention to operate in an entirely different region and culture, and there’s still plenty of work to be done in North America when it comes to the proliferation of awareness and fandom surrounding esports. “We’re going to be fully focused on the United States and we’ll have some announcements soon around areas of scarcity in the country where we think there isn’t like a great esports culture yet because orgs aren’t participating there, but we’re going to be more active there,” the Immortals president explained. Prioritizing fandom A recurring theme in our conversation with Sherman was community and fans. This is understandable considering esports is entertainment, just as much as sports and cinema are. While competition is the driving factor for players, fans want to be entertained and this can also be done through content. The likes of 100 Thieves and FaZe Clan are essentially media companies that also have competitive teams, but Immortals will remain a competitive company first and foremost. “Competition is going to be most important no matter what, we want to be back on top on the world stage,” he confirmed. “We want to get there through development, not by trying to bring in the best players from all around the world and getting there immediately, because I think the payoff will be better if we’re able to showcase that we can build this system. We have to invest in our players and set up the system to do so. We have to give a reason for people to care.” A major component in the new-look Immortals is merchandise, a staple business pillar in any major esports organization. While luxury brands crossing over into the industry is becoming more commonplace and ‘premium’ apparel can indeed sell out in no time at all, Sherman and his team are flipping the script entirely. They’re launching a basic merchandise collection with low costs because, well, they’re not going to make a cent on the sales. “A lot of other teams are doing it in a way where it’s high value, high fashion and we want to make it as easy as possible for people to be supporters of Immortals,” Sherman explained to Dexerto. “We’re not going to take one penny. This isn’t charity, this is us working with our partners to offer merch to fans at the lowest possible price. “Our hope is that it showcases some type of awareness for the community. A lot of team merchandise is very expensive — our quality is just as good. If you want to be a supporter of our team, we’re making it as easy as possible. “I look who our target demographic and it’s probably hard for them to spend $80 on a hoodie or $100 on a Jersey. Respect to the people who can do that, that’s amazing, but from what we see from our data is that’s just not our fans. Maybe a $17 t-shirt or a $30 hoodie is a little bit easier for people to participate in. People will buy this stuff if you give them a reason to do it.” This may sound counterintuitive when you consider the eye-watering amount of money that can be made through selling clothing, but it’s bred out of long-term thinking and not being forced to always prioritize the company’s bottom line. “What is the real value of merchandise over time? Is it dollars? Is it promotion? For us, having kids walking around their school or college rocking Immortals is potentially more valuable than even a large sponsorship because we’re building a community,” he added. “We’re still in the early days, if someone thinks it’s cool and becomes a fan we may end up having a 10-to-20-year life span with that person will where there will be other commercialization opportunities available.” It’s not a secret that the overwhelming majority of businesses are in it for profit. They want to make money, it’s that simple. So, when a new person enters your company and explains that they want to reinvent a core business pillar and not make any shred of profit from it, raised eyebrows are to be expected. How did Sherman manage to convince seasoned businesspeople to give this merchandising strategy the green light? “Our leadership team was awesome about it because we were able to explain what is the long-term value of that fan is and bringing them into the company now versus fighting against all these other things that are happening in the industry,” he said. “The fact that it’s a strategy that’s completely differentiated from all of our competitors was the defining factor for them because we’re trying to differentiate ourselves and stand out. If this works well, I think you probably will see this for MIBR and the other business units as well.” With competitive success at the core of their ethos and a no-profit merch business to boot, the future of Immortals is interestingly unpredictable. With their recent entrance into Wild Rift, both competitively and through content, it suggests the org are willing to enter and invest in newer, less-developed esports ecosystems. New games pop up all the time and, for that reason, it’s impossible to sensibly predict just where the org will be in, say, three years’ time. “I think mobile gaming is going to be really great for us,” Sherman said. “We want it to be easy to be a fan of Immortals so we wanted to get in on mobile gaming in the U.S. for those who have phones but not an amazing PC setup. The fact that we can do that with Riot and in the ecosystem of League of Legends is a bonus. “We are going to expand further and we’re looking to see if it’s easy for fans to pick up the game and learn, if it complements our other existing businesses, and if we can get an early lead fast.”

In Memorium: Geoff “iNcontroL” Robinson Yesterday, July 22, 2019, the esports industry was left reeling following the death of one of its brightest stars. Geoff “iNcontroL” Robinson, a big man with an even bigger personality was no longer with us and there is no way to make sense of it. At just 33 years old it is unthinkable. What makes it especially cruel is that we have lost someone who had been a positive force in so many lives, seemingly innumerable and far beyond what a man of that age should be able to achieve. Cold comfort to those he has left behind. When faced with such a loss language can fail us. Because there is nothing that can be said to ease the pain we devolve into cliches. However some cliches can be true and using them the only way to come close to accuracy. For example you will see people use the phrase “one of a kind” to describe Geoff, which we all are to some degree but he was the exact type of person the phrase was invented for. He was someone who defied characterisation, a high-powered jock/nerd hybrid, a body for powerlifting and a mind for strategy… A man who could cast an intimidating shadow, dispelled immediately when he opened his mouth and say something of profound, softly spoken intelligence. Serious when it was needed but never humourless, no matter what was going on in his life he brought endless, face-aching laughter to everyone he knew. Geoff was one of the most gifted entertainers our business has ever produced. He possessed a mind that could go in any direction, one minute delivering technical insight or a profound point about the landscape of our industry, the next segueing into a joke that would have everyone in the studio laughing as much as the people at home. He could fill any role, instinctively knowing what he had to do to excel within it. What he had that set him apart was more than his considerable talents. It was his earnestness. He had an unparalleled ability to simply be himself on air without any artifice and it always be exactly what was needed. Impossible then to speak of a defining quality but if you had to choose one it would be loyalty. Geoff was a man who lived by a code in an industry that is all too forgiving when you let that slip. Here was an incandescent star that could easily have been the face of our entire industry if he had it in him to sell out his values. Instead, he stayed loyal to himself, loyal to his community and loyal to his friends. So generous with his time, at the peak of Starcraft the one household name any up and coming podcast could rely on for an appearance was Geoff. Journalists could always rely on him for an interview. Instead of chasing flavour of month games for views he pioneered Role-playing on Twitch, normalised it. His love of Games Workshop tabletop would see him win Warhammer 40k tournaments, proving his Starcraft prowess wasn’t a fluke and bringing that hobby to a new, digital audience. Geoff was a friend and a colleague, someone I didn’t know as well as I’d like to but made a big impression on me. When I first made my belated steps into the Starcraft scene he helped legitimise my work by association. This wasn’t always easy as I had a long running battle with his organisation Evil Geniuses but it never seemed to affect us or his willingness to help. When I moved on to being a host I got to work alongside him and he always helped put me over. It was a new, unfamiliar role, one I’d need some time to grow into. He did for me what he did for so many others; used his platform and credibility to make sure people gave me the same chance he did. And everyone implicitly knew that if Geoff vouched for you then you must be alright because even though he did this often he never did it lightly. It is incredibly bad form when writing an obituary to make any of it about you, the author, rather than the subject. Please indulge me for what I consider some important context. Without these details I don’t think there is any other way to truly express my gratitude. 2015 was awful for me. It was getting worse with each passing month. Problems at work, problems at home, problems with health… 2014 had ended with my best friend hanging himself while I was at an esports event. Guilt… And yet all I really had was the job. Even though saying yes had brought such dire consequences I was terrified of saying no in case I lost everything. So I lurched from event to event in 2015 hating myself for being there and constantly finding a way to smile and laugh on camera before blitzing myself in the hotel bar between air time. Relationships started to break down so I’d focus more on the job. By August I was building up the resolve to make 2015 my last year. I started to view my events as a farewell tour. It was fine. A good run. There was a Starcraft event in London so I hosted it and because, like me, Starcraft was also saying goodbye, Gfinity had pulled out all the stops. The analysts were Ilyes “Stephano” Satouri and Geoff. If you know anything about either you know that, even in my banged up state, the laughs were genuine. I could honestly forget about all my bullshit for however many hours it was. It’s only now I realise how many people he did that for with a frequency no mortal should be able to summon. If you’d ever been at events with Geoff you’d know the drill. After you wrapped a broadcast you’d head to a bar or a hotel room and everyone would sit around and drink and unwind. Geoff, both on and off camera, was the star turn… There wasn’t a dull conversation he couldn’t spice up, an anecdote for every occasion and new ways to tell stories you’d heard before. No matter where you sat, he would become the centre of attention. There isn’t a single person who was on that Starcraft ride that doesn’t have at least one night like this, the night where your stomach ached and the hangover hit you a bit harder than normal because you had those extra drinks just to hear him talk and watch him hold court. This wasn’t one of those nights, though I was lucky enough to have had them on many occasions. No, instead I was hunched over my drink in a corner, staring into the liquid as if answers would dredge up to the surface. A big hand on my shoulder and it wasn’t the doorman. It was Geoff. He asked in what was his polite way if he could join me and I said yes. He told me he could see I wasn’t happy and asked if I wanted to talk. It’s not my style honestly but if you couldn’t open up to Geoff you had nothing inside. So I talked and he listened and then he shared. He spoke of his own difficulties of coming to terms with the public eye, of the great balancing act and how he could never fathom how people could be shitty to total strangers but they just were. He told me it would be a disservice if I let it wear me down and he listed off a bunch of exercises he did to make being a public figure more bearable. Ever modest he said if it worked for him it could work for me too. Most importantly he told me that, while it can be hard, getting to do what I do was a gift and it was something to be held on to. We walked back to the hotel, a bear hug, he told me I’d be alright and he’d see me on the road. He emphasized the last part. I woke up with a hangover and a Twitter DM sent just before he left. He told me to take care of myself, to check in if I ever needed anything, to keep my chin up… He’d meant all of it. And it always struck me as quite the gesture that Geoff, who had so many friends and so little time to spend with them all, gave up an entire night to try and lift someone up when he could see they were down. Most people will do anything to avoid that awkwardness, let alone choose to do it over something far more fun. This sums up Geoff in a nutshell. He was someone who felt a sense of duty to use his position to help those around him whenever it was required without even a moment’s thought about reciprocation. It didn’t matter if you were an old friend or a new colleague. You’d have got the same from him. He didn’t know how to be anyone else. And now the knowledge I’ll never get to repay that or anything else. The heaviness of knowing that I won’t see him again, that none of us will. That he will never again light up a broadcast with his charisma and his infectious smile. Every moment he would have brought us has been stolen away forever with a ruthless finality and there would have been a countless number of them. It is a loss that cannot be measured, a cosmic gutpunch that has floored us all. I lay awake all night after the news, watching the tributes pour in, watching the fresh sorrow as people from other timezones woke to the awful news. There is nothing that can be said to lift the mood and if there is I’m at a loss to find it. But I cast my mind back to the moments I watched from home, to the events we attended together, to our conversations… From stadiums to the Homestory Cup couch. This universe feels dark right now but darker still would be one where we never got him at all. What a gift he was. And as he told me once in a bar in London, when given such a gift you must hold onto it.

Sources: Immortals appoint new president amid brand shakeup Paul de Leon/Riot GamesImmortals Gaming Club has appointed a new president as it gears up to revise the strategy for the Immortals brand, sources have informed Dexerto. Immortals Gaming Club — the parent company of Immortals, MIBR, Overwatch franchise Los Angeles Valiant, and gaming matchmaking platform Gamers Club — has appointed Jordan Sherman as president, according to sources familiar with the situation. Sherman has already started at the company and is said to be taking responsibility for revitalizing the Immortals brand by employing a new strategy. The team brand currently competes in Riot Games’ North American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) and Valorant. He previously served as the chief revenue officer at Gen.G esports, a multi-national organization with a presence in both Asia and North America. Prior to that, he worked in partnerships with NBA franchise LA Clippers and in sponsorships at Major League Baseball. Sources close to the organization have also confirmed that Immortals Gaming Club is still exploring a potential sale of Los Angeles Valiant, their franchise in Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League. This was first reported by Bloomberg in November 2020. Dexerto has contacted IGC for comment. Immortals Gaming Club has made a series of organizational and competitive changes in the past nine months. Their MIBR brand parted ways with many of Brazil’s best-known Counter-Strike players in September 2020 and they tapped LGE to operate Los Angeles Valiant alongside a move to China in February 2021. In the realm of Call of Duty esports, they sold the OpTic Gaming brand back to Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez in October 2020 and simultaneously allowed 100 Thieves to purchase their franchise slot in the Call of Duty League. Announcing today that we’ve raised $26MM to fuel growth through 2021 and beyond and have also sold our CDL slot to 100 Thieves. More here: https://t.co/bF0KXmP23H — Immortals Gaming Club (@IGC) November 6, 2020 Around the same time as departing Call of Duty and deciding to let go of the OpTic Gaming brand, Immortals Gaming Club announced that they had raised $26m in investment and would focus on what they believe to be their strong brands — this included Gamers Club, a Brazilian community hub and matchmaking platform for CS:GO. Immortals is seen as a brand that needs strengthening, according to sources.

FaZe Clan wins the first Counter-Strike 2 tournament at IEM Sydney: Final results and standings ESLThe first Counter-Strike 2 Premier tournament was played in IEM Sydney, and FaZe Clan has made history by winning the first CS2 LAN event, here is all you need to know about it. FaZe makes history with the first Premier CS2 trophy lift – FaZe and Complexity meet in the Grand Final – First major LAN tournament played on Counter-Strike 2 – When Counter-Strike 2 was released in September 2023, it also meant all Counter-Strike tournaments would be switching from CSGO to the new game, which left IEM Sydney as the first major CS2 LAN event, and FaZe Clan has just made history. With Robin “ropz” Kool as tournament MVP, FaZe won the first CS2 trophy in spectacular fashion. The team faltered in their first outing in the group stages, being sent down to the lower bracket and facing elimination on the first day against powerhouses Team Vitality. FaZe grinded through the lower bracket in the group stages, reaching the playoffs as the third seed. In the quarterfinals, the team went up against ENCE, and won in historic fashion. In map two, FaZe pulled off the very first 13-0, live in front of an Australian crowd who was fully behind them. In the semifinals against MOUZ, who reached the semifinals with a substitute player, they won in a convincing 2-0 with no signs of stopping. In the Grand Finals with an unlikely appearance of Complexity, the Americans won the first map. However, FaZe reversing the next two maps, and won the third map of Ancient in close fashion at overtime. The tournament also brought several other surprises, with Team Vitality getting eliminated at last place, NAVI without s1mple winning their CS2 debut match, and Complexity, with a relatively new roster, making it all the way to the Grand Final. Here’s everything you need to know about 2023 IEM Sydney: IEM Sydney 2023: Final standings IEM Sydney 2023: Dates, format and venues IEM Sydney runs from October 16 through October 22, all taking place in ICC Sydney. The key dates are: Group Stage: October 16-19 – Playoffs: October 20-22 – Unlike previous IEM Sydney’s where the group stage had an audience, 2023’s will only field an audience during the last three days of the Playoffs. Playoffs (October 20-22) All six qualified teams are placed into a single elimination bracket – All matches are Bo3 – IEM Sydney 2023: Schedule and results Playoffs (October 20-22) October 22 October 21 October 20 Group Stage (October 16-19) Day 1: October 16 Day 2: October 17 Day 3: October 18 IEM Sydney 2023: Stream & VODs The tournament was streamed live on ESL’s official CS Twitch channel. It was also available on their YouTube channel. If you would like to rewatch a match, you can check out the ESL CS YouTube channel for all the VODs, we have embedded the Grand Finals below for your convenience. In addition to the official English stream, there were various other streams in other languages. IEM Sydney 2023: Teams and rosters Six of the 17 teams were invited as ESL Partnered teams, with Grayhound getting a Local Hero Invite. The rest of the teams qualified either through their place in the ESL World Ranking or through regional qualifiers. No team has direct qualification to the playoffs, meaning everyone will need to earn their place through the group stages. NAVI’s s1mple will not be attending due to visa issues, being replaced by their head coach B1ad3. – MOUZ’s Jimpphat will not be attending due to visa issues, being substituted by Nexius – Vitality’s head coach XTQZZZ will not be attending due to visa issues, with assistant coach MaT standing in. –

IKEA Set to Enter the Esports Market With New Furniture Line Furniture giant IKEA has announced that they will be partnering with Area Academy and Unyq to produce a line of sports-related products. On June 7th, it was announced that Swedish-founded IKEA will be entering the esports market with their own line of gaming-centric furniture in association with Area Academy, an educational activities company, and 3D design company, Unyq. With the esports world growing on what appears to be a daily basis, companies are trying their best to get in on the action and get involved in the enormous market of individuals on a worldwide scale. The three companies will all work together to design the best-suited furniture for gamers, with Tommy ‘Potti’ Ingemarsson, CEO of Area Academy, mentioning how they will attempt to adhere to all ages, body types, and other factors in regards to comfort. “When designing for esports players, one must remember that a gamer is not just a youth. Many people who play are actually in their 30s. The idea of this and the cooperation with Unyq is that you can scan your body and customize the furniture for each individual, users can also adjusting colour and appearance.” Ingemarsson, a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player and co-founder of Ninjas in Pyjamas, went on to state how he spent years using a ‘kitchen chair’ while gaming, and how the correct piece of furniture is crucial for long hours of playtime. “I spent several years sitting on a kitchen chair when I started playing and it was not very good. The furniture is a big part of everyday life for an esports player and using the wrong furniture can damage both your back and your posture.” As of writing, it is unknown when the IKEA esports furniture line will be released to the public, or exactly what will be included. More information on the partnership can be found right here. Source: Esports Insider

Ibai reportedly leaving KOI and Carolina Royal Ravens parent company Infinite Reality Twitch: IbaiSpanish streamer Ibai Llanos is one of the most popular names in the livestreaming world, and he’s also one of the founders of the esports organization KOI, alongside soccer star Gerard Pique. Now, though, he may be parting ways with the company completely according to recent reports. Ibai founded KOI in December 2021 and quickly joined forces with Rogue and ReKTGlobal to join the League of Legends European Championship (LEC), and as such also became involved with the Call of Duty League team Carolina Royal Ravens (or London Royal Ravens, as they were originally called). After that, all Rogue teams adopted the KOI branding and better embraced the organization’s Spanish roots, and there were even rumours in the COD scene that they wanted to rebrand the Royal Ravens to a Spanish city such as Barcelona or Madrid. That, of course, never came to fruition. Now, he is reportedly set to part ways with Infinite Reality — the company that owns the aforementioned brands as of July 2022 — in a decision that has been “months in the making.” Ibai leaving Infinite Reality According to SheepEsports, Llanos is set to part ways with the parent company — which acquired ReKTGlobal for a fee just shy of $500m — and has been involved in extensive negotiations regarding his exit. The report also suggests that Ibai is working on a brand new project, though what that is remains to be seen, with details scarce on what it could entail. Just days prior to this report coming out, Ibai was called out by international soccer superstar Lionel Messi, as the Argentine celebrated winning his 8th Ballon d’Or, because the streamer “makes everything public” when they speak. Ibai had previously read out text messages between the two during a livestream.

Ibai’s League of Legends team KOI reportedly “close” to joining LEC KOIIbai and Gerard Piqué’s Spanish League of Legends team KOI is reportedly close to joining the LEC after reaching a verbal agreement with Rogue. Founded by Twitch star Ibai Llanos and Barcelona football player Gerard Piqué just last year, KOI currently competes in Valorant and the League of Legends LVP SuperLiga. However, it looks like the new organization is set to join the top-flight competition after reports reveal KOI has reached an agreement with Rogue to acquire part-ownership of their LEC spot. KOI “close” to finalizing LEC deal with Rogue According to a report from Blix.GG, Rogue opened discussions with several teams about acquiring 40% of their spot in the league for 20 million. Rogue had spoken to organizations such as Karmine Corp — who’ve shown keen interest in joining the LEC — alongside Giants and Case Esports about the deal. However, it seems like Rogue is close to finalizing with KOI instead. Sources: @KOI 🇪🇸 reaches a verbal agreement to join LEC with Rogue 🇺🇸 — Alejandro Gomis (@anonimotum) August 20, 2022 Some details remain to be finalized and RIOT must approve the movement, when it happen @IbaiLlanos ‘ org will compete in LEC. ⬇️https://t.co/UZo7U72WT0 The potential deal would keep Rogue’s current structure in the LEC. However, the organization’s academy team is expected to be transferred to the LVP SuperLiga where KOI currently competes. The name of the potential merger team is yet to be decided, though everything indicates the name of the team is likely to be KOI or KOI Rogue. In addition, the deal could also include the merger of other games such as Valorant. Ultimately, details remain to be finalized and must be approved by Riot Games first. It looks like we’ll be seeing a few new faces in the LEC next year, with Heretics confirmed to be taking Misfit’s spot, and now KOI potentially partnering with Rogue in the league.

Hungrybox reveals the “best play of his entire life” in Smash Melee In part four of Dexerto’s documentary about the rise of Smash Bros God Juan ‘Hungrybox’ Debiedma and his tournament run at Super Smash Con 2019, the Jigglypuff legend discussed one of his craziest victories and defining moments as a Melee competitor. Evo is the biggest tournament of the year for fighting games with the biggest prize pool, the biggest entry numbers and the stiffest competition. For Hungrybox, winning Evo was the result of years of hard work and determination. “It’s the biggest moment, it’s the Evo format. You’re in Vegas. It was 2,400 entrants,” Hungrybox explained. “Still to this day the biggest Melee tournament at the peak of Melee’s popularity because Smash 4 was kinda faltering off, but Melee had a huge resurgence and I was one of the favorites to win.” Debiedma explained how he ran through winners’ bracket and played really well the whole tournament, but on the Sunday stage when facing off against Justin ‘Plup’ McGrath, he was 2-0’d with Shiek sending the favorite into losers’. “All of my drive, all of the things that I could have done, all of my buildup kind of shattered apart there because when you’re coming from losers’… I was never a losers’ player. In fact, I was known, notorious, for two things: winning close, close situations in sets and never being able to do a losers’ run.” According to Debiedma, he had already given up there and may not have come back with a vengeance had it not been for his coach, Luis ‘Crunch’ Rosias who still had faith in the Clutch Puff. “He told me to get my ass to Starbucks, or whatever, get a coffee and he told to do jumping jacks to get yourself back in it. Take it one at a time. One game at a time,” the Team Liquid star said. After taking out Johnny ‘S2J’ Kim in his next match, someone he had never lost to, Hungrybox’s head was back in the tournament heading into the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Hbox faced off against a fellow Smash God, Joseph ‘Mango’ Marquez and pulled off one of the most incredible plays of his career. “Game three happens and we go to Pokemon Stadium and I remember I get this ridiculous roll Rest or something like that. He bounces off the rock so he missed the tech and then he dies,” HBox explained. “When that happened, I was like ‘crap, now I have to win’.” This now set Debiedma up for a rematch against Plup in the losers’ finals. After zoning everything out and thinking back to all the teams he competed against Plup in locals, he took the match by outplaying the Shiek player. In a dire situation, the Puff God assessed what a Shiek player would do in his situation and in the blink of an eye was able to calculate how Plup would act and determined he would go for a F-air. With that, Hbox landed an up-tilt into Rest to secure the victory. “Crazy, crazy win for that set too,” Debiedma said. “So I had a crazy win against Mango, another crazy win against Plup and next thing I know I’m in Grand Finals.” “When I got to Grand Finals and I proved I could beat Mango and Plup, going on a losers’ run, I was ready to admit defeat. I’m going to be so happy with second place because I played to my standard. I was ranked 2 in the world,” he added. “So I was already in a really, really good mood going against Armada. I was ready to have fun, let it loose, play as well as I could, take some risks and the craziest thing is that’s exactly what I needed to happen.” Against the legendary Adam ‘Armada’ Lindgren, Hungrybox played out of his mind, pulling out moves he hasn’t used in awhile and throwing the Swedish superstar off his game. “He couldn’t read what I was doing. Hell, I couldn’t read what I was doing.” After an unbelievable comeback in game 5 by surviving an Up-throw into Up-air followed reading Armada’s air dodge to take his last stock, Hungrybox secured the bracket reset. “To this day that will be the best play of my entire life,” he explained. In the next set, the match yet again went to a game 5. With both Smash Gods on their last stocks and nerves running high, they both had missed inputs, but Armada’s was far more costly. “The stars were aligned in the craziest ways possible and it all worked out for me in the same day,” Hungrybox said. “If I needed any validation that I was doing the right thing, it was that. And that was Evo.” The God Slayer Jumping forward three years later and now the number one ranked player in the world, Hungrybox had his eyes set on one prize that alluded him throughout his career: a first-place finish at Super Smash Con. However, standing in his way was William ‘Leffen’ Hjelte, the first Smash Melee player who ever defeat the five Gods. “He was the newest up-and-coming player before Plup came onto the scene. The first player to beat the five Gods of Melee if you will. His was just a whole new style to deal with,” Hbox admitted. “It was a much more optimized Fox, a lot more things are tighter like the windows – the stuff he did was a lot more unexpected and you had to really respect his style a lot more.” With the two players don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things nowadays, primarily because of Leffen’s views on Jigglypuff, Hungrybox insisted that whenever the two play, it’s really crazy. Unfortunately for Hungrybox, Leffen played out of his mind winning Winners’ Finals 3-0 sending Debiedma into losers to face Zain. After climbing back to to reach Grand Finals and face Leffen again, history repeated itself and the God Slayer once more 3-0’d Hbox and his Jigglypuff. The run for his first-ever Super Smash Con title would be put on hold. “That one hurts a lot,” Debiedma revealed. “I need to work harder. I think he was just a better player today. I just need to do better.” When asked where he would go from there, Hbox’s answer was simple: “Back to work”. Hungrybox would go on to win Shine 2019, Mainstage 2019 and remain the #1 ranked Smash Bros Melee player in the world.

HUNDEN submits evidence to ESIC that Heroic players knew about CSGO coaching bug DreamhackNicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen has apparently provided proof for his claim players of Heroic were aware of and went along with the CS:GO spectator bug. HUNDEN was one of the 37 CS:GO coaches that were banned last year for using the spectator bug, which he admitted abusing, but without Heroic’s knowledge. However, this claim was changed at the end of August 2021. After being fired from Heroic for leaking information to a competitor, HUNDEN backtracked, revealing in an interview with danish site TV 2 that “some players” from Heroic were aware of him abusing the bug. The evidence TV 2 provides includes a conversation between Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen and HUNDEN, where niko apparently admits to knowing about the bug. The alleged snippet of a conversation included in the article between the two was also shared with Dexerto as part of a larger document, and as such we can confirm the quotes used by TV 2 are included there as well: niko: – “Everyone on our team knew.” Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen: “Yes, yes.” Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen: “Maybe not in the first match, but after. Everyone knew.” According to TV 2 that’s just part of “a longer dialogue between the two people” that the site was able to gain insight into. HUNDEN also told the site that on Friday night (September 3) he had submitted documentation to ESIC. The site went on to say they had presented this information to niko, now on the OG roster, who said he had no comment on the matter. However, in a written response to TV 2 Heroic CEO Joachim Haraldsen refuted the claim HUNDEN had submitted anything to ESIC, and told TV 2 he’d “had enough” of the former coaches accusations. “I have honestly had enough of HUNDEN’s attacks on all the boys he has trained. I think he should grow up and take responsibility for what he did,” Haraldsen is quoted as saying in a written response. “He’s told TV 2 that he would submit his documentation to ESIC (Esports Integrity Commission). So far we have not seen anything.” “We will certainly help ESIC with all the material they may need from us, but we no longer want to enter into a public discussion about accusations that ‘someone’ knew ‘something’ when it is based solely on isolated fragments of information without any context,” he continued. “This is not the way to prove or disprove anything.” Dexerto will continue to follow this developing story as it happens and as more details come out, so be sure to check back for updates as they happen.

Hungrybox calls for new Smash speedrun category after beating opponent in record time Twitter: LiquidHboxHungrybox has called for the addition of a new speedrun record to be tracked after disposing of an opponent in just over 30 seconds during Smash Bros. Melee competition. Hugrybox has been at the top of the Smash Bros world for more than a decade now, so it’s no surprise that the Melee star ended up snagging one of the quickest dubs in the history of the scene. What is surprising is that it happened inside the Top 8 at a LAN event filled with other top talents. The match wrapped up so quickly that the legend himself took to Twitter to investigate whether or not there was a pre-existing record on file. Hungrybox beats SEB in 34 seconds & calls for Smash speedrun category The showdown was between Hbox’s Jigglypuff and SEB’s Falco. The two began trading right away but the Argentinian came out on top, gaining a one-stock lead over his opponent in just five or so seconds. There was a few seconds of downtime, including a quick rest for Jigglypuff, but the fight raged on directly afterward with Seb losing another stock before twenty total seconds of the game had passed. The rest of the match was similarly lopsided, and words don’t really do it justice, so we’ve embedded the clip below. After the match, Hbox shared the footage with fans to celebrate his fastest game ever. “I just finished a Top 8 match in 34 seconds. It’s a PB and it might actually be the World Record,” he said. He followed that up by asking if Speedrun could add it to their site as an official record, but there’s been no answer to that so far. Still, this achievement is a monstrous one and only further cements Hungrybox’s status as one of the best to ever do it.

How WePlay! Esports is using AR to usher CSGO into a new era WePlay! Esports hosts events for a variety of games from Dota 2 to Valorant. They’re also no strangers to dabbling with augmented reality in Counter-Strike but now they’re taking their broadcasts to a whole new level. While some games are destined to flourish under the competitive spotlight, the driving force behind any successful esport is the coverage it receives. Games such as League of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike have all thrived off the back of high-end, engaging production. As a result, the games have developed an expansive fanbase that keeps coming back for more. But just how will organizers and production companies continue to evolve their coverage? The answer is technology, and it appears that WePlay! Esports are already ahead of the curve. WePlay! Esports and augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) has been trickling into the way we live our lives for years, and high-end esports production is no different. Having the ability to fuse your surrounding environment with digital elements in real-time provides a much more interactive experience. With the seemingly endless possibilities that are available with AR, WePlay! Esports are using this as their main ingredient in creating a more fluid and immersive broadcast for viewers — leveraging their coverage and leading esports into a new era of production. Combining Source Filmmaker with other computer-generated content, WePlay! have innovated a new way for esports to be showcased on the big screen. During the Dota 2 WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020, the company used drones and AR in perfect harmony to follow players coming into the venue to provide a more realistic spectator experience. Combine this with immersing Dota 2 heroes into the studio during ‘pick-ban’ segments, and spectators could enjoy a more captivating broadcast. WePlay! Esports use AR to enhance CS:GO coverage After years of perfecting their craft in Dota 2, WePlay! Esports have recently ventured into other titles, such as CS:GO. Most recently, the company pulled out all of the stops for WePlay! Clutch Island — which saw the top CIS teams battle it out for the lion’s share of $50,000 (USD). While Natus Vincere walked away with top honors, the event highlight was undoubtedly the next generation of coverage that was displayed as a result of the integration of AR into the broadcast. The perfect example of this would be the company’s use of AR when displaying player stats during the analysis segments between matches. Being able to visually see the player cards alongside the analysts rendered a much more engaging transition…A far cry from the mundane overlays spectators are used to seeing while waiting for the next segment. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. By incorporating AR into all elements of the broadcast, WePlay! Esports provided a fresh look on full post-round analysis. While a two-dimensional birds-eye view of the map is great, being fully immersed and seeing player movements takes it to a whole new level. During the downtime between maps, James Banks and co. highlighted just how this can work. By essentially having a more ‘hands on’ approach, the analysis breakdown is much easier when illustrated in a three-dimensional view of the map to give a more in-depth insight. As time goes on and augmented reality continues to develop, tournament organizers will become more comfortable with incorporating this technology into broadcasts. A task that WePlay! Esports are entirely confident in taking on, as Eugene ‘Hitras’ Shepelev (Lead Esports Manager) told Dexerto. “While preparing for any event, the WePlay! team has three priorities: providing the best competitive environment for players, ensuring the best experience for the audience, and doing something new that has never been done before. That’s why every event is unique for one reason or another.” Maksym Bilonogov, General Producer at WePlay! Esports, said, “In the past, you could get an edge by simply having better hardware. Using a better camera, more processing power, etc. defined whether your product was better. Nowadays, every company in this industry can afford the technology needed to stream tournaments. “The thing that can set you apart from the competition is your team. The majority of people involved in the production at WePlay! Esports had valid experience or a solid background in television, filmmaking, theater, product design, and other related fields before joining our company. The people I work with are talented, independent, ambitious, and willing to be challenged. In my opinion, the team is the greatest asset our company has.” So with WePlay! Esports leading the way and pioneering the use of AR in first-person shooters, they will be bringing with it a welcomed change to how we absorb esports content and leading the charge into moving CS:GO coverage into a new era.

Human rights violations are a BLAST Stephanie Lindgren/BLASTIn his latest opinion piece, Dexerto’s Editor-at-Large Richard Lewis describes the grim reality of esports as CS:GO tournament operator BLAST has partnered with Abu Dhabi-backed initiative ADGaming. Not long ago I wrote about ESL’s hypocrisy of taking wide-sweeping geopolitical stances while being now wholly owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. While the specific criticism was their vocally anti-war stance while being funded by the same government that is bombing Yemeni people to the brink of extinction, one could have picked any number of human rights violations they are guilty of. For the duration that they and their partners work in tandem with the kingdom, they have lost the moral high ground on every issue they would care to speak out on, whether it be gay and trans rights, gender inequality, climate change, and most certainly the value of human life. In reality, this is a small price that ESL’s executives have to pay. For them, like so many in esports, it was all about this moment… The magic moment where someone applies a tourniquet to their financial bleeding and pays handsomely for the privilege of them bearing the wound. American venture capital wouldn’t do it for more than a few years at a time… No, these days the only people that can truly afford to invest in the speculative, volatile economy of esports are corrupt governments and mega-corporations, entities that care little for concepts such as human dignity. Saudi Arabia is not the only super wealthy Middle Eastern country looking to use esports as a means to obfuscate their practices and garner favor with their younger citizens. Saudi’s close allies, the United Arab Emirates, also have a young demographic with an appreciation for esports. And because they are currently under-served, they’re willing to pay, something of a rarity among esports fans. The serving of this demographic not only promotes social cohesion but also creates jobs as more and more companies look to take advantage of this essentially newfound number of esports fans. Sportswashing is about more than just rebuilding reputations and creating media noise that drones out the voices of the few talking about human rights issues. Getting in bed with the devil The UAE are well underway in this regard, having already acquired some high-profile esports partnerships. The most feared name in esports commentary, Nigma Galaxy, have their headquarters in Abu Dhabi. This was done as part of the ADGaming initiative, which has also helped orchestrate many smaller-scale esports events as they look to ramp up operations and build credibility. More recently, they have their sights set on large-scale international events across top esports titles but there are, to put it delicately, questions around the compatibility of their laws and beliefs and those of the wider esports community. It is a country that criminalizes homosexuality and transgenderism. Punishments range from torture under the guise of corporal punishment and chemical castration to imprisonment or even death. So sensitive are they about this topic that a drunken Scottish man faced a three-year jail sentence for touching a man’s hip as he sought to steady himself from falling over. Public affection of any kind is illegal with sentences of 80 lashes having been dispensed for drunken kissing witnessed by the wrong set of eyes. Moreover, the government routinely arrests and tortures journalists and political dissidents. They run a not-so-secret prison in the Saudi-allied part of Yemen explicitly for the purposes of making these troublesome dogooders disappear. But hey, the people over there like esports and they’ve got money to spend, so what does any of this matter? Let’s just enjoy the games, ay? This was likely the thinking when only in February, Ubisoft announced they would hold one of their Major Rainbow 6 tournaments in Abu Dhabi. They rolled the decision out in the middle of another event seemingly confident that either no one would notice or have any objections at all. But as an esport that features a number of openly gay and trans broadcast talent, there were almost immediate questions about their potential safety as well as the general sentiment such a partnership promotes. Within two days, a number of high-profile community figures and Ubisoft employees had expressed their distaste of the choice of location and a petition to stop the event had hit 10,000 signatures. Social media does what social media does, this time though at least with a positive motivation. The outcome? Ubisoft announced they would change their choice of host nation for the event, something that should show all the doubters that in esports the power of the boycott makes it a weapon worth wielding. Of course, Ubisoft did add that they were “still committed” to working in “emerging local scenes”, which means they’ll keep trying it until everyone is too tired to object. Danish tournament organizer BLAST is now the latest company to say yes to a partnership with people that despise a significant portion of the esports fanbase. On July 1, they revealed that the destination for their world finals would be none other than Abu Dhabi as part of a three-year deal with ADGaming. I’ve said multiple times BLAST as a company are some of the most useless in esports when it comes to public relations. This time was no different. In what appeared to be a cynical bid to minimize criticism, they waited until the first day after Pride Month had finished, one assumes just in case their new partners caught an accidental glimpse of a rainbow flag in the replies. Their press release was the standard litany of excuses and justifications. Charlotte Kenny, Managing Director of BLAST Premier, said: “As part of our host cities process, we are always on the lookout for leading locations and arenas all around the world, Abu Dhabi is the perfect location to follow on from this month’s highly successful Spring Final in Lisbon and November’s Fall Final in Copenhagen. The World Final will follow in the footsteps of popular sports such as UFC, F1 and NBA in hosting major events in Abu Dhabi and the remarkable Etihad Arena provides the perfect stage for our World Final event.” You hear that, esports fans? It’s the PERFECT location for an esports event. There’s no need for you, LGBT fans, to fear. What are a few lashes? Some of us consider that a good weekend. And if you’re worried, just do what you’ve had to do for your entire life when faced with bigotry and just hide. A simple solution to a profound problem. And before you super straights roll your eyes, just remember that if you take your very heterosexual partner and kiss them in public, you’ll get a taste of the gay treatment in UAE. If you’re a guy, you better not bump into a local either, lest the assumption is you were trying to cop a big gay feel. Doesn’t this arrangement all sound so fucking perfect, so what we’re used to, so desirable for an esports event? As someone adept at cutting through media bullshit, let me write you a practical translation of what the statement actually says: “Currently we are on the lookout for whichever country either represents a cost-effective solution to running an event or, even better, foot the bill entirely. Abu Dhabi fell into the latter category so we’re going to simply ignore any backlash we get in public because that’s a secondary concern to losing less money than we’d have to if the event was anywhere except Denmark. Oh, and by the way: Everyone is doing it, including such great sports operations such as UFC, F1 and the NBA, so fuck you if you even dare think about getting outraged at us.” Look, I am capable of understanding the practical reality BLAST face. Tournament operators exist within a grim reality. Esports fans are the most unrealistic in all of media consumption. They want huge prize pools, perfect broadcast production, with their favorite names commentating and competing. No matter where they are in the world, the timezone must suit them and offer multiple broadcasts to meet team and language preferences. Crucially, it must be all that and more and it must be available for free. Oh, and these days a tournament organizer can’t even leverage exclusivity as a means to maximize profits because the expectation is you will allow all the kiddy favorites to co-stream. With this as a business model, it is no wonder more and more are saying yes to the sinister but wealthy sugar daddies. If it’s not the oil and gas magnates, it’s China. If it’s not them it’s some compromised US tech company. Failing that, it’s a dubious gambling company registered at a tax haven or a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme. And the choice is clear — if you don’t say yes, your competitors will, and you’ll have to watch them take away all your territory until one day they deliver that final shank to the kidneys. As you bleed out in the streets, you’ll notice the same fans that refused to support you mocking your demise. For the Danish company, this is their second flirtation with oil magnate money. In the Summer of 2020, they, along with Riot Games, were happy to announce a sponsorship from the Saudi Arabian project NEOM, a futuristic tourist destination being built on land stolen from the Howeitat tribe. While those who worked on League of Legends programming quite publicly rebelled against the agreement, forcing Riot to dump it, BLAST sat in silence for two weeks hoping that the community would forget about the deal. When it became clear that wouldn’t happen, instead of releasing any type of transparent official statement, the world only found out the deal was canceled via an email sent to Danish publication BT.dk. Even then, they promised they would be back to revisit the well of blood money, and so any sense of victory for the wider esports community was short-lived. With that, you’ll have noticed something of a recurring pattern. The esports fandom has done relatively well when it comes to pushing back on the insidious takeover from these entities. Whether it be in Rainbow 6, League of Legends, or most recently Rocket League, there have been a number of protests that have made a significant impact and slowed down us from reaching our inevitable end state. However, each time these companies know they can give it a few months before they try again, safe in the knowledge that eventually people will be too collectively tired out to object loud enough. Given how little the average esports fan actually spends, we can’t even be sure that long-term boycotts would be effective. BLAST right now are unquestionably among the best when it comes to esports and event production, perhaps the best there has been in years. ESL, with its huge war chest and aggressive calendar domination, should feel utterly ashamed to know that their broadcasts are carried by the mostly freelance talent they hire. This obviously costs money but it’s all too clear they are eager to sell out to the highest bidder and we all know who they are right now. So yes, I can obviously empathize with the reality BLAST face, but some principles have to be upheld even in the face of extinction. Maybe there are some broader questions to be asked about what we’re all doing in esports if the two business options right now are to sell out to genocidal regimes or go bankrupt. Unsurprisingly, no one wants to ask them.

How to watch Super Smash Con 2019: Ultimate, Melee, 64, and Brawl Super Smash Con is set to be one of the wildest weekends for Smash Bros players of all games. The event, which begins Thursday, August 8 and runs until Sunday August 11, features some of the biggest names around. Every official Smash game from 64 all the way to Ultimate is represented (with the exception being the 3DS version of Smash 4) in both singles and doubles meaning there are a lot of tournaments to follow. You can watch the action on VGBootCamp on Twitch. August 8 – 1 PM PST – Wii U Doubles EVO viewership record broken by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Of note, one of the teams competing is MkLeo (who is fresh off winning Evo 2019) and Javi. With momentum in Leo’s favor, it will be interesting to see if it can transition back into the slower-paced Smash 4. August 8 – 1 PM PST – Brawl Doubles The Wii Brawl doubles take place at the same time as the Smash 4 duos do. For those who don’t mind to see tripping in matches, this is for you. Smash legends Anti and ADHD are going to be the ones to watch out for in this tournament. August 9 – 7 AM PST – Ultimate Singles Hero will be tournament legal at Super Smash Con One key thing to note is that Smash’s newest fighter Hero will be legal at this event alongside all the other balance changes in patch 4.0.0. Watch out for Tweek and his Pokemon Trainer as he looks to avenge his loss to Leo in the Evo finals and for Zackray, one of the most intense Wolf prodigies from Japan. Additionally, CaptainZack has been barred from competing at the event due to match-fixing. You can read all about that controversy here. August 9 – 7 AM PST – Melee Doubles Speaking of Jigglypuff, Super Smash Con, a controversial new rule designed to combat ledge grabbing will be in effect. As Dexerto has reported, “The new law, rule 5.4.7, states that in the event of a match going to a timeout, teams or players can invoke the ledge grab limit by checking the cliffhangers statistics for all players. Should one player or team reach 60 ledge grabs, they will forfeit the match. However, if both players in a singles match – or one from each team – break the 60 limit, the rule will be disregarded.” Melee will also see the return of Leffen, who missed Evo due to a passport mishap. Can he make up for lost time? August 9 – 7 AM PST – Ultimate Doubles August 9 – 7 AM PST – Wii U Singles August 9 – 8:30 AM PST – 64 Singles Watch out for three time champion and last year’s winner SuPeRbOoMfAn. August 9 – 7 AM PST – Brawl Singles August 9 – 10 AM PST – Melee Doubles 600Melee continues to go strong with its duos competition. Last year’s champions of PewPewU and SFAT will be looking to hold onto their Super Smash Con duos title. The ever-popular Mew2King will be teaming up with Plup while Hungrybox and ChuDat will be a force not to be reckoned with. August 9 – 4PM PST – 64 Doubles Tacos and Alvin will be trying to win once more with Alvin looking for his third straight duos win at Super Smash Con. He won in 2017 with Isai. There will also be a number of special events such as the Combo Contest where, according to the event’s website, “competitors from all over the world compete in Smash 64 to determine who can string together the hypest combo.” “Smash Masters” takes four players and has them face off in five different versions of the game to determine who the best overall player is. “The Rumble” is a new event for this year featuring only heavy characters. 8 players have been invited, but only one will come out on top. With so much going on, this tournament is going to be one for the ages.

How to watch WePlay Ultimate Fighting League Season 1: Stream + Schedule WePlay Esports has put up a $150,000 prize pool across three major Fighting Games tournaments for Mortal Kombat 11, SOULCALIBUR VI and Tekken 7, for the WePlay Ultimate Fighting League Season 1. The league’s first season – organized by WePlay Esports and professional cruiserweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk – is being held at the WePlay Esports Arena Kyiv, in Ukraine. It kicked off with Mortal Kombat 11 on March 25-28, where SonicFox took 1st place and the $15,000 prize. The SOULCALIBUR VI and Tekken 7 tournaments are coming up in April. 1xBet is the official global betting partner for WePlay Esports events in 2021. Maksym Bilonogov, General Producer and Chief Visionary Officer at WePlay Esports, told Dexerto that the team is building on the success of their WePlay Dragon Temple tournament, which hosted some of the best Mortal Kombat players for a $60,000 tournament in December. “Expect new creative ideas and out-of-the-box solutions from our studio,” Bilonogov said. “People often come to our events for the games but then also stay for the additional content we put out. To someone who tunes in for the first time, our clips, skits, AR performances, and other show elements may seem random and chaotic, but they are all part of a bigger story unfolding throughout the event,” he explained. Holding such an event in these uncertain times is a challenge, but WePlay’s Lead Esport Manager, Eugene ‘Hitras’ Shepelev has assured that they are organizing “the safest and most comfortable competition environment for everyone.” “The players and broadcast talent all get tested before their flights. Upon arrival, everyone is tested again and quarantined until the second test result comes in,” Hitras said. “Our safety measures are based on extensive research and the Ukrainian law. Only personnel whose tasks are essential to conducting and filming the competition are allowed in. In the arena, everyone has access to and is required to use face masks and gloves.” Event dates Mortal Kombat 11: March 25-28 – SOULCALIBUR VI: April 1-4 – Tekken 7: April 8-11 – Prize pools Mortal Kombat 11: $50,000 – SOULCALIBUR VI: $50,000 – Tekken 7: $50,000 – Where to watch You can catch all the action from the WePlay Ultimate Fighting League over on Twitch. Event format Every competition in WePlay Ultimate Fighting League Season 1 will consist of a round-robin group stage with eight players in each group. That will be followed by a double-elimination bracket. Additionally, in between the group stage and play-off rounds, there will be a special 2v2 Pocket Team Clash showmatch series. Unlike other events that allow players to earn their spot through qualifiers, season 1 will be on an invite-only basis with sixteen combatants per game. Going forward into future seasons, however, things will be quite different, as WePlay Esports will have the top players remain, while open-qualifiers are held worldwide for additional slots in the bracket. While this may mean a lack of dark horses in the bracket, the cream of the crop in the fighting game community will be competing. Mortal Kombat 11 In the Mortal Kombat 11 competition, legendary stars and up-and-comers were invited to battle it out, including the one and only Dominique ‘SonicFox’ McLean. THEY DID IT! 🏆🏆@SonicFox IS YOUR WEPLAY ULTIMATE FIGHTING LEAGUE WINNER! #WUFLS1 #WePlayUFL pic.twitter.com/H99oEW8D3h — WUFL | #StandWithUkraine (@WePlayUFL) March 29, 2021 SonicFox lived up to expectations, taking the victory and netting themselves $15,000. SonicFox was in competition with Console Gaming League’s Jarrad ‘NinjaKilla212’ Gooden, Noble esports’ Zoulfikar ‘Kombat’ Dayekh, Matthew ‘Biohazard’ Commandeur, and more. SOULCALIBUR VI The full roster for SOULCALIBUR VI’s tournament will feature 16 competitors from all around the globe, including major SOULCALIBUR muscles Linkorz, Japan’s Yuttoto, Singapore’s Shen Chan, and even EVO Japan champ Bluegod – making for a truly thrilling and stacked bracket. Introducing your #WUFLS1 #SC6 lineup!@Party_Wolf_@Skyll_13@D3xusSC @Sophitia1990@Keev_Rayne@ShenChanSG@linkorz_ @upipon@Aelz9@ItsWoahhzz @thekura0611 @AkeoPo @Bluuegod @Saiyne_ @Myloes_ @PantocratorFRThe action begins on April 1!https://t.co/jhzraoaVES pic.twitter.com/iJ9jxnvs5l — WUFL | #StandWithUkraine (@WePlayUFL) March 29, 2021 James Banks, project consultant at WePlay Esports, said: “Our commitment to the FGC is for now and the future, and I can’t wait to show you everything we have planned. Your eyes will be opened and your minds will be blown…stay tuned!” Ultimate Boxing Night In addition to the fighting game spectacle, on April 10 the line between traditional sports and esports will be blurred when professional boxers from Ukraine, England, Hungary and Belarus duke it out at the WePlay Esports Arena. In total, there are nine matches on the card, including a main event eight-round super middleweight slobber knocker between Ramil Gadzhyiev and Ivan Murashkin. Pro boxer Oleksandr Usyk’s involvement is a highlight for some of the competitors too. A F0xy Grampa, who also boxes, said it was great to have Usyk involved: “I like that we’re supported by a champion status fighter because I train in some boxing myself, so it’s nice to have a crossover between some of the things I like most in life. I’m grateful for what he and the team bring to us.” You can catch all the action on WePlay’s official Twitch channel, running until April 11.

How to watch $150,000 Apex Legends X Games tournament – stream, standings, teams, format The EXP Invitational – Apex Legends, the biggest esports tournament to date for the popular battle royale, is taking place at X Games Minneapolis, featuring some of the world’s top players and teams. $150,000 is on the line at this weekend’s X Games Minneapolis, as 20 teams have gathered at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota to do battle for a share of the prize pool. Below, you can find everything you need to know about the event, including a livestream, the teams and rosters, the official format, and more. When is the EXP Invitational – Apex Legends at X Games Minneapolis? The EXP Invitation for Apex Legends will take place across a two-day span – August 2 and 3 – with the action scheduled to kick off around 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST on both days. The event is being livestreamed across a variety of platforms, including ESPN Esports’ official YouTube channel, which we have included below for your viewing convenience. Day one results for EXP Invitational – Apex Legends at X Games Minneapolis The first day of competition wrapped up on August 2 with Team SoloMid sitting comfortably in first place with 62 points and 30 eliminations going into day two. They were followed by Tempo Storm in second place, with 58 points and 31 kills, and Team Reciprocity in third with 55 points and 28 kills. Day two results for EXP Invitational – Apex Legends at X Games Minneapolis The second day of the tourney was routine for TSM who won out with a total of 125 points with a staggering 65 points coming from eliminations. The team effort gave TSM enough to edge out Reciprocity who were trailing close behind but were 5 points away from first place. Picking up third place are the Sentinels who but up a valiant showing getting 58 elimination points and 53 placement points, which resulted in a bronze medal. Who is playing in the EXP Invitational – Apex Legends at X Games Minneapolis? As mentioned above, there are 20 total teams competing in this tournament, including some of the most prominent organizations in esports. 15 of the squads are pro teams that were invited, while the remaining five were qualified via the online qualifiers held on June 29 (denoted below with a **) What is the format used at the EXP Invitational – Apex Legends at X Games Minneapolis? All 20 pro teams will be pitted against each other over 12 total matches to be played across the two days. In each match, teams will be awarded points eliminations (one point per kill) and placement, according to this breakdown: 1st — 12 points – 2nd — 9 points – 3rd — 7 points – 4th — 5 points – 5th — 4 points – 6th – 10th — 2 points – 11th – 15th — 1 point – 16th – 20th — 0 points – If there are any ties following the 12 games, then the order of the tiebreakers used will be as follows: Single match score: the team with the highest single match score. – Total eliminations: the team with the most combined eliminations over the 12 matches. – Best placing in a single match: the team that had the highest placement in a single match. – Single match eliminations: the team that had the most eliminations in a single match. – Additionally, there will be an award called ‘Apex Predator’ that will be handed out to the player who managed to get the most eliminations throughout the entire competition.

2018 Esports Awards – Winners and Final Results The 2018 installment of the Esports Awards will take place in London on Monday, November 12, featuring names and personalities from every corner of the industry. The aim of the Esports Awards is to ‘acknowledge and rewards the outstanding achievement throughout the industry’ and previous winners in their respective fields include Dr DisRespect, Thorin and OpTic Gaming. With the voting now closed, all that is left is to find out which personalities, games and companies have claimed the top prize. How to watch If you’re not lucky enough to be at The Brewery to see the awards in person, you’ll be pleased to hear that the entire show will also be available to view on most major streaming platforms, including Twitch and YouTube. The Twitch and YouTube streams can be found below. The show is expected to go live at around 20:25 GMT (15:25 EST, 12:25 PST). Stay tuned for links to the YouTube, Twitter and Mixer streams. The Winners We’ll update this post with the winners of each award as they are announced and will be ordered starting with the first award given out. Bold represents the winner of the award. Awards and finalists Esports Unsung Hero Of The Year: Milos ‘Faceit Mikey’ Nedeljkovic – Orien ‘Sheever’ van der Heijden – Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag – Brian ‘Terroriser’ Michael Hanby – Benjamin ‘DrLupo’ Lupo – Kim ‘Esports Mum’ Meltzer – Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ D.Donaldson – Ryan Morrison – Esports Videographer of the Year: Damian Estrada – John ‘The Narwhal’ Farrar – Rhys Rasmussen – Gabriel Ruiz – Max Olivo – Davis ‘Hitch’ Edwards – Robert ‘OhhRogerr’ Rogers – Philipp ‘Ohilian’ Neubauer – Streaming Platform of the Year: Znipe – Mixer – Twitch – YouTube – Esports Breakthrough Game of the Year: Battalion 1944 – Clash Royale – Dragon Ball FighterZ – Call of Duty: WWII – Arena of Valor – Fortnite – FIFA 18 – NBA 2K18 – Esports Console Rookie of the Year: Thomas ‘TJHaLy’ Haly – Preston ‘Priestahh’ Greiner – Kenny Williams – Mossad ‘MSdossary’ Aldossary – Donovan ‘F2TekKz’ Hunt – Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell – Alex ‘Alexx’ Carpenter – Esports PC Rookie of the Year: Gabriel ‘Bwipo’ Rau – Justin ‘jstn’ Morales – Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov – Yuadi ‘Wokka’ Ichise – Junyoung ‘Profit’ Park – Topias ‘Topson’ Taavitsainen – Sung-hyeon ‘Jjonak’ Bang – Robin ‘ropz’ Kool – Eric ‘Licorice’ Ritchie – Jae-hyeok ‘Carpe’ Lee – Esports Photographer of the Year: Rich Lock – Robert Paul – João Ferreira – Chris Betancourt – Stephanie Lindgren – Joe Brady – Helena Kristiansson – Kyle Miller – Esports Coverage Website of the Year: ESPN Esports – DBLTAP – Inven Global – Liquidpedia – Dot Esports – HLTV – theScore – Charlie INTEL – Blitz Esports – Dexerto – Esports Team of the Year: Astralis (CS:GO) – Team Liquid (LOL) – Fnatic (LOL) – Royal Never Give Up (LOL) – Team Liquid (PUBG) – Natus Vincere (CS:GO) – Nova Esports (Clash Royale) – Team Dignitas (Rocket League) – KT Rolster (LOL) – OG (DOTA) – Evil Geniuses (COD) – London Spitfire (Overwatch) – Esports Supporting Agency of the Year: Anna B. Baumann – Level 99 – Evolved Talent Agency – Code Red Esports – Stark Esports – Freaks 4U Gaming – The National Association of Collegiate Esports – Esports Commercial Partner of the Year: Rocket Mortgage – Intel – Dr Pepper – Alienware – HTC – Turtle Wax – G Fuel – OMEN – T-Mobile – Toyota – Betway – HyperX – Gillette – Esports Hardware Provider of the Year: Intel – Nvidia – Logitech – OMEN – GT Omega – Turtle Beach – SCUF Gaming – Corsair – Razer – HyperX – Republic of Gamers – Zowie – Community Award: Esports Play of the Year goes to FaZe Attach! Esports Live Event of the Year: Clash Royale Crown Championship – The Six Invitational 2018 – League Of Legends World Championship 2018 – Rocket League Championship Series – PUBG Global Invitational 2018 – EVO 2018 Championship Series – FACEIT Major 2018 – The International 2018 – IEM Katowice 2018 – ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 – Call of Duty World League Championship 2018 – Overwatch League Grand Final 2018 – Esports Broadcaster of the Year: Richard Buckley & Brandon Smith – Laure Valée – Martin ‘Deficio’ Lynge – Clint ‘Maven’ Evans – Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Kjell Mykles – Alex ‘Machine’ Richardson – Mitch ‘Uber’ Leslie – Eefie ‘sjokz’ Depoortere – James Bardolph – Alex ‘Goldenboy’ Mendez – Trevor ‘Quickshot’ Henry – Soe Gschwind Penski – Esports Publisher of the Year: Activision – Capcom – Epic Games – Ubisoft – Riot Games – Valve – Psyonix – Blizzard – EA – PUBG – Esports Game of the Year: League of Legends – Super Smash Bros – Dota 2 – Fortnite – Call of Duty: WWII – Rainbow Six Siege – Dragon Ball Fighterz – PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – Overwatch – Esports Personality of the Year: Eefie ‘sjokz’ Depoortere – Chris Puckett – Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins – Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop – Benjamin ‘DrLupo’ Lupo – Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek’ – Soe Gschwind Penski – Guy ‘Dr Disrespect’ Beahm – Alex ‘Goldenboy’ Mendez – Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag – Streamer of the Year: Guy ‘Dr Disrespect’ Beahm – Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins – Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop – Ali ‘Myth’ Kabbani – Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp – Jaryd ‘Summit1g’ Lazar – David ‘StoneMountain64’ Steinberg – Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys – Felix ‘XQC’ Lengyel – Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek – Esports Console Player of the Year: Nick Kolcheff ‘Nick Mercs’ – William Peter Hjelte ‘Leffen’ – Mossad ‘MSdossary’ Aldossary – Adam Garcia ‘Assault’ – Dominique ‘SonicFox’ McLean – Kenny Williams – Benjamin Simon ‘Problem X’ – Hajime ‘Tokido’ Tanigychi – Anthony ‘Shotzzy’ Cuevas-Castro –

‘We Got Lucky’ wins the 2021 Splitgate Pro Series: Grand Finals, Standings, Prizes 1047 Games/LogitechThe inaugural Splitgame Pro Series (SPS) put $100,000 on the line for teams to compete for through open qualifiers to the Grand Finals. Here’s how the dust settled complete with event standings and VOD channel. Splitgate developer 1047 Games and Logitech Esports Services gave the most dedicated players a chance to compete in the first SPS Grand Finals, and Dexerto followed the action from every event as the tournament’s official media partner. There were six open qualifiers that anyone could enter for an opportunity to compete for $5,000 per event, as well as $10,000 in ASTRO Gaming products throughout the season. This ultimately boiled down to the Last Chance Qualifier, where the final team will joined seven others for the ultimate $60,000 Grand Finals event. Splitgate Pro Series VOD stream channel There were plenty of matches to catch in the Splitgame Pro Series. If you missed any of the games, you can navigate to the embedded Twitch channel below to rewatch your favorite SPS moments. SPS Launch Season Finals The inaugural season of the Splitgame Pro Series has wrapped with team ‘We Got Lucky‘ claiming the top prize. KJewls put in an ASTRO MVP performance to lead teammates Mattie, Luck, and Akuvo. The team took the grand prize of $25,000 as a team. SPS Season 1 Final Standings: Splitgate Pro Series qualifier standings Teams of four will compete against other squads for seeding points. While these are earned as a unit, they’re assigned to each individual player on the team. Top players on the leaderboard get priority access to tournament sign-ups and top seeds in qualifier brackets. Players can freely compete with different teams week-to-week and will keep accumulating points to their name. Points breakdown: 1st – 100 pts – 2nd – 50 pts – Top 4 – 25 pts – Top 8 – 15 pts – Top 16 – 10 pts – Top 32 – 5 pts – Qualifiers overall Top 20 Splitgate Pro Series prize pool The top four teams from the qualifiers will get their share of the $5,000 per event. The Grand Finals will give every participant thousands in cash prizes. No payout was announced for the Last Chance Qualifier. Teams in the LCQ will compete for the chance to be Splitgate pros by claiming the last Grand Finals seed. Open Qualifiers 1st place – $2,500 – 2nd place – $1,000 – 3rd place – $750 – 4th place – $750 – Grand Finals 1st place – $25,000 – 2nd place – $15,000 – 3rd place – $6,000 – 4th place – $4,000 – 5/6th place – $3,000 – 7/8th place – $2,000 – Splitgate Pro Series: schedule and dates The SPS Season 1 format will have six open qualifiers, one last chance qualifier, and the Grand Finals from October to December. All events will be hosted on Sunday starting at noon PDT. Open Qualifiers Last Chance Qualifier Grand Final Now that the SPS Season 1 Grand Finals has wrapped up, fans will be excited to see the top-8 teams returns when the next season kicks off in 2022.

How to watch Griezmann gaming charity stream ft. Pogba, Gotaga, more Activision / StarLadder / Instagram: antogriezmann, paulpogbaBarcelona star Antoine Griezmann is running a 24-hour charity stream with his esports organization, Grizi Esport, bringing some of the biggest names in world football to Twitch to play Warzone, Valorant, League of Legends and more. Grizi Esport was launched in January 2020 with Griezmann looking to pick up talent across the likes of FIFA, CSGO, Fortnite and more, and now amid the ongoing global crisis, he has decided to use his esports presence to give a little back. He has brought together the likes of Barcelona teammate Ousmane Dembele and French compatriot Paul Pogba to play Call of Duty, CSGO, Valorant and League of Legends over 24 hours in support of the Red Cross charity. So, let’s take a look at who will be participating, the games being played and the schedule for 24 hours of top-tier content, which kicks off at 4pm CEST (3pm BST/10am EDT/7am EDT). Griezmann’s 24-hour stream schedule The 24-hour stream will be kicked off with Manchester United star Paul Pogba, playing new Call of Duty battle royale title Warzone. Following that, Griezmann will be chatting with Fortnite pros such as Jérémy ‘4zr’ Dang. Heading into the evening, Griezmann will be joined by several CS:GO pros, including the likes of Oscar ‘Mixwell’ Canelles, Nathan ‘NBK’ Schmitt and Adil ‘ScreaM’ Benrlitom, for a showmatch in Riot Games’ highly-anticipated upcoming FPS, Valorant. Throughout the rest of the stream, Ousmane Dembele will be playing Football Manager and Griezmann himself will be headed to the Rift in League of Legends, but there’s bound to be a bunch more content throughout the 24 hours to keep viewers interested. How to watch Luckily for us, the entire stream is viewable in one place: Grizi Esport’s official Twitch channel, which is embedded below for you to watch. Make sure to use the schedule above to find out exactly when your favorite players or games are on and tune in to see exactly how good Paul Pogba is at Warzone, or whether Griezmann can hold his own in the Rift as well as he can on the pitch. Griezmann isn’t the first professional athlete to turn to esports and streaming during these times of hardship: Dele Alli has started streaming on Twitch again, while the likes of the NBA’s Gordon Hayward has explained on stream why League of Legends players are so much more toxic than NBA players. It’s fair to say that the players are missing sports just as much as – if not more than – the rest of us, and good-will streams such as these are the perfect way to stay connected with their audience.

How to watch Ludwig’s World’s Greatest Esports event: Schedule, games, competitors, more LudwigThere can only be one “GOAT” of video games, and Ludwig is hosting a tournament to crown one king of Esports. Here is everything you need to know about the upcoming event. Ludwig’s passion for esports has resulted in a few ambitious projects with varying success. In 2022, the YouTuber hosted one of the biggest Smash & Melee tournaments with a $1 million prize pool. However, MrBeast’s sponsorship wasn’t enough to turn a profit from the event. Ludwig revealed he lost over $200k on the Smash tournament. That didn’t dissuade Ludwig from jumping right back into the scene. A few months later, the YouTuber hosted a chessboxing event with contestants facing off in a mix of boxing, chess, and Super Smash Bros Melee. It became the most-watched Smash tournament ever, surpassing even EVO 2019 in views. Going away from his usual bread and butter of Smash, Ludwig announced a new event to crown the “GOAT” of video games. Contents What is the World’s Greatest Esports event? – When is World’s Greatest, and where to watch? – Who is competing in World’s Greatest? – What games are included? – What is the World’s Greatest Esports event? In an effort to hunt down the “GOAT” gamer, Ludwig challenged 16 Esports legends to face off against each other in eight different video games. The two-day event features titles from multiple genres, allowing each gamer to show off their skills. When is World’s Greatest, and where to watch? World’s Greatest takes place from September 2-3. Ludwig has yet to confirm a start time for either tournament day. We will provide an update when he provides more information. All tournament matches will be streamed from Ludwig’s YouTube channel. Who is competing in World’s Greatest? Here is a list of all of the confirmed competitors so far. TenZ (Valorant) – SonicFox (Fighting games) – SupertF (Overwatch) – Nemo (Chess) – Mango (Super Smash Bros) – What games are included? Here is a full list of the games included in World’s Greatest. Minecraft – Fall Guys – 2K Drive – Street Fighter 6 – XDefiant – Tetris Effect – Trackmania – Genshin Impact – That is everything we know about World’s Greatest so far.

How to watch EVO Japan 2020 – Streams, schedule, more EVOFighting games are back on the menu as the first major event of the year, Evolution Championship Series Japan, is well underway. Fighting game fans around the world have long been awaiting the next big event as, much like with other esports, there has been somewhat of a competitive break along with the holidays and the New Year. However, the long wait is finally over as EVO Japan 2020 brings six different games to the main event. Fans of Tekken, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Street Fighter, Samurai Shodown, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, and Soul Calibur will definitely be in for a treat from Jan 24 – 26. The first two days of the event will feature mostly the open tournaments, with the playoff brackets being played on Saturday and finishing up on with the grand-finals on Sunday. Most of the events will be played in a double-elimination system, meaning players will have to lose two series to be eliminated. When it comes to the finals, the player coming from the winner’s bracket will have the advantage, only having to win once, while the losers bracket player will need to win twice. Evo Japan 2020 Streams Evo Japan 2020 Main Stream Evo Japan 2020 Stream 2 Evo Japan 2020 Stream 3 Evo Japan 2020 Stream 4 Evo Japan 2020 Schedule Day 1 – Friday Jan 24 Day 2 – Saturday Jan 25 Day 3 – Sunday Jan 26 Evo Japan 2020 Prize Pools Evo prize pools are generally set depending on the game’s popularity, with the more popular games usually offering higher cash prizes. The breakdown for Evo Japan 2020 is as follows: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Winner: Nintendo Switch Pro Controller – Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition Winner: 1,000,000 JPY (£6,980) – Runner up: 400,000 JPY (£2,792) – Third place: 200,000 JPY (£1,396) – Tekken 7 Winner: 1,000,000 JPY (£6,980) – Runner up: 400,000 JPY (£2,792) – Third place: 200,000 JPY (£1,396) – Samurai Shodown Winner: 500,000 JPY (£3,491) – Runner up: 200,000 JPY (£1,396) – Third place: 100,000 JPY (£698) – Blazblue Cross Tag Battle Winner: 500,000 JPY (£3,491) – Runner up: 200,000 JPY (£1,396) – Third place: 100,000 JPY (£698) – Soul Calibur VI Winner: 500,000 JPY (£3,491) – Runner up: 200,000 JPY (£1,396) – Third place: 100,000 JPY (£698) – Make sure to tune into EVO Japan 2020 for some of the best fighting game action out there, in an even that will undoubtedly be one of the best of 2020.

How to watch AT&T Annihilator Cup: Apex Legends tournament AT&TAT&T is putting up $300,000 in prize money for the Annihilator Cup, a 5-week event featuring some of the biggest streamers and played across Apex Legends, CS:GO, Halo, Mortal Kombat, and Among Us. This is AT&T’s first-ever livestreamed gaming event, kicking off on April 2. The Telecom company, which also owns WarnerMedia, has launched its own Twitch channel, which will broadcast the Annihilator Cup over five weeks. Some of the big names confirmed for the event include shroud, Mizkif, Tommey, LIRIK, Yassou, PvPx, and Emiru. There will also be some of the best in business hosting and casting, including Goldenboy, Chris Puckett, and Pansy. How to watch AT&T Annihilator Cup You can catch all the action on AT&T’s new Twitch channel, embedded below. AT&T Annihilator Cup Schedule The tournaments will run every Friday, starting at 1pm PT / 4PM ET / 9PM BST. April 2: Apex Legends – April 9: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – April 16: Mortal Kombat 11 – April 23: Halo 3 – April 30: Among Us – Format 5 games over 5 weeks, with 20 players competing. Each week, the top contestant will win $5,000 (AT&T is dubbing this ‘5Gs’), and the overall winner at the end of the Annihilator Cup will net the top prize of $100,000. Based upon their performance in each game, the players will earn points for the leaderboard, and after 5 games, the competitor with the highest total score wins. Apex Legends The first week of competition takes place on Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends, starting on April 2 at 1pm PT. Players are split into 10 teams of two for a duos competition, playing a 2-hour kill race. The top 2 teams will then play a 1-hour kill race to decide the winner. Win: 10 points – Top 3: 6 points – Top 5: 3 points – Kill: 1 point – Annihilator Cup players Shroud – Yassou – Mizkif – Bnans – LIRIK – Emiru – Elspeth – Fl0m – Tommey – Rated – PVPx – Sydeon – Alexia Raye – Jake’n’Bake – Emz – GoldGlove – KingGeorge – KEEOH – KelseyDangerous – Talent Host: Goldenboy Apex Legends: Bravo & GlitterXplosion – CS:GO: Pansy & Potter – Mortal Kombat 11: Tasty Steve & RIP – Halo 3: Puckett & Gaskin – Among Us: BallaTW & HelloKellyLink – AT&T says that this tournament is part of “its commitment to powering and empowering the gaming and esports communities by providing the products, services and platforms they need to create meaningful connections.” The company is already involved with a number of esports brands, including 100 Thieves, as their official 5G and Fiber Innovation sponsor. They also sponsor Cloud9’s Valorant White roster, an all-women team. They also ran the AT&T Unlocked Games, an all-women game development competition.

How to watch Esports Awards 2019, the “Oscars of esports” Esports AwardsThe 2019 Esports Awards are finally upon us, as they will commence on November 16, 2019, from Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas. The Awards are a time for the esports industry to celebrate their accomplishments and honor their brightest stars for their achievements from last October until now. Many finalists and winners from previous years are back once again to defend their titles, with some new faces among each category. The show will kick off on November 16, 2019, at 8:15 PM Central time (6:15 PM Pacific time, 2:15 AM London time Sunday) as the show makes its debut on U.S. soil for the first time. While tickets are still available for $25 to attend the show as a spectator, or $100 as a VIP for the gala, viewers at home will be able to watch the show on Twitch on the Esports Awards channel. Below is a full list of the nominees for the Industry, Community, and Pro categories for the 2019 Esports Awards. Industry Awards Esports Game of the Year League of Legends – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – Fortnite – Overwatch – PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds – Rainbow Six Siege – Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 – DOTA 2 – Rocket League – Street Fighter V – Esports Coverage Website of the Year VP Esports – GosuGamers – Dot Esports – Inven Global – theScore esports – The Esports Observer – Liquipedia – HLTV – Dexerto – ESPN Esports – Esports Journalist of the Year Jacob Wolf – Ashley Kang – Tyler “FionnOnFire” Erzberger – Duncan “Thooorin” Shields – Richard Lewis – Jared “DeKay” Lewis – Emily Rand – Dustin Steiner – Kevin Aiello – Antonio “Inyustificado” Yuste – Esports Commercial Partner of the Year Red Bull – Logitech – HyperX – DHL – Alienware – AT&T – State Farm – G FUEL – Intel – Scuf Gaming – Esports Hardware Provider of the Year AMD – Logitech – Intel – ASTRO – Nvidia – HyperX – Scuf Gaming – Republic of Gamers – Secretlab – Micro-Star International – Razer – Alienware – Read More: Members of infamous hacking group Lizard Squad reportedly arrested Esports Publisher of the Year Activision Blizzard – Riot Games – Valve – Epic Games – Ubisoft – PUBG Corporation – Tencent – EA – Capcom – Supercell – Esports Supporting Agency of the Year ESG Law – Freaks 4U Gaming – Character Select Agency – Hitmarker Jobs – Code Red Esports – National Association of Collegiate Esports – Evolved Talent Agency – Loaded – Esports Live Event of the Year The International 2019 (Dota 2) – Evo 2019 (FGC) – League of Legends World Championship – Rocket League Championship Series Season 7 finals – Overwatch League Grand Finals – Fortnite World Cup – ESL One Cologne (CS:GO) – IEM Katowice (CS:GO, StarCraft 2) – Call of Duty World League Championship 2019 – Starladder Berlin Major 2019 (CS:GO) – Six Invitational (Rainbow Six) – Community Awards Content Creator of the Year Jack “CouRage” Dunlop – Craig “Mini Ladd” Thompson – Jared “SunlessKhan” Zook – Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag – Jason “Jev” Eugene – Duncan “Thooorin” Shields – Travis Gafford – Brian Michael “Terroriser” Hanby – UpUpDownDown – Lannan “Lazarbeam” Eacott – Alastair “Ali-A” Aiken – Esports Breakthrough Game of the Year Old School RuneScape – Magic: The Gathering Arena – Apex Legends – NBA 2K19 – PUBG Mobile – Guns of Boom – BrawlStars – FIFA 19 – Battalion 1944 – Esports Cosplayer of the Year Jessica Nigri – Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi – Kinpatsu Cosplay – Spoon Makes – Yaya Han – Polygon Forge – Willow Creative – Maul Cosplay – LittleJem – Anaelic – Read More: Jessica Ngiri’s SirFetch’d cosplay leeks coolness factor Esports Personality of the Year Tyler “Ninja” Blevins – Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez – Benjamin “DrLupo” Lupo – Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere – Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo – Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez – Steve Arhancet – Carlos “ocelote” Rodríguez Santiago – Jack “CouRage” Dunlop – Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag – Esports Photographer of the Year Joe Brady – Peter Chau – Helena Kristiansson – Stephanie Lindgren – Michal Konkol – Nuno Miranda – Joao Ferreria – Kirill Bashkirov – Rich Lock – Esports Videographer of the Year Cory Doggett – Johannes Lehner – Robert Rogers – Charles Dalton – Damian Estrada – Gabriel Ruiz – Sean Do – Max Olivo – Mawcho – Logan Dodson – Streamer of the Year Nick “NICKMERCS” Kolcheff – Corentin “Gotaga” Houssein – Jack “CouRage” Dunlop – Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek – Alan “alanzoka” Ferreira – Tyler “Ninja” Blevins – Herschel “Dr DisRespect” Beahm IV – Turner “Tfue” Tenney – Timothy John “TimTheTatman” Betar – Imane “Pokimane” Anys – Pro Category Esports Caster of the Year Jack “CouRage” Dunlop – Henry “HenryG” Greer – Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles – Mitch “Uber” Leslie – Clayton “CaptainFlowers” Raines – Kaci Aitchison – Ben “Benson” Bowe – Indiana “Froskurinn” Black – Clint “Maven” Evans – Chris “PapaSmithy” Smith – Matt “Mr X” Morello – Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett – Read more: Star Wars x Fortnite collaboration announced. Esports Coach of the Year Danny “zonic” Sørensen – Titouan “Sockshka” Merloz – Brice “Faccento” Faccento – Park “Crusty” Dae-hee – Eric “adreN” Hoag – Mike “Packing10” Szklanny – Nicholas “Ashes” Ridgeway – Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam – James Crowder – Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun – Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann – Esports Console Player of the Year Justin “jstn” Morales – Sam “Octane” Larew – James “Clayster” Eubanks – Gilbert “Xplosive” Rojo – Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma – Brandon “Dashy” O’tell – Alexandre “Kaydop” Courant – Mohammed “Mo Auba” Harkous – Leonardo “MKLeo” Perez – Chris “Simp” Lehr – Dominique “SonicFox” McLean – Kenny “Kenny” Williams – Esports Console Rookie of the Year Mohammed “Mo Auba” Harkous – Dylan “Dylan” Henderson – Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris – Kyle “Scrub Killa” Robertson – Dylan “Envoy” Hannon – Chris “Simp” Lehr – Aydan “Aydan” Conrad – Leonardo “MKLeo” Perez – Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey – McArtuher “Cellium” Jovel – Esports Host of the Year James “Dash” Patterson – Alex “Machine” Richardson – Nyvi Estephan – Tres “stunna” Saranthus – Paul “Redeye” Chaloner – Katie Bedford – Frankie “getfrank” Ward – Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez – Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere – Chris “Puckett” Puckett – Esports Organization of the Year Cloud9 – 100 Thieves – Team Vitality – Fnatic – G2 Esports – NRG Esports – Team Liquid – EUnited – Esports PC Player of the Year Johan “N0tail” Sundstein – Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz – Niclas “Pengu” Mouritzen – Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng – Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf – Jay “sinatraa” Won – Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen – Russel David “Twistzz” Van Dulken – Matthew “Super” DeLisi – Luka “Perkz” Perković – Rasmus “Caps” Winther – Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev – Esports PC Player of the Year Danila “dan” Dontsov – Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf – Jere “sergej” Salo – Jeong “Nenne” Yeon-kwan – David “aqua” Wang – Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek – Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen – Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – Esports Team of the Year SK Telecom T1 [LoL] – Vancouver Titans [OWL] – Renault Vitality [RL] – Astralis [CS:GO] – San Francisco Shock [OWL] – 100 Thieves [CoD] – G2 Esports [RB6] – G2 Esports [LoL] – Team Liquid [CS:GO] – Fun Plus PhoeniX [LoL] – OG [Dota 2] – EUnited [CoD] – Congratulations to all of the nominees for the 2019 Esports Awards. Dexerto will be on-site as one of the nominees for Esports Coverage Website of the Year.

How to use DJ Esports: Betting & Stats guide for League, CSGO, Valorant, more DJ Esports is the premier all-crypto esports betting site – but if you haven’t dabbled in it before, it may at first appear a daunting task to get started. Here’s a starters guide to using DJ Esports cutting-edge statistics and tools to level up your esports betting experience. DJ Esports is a new crypto friendly, esports website that is completely revolutionizing the scene by being the world’s first all-crypto betting website. However, if you’re new to the platform, you may need some help navigating it — we got you covered! For those looking to get started with the platform, then look no further. Check below for a complete overview on how to use DJ Esports. Contents How to Sign Up to DJ Esports – Using DJ Esports stats – What markets are available on DJ Esports – Placing bets on DJ Esports – How to Sign Up to DJ Esports Getting started with an account is very straightforward, and totally free. After signing up, your account will be credited with 1500 DJT, which you can use to get started with your first bets. For information about depositing more funds, simply click the wallet icon in the top right. Using DJ Esports stats One of the biggest advantages of using DJ Esports is the site’s unrivaled offering of stats and analysis. Whether you want to do your own analysis of teams and players, or want to rely on the expertise of others, it’s all at your fingertips. Let’s say you wanted to place a bet on an upcoming League of Legends match, but wanted to get informed with some stats first. Head to the Statistics tab, where you’ll be presented with the latest results and upcoming matches. Head over to ‘Match Fixtures’, and find the game you’re interested in. Here, you can select the ‘Stats Comparison’ tool to get a full breakdown of in-depth statistics to help in your decision-making. One of the unique features is the player matrix value, which accumulates lots of data about a player’s performance, and creates a holistic score to capture that data in a single number. In short, the higher the matrix number, the better the player’s form. Players are ranked by their ‘Power Rating’, which combines their stats into one helpful figure. Player comparison There’s so much more to dive into with player and team statistics, champion picks, power rankings and more, so you can explore the stats available before placing a bet, or simply to look forward to the match. But, if you’re not keen on doing all this statistical analysis yourself, there is a faster way. Using the DJ Esports Discord, you can find predictions and analysis from other game experts, who will break down a big upcoming match. Simply join the #Predictions channel, and you can rely on informed analysis of big matches before wagering your own funds. Head-to-head matchups Here, you can compare win rates, recent results, and key figures such as First Bloods. What markets are available on DJ Esports? You can bet on the following esports, with the vast majority of professional and academy matches around the world available with live odds. League of Legends – Valorant – CS:GO – Overwatch – FIFA – Rainbow 6 – StarCraft 2 – NBA 2K – Warcraft – PUBG – Call of Duty – Fortnite – Rocket League – Crossfire – Hearthstone – But, it’s more than just organized professional events. Using DJ Esports’ Streamer portal, you can also place bets on the outcomes of matches going on live on a streamer’s channel For example, as Nemesis streams some ranked League of Legends matches, you can bet on the outcome of the upcoming match. Placing bets on DJ Esports You can place bets in a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, USDT and Dai. DJ Esports is also offering a 50% deposit bonus on all crypto deposits, as well as daily interest equating to 30% APR. To place a single bet, simply click on the odds you want to wager, and enter the amount. But, you can also place parlay bets (also known as accumulators), by selecting two or more bets across different matches. With the Worlds Prediction Series underway, now is the best time to sign up and get started. The predictions series is totally free, but has a 10 million USDT prize pool up for grabs, and all you need to do is make a string of correct predictions across major esports tournaments, leading up to LoL Worlds.

How to watch $500k PGL Quake Pro League 2020-21 ESLPGL Esports have announced the return of the Quake Pro League for the 2020-2021 season, with over $500,000 up for grabs in prize money. It’s only been a few weeks since the dust settled on an incredible QuakeCon Championship, when Team Liquid’s Shane ‘rapha’ Hendrixson proved he’s one of the greatest Quake players to ever touch the game by claiming his sixth world championship, and the 2019-2020 Pro League MVP award. Now, after a few weeks off, Bethesda and PGL are teaming up to kick-off the new season, with action set to begin on Sunday, September 6. The best Quake Champions players from around the world will start their campaigns in earnest, as they aim to earn bragging rights, and the opportunity to battle for the prestigious championship belt at QuakeCon 2021. With the action set to come thick and fast over the 13-week Pro League season, here’s how you can catch all the action. When does the Quake Pro League start? The Quake Pro League returns on Sunday, September 6, with broadcasts emanating from the PGL Studios in Bucharest, Romania, every week. Matches themselves will be played online, although PGL and Bethesda hope to have players in the studio for the Stage Finals in December. Matches in both the European and Americas division will take place every week, with proceedings starting at 7:00 AM (PT) / 10:00 AM (ET) /3:00 PM (BST). Matches will take place on the official Quake Twitch channel, which has been embedded below. Stream What is the format for Quake Pro League 2020-21? For the 2020-21 season, players will be once again divided into two divisions: The Americas and Europe. Over the course of 13 weeks, players will take on the other competitors in their division in round-robin play, with their overall record determining their cut of the prize pool, and their seeds heading into Stage Finals. Those players, along with the open Challengers qualifiers, will then head to the PGL Studios to compete in a 24-person double-elimination bracket based on their regular season performance, integrating both divisions to see who truly is the best in the world. What is Quake Challengers? Challengers will take place over the course of nine weeks starting September 26, with players competing in a single-elimination bracket for the first eight. Two players from each week will qualify for Challengers Playoffs, with the top two players in both The Americas and Europe earning a spot against the pros at the Stage Finals. Quake Pro League 2020-21 Schedule Regular season matches will take place over 13 weeks, with Stage Finals set for December. You can view the full schedule below. Week 01: Sunday: 09/06 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 02: Sunday: 09/13 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 03: Sunday: 09/20 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 04: Sunday: 09/27 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 05: Sunday: 10/04 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 06: Sunday: 10/11 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 07: Sunday: 10/18 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 08: Sunday: 10/25 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 09: Sunday: 11/01 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 10: Sunday: 11/08 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 11: Sunday: 11/15 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 12: Sunday: 11/22 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 13: Sunday: 11/29 – Online PGL Studios. – Week 14: BREAK. – Week 15: Friday-Sunday: 12/11-13 Stage 1 Finals. – What is the prize pool for Quake Pro League 2020-21? Unlike previous years, players will earn money for winning matches during the regular season, with $150 up for grabs every time they pick up a victory. There’s also $50 for the loser, which will hopefully take some of the sting out of defeat. Over the course of the season, $500,000 will be given away across Stage 1 and 2 Finals, and then the Quake World Championship as well. You can view a full breakdown of the prize pool below. Regular Season Matches – $150,000+ $150 map win. – $50 map loss. – Stage 1 Finals – $100,000 21st – 24th – $1,000. – 17th – 20th – $2,000. – 13th – 16th – $2,750. – 9th – 12th – $3,750. – 7th – 8th – $5,000. – 5th – 6th – $6,000. – 4th – $7,000. – 3rd – $8,000. – 2nd – $10,000. – 1st – $15,000. – Stage 2 Finals – $100,000 21st – 24th – $1,000. – 17th – 20th – $2,000. – 13th – 16th – $2,750. – 9th – 12th – $3,750. – 7th – 8th – $5,000. – 5th – 6th – $6,000. – 4th – $7,000. – 3rd – $8,000. – 2nd – $10,000. – 1st – $15,000. – Quake World Championship – $150,000 21st – 24th – $1,500. – 17th – 20th – $3,000. – 13th – 16th – $4,000. – 9th – 12th – $5,500. – 7th – 8th – $7,250. – 5th – 6th – $8,500. – 4th – $10,000. – 3rd – $12,500. – 2nd – $15,000. – 1st – $25,000. –

How to get Team Liquid x Spider-Man 1978 collection: Where to buy, locations Team Liquid, MarvelTeam Liquid’s new Marvel collection features Spider-Man 1978 themed clothing that is sure to have fans asking themselves how they can get their hands on it. Whether it’s where, or how, to buy it… We’ve got you covered. Some casual fans may not know about the older 1978 Japanese television show featuring Marvel’s signature spider hero. But this show was a huge hit, so it’s no wonder that Team Liquid sought to pay homage to its unique style in their latest collaboration with Marvel. From short-sleeve tees to a nifty beanie, here’s everything you need to know about the Team Liquid x Spider-Man 1978 collection. How to get the Team Liquid x Spider-Man 1978 collection Countries The collection will be available in North America and Europe. When? It goes live on September 30 at 12 pm PT / 9 pm CEST, featuring 14 different pieces including short-sleeve shirts, joggers, hoodies, and even a beanie. Where? The shop can be accessed here, and interested buyers can pick out what pieces of the collection they’d like to take home. How much? Prices in the Team Liquid x Marvel collection range from $30 all the way up to $95 USD. Logan Leavitt, Apparel Business Manager at Team Liquid, said: “We’re deeply interested in building bridges between different communities across gaming culture. “Spider-Man 1978 caught our attention immediately because of a similar spirit of connection. It’s essentially a Japanese mech and martial arts action show, but Spider-Man as the main character — there’s a lot to love. We’re really proud to pay homage to such a unique part of Spidey’s history.” This collection is, if nothing else, a great and unique homage to a classic show and one that Marvel and Liquid fans alike can be excited about.

How to get Chou ‘ECHO’ M4 skin in Mobile Legends: Release date, price, and more MoontonMobile Legends: Bang Bang developer Moonton has finally revealed the Chou skin commemorating ECHO’s victory at the M4 World Championship. Here is how you can get your hands on it. The Chou ‘ECHO’ skin was created by Moonton in collaboration with ECHO, who won the M4 World Championship in January after beating fellow Filipino team Blacklist International in the final, in Jakarta. Shortly after the final, ECHO’s players unanimously chose Chou for the world championship skin. Since Season 1 of MPL Philippines, ECHO’s players have picked the hero almost 100 times. “Chou isn’t only playable by one player,” said roamer Tristan ‘YAWI’ Cabrera. “All five of us can use it. It can be used in any role.” Chou ‘ECHO’ is the fourth M-series championship skin but the first to feature a fighter hero. M1 champions EVOS Legends chose Harith (mage), while M2 champions BREN Esports picked Lancelot (assassin), and M3 winners Blacklist International selected Estes (support). Here is all you need to know about the Chou ‘ECHO’ skin. Chou ‘ECHO’ M4 champion skin: Release date and price The M4 champion skin Chou ‘ECHO’ will launch in the game on August 21. But before that, there will be a pre-sale running between August 14 and 20. During pre-sale, there will be a 30 percent discount, so players will be able to purchase the skin for 629 diamonds. After this period, the skin will be available for 899 diamonds. Just like last year, Moonton will organize an in-game event to provide fans with discounts. By completing a set of event tasks, players will be able to purchase the skin for just 499 diamonds. On August 21, ECHO will host a livestream event on their Facebook page to showcase the skin and give away prizes to fans. The M4 World Championship was one of the most popular tournaments in esports history, amassing 80 million hours watched and peaking at over 4.2 million concurrent viewers, according to data firm Esports Charts. The M5 World Championship will take place in December, in the Philippines.

How to buy the 20th-anniversary Team Liquid x Naruto collection Twitter: TeamLiquidTeam Liquid has announced yet another clothing collaboration with Naruto for a collection of merchandise, perfect for fans of anime and esports, alike. Here’s how to buy them yourself. Team Liquid is continuing its trend of satiating both anime and esports fans by creating another new collection, this time collaborating with Naruto. This collection will feature several different clothing items inspired by the ever-popular anime. Team Liquid has already worked with the creators of Naruto prior to this, with previous collections such as the Akatsuki collection currently available in their store. However, with the announcement of a new set of merch, you might be wondering how to grab them yourself. Fortunately, we have all the info right here. When is the Team Liquid x Naruto collection available? Team Liquid announced in a recent tweet that its new merch collection would be released later this month on March 31 2023 at 12 PM PDT / 9 PM CEST. Alongside the announcement, they released a hype trailer to get fans riled up and the excitement flowing. How to buy the Team Liquid x Naruto 20th anniversary collection In order to grab this sweet-looking gear for yourself, you’ll need to order it via Team Liquid’s website. Since it’s still early, Team Liquid has yet to release specific pricing for each individual item. However, it’s likely we’ll know once they hit the website at some point in the near future. Team Liquid has also announced that they’ll be slowly releasing photos and more information about each item throughout the week leading up to the launch, so checking their Twitter page may net you more info. Where will the Team Liquid x Naruto 20th anniversary be available? As far as we currently know, the 20th Anniversary Team Liquid x Naruto collection has been confirmed as available in the EU and the US. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any information regarding other countries and their potential chances of receiving the new items.

How James BanKs avoided a “dark” path because of esports CS:GO caster James ‘BanKs’ explained how esports was his saving grace in an exclusive interview with Dexerto. When NAVI won PGL Stockholm 2021, it wasn’t just superstar s1mple celebrating the achievement. Long after the event was over and the last fans had exited the venue, BanKs laid on the floor of the stage and thought to himself, “I’ve done it!” BanKs had just undergone the toughest challenge of his life – losing his fiancée while working in Stockholm. Now, he says the “game kept me focused on my love and passion and kept me out of a dark place during a dark time.” Esports holds a special place in BanKs‘ heart, and his ties run much deeper than the average fan or professional player. He shared the story of his journey in esports and how he always knew it was his calling in life. Esports was an escape BanKs grew up in a low-income family in London’s public housing system. He admitted, “I had an amazing family, but I just took a few wrong turns.” He was diagnosed with diabetes at a young age; in some ways, the diagnosis served as a blessing in disguise. He was forced to stay home for treatment, and this allowed him to discover CS 1.5. “Counter-Strike has been the most consistent thing in my life, and I am so thankful for it. Never did I imagine it would be more than just playing a game.” In 2003, at age 13, BanKs watched SK Sweden, which ignited his passion for esports LAN tournaments. He also competed in his first live event that same year with friends. He didn’t win a single match, but “I kept going through, never give up, guys!” Five years later and studying in college, BanKs didn’t have time to play on a CS 1.6 team, so he transitioned to Virtua Fighter 5. Playing a one-on-one game allowed him to balance school and esports simultaneously. Religious play and practice culminated in a silver medal at the UK qualifiers. “My goal was always to stay in esports and never stop, no matter what role it was.” BanKs finally gets his big break in CS:GO BanKs’ perseverance finally paid off in 2014 when he was invited to be an interviewer with Gfinity at G3. Conducting interviews on YouTube helped him prepare for the moment, and despite being “incredibly nervous,” he credited Richard Lewis, Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields, and Scott ‘SirScoots’ Smith for helping him. Being an avid esports fan and building relationships helped BanKs into the position he is in today. “I try to be as compassionate and empathetic as possible with all players and follow their mood while understanding where I can push things and where I should hold back.” CS:GO draws in massive crowds, and BanKs lives for meeting fans and people who love the game as much as him. PGL Antwerp 2022 broke the game’s attendance record, hosting over 20,000 passionate fans, and BanKs was in the midst of it all, soaking everything in. “The more they give, the more I feel energized. It is a really hard feeling to explain, but it is where I feel I do my best work, it is where I feel my happiest.” “Where I feel my happiest” For BanKs, esports is more than a sweet escape or an important hobby. In a tragic turn of events, the caster lost his fiancée when he was working PGL Stockholm 2021. BanKs was devastated, but he wasn’t alone. He describes that event as a “beautiful distraction” as community members rallied around him after suffering such a great loss. “It was the best event and the hardest event for me. My favorite team NAVI won, finally, after their dedication and commitment to CS: GO, they won a major, and my friend S1mple, the greatest player of all time, achieved his dream.” s1mple spent time with BanKs throughout PGL Stockholm and, after lifting up the championship trophy, says the pro “gave me his Major winning mouse that I will cherish forever.” As BanKs laid on the Stockholm stage and felt waves of emotion pour over him, the experience was confirmation of his love and passion for esports. Being on stage and absorbing the energy of a crowd is where BanKs feels happiest, and hardships faced at several stages of life led him to the conclusion that esports “was a way out of everything bad.”

How the Esports World Cup is hoping to change the future of esports Esports World CupThe Esports World Cup is shaping up to be one of the biggest esports events of all time, with a $60 million dollar prize pool enticing orgs to participate in one of the 19 confirmed titles across an 8-week tournament. Everything from traditional sports games, MOBAs, fighting games, and shooters will be on display at the tournament, all of them featuring some of the biggest names in esports. And with organizations incentivized to pick up teams in new games for this event, the industry has seen a massive amount of growth in a very short time even before the tournament kicks off as teams accepted into the EWC partner program I spoke with many of the competing players, as well as Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne and Chief Games Officer Fabian Scheuermann, who put together the event’s game lineup, to get a full view of what everyone’s hoping the Esports World Cup will achieve. Bringing the whole esports world together The esports industry has grown massively over the past decade, as what started as a relatively niche interest has ballooned into a massive ecosystem that has certainly had some growing pains. This has also resulted in a rather disjointed system where not every esport is built the same. For instance, franchised esports leagues like that of Riot Games’ esports ventures ensures that orgs that commit to the franchise will get their chance in the spotlight. Meanwhile, fighting games and other open-bracket esports like TFT present the risk of your player getting knocked out in pools and not even getting time on stream. Being an organization that exists across multiple esports requires not only a lot of capital, but a lot of risk as well. If your team isn’t at the top, then sponsors aren’t paying, and no single approach works for every game. The Esports World Cup Foundation aims to bolster the entire industry by propping up the biggest orgs in the world and encouraging them to get involved by offering incentives to sign teams across a variety of esports. 30 organizations, to be exact. All of them were given a six-figure stipend purely to front the bill to invest in new esports teams. Additionally, $20 million of the overall $60 million prize pool is reserved for organizations, meaning a significant portion of the money up for grabs is reserved for the orgs themselves. And, although this announcement was recent, the process of picking these orgs has been going on for quite a while. This is most apparent if we look to the fighting game community, an area of esports that’s historically risky to get into and hard for orgs to justify. Falcons signing Saint (Tekken 8), Vitality signing JEonDDing (Tekken 8), Cloud9 signing JB (Street Fighter 6), the effects of this partnership program have been immediate and apparent even before it was officially announced. Niche esports communities getting more players involved who can compete full-time will only raise the level of competition and grow the scene. Joey Fury spoke with us on this issue when he signed onto FaZe Clan in 2023, and his word back then says a lot about how big a deal this is for smaller esports communities to get more full-time competitors: “There have been stretches throughout this Tekken career, if you want to call it that, where I have been working. And those were definitely the hardest periods. Trying to work a 9-5 during the day, and then come home and enter a late-night online bracket. If you win, you’re probably gonna be up ’til like, two in the morning, and then your sleep is wrecked for the whole week. It’s really challenging. Anybody who’s working full-time and succeeding in Tekken has my utmost respect, because it’s really hard,” he explained. However, this growth isn’t unique to the FGC, either, and don’t be surprised to see more and more teams get signed across several esports at the EWC as we get closer to the event. Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne was certainly excited for the effect this tournament would have on esports big and small, with some games getting a big international event where they otherwise wouldn’t have one. “I am very excited by this competition. International events in esports are always the most hype events. But there are a lot of games that don’t have these big stages to play on. And, the type of dollars that are being invested into the prize pools for these players, for a lot of these regions, is life-changing for them. They can actually focus full-time on the game they absolutely love. And, for fans who are watching, like fans of these of these esports, who may not have had a big stage opportunity for big dollars, it’s super exciting for them.” However, this is just as exciting for big esports like League of Legends who only have a few international events a year that bring the world’s best teams together. “Closed-off systems, like League of Legends hasn’t had, like, events that are not thrown by [Riot] for a long time. And we’ve been, you know, used to two international events, essentially, a year. Adding one more event is a massive increase in the number of international events that we see.” He added that he was shocked to see so many publishers leaping at the opportunity to get behind this event and have their games shown on a new international stage. “I was surprised to see how many publishers are getting behind this event, to allow esports to grow. This is the type of growth in esports, I think, we haven’t seen in a long time. And there’s never been an event of this scale just for esports.” Faker agreed when we asked him about the topic, among other things, and he’s excited to see League of Legends get more time on the international stage. “Because it’s an international stage, I’m pretty sure every team will give it their all,” he explained. “I’m happy that we get to have more and more events and tournaments happening internationally under the attention and excitement coming from the fans.” The other players we spoke to were equally excited, and not just because they’ve got a shot at winning millions. Giving new games the biggest stage (and old games a second chance) When it comes to creating an esport, building a meaningful fandom around new games is difficult. Most of the longest-standing esports like Counter-Strike, League of Legends, and DOTA 2 have been around for years and have maintained an audience and fandom. While there are series that iterate and release new entries like CoD, Street Fighter, and Tekken, those games also maintain the storylines from the previous game’s esports scene. Creating an esports sensation from scratch isn’t impossible (looking at you, Valorant), but it’s very hard and requires a lot of things to go right. Moreover, people tend to stick with the games they love watching and playing for years and years. Convincing an audience to give attention to other esports, or getting new viewers into esports who don’t traditionally watch them, is a tall order – but not an impossible one. There is a way to make it easier, though: Use people’s knowledge and passion for traditional sports to ease them into the esports ecosystem. We spoke with Anders Vejrgang, a young prodigy who’s been taking home trophies in the FIFA (now EA FC) series since he was 11, and he’s ecstatic that he’ll finally get a chance to play on a big stage with high stakes. “Last year, we had [Gamers8] in Saudi Arabia, too. The crowd, they actually supported me for once! (laughs) Usually they’re against me, but this time, they were for me. I’m glad it’s gonna be in Saudi Arabia again. But yeah, when I see the prize pool, I feel like it’s gonna be a big arena again. It’s something that really motivates me. I usually get better when there’s more pressure on, so I’m really looking forward to it. Esports itself will just get bigger.” And, because the tournament is located in Saudi Arabia, several players in the Middle East and elsewhere now have who now have an opportunity to compete for life-changing prize pools without running into Visa issues. Tekken god Arslan Ash voiced his frustration about not being able to compete in EVO Japan, and no one from Pakistan was able to make it to the tournament despite being from one of the game’s strongest regions. But, with the Esports World Cup happening so close to him in a place where he and many other Pakistani players can attend, it eliminates the travel issues that have plagued players from the region. “I never imagined fighting games themselves would become this big, and it’s all thanks to the Esports World Cup. Just its existence is huge. Now everyone in the world is so motivated, and big companies are sponsoring players from all around the world. It’s huge as an ecosystem, it’s good for the teams, good for the players, good for everyone,” Arslan claimed. “Everyone is working hard. Pakistani people, we’ve always had Visa problems. The Esports World Cup is in Saudi Arabia, so we don’t have any Visa problems,” he explained. “It’s motivating the core community to work harder and not worry about the Visa stuff.” Apex Legends is yet another esport showing up at the Esports World Cup, and longtime competitor ImperialHal thinks this tournament could be the big step Apex needs to put the ALGS in front of more eyes and take the game’s esports scene to heights it hasn’t yet achieved. “Having the Esports World Cup is probably the best opportunity we’ve had in Apex in the last five years, ever since the game came out. I think it’s huge, I think everyone should be looking forward to it,” Hal claimed. The EWC is trying to take out much of the risk involved with esports by doing everything they can to incentivize teams to invest in a variety of esports, even if the org never sees a return. By removing the financial risk from less stable esports, the world’s biggest teams finally have a reason to put time into smaller ecosystems and raise the level of play within those scenes substantially. This is something that will obviously be good for the players, and will allow them to pursue the games they’re most passionate about. With all this in mind, we had to ask about why the Esports World Cup exists. What are their goals with this tournament, if not profit? What does the Esports World Cup Foundation hope to achieve? We spoke with the EWC’s Chief Games Officer, Fabian Scheuermann, to ask about the process of putting together their wide range of games, where he wants to take the tournament in the future, and inclusivity that he hopes will create a bigger place for women in esports despite Saudi Arabia’s past showing otherwise. Creating an Esports World Cup for everyone Though there are some games that have a strong global presence like League of Legends, there are others that thrive within their regions and have struggled to grow outside of them. Scheuermann wants to give titles from all around the world a chance to shine. “We’re doing this for the world, right? And, in order to cover the world correctly, you need to have all the most important AAA games. We’re starting from China with Honor of Kings, down to Free Fire in Latin America, and all the most important AAA global games in between. That is the target, so we needed all of them,” he explained. He also outlined his vision for the EWC and what he wants to do for the industry. Though esports is more popular than ever, organizations and publishers have also struggled when it comes to turning an actual profit and keeping the scene alive. “We have one very clear vision. We want to leapfrog the esports industry overall. We want to create sustainable infrastructure for everyone and help all of the stakeholders within the ecosystem. So the players, the clubs, the publishers – who also struggle sometimes with sustainability in esports – and, of course, the fans.” And, though their current roster of games is already huge, he’s looking to add more next year. He got into some specifics about why Valorant isn’t on the docket, but also hinted that he’s looking into some other big games. “I will not say which ones, but Valorant is one of them, one of four games I have on our shortlist. We’ve been actively discussing with the publishers. The problem was, specifically for Valorant, that the calendar didn’t fit. It’s impossible with the Valorant calendar without moving and creating big hassle for the players with that. We have a long-term vision, it’s only year one. We can grow.” And, while talking about new possibilities for the tournament, new games weren’t the only topic that came up. Though there’s one women’s tournament happening at this year’s Esports World Cup, women’s esports is one of the biggest areas Scheuermann wants to expand into next year. There’s already a women’s Mobile Legends Bang Bang tournament, but he wants to do more. “It’s more the matter of we can’t bring in more this year because we have, logistically, all the games, the calendar. But we’re planning to expand that in the coming years, and you will for sure see more women’s tournaments next year. I can almost guarantee that.” Team Vitality have already signed a MLBB women’s team ahead of the Esports World Cup, opening the door for more representation and more full-time competitors to spend time honing their craft. He also specified that women’s means all women, dispelling any idea that trans women wouldn’t be welcome. The same is true of any rumors that characters in games selected that represent LGBTQ+ ideals would be unplayable at the Esports World Cup; this is completely untrue according to Scheuermann, and the values each game represented didn’t influence the games he chose whatsoever. However, due to Esports World Cup taking place in and being funded by Saudi Arabia, a country that has historically restricted women’s rights and the rights of LGBTQ+ people, there are some who are hesitant to support the tournament and the organizations participating. Saudi Arabia has come under fire from human rights activists regarding their treatment of women despite their standing in the UN. For instance, 29 year-old Manahel al-Otaibi was jailed in 2024 for going outside without wearing traditional garments and posting about women’s rights activism on social media, something that has caused activists to call for her release. In response to a question regarding the safety of women travelling to compete, as well as LGBTQ+ people, Scheuermann had this to say: “The kingdom is going through a transformation, everyone is safe. Everyone is welcome. We’ve shown this in the past with other tournaments – and we’ve shown this in the past with diversity tournaments in the kingdom already – that you are safe when you’re travelling there.” It’s on the esports organizations and game publishers involved to take full advantage of the opportunity they’ve been given. In order to see any real change, they’ll have to keep players and teams that they’ve invested in past just the scope of this event. The Esports World Cup hasn’t even started yet, but the initiatives around it have already significantly altered the ecosystem by giving the orgs and publishers it’s partnering with a deal that’s too good to refuse. In an industry that’s historically unstable and notoriously difficult to stay afloat in, the EWC hopes to create a more stable, long-lasting ecosystem that can support the biggest names in esports for decades.

Hong Kong protestor Blitzchung joins team despite Blizzard controversy Hearthstone pro Wai Chung “blitzchung” Ng has been picked up by Tempo Storm less than a month after he was suspended by Blizzard for his voicing his support for Hong Kong during a broadcast. In signing blitzchung, Tempo Storm CEO Andrey Yanyuk implied he supported the player’s protest that gained international media attention. “We believe first and foremost in supporting players and encouraging them to engage and to speak out on the things about which they are most passionate,” Yanyuk said. “”We believe first and foremost in supporting players and encouraging them to engage and to speak out on the things about which they are most passionate.”” Join us in welcoming the latest addition to our HS roster :lightning_cloud:️ Welcome to the team, @blitzchungHS!https://t.co/EOHdmKQUOL pic.twitter.com/2XrffOuHlt — Tempo Storm (@Tempo_Storm) October 31, 2019 “In many ways, we value the character and integrity of our players as much as, if not more than, their tournament placings. blitzchung brings incredible talent, an infectious personality, and a great deal of enthusiasm, for Hearthstone as well as his community and others around him.” While blitzchung will need to wait six months to compete again, Tempo Storm will not be without high-level talent to fill the void. Their Hearthstone roster already consists of established pros such as William ‘Amnesiac’ Barton and Ryan ‘Purple’ Murphy-Root. The Asia-Pacific Grandmaster was overjoyed to be signed by the organization. “It has been my dream to be a part of Tempo Storm and I am excited to join the team, as it is one of the best in Hearthstone,” he said. “I had been thinking about whether to continue my Hearthstone career in the past few weeks. Since I haven’t reached my professional goals yet, and I don’t want to fall by the wayside, I will start competing again after I am unbanned.” The Hong Kong supporter made international headlines after wearing a gas mask on stream and started: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.” According to Blizzard, he was in violation of Section 6.1 (o) of the rulebook which states: “Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms.” After international backlash and boycotts of Blizzard titles, several U.S. Representatives and members of Congress sent a bipartisan letter condemning Activision Blizzard’s ban. Blizzard later reduced the suspension from a year to six months and decided to award the pro his winnings which they had earlier reduced to zero. Blitzchung’s recent performances have not impressed, however, as he’s not broken the 11-12th place barrier in recent months. He will now hope to turn his fortunes around with Tempo Storm’s guidance after he serves the rest of his six-month suspension.

HisWattson announces retirement from competitive Apex Legends ALGSApex Legends pro Jacob ‘HisWattson’ McMillin has announced his retirement from the esport after three years of competitive play. From solo-queuing from Rookie to Predator without using any armor, or climbing from Bronze to Masters without using any tools at all, to consistently placing high in pro tournaments, HisWattson once claimed he was the best Apex Legends player in the world, and some of his achievements can certainly back that up. The 21-year-old signed with FURIA ahead of the ALGS World Championship 2022 last year, where he was named MVP of the tournament and his team placed second, walking away with $300k. However, after three years of competing, the Apex pro has now announced his retirement from the esport. HisWattson announces retirement from Apex Legends esports On July 15, the Apex pro released a statement, explaining why he’ll be stepping down from competitive play. “Today I’ve made the decision to step down from Competitve Apex,” he wrote. “I went from being miles ahead of the 2nd best player to being poop. I tried everything possible to make myself enjoy playing comp, but even when we were winning, I still wasn’t having fun. “I’ve tried looking at it from every angle, but I simply don’t think it’s something that can make me happy. And over time, me not having enjoying it has made my skills deteriorate to the point where I’m no longer content and just want to go back to what made me the best and the happiest I’d ever been: Spamming ranked like a degen and being a goofball on stream.” HisWattson continued, explaining that his teammates or recent performances in tournaments aren’t the reason behind his retirement — revealing that he’s wanted to “move on” from competitive Apex for a while, but has been convinced multiple times to continue playing. “This isn’t because we just did bad or I hate my team or anything,” he said. “I wanted to move on before Split 1 even started and multiple times after but got convinced to keep playing every time, and it’s pretty much impossible for me to stay ahead of everyone skill-wise when I’m not giving it everything I have. “It’s not fair to my teammates or anyone who wants to see me do well that they’re expecting my all when I’m not able to give it to them. Everyone at FURIA is amazing and I apologize for not pulling the plug sooner.” He added: “I’m still going to be staying with FURIA as a content creator. Thank you to Pandxrz, Xera, and Sealion for being great teammates on this journey, and thank you so much to everyone that supported my competitive adventures. I’m very grateful for all of you.” HisWattson will now shift focus to full-time content creation, where he’ll still be representing FURIA.

Hitch explains why he believes OpTic will return to their former glory OpTic GamingOpTic Gaming’s creative director Davis ‘Hitch’ Edwards has explained how he plans to help bring OpTic back to its former glory after years of fierce competition from the likes of FaZe Clan and 100 Thieves. In the early days of Call of Duty content stardom, OpTic set the blueprint for what was to come for many esports organizations, with their highly popular YouTube videos. Not long after came the likes of FaZe Clan, who in recent years have absolutely skyrocketed while OpTic went through somewhat of an identity crisis, as it passed between various owners. The buzz around the org has started to grow back, though, especially since their merger with Envy, another longstanding staple of the CoD scene. During a Dexerto Originals documentary, in which we spoke about all things OpTic and his life up until now, Hitch spoke about how he came to be in OpTic and the future of the company. Read More: Hastr0 names his GOAT COD pro – After discussing how they lost OpTic, then eventually managed to get it back, Hitch suggested there’s a lot of promise in the org as it is now. “Now we finally have it [the brand] again,” he said. “Already, we’re already making waves. I think it’s only a matter of time before we get back either on top or, you know … all these red orgs keep doing their thing.” By ‘red orgs’, Hitch is referring to FaZe and 100 Thieves. Timestamp 20:17 He goes on to say that they want to take this core group of people and grow that out, adding that he’s “really excited” about the future. He even suggested that he would “love to do” a collab with 100 Thieves, similar to the one they did with FaZe Clan, but that that’s “between the two head honchos.” Only a few years ago OpTic was arguably the biggest esports organization in the world. While their grip on that spot might have loosened, Hitch has no doubt that they’ll return back to their former glory.

Heroic raise enough money to stay afloat — for now Michal Konkol/BLASTEuropean esports organization Heroic has announced that it met its fundraising target in Monday’s extraordinary general meeting. According to the minutes from the general meeting, Heroic issued 10 million preference shares at NOK 1 ($0.095) to raise NOK 10 million ($0.95 million) and was able to find shareholders willing to purchase the new stock. The news was earlier reported by Dust2.us. The funds raised are not enough to solve all Heroic’s problems but are enough to avoid a catastrophe. The esports organization had stated that it needed to raise NOK 80 million ($7.60 million) by the end of 2025 to keep operating, with a minimum of NOK 10 million required before this summer. Heroic first attempted to raise between NOK 12 million ($1.14 million) and NOK 20 million ($1.9 million) at 2 NOK ($0.19) per share in a March 20 general meeting. But given “insufficient interest” from shareholders in the subscription offer, the organization was forced to lower its target to NOK 10 million and cut the price of the new shares. Preference shares are shares of a company’s stock that have priority rights to dividends and/or proceeds in case of liquidation. According to Heroic, the new shares were offered to “select investors and existing shareholders holding 5,000 or more shares” in the company. Heroic are partnered with the two biggest franchise leagues in CS:GO, BLAST Premier and ESL Pro League, with their team currently ranked third in the world. In January, Heroic were announced as one of the four esports organizations, selected for the ESL R1 virtual racing circuit, alongside MOUZ, FURIA and FaZe. Heroic have been listed on the NOTC in Oslo since February 2021. Since then, the company’s stock price has plunged from NOK 19.76 ($1.85) to just NOK 0.80 ($0.075).

Hilarious reactions as NRG unveil new logo; misspell tagline L: NRG / R: Cassy AthenaThe community has had a good laugh following NRG Esports‘ new logo and unfortunate spelling mistake. The American team is one of the biggest in Esports, housing teams from nine different games, as well as being part of the Overwatch League as San Francisco Shock. It is known for being one of the first teams to receive investment by traditional sports players, with Alex Rodriguez, Shaquille O’Neal, and Jimmy Rollins all joining in 2016. They have seen a lot of success in the past, with many of their teams being considered some of the best in the world, but, they seem to have missed the mark with their new logo. THE TIME HAS COME #NRGFAM new look first drop same 100% unapologetic attitude pic.twitter.com/gaMWd2ErR9— NRG (@NRGgg) July 22, 2019 NRG released their new logo on July 22 and were faced with criticism almost instantly. One of the main concerns was that the overall design of the logo was very aged. “NRG highlights now available on VHS” said a Reddit user, while another commented: “That logo looks like it’s from a 90’s tech company”. These two comments were the two most upvoted replies to the new logo, seemingly showing that many others agree with the statements. Meanwhile, on Twitter fans had a similar reaction to the logo, asking NRG to “go back” to the old logo, as well as hoping it’s a meme. This wasn’t the only problem for the organization however, as they had misspelled their new tagline “unapologetic” on one of their new hoodies. 600Despite all of the negative feedback, NRG did not seem to be discouraged. The American team simply tweeted “we r not going to apolagize” just a few hours after their reveal, poking fun at their spelling mistake, as well as showing that they will stick to their guns.

Heroic announces agreement to sell company Michal Konkol/BLASTHeroic Group AS, the owner of esports organization Heroic, has announced that it has entered into a transaction agreement to sell the company. In a statement issued on May 15 and published on NOTC stock exchange’s website, the Heroic Group said that Krow Bidco AS has offered to acquire all issued and outstanding shares in the publicly traded company for NOK 2.00 (0.19) a share in a deal that could be worth nearly 56 million NOK ($5.25 million). Shareholders representing approximately 42 percent of the company, including members of Heroic’s board and executive management, have signed agreements to sell their shares. The deal is subject to Krow Bidco AS reaching agreements to acquire at least 75 percent of all outstanding shares in the company. “The board of directors of Heroic unanimously recommends the shareholders of Heroic to accept the Offer,” the statement read. According to HLTV.org, the deal was brokered by ULTI Agency, a Norwegian agency that negotiated the transfer of Gambit’s CS:GO team to Cloud9 in April 2022. Krow Bidco AS is a “Norwegian private limited liability company owned by a regulated EU investment fund.” The news comes less than two months after Heroic painted a bleak picture of its finances. The esports organization stated that it needed to raise NOK 80 million ($7.60 million) by the end of 2025 to keep operating, with a minimum of NOK 10 million required before this summer. At the end of March, it raised NOK 10 million ($0.95 million), but not before slashing the price of the new shares issued from 2 NOK ($0.19) to NOK 1 ($0.095) following “insufficient interest” from shareholders in the subscription offer. “With Krow Bidco, Heroic is offered an opportunity to continue its mission that’s been sought with support of all stakeholders,” Heroic CEO Joachim Haraldsen said in a statement. “At the same time, the transaction provides value for the shareholders in a challenging financial position for the company. Following the efforts made during recent time, the offer represents an attractive opportunity for our shareholders”. Heroic are partnered with the two biggest franchise leagues in CS:GO, BLAST Premier and ESL Pro League. Their team, currently ranked first in the world, is already through to the BLAST Paris Major’s playoffs. Heroic have been listed on the NOTC stock exchange in Oslo since February 2021. Since then, the company’s stock price has plunged from NOK 19.76 ($1.85) to just NOK 0.50 ($0.047).

Heroic call another general meeting after failing to raise money from shareholders Michal Konkol/BLASTEuropean esports organization Heroic will hold another extraordinary general meeting on March 27 after failing in its attempt to raise the necessary money to remain operational in March 20’s meeting. In an update to shareholders, Heroic said that there was “insufficient interest of subscribers” in the private placement during the March 20 extraordinary general meeting and that new conditions have been proposed in an effort to entice shareholders of the company. After initially attempting to raise between NOK 12 million ($1.14 million) and NOK 20 million ($1.9 million) at 2 NOK ($0.19) per share, Heroic are now looking to raise between NOK 8 million ($0.76 million) and NOK 15 million ($1.43 million), with the subscription price set at “NOK 1 ($0.095) per share or higher at the discretion of the general meeting.” According to the minutes of a January 30 extraordinary general meeting, Heroic CEO Joachim Haraldsen alerted investors that the company needed to raise NOK 80 million ($7.60 million) to continue operations until the end of 2025, with a minimum of NOK 10 million ($0.95 million) required before the summer of this year. Heroic was acquired in February 2021 by Omaken Sports, a Norwegian organization founded by Youtube star Joachim Haraldsen. A week earlier, Omaken had raised NOK150 million ($17.7 million) as the company aimed to become “a Nordic powerhouse within global esports.” Heroic currently field esports teams in CS:GO, Rainbow Six and RENNSPORT after withdrawing from PUBG esports only last month. “After careful consideration and due to the restructuring in the ecosystem, we have determined that continuing to compete in PUBG is no longer sustainable for the organization,” Heroic stated on February 2. Heroic is currently a partner in CS:GO’s BLAST Premier and ESL Pro League, and in RENNSPORT’s ESL R1. In February 2022, Heroic raised 60 million NOK ($5.7 million) by issuing 3,000,000 new shares, with a portion of the money used to make a partial payment of the ESL Pro League franchise spot. Omaken Sports AS was registered on the NOTC-list in February 2021. (Later that year, the company was renamed to Heroic Group). Since then, the company has seen its stock price fall from NOK 19.76 ($1.85) to just NOK 0.80 ($0.075).

Here Are All the Big Winners from the Stockholm International Esport Awards Stockholm Int. Esport Awards / TwitchThe Stockholm International Esport Awards took place last night. Here are all of this year’s big winners! Hosted by Metro Esports, and presented by Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonet and Frankie Ward, the Stockholm International Esports Awards took place in association with DreamHack at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm and is branded as “the first esport gala in Sweden”. On Camera Talent Of The Year – Uber 550https://twitter.com/Metro_esport/status/1036677476469100546 The main event started with the Overwatch League’s Australian commentator Mitch ‘Uber’ Leslie taking home gold in “On Camera Talent Of The Year”. Tournament Of The Year – The International 2017 550https://twitter.com/Metro_esport/status/1036680006242643970 The “Tournament Of The Year” award followed shortly after, with Valve’s TI7 (The International 2017) claiming the top spot. The $24,787,916 tournament featured the biggest prize pool in the history of esports until it was dethroned by 2018’s TI8. Moment Of The Year – Team Liquid’s TI7 win 550https://twitter.com/Metro_esport/status/1036681727895330822 The “Moment Of The Year” award also came from TI7, as Team Liquid’s incredible run to win the tournament was given the nod. Liquid lost in the first round of the upper bracket and had to make a sensational losers bracket run to eventually make it to the Grand Finals, where they defeated Newbee 3-0. Breakthrough Of The Year – ropz 550https://twitter.com/Metro_esport/status/1036682200404701187 Estonian CS:GO prodigy Robin ‘ropz’ Kool was crowned “Breakthrough Of The Year”. The 18 year old has been a revelation since joining Mousesports in April of 2017, helping the international roster on its way to becoming one of the best teams on Earth. Ropz actually traveled to the FACEIT offices to prove that he was a legit player before his professional career truly took off, as many believed he was too good to be true! Team Of The Year – Astralis 550https://twitter.com/Metro_esport/status/1036685876389179393 The CS:GO theme continued in the following award as Astralis took home “Team Of The Year”. The Danes have looked untouchable for much of 2018 and are widely regarded as the favorites heading into the FACEIT London Major. A slight blip at DreamHack Masters Stockholm saw Astralis lose out to local rivals North in the Grand Final, but their status as the number one team is still far from in doubt. Player Of The Year – s1mple 550https://twitter.com/Metro_esport/status/1036688552497750016 He might not have taken home as many trophies as Astralis this year, but Natus Vincere’s Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev has been the consensus number one player for the majority of the year, so it was no surprise when the CS:GO star was crowned “Player Of The Year”. S1mple’s form in 2018 has been nothing short of remarkable, and he continues to defy logic by hitting shots that simply shouldn’t be possible. Profile Of The Year – Ninja 550https://twitter.com/Metro_esport/status/1036692247973187586 The “Profile Of The Year” award was a fan voted contest and, surprise surprise, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins was the winner. The Twitch sensation and Fortnite master has easily become the biggest name in online entertainment and gaming in 2018. Ninja beat out the likes of Richard Lewis, Scott ‘SirScoots’ Smith, Jorien ‘Sheever’ van der Heijden and Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek to take home the trophy. The Stockholm International Esport Awards also featured some nordic-specific ceremonies for “Nordic team of the year”, “Nordic player of the year”, and “Nordic broadcaster of the year” prior to the start of the main event. Unsurprisingly, the number one team in CS:GO, Astralis, took the title for Nordic esport team of the year, while Team Liquid’s Lasse Aukusti ‘MATUMBAMAN’ Urpalainen grabbed the reward for Nordic player of the year and the ever-popular Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg was chosen as Nordic broadcaster of the year.

Head of Esports at Riot Games Says Fortnite ‘Has A Long Way To Go’ To Become an Esport The boss of North American esports at Riot Games says battle royale games like Fortnite are on his radar, but have a long way to go to become esports. Chris “RiotChopper” Hopper, who heads up the NA LCS and esports division of Riot Games, discusses the viability of games like Fortnite and PUBG, and if they are threats to League of Legend’s dominance. League of Legends is, arguably (depending on the metric you use), the biggest esport in the world, with established franchised leagues, guaranteed player salaries and much more. But, as ESPN notes, back when it first started out it was seen as “too casual” to become a proper esport in comparison to the likes of Starcraft II – the biggest esports game at the time. And of course a very similar criticism is being made of Fortnite currently, and so despite its massive viewing figures on Twitch and YouTube, which is an imperative for any esport, many think it isn’t fit for the competitive side of things. Hopper, speaking to Forbes, says he does not currently see Fortnite, or PUBG for that matter, as a ‘threat’ to the current dominance of League of Legends, saying it has a long way to go. “As a gamer, I love to see new titles like [Fortnite] which explore and push the boundary of genres like FPS or survival, but in terms of their viability as an esport, I think it’s yet to be proven. Some early tournaments have certainly been exciting, but there’s a long way to go to turn a title from a Twitch favorite into a permanent esport. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with a title throwing a few tournaments and burning bright before failing to establish a sustainable esports scene, and it’s yet to be seen whether or will be able to make that step. But until they become consistent, accessible, sustainable leagues, they’re more on my gamer radar than my esport radar.” Developers of Fortnite, Epic Games, are majority owned by Tencent – the same company which owns Riot Games, developers of League of Legends. Tencent recently invested a massive amount of money in order to bring Fortnite to China. Half of the ¥100 million ($15.8 million) investment will be used on “pushing the game as an esport”. With Tencent’s experience with League of Legends, they can undoubtedly take such a popular game like Fortnite and with the right planning and investment, it could be the next LoL.

HenryG hints at reviving iconic esports org 4Kings DreamHackCounter-Strike community figure Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer has dropped a strong hint that he will bring back 4Kings, a historical British esports organization. The former CS:GO commentator caught the esports world by surprise on November 4 as he tweeted asking who held the rights to the iconic 4Kings name and brand. Asking for a friend….Who currently owns the rights to the ‘4Kings’ name/brand? 🤔 — HenryG (@HenryGcsgo) November 4, 2021 In subsequent tweets, HenryG said “it would be a travesty if it [4Kings] never made it back” and that he’s working on securing the rights to the brand. “I’m on it,” he wrote. Who were 4Kings? Founded in 1997, 4Kings were one of the biggest and most successful multigaming organizations in Europe during the early years of esports. They were a founding member of the now-defunct G7 Teams, an association of esports organizations that competed in Counter-Strike. Between 2001 and 2006, 4Kings were a regular presence in the biggest CS 1.6 tournaments and the home of players like Marc Mangiacapra, Ola ‘elemeNt’ Moum, Mattias ‘Snajdan’ Andersen, and Joona ‘natu’ Leppänen. Their British CS:Source squad, featuring HenryG himself, competed in the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) under the London Mint franchise. 4Kings also boasted one of the best Warcraft 3 divisions in the world at one point, with players such as Manuel ‘Grubby’ Schenkhuizen, Yoan ‘ToD’ Merlo and Sebastian ‘FuRy’ Pesic all competing under their banner. The last time the 4Kings name made headlines was in August 2013, when the organization parted ways with their CS:GO squad. HenryG’s return to esports? HenryG took a step back from esports earlier in 2021 following the disbandment of his Cloud9 ‘Colossus’ project. As the General Manager of the North American organization’s CS:GO division, he came under fire for the team’s lack of success. Despite Cloud9’s sizable investment in the project, the team struggled to make their mark in the CS:GO scene and lasted only six months. After disbanding the squad, the North American organization decided to put their CS:GO operations on hold, stating that “remote training isn’t conducive for building an organization in the way Cloud9 usually does”.

Hastr0 makes huge donation to help service dog organization Team Envy TwitterEnvy Gaming’s CEO Mike ‘Hastr0’ Rufail is making a huge commitment for a great charity as he and his org look to give Canine Companions for Independence a lift during North Texas Giving Day. The local holiday recruits everyone in the Lone Star State to give back to great causes, and Team Envy has been on a roll during the month of September of raising funds for great orgs. Team Envy and partner GameStop teamed up to generate donations for Make-A-Wish during National Video Games Day, but that Texas esports org wasn’t done finding worthy drives to work for. We’re excited to join forces with @ccicanine this #NTxGivingDay to support an amazing cause. On behalf of #TeamEnvy, big boss @hastr0 will be matching $10,000 of donations. So what are you waiting for? For the doggos! :arrow_right:️https://t.co/NR9xpxURaM pic.twitter.com/H600yML3pg — Envy (@Envy) September 16, 2019 Leading by example, the Envy CEO announced that he’ll be matching up to a five-figure donation for working dogs who play a pivotal role in thousands of people’s lives. “Excited to be collaborating with an organization doing major good for a severely under-served population,” Hastr0 said. The exec pledged to “personally match $10,000” in donations to the Canine Companions’ drive on the Texas community giving day. That’s a huge sum of money that would go directly to the charity twice over, depending on how much the community shows up to donate. But Hastr0 isn’t alone in donating to the cause, Envy CSGO players such as Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis, Sam ‘s0m’ Oh, and Bradley ‘ANDROID’ Fodor spent some time at the ground level with the canine-centric org. 600“Spent a day with Canine Companions and learned a lot about the dogs as well as all the wonderful people working towards a great cause,” ANDROID said before reiterating his org owner’s $10k commitment “so what better time to help support puppers and doggos.” It looks like Envy are spearheading the drive from the player level all the way up to execs as they try to pull together enough funds to reach their goal. At the time of writing the goal of $10,000 is slowly ramping up but only has $124 to its name, but esports and Envy fans will sure to ramp up the donations to give Hastr0 a bigger sum to match. Interested fans can reach the Canine Companions for Independence campaign here to show support for the helpful pups.

Haval expand esports presence with Dota Pro Circuit partnership ESforceAutomobile brand Haval have continued their push into the esports industry by becoming an official partner of the Dota Pro Circuit in Eastern Europe. Owned by Chinese automotive company Great Wall Motors, Haval made their move into competitive gaming back in July 2020 when they were named the exclusive automotive sponsor of Russian org Virtus.pro. They deepened their ties to esports that following November by becoming the exclusive motive partner of EPIC League, an exclusive league for Dota 2. Now, they’ve entered a deal with Epic Esports Events to serve as an official partner of the Dota Pro Circuit’s Eastern European branch. Known as the DPC for short, the circuit is the official annual season for Dota 2 esports that leads to The International tournament series. The first tournament begins on November 29 and lasts until January 23, 2022, and will promote new partner Haval on the broadcast. With the DPC partnership covering Eastern Europe, Haval are activating across three properties under Russian holding company ESforce. They own and operate Virtus.pro and Epic Esports Events, the operators behind EPIC League and the upcoming Dota Pro Circuit event. The Eastern European region fields several strong teams in the circuit, including the winners of The International 2021. Wrapping up on October 17, Team Spirit emerged victorious at the year-ending tournament and took home a total of $18.2m. The HAVAL automobile brand becomes the official partner of the first Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 tournament in Eastern Europe. The tournament is organized by Epic Esports Events with the support of the Russian Esports Federation — https://t.co/m2NKadbHm3 — ESforce Holding (@EsforceHolding) November 29, 2021 “HAVAL actively supports the development of the esports industry, because the brand and this sport have a lot in common: we adhere to an innovative approach, aim at high achievements and give vivid emotions,” said Jerome Sego, executive director of Hawail Motor Rus. “We are glad to take part in the new season of Dota Pro Circuit, which is fundamental in the world of Dota 2. We wish you bright and memorable tournaments for fans and success to the teams of the CIS region!”

Hastr0 explains why he’s stepping down as Team Envy CEO Hastr0 TwitterTeam Envy founder Mike ‘Hastr0’ Rufail is stepping down from the lead position in his organization, and is making way for a new face to fill the spot of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In a video Hastr0 shared via Twitter on July 9, the now-former CEO assured fans and friends alike that this was not only a positive change for the company but a welcomed change for himself as it will mean more time getting back to ground floor of esports. “I’m not really going anywhere,” He said. “I’m actually going to be seen more and I get to go back doing what I used to do. Really just being there for my teams, my players and really being able to talk to you guys (the fans).” He will now be Envy’s Chief Gaming Officer, alongside his standing position as a board member of the team he molded for the past decade. Some big news today.This was my decision. I’m very excited about the future of @Envy and how far we have come. I can’t thank you all enough for over a decade of fantastic memories. Cheers to many more good years ahead. pic.twitter.com/23VPqNxfaq — Mike Rufail (@hastr0) July 9, 2020 Filling in the spot as CEO will be Adam Rymer who is transitioning from the entertainment space to become the lead for one of the biggest esports companies in the world. “Gaming is the fastest-growing sport and most exciting area in all of media and entertainment right now,” Rymer said. “As a lifelong fan, harnessing that potential to drive forward an organization as highly regarded as Envy and working side-by-side with some of the top industry leaders is a huge honor, and a challenge I’m looking forward to taking on.” This is a natural progression for Envy. The team has already solidified their position as one of the most recognized names in a wide range of esports including Call of Duty, Rocket League, Overwatch (as the Dallas Fuel), CS:GO, and more. Adding someone with Rymer’s background would bolster their presence in those sectors while taking care of the operating standpoint as Hastr0 continues the competitive aspect as CGO. “Adding Adam to our leadership team will help accelerate the steps we are taking to grow and reach Envy Gaming’s potential as an organization that delivers world-class entertainment, events, fan experiences, content and more,” Hastr0 said. “With Adam onboard, I can dedicate myself to my first passion: developing players and fielding competitive esports teams that maintain and build on our organization’s winning tradition.” As for Hastr0, he still expects to be pretty busy taking care of Envy and its teams/players, but he’s looking forward to spending more time with family and loved ones.

Man Utd & England defender Harry Maguire boards new esports org Semper Fortis/Кирилл ВенедиктовHarry Maguire, a professional footballer for Manchester United and the England national team, has joined Semper Fortis Esports as a brand ambassador. Announcing the appointment on May 25, 2021, the new UK esports organization has confirmed speculation from earlier this month in which he would attach himself to Semper Fortis Esports. Much like with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the team’s other brand ambassador, Maguire will be paid through warrants, which represent the right for him to purchase stock in the company after one year. The footballer is expected to promote Semper Fortis Esports online through his social platforms while also providing advice and mentorship to the company based on his experience in professional competition. This announcement follows on quickly from the appointment of Everton and England footballer Calvert-Lewin as a brand ambassador for the organization. It appears as if Semper Fortis Esports are following in the footsteps of fellow org Guild Esports. Both are based in the United Kingdom, both are now listed publicly to allow retail investors to acquire shares, and both now have prominent names from the world of football attached as brand ambassadors. Semper Fortis currently compete in Rocket League, having acquired the Top Blokes brand and the roster that represents it earlier in 2021. The team is considered by many to be one of the best outfits in Europe. The momentum continues!@SFesports_GG is proud to announce its latest brand ambassador appointment in @HarryMaguire93. It’s officially game on. Welcome to the Semper Fortis Family @HarryMaguire93!#SEMP pic.twitter.com/AOsB3ere5v — Semper Fortis Esports (@SFesports_GG) May 25, 2021 “When I’m not on the pitch and training one of my favourite ways to relax is playing online against teammates and friends,” said Maguire. “When I was approached by Semper Fortis to become one of its ambassadors I was really intrigued about what they are looking to achieve in gaming and esports. “As an athlete I understand the pressures of a competitive environment and I am excited to share my experience of competing in the world’s biggest leagues with Semper Fortis. We already have lots of exciting projects in the pipeline for this year, so watch this space.”

Harry Maguire and Dominic Calvert-Lewin consider esports entry with new org Semper Fortis Wikimedia Commons: Кирилл Венедиктов / Instagram: Dominic Calvert-LewinFollowing in the footsteps of Guild Esports and David Beckham, new UK organization Semper Fortis Esports are reportedly in talks with Premier League footballers Harry Maguire and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. As outlined in their initial announcement when launching, Semper Fortis Esports are in “advanced” discussions with footballers Maguire and Calvert-Lewin in hopes of signing them as ambassadors, according to Evening Standard. This move would see the athletes promote the organization through their own channels, presumably looking to tap into the hundreds of thousands of fans they’ve amassed on social media. The esports company recently went public on the Aquis Stock Exchange in April 2021, raising £2.55m at a price of £0.01 per share. Guild Esports, another UK-based org, launched back in June 2020 with former footballer Beckham as a co-owner and ambassador. They later went public on the London Stock Exchange in October 2020. The report states that the discussions are in their “advanced stages” but there’s “no guarantee” that the deals will be completed. Negotiations could be completed in the coming days. Semper Fortis Esports responded to the report through their regulatory news service (RNS), stating that they can confirm the discussions are taking place as planned and they will issue any announcements when necessary. The relatively new esports company are taking a multi-pronged approach to the industry, with a strategy of “establishing esports teams, forming brand and technology partnerships, and providing business to business advisory services.” Our CEO @Kevin_Soltani introducing #SEMP to @Proactive_UK. A must watch!!#SEMP 🚀 Semper Fortis Esports raises £2.5M and begins trading on the Aquis Stock… https://t.co/NccSCK3s8S via @YouTube — Semper Fortis Esports (@SFesports_GG) April 29, 2021 In a recent presentation they gave to shareholders, Semper Fortis revealed that they’re estimating a first-year spend of £1.13m. This includes £320k in director salaries, £285k in operational cost, £220k for marketing and product development, and £130,000 for “professional fees.” Their first major move was to sign Top Blokes, a top European team that competes in Psyonix’s Rocket League. The roster will continue to compete under the Top Blokes moniker, with Semper Fortis acting as a parent company rather than a competitive brand in their own right.

Sources: H3CZ looking to solely own OpTic Chicago and divest from NRG NRG, YouTube: OpTicOpTic Gaming CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is planning to wholly acquire the OpTic Chicago Call of Duty League franchise and divest his ownership in NRG, according to sources familiar with the situation. H3CZ is aiming to divest from NRG, the org he joined in September 2019, and own the OpTic Chicago franchise alongside new financial partners, sources have informed Dexerto. Multiple parties are interested in being involved, though no final decision has been made as to which he will work with going forward. H3CZ declined to comment. Rodriguez became a co-owner and co-CEO of NRG alongside Andy Miller after he believed he had lost ownership of OpTic Gaming forever. Together with NRG, they purchased a slot in Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty League and created a new brand, the Chicago Huntsmen, which became a major recipient of the former OpTic CEO’s attention. What was once the Huntsmen later became OpTic Chicago when H3CZ officially purchased the OpTic Gaming brand off of Immortals Gaming Club in October 2020. Now, he wants the franchise entirely under his ownership and control. Things have been quiet in the public realm between the two parties since control was obtained over the organization Rodriguez had built for the past decade. No official communication had been published regarding the business relationship between him, Miller, and NRG, though we know now it’s because they’re still in the process of finalizing the new arrangement. Read More: H3CZ acquires OpTic Gaming from Immortals – Speculation regarding a divide manifested online when The NRG Duo Podcast, hosted by the two co-CEOs, stopped uploading episodes in November 2020. During the process of OpTic Gaming returning to their former CEO, 100 Thieves — led by former OpTic star Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag — joined the Call of Duty League with their own franchise, the Los Angeles Thieves. While no decision has been made as to who will co-own the franchise alongside H3CZ, it’s clear that he’s opting to concentrate all of his time and effort on OpTic Gaming and their team in the CDL as soon as possible. While OpTic Chicago competes in Call of Duty, OpTic Gaming currently fields no teams — in the past, they’ve participated in the likes of Halo, Gears of War, and Counter-Strike.

H3CZ teases adding college athletes to OpTic after NCAA rule change H3CZ / OpTic Gaming / NCAACEO of OpTic Gaming, Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez, may be adding college athletes to the famous esports brand. This is following the NCAA’s decision to allow athletes to profit off their likeness. The NCAA ruled on July 1, 2021 that college athletes can now make money off their likeness. This includes sponsorship deals, merchandise sales, and their own personal brands. This would be the second big-name esports organization to do so. Back in July 100 Thieves CEO, Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag announced his org was looking to sign the top college athletes. H3CZ and some OpTic members sat around the table and broke down some of the pros and cons of bringing on these athletes to esports brands. H3CZ hints at adding college athletes to elite esports org The OpTic CEO brings up the topic of adding some other members to the OpTic Gaming team. College athletes could be a good way to advertise the brand and there would be a long line of people that would be interested. Read More: CDL 2021 Major 5 – In the OpTic Podcast, the members threw around the idea of having a young traditional sports athlete be part of the brand. H3CZ went on to say that he is thinking about it and teased fans by saying, “I’m super cool with giving the OpTic athlete group exclusive OpTic s**t that only they get.” OpTic Chicago player Seth ‘Scump’ Abner added on to the conversation saying, “It’s good for them,” and added that the team should look to add someone that already is playing college esports. He thinks it would be weird to have someone be part of a gaming brand who doesn’t play video games. A lot would determine how the organization would be responsible for paying these athletes. H3CZ noted that that Barstool Sports started to add athletes to their brand but he doesn’t know the exact details of how that works. For now, there are no further details at a timetable for when OpTic would look to add some college athletes to their brand but as we all know when H3CZ commits to a project, he is all in on it.

H1Z1 Pro League shuts down due to financial problems The H1Z1 Pro League is shutting down mid-way through its first season after running into numerous financial issues. The league started in April 2018 and planned a season of two splits and a National Championship,with everything taking place on LAN at Ceasar’s in Las Vegas. The first split took place from April to June and was won by SettodestroyX. A date for the second split was originally intended to be September 15, but the start was pushed back indefinitely. In addition to the split being pushed back, the league revealed there are no plans to schedule a second season. ESPN, the Pro League was supposed to pay each organization $400,000 per year, but failed to do so.H1Z1 attracted major organizations like Luminosity, Cloud9, Team SoloMid and Echo Fox, however these teams were experiencing significant financial losses as they continued to pay their players without any compensation from the league. Jace Hall, the chairman of H1Z1 developer Twin Galxies, said they are still planning on compensating teams as originally promised. Despite being one of the first Battle Royale games, H1Z1’s popularity has been eclipsed by Fortnite, PUBG and Black Ops 4’s new Blackout mode. Fortnite has seen success in turning Battle Royale into an esport with their Summer and Fall Skirmish events, though they are significantly less structured than what H1Z1 was attempting, choosing to focus on content creators in one-off tournaments.

H3CZ and Arcitys explain why esports team houses don’t work Instagram: h3czChicago Huntsmen CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez and star Call of Duty player Alec ‘Arcitys’ Sanderson have explained why esports team houses don’t work in their episode of H3CZ’s ‘Eavesdrop’ podcast. Team houses were long viewed as a luxury, highly-desired commodity in the esports industry, seen as the height of team cohesion and an organization’s success. H3CZ himself has a lot of experience with team houses, having had multiple over the years to host his players in all different titles. Now though, he sees the error of his ways and has spoken with Arcitys about why he no longer sees them as a good investment. Asking about Arcitys’ brother, Florida Mutineers’ Preston ‘Prestinni’ Sanderson, H3CZ wanted to know if they had a team house or space to use. Arcitys explained that they have apartments and a facility they have to attend for practice – something he’s not a fan of. Read More: H3CZ is done answering questions about OpTic – “I understand moving to the same state,” he started. “I could even live in the same apartments as a team, but I don’t want to go to practice in the same facility every single day with the same team.” H3CZ agreed with the 2019 world champion, and said that “sometimes it’s cool to have a space where people can go and do that,” but added that it’s more from a content standpoint than competitive. Arcitys went on to reference the times he would spend in Columbus, Ohio with Prestinni and James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks, who he teamed with for three years. He said that during those couple of weeks every month or so, they would end up just wanting to spend time by themselves instead of constantly being around each other, with H3CZ stating that the time spent together at events (when you don’t have to see each other every day) makes the tournament better. Team facilities like the one in Florida are becoming more common for large-scale organizations, such as those who have made the investment to participate in franchised leagues, and recently 100 Thieves opened the biggest esports facility in the US. As yet, Chicago Huntsmen have not required their players to move into apartments or to attend a team facility together, with the group spread out across the country in various states and cities. Despite this, team facilities and team houses are still commonplace in the industry, with more teams opening their quarters on a regular basis. Though some players might not like it, in the future, a team office of some sort might just become the norm.

Company behind EXCEL, LCO and Spitfire going public on London stock exchange Robert Paul/BlizzardGuinevere Capital, an investment company behind several major esports properties, are set to list themselves publicly on the London Stock Exchange, allowing members of the public to buy shares. Guinevere Capital are investors in British organization EXCEL ESPORTS, they manage Cloud9’s Overwatch League franchise London Spitfire, they work with ESL on the Oceanic League of Legends circuit LCO, and they own and operate two esports facilities. The company have now entered a proposed deal with a UK-based shell company, Highway Capital Plc, that would see them go public on the London Stock Exchange should the deal be completed. Current esports properties on the LSE include Guild Esports, which is co-owned by former footballer David Beckham, and operations company Gfinity. The proposed transaction would include a round of fundraising for Guinevere, allowing them to continue to grow the portfolio of companies they back and make more investments — including an expansion into the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Read More: Every public esports company & organization – The investment company operate in the UK through EXCEL and Spitfire but also have major ties to the Oceanic region. As well as being behind the LCO alongside ESL, their portfolio includes an esports facility in New Zealand’s national stadium Eden Park and an esports performance center in Australia’s Sydney Cricket Ground. That’s a wrap for the inaugural year of the #LCO! Congrats @pce_gg on the win & do OCE proud at #Worlds2021. Thanks to everyone who contributed to bringing this competition back from virtual extinction late last year, to now setting records across many different metrics. pic.twitter.com/ZyPp4cNKI2 — Dave Harris (@daveharrisAUS) August 31, 2021 “The LSE is a major global exchange and while we had considered United States and Canada as the location to list, we felt we had built a strong foundation with the UK esports and gaming scene not just through our core portfolio of assets but also previous support of major UK esports franchises,” said Guinevere CEO Dave Harris. “Each of our assets are at an exciting stage of growth and the LSE offers an efficient way of raising capital to meet our goals for our current assets and to allow us to expand and invest in new organisations and verticals.”

Guild Esports secure $6.1m through Bitstamp crypto sponsorship Guild Esports/BitstampBritish organization Guild Esports have secured a three-year sponsorship from cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitstamp, worth a total value of $6.1m. The convergence of esports and cryptocurrency has grown strong throughout the last year, with most major Western esports orgs getting into crypto in one form or another. Guild Esports, an organization co-owned by former footballer David Beckham, are the latest to capitalize on the trend through a three-year sponsorship deal with Bitstamp. Signing as the org’s official cryptocurrency exchange partner, the platform will pay them $6.1m (£4.5m GBP) over the term of the deal. This is the biggest sponsorship to date for Guild, providing them with roughly $2m (£1.5m) each of the three years. Looks like all the training’s paying off. Bitstamp #Gaming team won both maps last night, 16:0! 💪🏻 Have a team that’s ready to challenge them in #CSGO next Wednesday? Sign up➡️ https://t.co/rUE1sawGcN 🎮 pic.twitter.com/ikMBbxYFwo — Bitstamp (@Bitstamp) January 13, 2022 Bitstamp’s $6.1m will net them marketing rights and a jersey placement, as well as prominent features across social and digital content including Guild’s competitors and content creators. This deal will no doubt be a relief for Guild’s leadership team after they ended a £3.6m sponsorship in October 2021 due to “uncertainty about the contract.” They originally announced the deal with the unknown fintech company back in October 2020 but, a year on, the sponsor never launched and thus never began paying out what they had agreed. “We are thrilled to welcome Bitstamp to Guild as our official Cryptocurrency Exchange partner,” said Guild CEO Kal Hourd. “It will also enable us to deliver creative, high-quality content and meaningful experience to our audience in a way that is authentic to both Guild and Bitstamps’ identities. “Our pipeline of new business opportunities remains strong as Guild’s growing network audience of fans and teams’ performance continues to attract strong interest from a wide cross-section of brand advertisers. As a result we look forward to bringing more sponsors on board in due course.”

Guild reveal plans to emulate 100 Thieves merch drops and start esports academy YouTube: GuildBritish esports organization Guild have shared how they plan to grow over the next year, including plans to release “exclusive and limited edition” merchandise drops and launching their new academy system. The public company, which is co-owned by former professional footballer David Beckham, held their annual general meeting to answer questions from their shareholders. Guild detailed many pillars of their business throughout the meeting, discussing sponsorships, entering new games, their upcoming academy, Beckham’s involvement, merchandise, and their forthcoming London headquarters. The academy initiative has been discussed since they launched in June 2020, but the Q&A session finally divulged more details on an aspect of the business that was previously shrouded in mystery. Described as an “online portal and physical athlete-development system,” Guild Academy is said to be modeled “on the success” of the Premier League and “inspired” by their co-owner, Beckham, who has been involved in its creation. The online aspect of the academy will provide a training system for gamers, delving into nutrition, exercise, and psychological support. The other aspect of the system will see Guild, once it launches in the second quarter of 2021, bring in and develop young players to “establish a large talent pool and player assets” for the org. They too confirmed that they plan on selling or transferring these players to other clubs, like what’s seen in football, creating another pillar of revenue beyond merchandise, brand deals, and competing. The system will be “greater than any other esports team organisation” and is supported by their latest multi-million-pound sponsor, Subway. On the clothing side, the British org seem to have taken inspiration from the popular North American brand 100 Thieves. While they acknowledge their strategy is at an “early stage” that is subject to change, they count exclusive, limited-edition collections on an “opportunistic basis” as part of their activities. 100T are sporadically releasing drops with scarce supply to drive up hype, much like their recent Enter Infinity collection, instead of having a core selection of products available around the clock. They haven’t committed to an exact number of drops that fans can purchase annually, but they did also reveal that they would work with their content creators to create collaborative lines of apparel.

Guild Esports reveal £4.3m loss over six months in financial report GuildBritish esports organization Guild have revealed that they’ve lost £4.3m over the past six months, before taxes, following investments in teams, content creators, and their new academy initiative. The org, who are backed by former footballer David Beckham and listed publicly on the London Stock Exchange, are relatively new to the industry, though they’re clearly aiming to grow quickly. Through their regulatory news service — a necessary means of transparency for public companies — they’ve revealed their six-month unaudited financial performance, led by a loss of £4.3m for the period. Guild have quickly expanded into major titles like Rocket League, Fortnite, Valorant, and FIFA, which comes at a significant cost when recruiting top players. As well as investing in signing influencers and launching their academy system, they’ve clearly spent a lot to establish their core business pillars. The announcement also reveals that they made £400,000 during the past six months and have signed sponsorships worth a collective total of £7.5m. They previously revealed that they had entered a “multi-million-pound” sponsorship with Subway and are yet to reveal their mystery partner that is paying £3.6m over three years. The Beckham-backed company expect their revenue to grow dramatically with the inclusion of money from the aforementioned partners, as well as Samsung and HyperX. They have also revealed they have more potential sponsors in the pipeline, with several deals currently at “advanced stages of negotiations.” GUILD x Julia Bayonetta! 🔥 🇬🇧 Welcome our latest addition to the #GuildGang, content creator @JuliaBayonetta! 🇫🇷 Bienvenue à notre dernière addition au #GuildGang, la créatrice de contenu @JuliaBayonetta! LET’S GET ITTTTTT!! 🥳 pic.twitter.com/AcdgHb8ioW — GUILD (@guildesports) June 25, 2021 “In the first six months since our IPO we have executed our strategy of investing in and building best-in-class esports teams, content creators, lifestyle apparel and our academy system, along with a fully supported operations team,” said Guild CEO Kal Hourd. “Our future vision and strategy is data-led, and now with our significant audience numbers, we have access to a large amount of information and insight to build upon.”

Guild Esports brings Dhalsim’s hot yoga to life with 150°F Street Fighter 6 tournament CapcomGuild Esports is bringing Dhalsim’s Yoga Flame to life by holding a Street Fighter 6 tournament in a 150°F room to determine the next member of its brand-new fighting game roster. Guild Esports is entering the world of competitive fighting games with a bombastic roster of seasoned talent in Street Fighter 6. Thus far, the players signed to Guild Esports’ fighting game initiative are UK Cammy main Reneil ‘JoKeR JoKeZ’ Landell, Belgian Ken player Houmaid ‘Takamura’ Rabie, and Spanish Chun-Li main Alfonso ‘Vegapatch’ Martínez. Now, Guild Esports is looking to round out its roster with a fourth player — and to do that, they’re turning up the heat (literally) with an exclusive invitational tournament appropriately dubbed ‘The Sweat Room.’ Street Fighter 6 players duke it out in 150°F tournament A total of 8 players will get sweaty both in the game and in real life in this upcoming tournament, ‘The Sweat Room,’ where these competitors will show off their skills in a room that will reach a heat of 150° Fahrenheit (65° Celsius). These eight players have been carefully handpicked by Guild Esports’ performance squad, and will duke it out for the chance at earning the final slot on Guild Esports’ SF6 team. The event will take place on Thursday, August 31, an will be broadcast on Guild Esports’ official YouTube channel. The Sweat Room will be casted by beloved fighting game commentators Tyrant, Damascus, and F-Word, and is held in partnership with Sky Broadband. Thus far, there’s no word on which players have been chosen to take part in this sweaty slobber-knocker — but we’ll make sure to update this hub as soon as we find out. However, the winner will have some pretty big shoes to fill. Vegapatch and Takamura already boast an extensive portfolio of high tournament placements for Street Fighter V, with Vegapatch notably placing 7-8th at Capcom Cup IX and earning several first-place wins in World Warrior tournaments throughout the 2022 CPT. Similarly, Takamura also made waves in SFV, using Akuma to gain a variety of high placements throughout 2021-2023. Although JoKeR JoKeZ has been competing in SFV for some years, he truly began to shine in 2022, and took home third place at this year’s Brussels Challenge. For more Street Fighter 6 news, check out our hub right here on Dexerto.

Guild CEO on future plans: “We’re always talking about expansion in all areas” Guild EsportsGuild Esports exploded onto the esports market in June 2020 when they launched with famed footballer David Beckham as a co-owner and brand ambassador. They went about things differently from the start, and that received a whole range of reactions. One thing is for sure, though: they aimed for the stars. Kicking things off with mainstream press galore and Beckham’s involvement, and quickly following those up by going public on the London Stock Exchange in October, it’s been a blur for CEO Kal Hourd and his team from the get-go. They’ve since amassed millions of followers across social platforms, won championships in big titles, and launched an academy system that they hope will one day reach levels only seen in English football. It’s been a year chock-full of growth and learning opportunities for the British esports organization. Now, a little over a year since they got underway and almost 12 months since they listed themselves publicly on the London Stock Exchange, Hourd has spoken with Dexerto to reflect on their journey — both the highlights and the recent, less exciting news. Guild’s journey so far While ‘esports’ is in the company’s name, it’s very clear that they’re much akin to giants like FaZe Clan and 100 Thieves in that they put a lot of emphasis on having creators and influencers in their ranks. Not only is this a great way of getting eyeballs on organizational content, but it’s also a means of having large audiences at their disposal — some of which they own (as they follow Guild themselves) and some they’re effectively renting (the audiences of their ambassadors). “We’ve exceeded expectations on our audience growth and the marketing key performance indicators we had set,” Hourd told Dexerto. “That’s a testament to our esports product, how we’re performing in-game, and the content that we’re putting out. I’m really happy with where we’re at there and we’re going to continue to grow. “As our fan base grows and we create fans out of some of the followers, our apparel numbers are going to start to go up too. We can’t expect to sell out every drop when we’re a brand new organization. We’re working hard but the apparel side of the business is going to grow alongside our fan base.” It’s not every day that an esports organization rocks up with a global superstar, quite literally, as one of their primary faces. Not only does former footballer Beckham have $319,000 invested in Guild, but he’s also signed as an ambassador as part of a $20m, five-year deal. While this would be a costly affair for even the biggest of esports companies, his name alone has provided some legitimacy and delivered millions of eyeballs onto the org from the jump. “What people don’t realize is David Beckham comes with a team of 30 of the most brilliant minds in business,” said Hourd. “We work very closely, not only with David, but with his team. He’s very hands-on with the development of the academy specifically, but in terms of marketing, promotion, and content, David and his team are really involved. You’ll see after the summer holiday season is over, our content and our plans with David will start to ramp up.” Guild chose to launch and be quartered in the United Kingdom, specifically in London, England, for a few reasons. Beckham’s legacy in English football speaks for itself, but that was only part of why the England capital was the destination of choice for the org. Read More: Guild reveal plans for esports academy – “We had plans to launch this academy and path to pro and there’s no country in the world that has done an academy system better than the UK,” Guild’s CEO explained. “The success story in the UK academy model is David Beckham so that’s one reason why it all made sense. “There are some great esports organizations in the UK and I’m certainly not discounting any of them, I just felt like there was room for one more and an opportunity to use the UK as the breeding ground for an academy model. We knew that if we could bring it all together, we could access the capital and list on the London Stock Exchange and provide value back to shareholders.” Earlier in 2021, Guild launched their much-lauded academy system, a means of developing budding professional players through all facets of what makes a competitor worthy of contending for championships. It’s been relatively quiet on this front still but, as Hourd explained, that’s by design. “The academy has been very well received,” he said. “We’re adding features and iterating every day. We currently have programs in Fortnite and Rocket League, and Valorant is coming. Then in the fall, when the new FIFA title comes out, we’ll be adding that. “Right now we’re developing the program, the platform, to a point where we are really confident in a strong conversion rate and then we will be promoting the hell out of it. It has the potential to be bigger than Guild, I think.” The future of Guild Esports “We’re always talking about expansion in all areas of our business and in esports we absolutely want to be in those S tier titles,” Hourd said of Guild’s future ambitions. “League of Legends is one that I’m really excited about and we’re always talking about it, but it’s a big price tag and we’ve got a business to build before we have the funds to enter that title.” German football club Schalke 04 recently sold their slot in Riot Games’ LEC — one of only 10 that exist today — for a total of $31.5m after buying into the European league for a fraction of that price just a couple of years prior. While this may have been the perfect moment for Guild to get into the competition, they’re clearly careful about where they invest. Speaking of money, Guild’s first-ever partnership deal was announced in October 2020. Well, partly. While they were quick to reveal the three-year agreement was worth a total of £3.6m for them, they didn’t reveal the identity of the “fintech” company that was paying as much to be involved with the newly-launched org. Read More: TSM signs $210m deal to change name – Fast-forward to August 2021 and they’ve secured more money from partners such as Subway, who are involved with Guild as part of a “multi-million-pound” deal for the next two years. The identity of their first-ever partner is still yet to be unveiled, which could be an alarming sign for some. “We’re waiting for them to launch their company, they just haven’t done that yet,” said of the mystery entity. “We’re just trying to be a good partner and work alongside them while they navigate their business launch when it’s right for them. I’d love to tell you it’s going to be announced next week, but it’ll be announced in due course and everything is still on track. “The revenue that we expect from them in year one is still expected. We do expect to launch before the end of this year. We moved very fast when we launched Guild and not every company moves that quickly. We’ve promised the revenue to the market in year one and we need to deliver on that. We will likely either beef up their package throughout the remaining two years, or we could even extend it beyond the end of the three-year term.” Guild recently came into question when it was revealed that two senior members of staff had chosen to depart the organization. The reasoning behind the exits of executive chairman Carleton Curtis and director of brand Danny Lopez, both of whom had impactful roles in the operation, has been kept in the dark. “I want to start by saying for the past year I worked very closely with Carleton and he made a personal decision to move on,” Hourd told Dexerto. “I respect the hell out of him and I wish him well in the future. I didn’t have as close a relationship with Danny but, again, I respect him. “Their departures were voluntary. We’re a startup, it’s extremely fast-moving and we pivot every day — people moving on is not abnormal and nothing has changed in the business. Our plans for content production and the creative side of the business are strong and moving forward. “We’ve got 40 brilliant staff and we’ve had some step up and really take the bull by the horns on the creative side. When changes happen, it creates opportunities for other people. I don’t really have a lot to say other than I wish them well and we’re just moving forward. Everyone on the team is working collaboratively and excited about the future.” Especially in regards to the departures, some retail investors have called upon the organization to be more vocal and transparent about what they’re working on to keep the stock price growing — or, at least, not regressing. Hourd has plans to keep shareholders in the know moving forward, in addition to updating their compulsory regulatory news service. Read More: Every public esports company & organization – “We’ve got two audiences on Twitter,” he said. “We’ve got our fans that we try to talk to through the Guild Twitter channel and we’ve got the investors; 99.9% of the time we’re talking to our fans on our Twitter page. “I do my best to clarify things on Twitter but we’re going to do a better job of communicating to investors on Twitter by introducing an investor relations account on there so that there’s a clear distinction between the messages. We’ve got some passionate shareholders and I love talking to all of them.” It’s been a year of head-down hard work for Hourd and his team, having launched during a global health crisis no less, but now they’re a staple name in the esports industry and worthy contenders in multiple titles. Now, the hard bit is keeping the growth going.

Guild end £3.6m sponsorship due to year-long contract “uncertainty” YouTube: GuildBritish organization Guild Esports have terminated their most lucrative sponsorship deal to date, citing “uncertainty about the contract” with the unknown financial tech company. Guild Esports made a big impact in their first months of existence back in 2020 with the attachment of famed former professional football David Beckham and public listing on the London Stock Exchange. The British org managed to leverage this attention to secure sponsorship deals, with their first-ever agreement being announced on October 19, 2020. Worth £3.6m over three years, the deal was struck with a mystery company that had yet to launch. A year on from the initial announcement, the fintech business have still yet to actually unveil themselves in the public realm and, according to Guild, they’ve failed to pay the £1.1m that was agreed upon for the first year of the collaboration. GUILD x Apex Legends 💥 We’re excited to announce that @matafe_, @SiltaApex, & @Horizxonn are joining Guild and will be jumping straight into the Apex Legends Global Series which starts TOMORROW ❗ Join us in giving the team a warm welcome👊#GuildGang 🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/wPLs11mrsH — GUILD (@guildesports) October 15, 2021 Guild have now terminated the sponsorship deal due to “delays in the sponsor’s launch” and because “none of the amounts scheduled under the contract have been paid”, causing them to feel “uncertainty about the contract”. In a wide-ranging interview with Dexerto in August 2021, Guild CEO Kal Hourd had spoken on the mysterious sponsorship deal. “We’re waiting for them to launch their company, they just haven’t done that yet,” he said of the sponsor. “The revenue that we expect from them in year one is still expected. We do expect to launch before the end of this year. We moved very fast when we launched Guild and not every company moves that quickly. We’ve promised the revenue to the market in year one and we need to deliver on that. We will likely either beef up their package throughout the remaining two years, or we could even extend it beyond the end of the three-year term.” The org revealed in their latest financial report, dated June 30, 2021, that they had lost £4.3m over the previous six months. At the time, they had signed sponsorships worth a total of £7.5m — including a “multi-million-pound” deal with Subway — and that this was a main driver of revenue for the business. Guild’s termination announcement on October 22 reveals that they are generating “strong and active interest from consumer brands in a wide range of sectors” and have deals that are at an “advanced stage of negotiations.”

Off The GRID: How one company manager exploited commentators to turn a profit This article was completed with additional research material provided by Darion “Pr0nogo” Paone. Who wouldn’t want to make it as an esports commentator? Not only does it represent an opportunity to work in an industry you are already committed to but the very best become mini-celebrities, the closest thing to a household name after the competitors themselves. Travel the world, walk out to address crowds of thousands, sign autographs for fans and do interviews with legacy media, all while earning thousands per appearance. Because of the connected nature of the internet and esports communities even if it seems far away it also feels achievable. Those people on your screen were once like you, little more than a nerd with drive and a dream. They had to walk down the same path you’re about to and it doesn’t feel a million miles away, so why not? The most common pitfalls facing professional players are, by now, well documented. The last few years have seen huge drives to create associations and unions designed to leverage player influence in exchange for better conditions across the industry. What is talked about to a much lesser degree are the issues facing aspiring broadcast talent. Odd when you think about it. They are comprised of the same demographic – young, impressionable adults with a niche interest and desire to turn a hobby into a career. Way down there in the land of first opportunities a whole industry has sprung up that is dependent on exploiting these hopes and most people get away with it. A wave of a hand, some guff about “exposure” and margins then it’s back to business as usual. The average esports fan doesn’t think too much about the content that is put in front of them in much the same way you don’t think about the chicken nugget you are about to put in your mouth. When they watch a smaller tournament comparisons to the more sizeable and successful ones are only natural. Such comparisons lack the crucial context that the show is often being produced by one person from their bedroom or that the observer — essentially an esports camera operator — is someone being paid a few dollars a day on the understanding one day they might end up talking over the game. Then there are the commentators, names you’ve never heard of, being pelted with insults via way of Twitch chat as they try and hone their craft. If they’re being paid at all it’s a pittance. Why? Because this is an easy area to make up those margins. They want the opportunity to get noticed so they lack the leverage to push for higher pay. As long as the tournament runs mostly on time and gets the expected number of viewers the sponsors don’t care, so why should the organisers? These tournaments are just one endless audition for aspirants where the prize for doing a good job is you get moved to the front of the queue. For a brief moment the subject entered the collective consciousness of CS:GO fans. A tournament that had attracted a number of respected teams, called Snow Sweet Snow, was underway. It boasted a $100,000 prize pool and was achieving respectable viewing numbers for a tournament of that size running during the opening matches of the significantly larger ESL Pro League. During an episode of his ELO Heaven podcast, Darion ‘Pr0nogo’ Paone revealed that he has seen the contracts for the commentators during this tournament and that they were being paid as little as €12.5 for single-map matches and €35 for best-of-three series. A Counter-Strike best-of-three series, with timeouts and breaks between maps, can easily take four hours if all three maps are played and with tech issues can run longer. In simple terms, the fees are unacceptably low by industry standards but also by the standards set upon how people value their time. There’s also a public expectation that if you’re a company capable of giving away $100,000 to participating teams that there will also be adequate compensation for the people behind the broadcast. This contradiction, the size of the prize pool and stature of the teams versus the pay of the commentators, led to a community discussion of whether or not the rates were fair. In the eyes of some, the commentators were lucky to be paid at all for what was essentially a “hobby.” Many presented the average hourly wage from their country, with some pointing out they’d earn considerably less for a day of back-breaking labour. Other people pointed out that such comparisons weren’t necessarily fair as this, after all, was meant to be the entertainment industry. The consensus seemed to settle on that regardless of comparisons the rates were embarrassingly low in the context of the revenue-generating opportunities such tournaments can bring. What followed would turn a throwaway philosophical conversation into a solidified scandal. Kieran Cullinan, the Talent Manager for the tournament’s data partner, GRID Esports, posted a threat to the Discord server where the broadcast talent congregated. “For anyone sharing SSS (Snow Sweet Snow) payment rates outside of this group, I advise you go and read Section 6.1 of the contract you all signed with us, headed Confidentiality Data Protection. Any further news I hear of this will result in immediate dismissal.” This threat when made public naturally presented all involved with the Snow Sweet Snow branding a new problem. It’s one thing to underpay people for their labour in a freelance market. It’s another to threaten those same freelancers with intimations of legal action and “dismissal” from jobs that only exist on a contract-to-contract basis. The motivation for doing this is totally transparent. If you talk about the derisory rates of pay people might object, sponsors might ask where did all their contribution go if not to pay talent, workers might get together and discuss how they can get better rates. In short, a headache that could eat away at the profits being pocketed by someone else. It could also be a threat that places them on shaky legal ground. Huthaifa Khan, a software consultant whose career also involves the preparation of contracts for clients, pointed out some issues publicly via Twitter. The contracts signed by the commentators speak to operating under German law and as such “they have no standing to deny workers the ability to discuss their remuneration.” Khan also adds that the clause cited by Cullinan doesn’t even mention pay as something that must be kept confidential, something Khan assumes is to ensure it conforms to German legal precedent on this matter. Esports fans, like most people, have an inherent sense of fairness and this wasn’t exactly playing out well on social media. The Head of Operations for GRID, Radko Dimitov, sent an internal email to try and quell the understandably upset freelancers. “Hello Casting Team, We’d like to apologise for the communication sent out by our Talent Manager on the evening of the 9th March that referred to forbidding the discussion of rates and compensation between yourselves. This was incorrect and should not have been stated in such a way to you all. We’d like to acknowledge also that the pressure that Kieran was under at that time most likely contributed to his response. This does not excuse the communication in any way, although we feel it necessary to point out that it certainly wouldn’t have made his action in the moment easier. To be clear, you are free to discuss the rates of your compensation amongst yourselves with no risk to your current working circumstance and employment. The contractual clause mentioned by Keiran does not prohibit you in any way in regard to this matter. We are very open to engage with you if there are any questions or further concerns on the matter. Again, we apologise sincerely for any distress this may have caused you.” Sources have also informed Dexerto that Cullinan “will no longer be working in a talent facing capacity” although he will continue to work at GRID Esports. Let’s cut through the bullshit. Kieran Cullinan represents your classic esports wannabe, light on achievements but in possession of a completely unwarranted ego. His early career, which we will detail, is a laundry list of every two-bit grift conceivable by the unimaginative, the type I have covered extensively in my early career before I graduated to bigger targets. It is no surprise then to see someone with this history throwing his illusory weight around in an attempt to spare his employer’s blushes. His entire esports career will be an insubstantial power fantasy, a lie all too easily perforated by anyone with an iota of experience and cynicism. He is embarrassingly small-time but esports has taught me it is best to check these people early before they fail upwards and their petty power trips become serious abuses. Prior to being hired by GRID Esports, Cullinan was an aspiring broadcast talent himself but was able to dupe other commentators into thinking he could represent them as an agent. He created an unregistered talent agency and tournament organiser, little more than a Discord server in reality, called Vortex Entertainment. Here he would gather commentators and then would essentially offer their services, along with his own, to other tournament organisers in the esports space. He would negotiate salaries for the shoutcasters and then, unbeknownst to them, take a cut off the top of each of their fees and keep it for himself. This would typically be in the region of €10 per caster per appointment. A fair cut for an agent’s work? Perhaps. An agent should tell you they are taking it though. One commentator who requested anonymity only found out about the missing money when someone sent them a screenshot from a conversation of Cullinan negotiating on their behalf: “I saw a screenshot of a conversation that said Kieran was taking a fee off the top, found to be 10 Euros… To this day he has not told me about this fee. He also insisted I invoice directly to him rather than the company we commentated for.” In addition to this, we were shown evidence of the invoice and chatlogs of Cullinan requesting a fee directly from the companies he interacted with. Sometimes money would just vanish due to incompetence. One commentator affected in this way was Benjamin ‘Protalis’ Hodge-McKenna who had nothing but negative experiences during his time being “represented” by Cullinan. He showed us the receipts. “Here you can see him offering me 60 Euros per series then deciding to reduce my rate to 50 Euros two days after I have submitted the invoice, which made it look like I was trying to overcharge Relog Media. I just had to accept the pay cut to 50 Euros per best-of-three or I wasn’t getting paid. He (Cullinan) didn’t even apologize for this. He just said ‘my bad.’” Even when commentators found out about Cullinan’s sticky fingers many just shrugged and accepted it. They had to and this was by design. Cullinan would specifically seek out commentators with little profile who were desperate for paying work because he knew they would be easier to manipulate. When bringing them into the fold he would promise them high profile paid work and also claim to have connections with Liquipedia that could expedite the creation of a biographical page for the broadcast talent, something highly desirable as it is seen as “legitimizing” and can potentially lead to more offers of work. A typical copy-pasted offer would read something like this: “I’ve seen your casting in and frankly wanted to give you a better offer… I doubt your current deal is paid, we offer $10-$15 per map for any events we run and/or broadcast that have a budget and we pay Ad revenue earned from ESEA MDL matches and anything else from open IPs… We also have great relations with Liquipedia to get commentators listed as well as their own pages much quicker than other casters.” When asked about this relationship a representative from Liquipedia unequivocally denied it. “Liquipedia is not a marketing platform,” they said. “Editors don’t take relations into account for notability.” The other scam being run was another one that was relatively typical at this level of commentary. Some tournament organizers offer the GOTV IPs to the general public, meaning anyone can cast them. These are a good way for commentators to get experience and earn a respectable amount of money as, provided they are partnered on Twitch, they can run ads or generate subscriptions and donations for their work. What Cullinan would do is offer an unbelievably small flat fee and tell the commentators that if they do it on the channel he controlled it would get more viewers. Cullinan would then keep the ad revenue for himself. Hodge-Mckenna again expanded on this. “He’d ask the casters to go out and find any open IP matches and then cover them for his company Vortex. He’d pay you $5 and then earn at least twice that from ad revenue. Plus the channel had a sponsor at that time and he didn’t increase payouts at all.” This is a hustle that has been going on for years. In 2017, I was personally responsible for exposing and ending similar practices from a “company” calling itself CSGO Matches who were even going as far as to threaten other commentators for utilising open IP matches. Unsurprisingly Cullinan was in contact with the person behind CSGO Matches for a time, although the Twitter account he used to contact him on was banned due to it being created while he was underage. In esports, these things come in cycles because generally no-one sticks around long enough to remember them. Nothing good can come of greed combined with incompetence and so it came to pass that Cullinan’s organisation would eventually have their partnership license with ESEA removed, preventing them from broadcasting the Mountain Dew League (now ESEA Premier) matches. A representative from ESEA at that time cited a plethora of reasons for this decision. “We weren’t happy knowing some details about how he ran his business,” they said. “But we weren’t in a position to boot them fully from the partner program instantly without community backlash so we used the strike process that was in place… His broadcasts would repeatedly not follow our guidelines, wouldn’t provide KPIs for broadcasts within the deadline and even broadcasted over the top of official ESEA coverage multiple times.” Now, many of you reading this will chalk this down as to naivety or perhaps if you are feeling uncharitable out-and-out stupidity. To that point, I would simply add that Cullinan was no fool when it came to selecting his marks. Almost every commentator he would acquire work for were all in some way financially vulnerable. Even now, with what is almost sure to be the end of his esports career looming, many of the talent we interviewed were worried about the reprisals of speaking out, believing that the parent company might elect to not hire them in future. With the ongoing pandemic still having profound effects on the global economy any paid work right now is a godsend for many. The Snow Sweet Snow tournaments represented a not insignificant pay check for many of those selected. “At the end of the day, other than a couple random games, this is the ONLY work I have for the year. I need to pay bills, I need to pay for insurance, pay for my car, pay for everything” one told us. “It makes me sad that essentially I was picked because I wouldn’t complain about rates rather than because I had potential to be a good caster” another commentator said. “I thought it was a sign that I was making headway in the industry and picking up proper contracted gigs.” At the time of writing all this up, Cullinan has spent his time attempting to cover his tracks. The Discord servers that served as his base of operations have been deleted. GRID, aware that people are now talking about their Talent Manager’s practices, are awaiting further fallout before making any decisions about the direction they will take. I’m under no illusions that Kieran will most likely be served up as a sacrifice while the company that enabled him to operate like this will take little of the blame. Too many companies do this in our business. The narrative is that it’s always a rogue employee who was acting outside of the boundaries and no-one was aware of it. What gets lost in the noise is often the fact that they were simply doing what they were instructed to do. It’s overlooked that not being aware of what your subordinates are doing is a condemnation of your capabilities as management. In this digital world we have built, it’s always the social media manager that is fired for the bad tweet, never the marketing division that sent them the brief outlining what they had to post. And yet it is necessary that this is committed to the public record because in my experience people who behave like this without being checked invariably go on to become more and more abusive the further up the ladder they get. What isn’t clear is why Cullinan would be hiring the broadcast talent in the first place. The organisation he is an employee of claim to be a “data platform working with publishers, tournaments and teams to leverage official data assets in esports.” Yet we know they used to own the intellectual property for the Home Sweet Home tournaments despite working with Relog to create those broadcasts. It’s only recently that Relog Media bought the license to that intellectual property from GRID.gg and yet it is still GRID that are responsible for hiring the talent. No doubt there are a few stones worth turning over but that will be a task for another time. For now, there’s some potential for a few positives. At the time of this going to print, an email has been sent to the broadcast talent from Relog’s COO Marko ‘Baja’ Jovanović promising new negotiations about the payment rates for all involved. Any newly agreed upon amounts will be backdated to March 11th, the day after the completion of the most recent Snow Sweet Snow tournament. There’s also promises for more transparency around why the rates are set at the levels they are. We shall see about that. This will just have to serve as yet another esports cautionary tale. Understand that if you come into this space without knowing the lay of the land there will be plenty of liars and hustlers waiting in the wings to make money off your efforts, all the while posing as the gatekeeper to the big time that has in actuality eluded them too. If you hitch your hopes of success to these people then you won’t be going anywhere.

Gfinity Elite Series adds ASUS ROG Army for Season 4 GfinitySpanish esports team ASUS ROG Army will join the Gfinity Elite Series for the upcoming season. ASUS ROG Army will be one of 10 teams competing in Season 4 of the Elite Series, which kicks off in October 2018. They will be the first Spanish team in the league, which features a majority of UK-based organizations. ASUS ROG Army’s newly-created FIFA team is headlined by Fernando ‘Ferperry’ Martinez, a veteran who qualified for the eWorld Cup playoffs. The team has been dominant domestically, winning both the Moche XL Esports Lisboa PS tournament and LVP Division De Honor Season 11. ASUS ROG esports director Ruben Ripoll said: “We are extremely excited to join the Gfinity Elite Series. The tournament has already proved itself to be one of the best in the world and we look forward to taking part and ultimately coming out on top. Our fanbase is growing massively so we thought it was about time we showcased our unique style on the global stage.” Bryan Healy, Chief Strategy Officer at Gfinity, added: “Esports is growing massively in Spain and Spanish speaking countries so we are excited that ASUS ROG is joining our ranks. The team has signed some top players and they will be a force to be reckoned with from week one.” The Elite Series is a multi-game competition, with Season 3 seeing 10 organizations battle across FIFA 18, Rocket League, and Street Fighter. The teams combine pro players with rookies drafted in the Elite Draft. As Gfinity has confirmed that the Elite Series will remain a 10-team competition, ASUS ROG Army will presumably be replacing one of the Season 3 organizations, although Gfinity did not state which team would be departing.

Esports’ first “pet partner” deal wants your best dog snaps for its jersey GravitasAustralian esports organization Gravitas have announced one of the more unique deals of 2021 so far, having named a company their “official pet partner.” Competing as one of eight teams in the newly launched LCO competition, the main League of Legends competition in Australia, Gravitas are looking to engage with their fans with this new partnership. The esports org are launching a new jersey with pet food business Scratch and are allowing fans to submit photos of their dogs to be featured on their official match jersey. Fans of Gravitas have more reasons to be excited, with the unique dog-emblazoned jerseys being dished out to those who are voted to have the “cutest dog” and the “player fave dog” as voted for both the org’s roster. The jersey will be available for purchase later in the season and those who do buy one will also receive a AUD$25 voucher to purchase dog food from the team’s new partner. “We didn’t plan to partner with an esports team, but the Gravitas Scratch Dog Jersey is going to be really fun, and we’ll take any excuse to bring dogs into things we love,” said Scratch co-founder Mike Halligan about the partnership. Gravitas are currently in fifth place during the second split of the 2021 LCO season and they’ll be wearing the dog jerseys for good luck later in their campaign. The competition is broadcast on Twitch to thousands of spectators, meaning tonnes of eyeballs will be on plenty of fans’ four-legged friends.

Geoff ‘iNcontrol’ Robinson’s family confirms he passed away painlessly iNcontrol/TwitterFormer StarCraft 2 pro turned commentator Geoff ‘iNcontrol’ Robinson suddenly passed away at the age of 33 on July 21 and his cause of death has been revealed on his Twitter account. Posting on Robinson’s Twitter account, his family wrote: “To offer some solace in this time of grief: We’ve learned that Geoff passed quickly and painlessly from a blood clot in his lungs. He was with friends. He always urged and led us by example to take care of ourselves to the best of our ability. Remember to do that for him today.” The tweet included a stylized in memoriam graphic of Robinson through the years. To offer some solace in this time of grief: We’ve learned that Geoff passed quickly and painlessly from a blood clot in his lungs. He was with friends. He always urged and led us by example to take care of ourselves to the best of our ability. Remember to do that for him today. pic.twitter.com/3TJBtP40If — Geoff Robinson (@iNcontroLTV) July 23, 2019 Robinson’s ex-wife, Anna Prosser, provided more details on her personal Twitter account writing: “In 2013, Geoff went to the hospital for pain in his leg and learned it was a blood clot. I remember the doctor explaining to us that usually there’s no pain, and how lucky he was to have caught it. Geoff cited that often, and I never knew someone so steeped in daily gratefulness.” “After learning that extensive sitting could contribute to clotting, the first thing he did was tell his friends and community, urging them to get up, walk, and stretch often. He wanted to share and protect by example. You probably remember his diligent ‘get up’ breaks on stream,” she added. “He used his experience to help others, he led by example in taking care of himself, and he spoke very often about how grateful he was for his life and the wonderful things in it. It’s unbelievably unfair that he’s gone. But he made each day of his 6 year ‘second chance’ count.” In 2013, Geoff went to the hospital for pain in his leg and learned it was a blood clot. I remember the doctor explaining to us that usually there’s no pain, and how lucky he was to have caught it. Geoff cited that often, and I never knew someone so steeped in daily gratefulness. https://t.co/Q3blRhLrtO — Anna Prosser (@AnnaProsser) July 23, 2019 After learning that extensive sitting could contribute to clotting, the first thing he did was tell his friends and community, urging them to get up, walk, and stretch often. He wanted to share and protect by example. You probably remember his diligent “get up” breaks on stream. — Anna Prosser (@AnnaProsser) July 23, 2019 He used his experience to help others, he led by example in taking care of himself, and he spoke very often about how grateful he was for his life and the wonderful things in it. It’s unbelievably unfair that he’s gone. But he made each day of his 6 year “second chance” count. — Anna Prosser (@AnnaProsser) July 23, 2019 In the end it wasn’t about sitting or anything he could have done to prevent it, and everything I say feels stupidly inadequate to make any sense of that. The fact that he did everything right and then we blinked and he was gone is just inconceivable. — Anna Prosser (@AnnaProsser) July 23, 2019 “In the end it wasn’t about sitting or anything he could have done to prevent it, and everything I say feels stupidly inadequate to make any sense of that. The fact that he did everything right and then we blinked and he was gone is just inconceivable.” Tributes from across the esports community poured in after news of Robinson’s passing on July 21. It was clear that he meant a lot to the esports community at large and not just the StarCraft scene. Nick ‘Tasteless’ Plott said iNcontrol “brought so much laughter to me and so many others, while Sean ‘day9’ Plott described him as a “one-of-a-kind person.” Meanwhile, esports journalist Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields described him as “one of the most entertaining people to ever be involved with esports.” The official StarCraft twitter account also paid homage to iNcontrol writing: “thank you for everything, Geoff. StarCraft won’t be the same without you.” Robinson, a former Starcraft 2 Protoss player was a highly popular figure in the competitive gaming community from both his playing days and further career in broadcasting. As a player he captained the Evil Geniuses StarCraft team, and once his career as a competitor was over he transitioned into becoming a popular commentator for the game. He casted events such as season one of North American Star League and the 2012 DreamHack Open: Stockholm.

German government proposal could make it easier for esports athletes to get visas StarLadderThe government of Germany is drafting a new regulation that would allow “esports professionals” from outside of Europe to live and compete in Germany with a visa. According to the German Esports Federation (ESDB), the advancement of esports in the country of Germany has been hindered because of visa regulations for nearly two years now. But in a press release released earlier this week, the ESBD announced that the German government is pushing forward with a new, better process for visas. “Plans of the government include a permanent residency permit,” per the release. “Applications would be handled in a much easier and sped-up process. Visa applicants would have to be over 16 years old, being employed by an esports team registered in Germany and compete in a national or international league.” This will be a huge boon to future esports stars in Europe, as well as organizations that are headquartered in Germany like G2 Esports, BIG, mousesports, and FC Schalke 04 Esports. This will also have effects on the LoL European Championship league and the PUBG Europe League, which are both based in Berlin. The most recent CS:GO major, the StarLadder major, was just held in Berlin also. The ESBD has been pushing for a better visa process in Germany since 2017, and their president Hans Jagnow says that the visa regulation issue is a problem that extends far outside the German borders. “Visa regulations are currently blocking the development of professional esports all over Europe,” Jagnow said in the release. “Teams and tournament organizers often have difficulties bringing non-EU-citizens into their respective countries. The plans of the German government are sending a strong signal to other countries and would be providing a best-case-study for other nations to follow up on.“ Jagnow even commented on the ongoing Brexit situation facing the United Kingdom, saying that “we would be prepared for a Brexit that might cause trouble for the residency of British esports athletes in Germany.“ Visa issues have been a problem throughout esports. Visa issues specifically have been a reoccurring problem within the United States. 100 Thieves were Rainbow Six players were barred from the North American Pro League because of visa issues. And according to esports immigration lawyer Genie Doi, the visas for esports players are only going to get harder to acquire in the near future. The new visa regulations will officially be put in place for 2020. For the time being, Germany offers 90-day visas for esports players.

Gen.G CEO offers grim prediction on esports future: “I fear the worst” Arnold HurIn an Ask Me Anything on the League of Legends subreddit, Gen.G CEO, Arnold Hur, was asked about his confidence in the League of Legends esports leagues in North America and South Korea financially and said he is “extremely concerned.” Hur, who was promoted to CEO of Gen.G in 2021 and has worked for the organization since 2017, is a veteran of the esports industry. In the Reddit AMA, he was asked for his thoughts on whether the League of Legends Champions Korea league will have the same fate as the League Championship Series in terms of financial concerns and how he feels about sponsors leaving the Korean league. Hur answered with a grim prediction for the esports space, revealing that the average cost for the top players in the LCK are increasing every year and sponsorship money does not come close to covering their salaries. “I’ve been saying the esports winter is coming but even I didn’t think it would be this cold. Now I’ve changed my forecast and think 30%+ of esports teams worldwide won’t make it the next 2 years,” Hur said. Gen.G CEO explains why the esports winter will decimate orgs Hur further explained that he thinks leagues that rely on media and brand sponsorships won’t survive and publishers finding other ways to create revenue for their events and teams is key. Hur also pointed to the world’s current financial woes as more brands are cutting costs and turning away from marketing. “In an environment where every major consumer brand is cutting marketing costs, experimental esports marketing sponsorships are at risk of being the first to be cut. If the publisher, the LCK, teams, players don’t take the risks now to fix the model, I fear the worst,” the Gen.G CEO said. The executive did share some hopeful thoughts, however, saying that everyone involved in esports understands the current business model doesn’t work for teams or leagues and they should figure out a way for everyone to profit. “Most of our fans understand that everyone needs to embrace the sports ENTERTAINMENT side and find new commercial opportunities if we are going to stay relevant vs bigger regions,” Hur said. For some organizations, the esports winter is already here. eUnited, an esports organization established in 2016, is reportedly dead in the water with its CEO as the only employee.

Gaming Gear Shop Owner Called Out for Sexist Comments About Women in Esports Intel/ESLThe managing director and CEO of online store ‘Gaming Gear Shop’ has been called out on Twitter for a series of posts which claim women are not successful in esports because “being attractive and intelligent don’t apply.” Esports is still an industry largely dominated by men, but there has been a push in recent years to promote more female players, casters and behind the scenes staff within esports. But, Joshua Forbes, the CEO of Gaming Gear Shop, says that because men are simply better at “instinct, muscle memory and initiative”, they are by default better at playing competitive games. His comments were shared to Twitter by Poppy Ingham, who herself is involved in esports through work with tournament organizer Gfinity. “women are not as skilful as men, because they don’t have the attributes in order to accrue the required level of talent to compete at the very top level.” He even goes on to give the example of stone age hunting with spears, and that because you would rather a group of men with spears go hunting than a group of women with babies, men must therefore be better at esports.

Gears of War and Halo Will be Uniting for a Massive Xbox Esports Event in New Orleans MLGThe Gears of War Pro Circuit and the Halo Championship Series will be joining together for a Xbox Esports Event this summer. The massive, collaborative event, which was announced on May 17th, will be held at the New Orleans Convention Center in New Orleans, LA from July 13th-15th. Gears of War and Halo both represent two of the biggest competitive gaming franchises that are currently played exclusively on the Xbox One console. The coming together of these two esports scenes presents a unique opportunity for fans to watch some of the top teams from both games compete at the same time and at the same venue. Read More: The Esports Integrity Coalition Responds to Supreme Court Decision on Sports Betting in the United States – Here is what Gears developer The Coalition and Halo developer 343 Industries said about this event in a joint statement. This summer, two of Xbox’s largest gaming franchises are coming together as the Halo Championship Series and Gears Pro Circuit unite for a unique esports event in New Orleans. Working with Major League Gaming (MLG), The Coalition and 343 Industries will host simultaneous standalone tournaments at the New Orleans Convention Center from July 13th-15th. The event will feature hundreds of players, two main stages, multiple feature stations and two open bracket areas for what’s sure to be a historic spectacle. Fans of both franchises will witness non-stop action and high-quality gameplay all weekend. A trailer for this Xbox Esports Event was also released as part of the announcement. ANNOUNCING: Gears Pro Circuit unites with @HCS for a MASSIVE Xbox Esports Event this July in New Orleans! Hit up the trailer below then get all the event info at https://t.co/SQ4YnKWZHlpic.twitter.com/XIcQRPRz6Z — Gears of War Esports (@EsportsGears) May 17, 2018 Both of the Gears Esports Pro Circuit and Halo Championship Series tournaments will feature a $250,000 prize pool and the best teams from each respective esports scene. On the Gears side, Ghost Gaming will look to defend the title the got last month at the Las Vegas Open after going undefeated throughout the tournament. Splyce, who are coming off of a victory at the Halo World Championship 2018 Finals in Seattle, will be going all out to keep their hold on the top spot. The entirety of the announcement for this event can be viewed on the official websites for both Gears and Halo.

Gamers8 announces $5 million prize for top esports orgs Gamers8The organizers of the Gamers8 festival have announced that they will offer $5 million to the best-performing esports organizations at the event. The initiative is part of the Gamers8 Club Awards and aims to determine “the best and most successful multi-gaming club in the world”, as well as “support the global gaming community,” according to the organizers. During the Gamers8 festival, which will run between July 6 through August 31 in Saudi Arabia, esports organizations will earn ranking points based on the tournament placements of their players (in individual tournaments) and teams. At the end of the eight-week event, the organization with the most points in the overall standings will earn $1.5 million. The awards ceremony will take place on August 30-31, bringing the curtain down on the gaming and esports festival, which will have $45 million on offer. Over $30 million will be handed out to the top teams and players of Gamers8’s esports tournaments, featuring a wide array of titles, from R1 and Fortnite to CS:GO and PUBG. With a $15 million prize pool, the Dota 2 tournament, called Riyadh Masters, will have the most money on the line. The 2023 edition of the Gamers8 festival, called ‘The Land of Heroes’, aims to be “bigger in every way” than the 2022 event. In addition to esports tournaments, there will be music concerts, festival activities, and the Next World Forum conference. Despite the sizeable prize purse, the festival has come in for severe criticism from multiple quarters in the esports community for Saudi Arabia’s record of human rights violations. Because of that, Moist Esports, the organization founded by streamer and content creator Charles ‘MoistCr1TiKal’ White, declined an invitation to compete in last year’s Rocket League tournament. The Gamers8 festival is organized by the Saudi Esports Federation, which Saudi royal Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud chairs. He is also the vice-chairman of Savvy Games Group, which acquired ESL and FACEIT in January 2022 in a $1.5 billion deal.

Gamers8 announces record $45m esports prize pool for 2023 event Gamers8The organizers of the Gamers8 esports and gaming festival have announced a record $45 million prize purse for the 2023 edition. The event will kick off on July 6 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and will span over eight weeks, with music concerts, festival activities, and the Next World Forum conference held alongside esports tournaments. The $45 million prize pool is triple the amount on offer in the 2022 edition and is the largest in esports history, according to the event’s organizers. The names of the esports titles that will be played at the Gamers8 festival have not yet been disclosed. Last year’s event featured some of the best teams and players in Rocket League, Dota 2, Fortnite, Rainbow Six and PUBG Mobile. According to veteran esports journalist Richard Lewis, ESL has proposed combining its Dota 2 properties, DreamLeague and ESL One, and Gamers8’s Dota 2 tournament, called Riyadh Masters, into “one global circuit” to complement Valve’s Dota Pro Circuit and The International. The 2022 Riyadh Masters had a $4 million prize pool, with PSG.LGD claiming the top prize of $1.5 million. The Gamers8 festival is sponsored by the Saudi Esports Federation (SEF), the nation’s main esports association. In a January statement, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, chairman of the federation, said that the goal was to build on what was achieved with the 2022 event. “To be frank, when we mean bigger and better this summer – we truly mean it,” he said. The announcement of the Gamers8 festival comes at a time when the esports industry is witnessing a flood of Saudi money. This has been met with intense criticism because of the country’s record of human rights violations. Last year, the Savvy Games Group, which is fully owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, acquired ESL and FACEIT for a combined $1.5 billion. In February, the Savvy Games Group announced a $265 million investment in VSPO, a Chinese tournament operator specialized in mobile esports. And last week, the ESL FACEIT Group acquired esports technology and infrastructure company Vindex, with broadcast production service Esports Engine included in the deal. Mikhail Klimentov, a former reporter for The Washington Post, revealed on March 6 that Brian Ward, CEO of Savvy Games Group, outlined his vision to build a gaming and esports company “bigger than Tencent” during a town hall meeting of Vindex employees.

Gamers8 2023: All winners, results & club ranking Gamers8We are now halfway through the 2023 edition of the Gamers8 festival. Keep track of all the esports tournament winners, the complete results, and the club ranking with our coverage hub. Until the end of August, the Saudi capital of Riyadh will be hosting a series of elite-level esports tournaments with some of the best players in the world. Gamers8, the gaming and esports festival organized by the Saudi Esports Federation, is back for its second edition, dubbed ‘The Land of Heroes’. Gamers8 2023 promises to be much bigger than the inaugural festival last year. Not only will there be many more esports tournaments, but the total prize purse has tripled to a whopping $45 million. This is, according to the organizers, the biggest prize purse in esports history. Below, you can find all the tournament winners and information about each competition’s full schedule and results. You will also find the Gamers8 club ranking, which will see the best-performing multi-gaming club earn $1.5 million. Gamers8 results and winners – Gamers8 club leaderboard – Gamers8 controversy explained – Gamers8 Results and winners Tekken 7 – July 6-9 ($1 million) FIFAe Club World Cup – July 6-9 ($1 million) Fortnite – July 7-9 ($2 million) PUBG Mobile – July 11-16 ($3 million) FIFAe Nations Cup – July 11-14 ($1 million) Rainbow Six – July 13-16 ($2 million) FIFAe World Cup – July 16-19 ($1 million) Dota 2 – July 19-30 ($15 million) PUBG Mobile – July 20-23 ($100,000) Rennsport – July 27-30 ($1 million) Driver Championship Team Championship Starcraft 2 – August 3-6 ($500,000) Main Tournament Legends Tournament Street Fighter 6 – August 10-13 ($1 million) Street Fighter 6 results – Watch live: Here – PUBG – August 10-20 PUBG Global Series 2 results – Watch live: Here – CS:GO – August 16-20 ($1 million) Rocket League – August 24-27 ($2 million) Rocket League results – Gamers8 Club Leaderboard In addition to the tournaments’ prize purses, Gamers8 will offer $5 million to the top-performing esports organizations at the festival. This fund will reward cross-title performance in an effort to determine “the best and most successful multi-gaming club in the world”. According to the Saudi Esports Federation, this initiative aims to encourage investment in the esports industry and collaboration between organizations, players and publishers. And it seems to be paying off, as seen on July 6, when FaZe entered the fighting game scene with a pair of Tekken players who are competing in Riyadh. Gamers8 will use a points-based system to determine the festival’s most successful organizations. Once all tournaments are over and the points have been tallied, the Gamers8 Club Awards will pay homage to the industry’s best organizations. Below you can see how the $5 million will be distributed: 1 – $1,500,000 – 2 – $1,100,000 – 3 – $800,000 – 4 – $575,000 – 5 – $425,000 – 6 – $300,000 – 7 – $200,000 – 8 – $100,000 –

Gamers8 2023: Schedule, esports tournaments, prize and controversy explained Gamers8The 2023 edition of Gamers8 is officially underway, with more prize money and esports tournaments than last year. Here is everything you need to know about the Saudi festival. After a first edition in 2022, Saudi Arabian gaming and esports festival Gamers8 is back 2023 with an event dubbed ‘The Land of Heroes’. Organized by the Saudi Esports Federation, the festival will take place over eight weeks and will include esports tournaments, music concerts and the Next World Forum conference. In 2023, Gamers8 aims to be “bigger in every way”, from the number of esports tournaments to the amount of money on the line. To that end, the festival will offer $45 million – the “largest prize pool” in esports history, according to the organizers. Despite its sizeable prize pool, the Gamers8 festival has been the target of much criticism in the esports community because of its ties to the Saudi government and the country’s record of human rights violations. Below is everything you need to know about the Gamers8 festival. Gamers8 2023: Schedule The 2023 edition of Gamers8 kicked off on July 6 and will last over eight weeks, coming to a close on August 31 with the Gamers8 Club Awards. The festival takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital. The event is expected to take place at the NXT LVL Arena, a custom-built venue in Riyadh Boulevard City that was unveiled ahead of the 2022 festival. Gamers8 2023: Esports tournaments and prize Gamers8 has announced 12 esports titles for the 2023 edition with a combined $33.5 million prize pool. Dota 2, Fortnite, Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege and PUBG Mobile all return to the festival, while CS:GO, StarCraft: Remastered, Starcraft II, Tekken 7, Street Fighter 6, PUBG, R1 and FIFA will be played for the first time. On July 1, the Gamers8 organizers added FIFA 23 to the list of titles that will be played at the event. The FIFAe Finals 2023 will take place at the Saudi festival from July 6-19 and will consist of three tournaments: the FIFAe Club World Cup 2023, the FIFAe Nations Cup 2023, and the FIFAe World Cup 2023. These three competitions will have a combined prize pool of $3 million. It is likely that, like last year, there will also be individual prizes for the top players. Former PSG.LGD player Zhang ‘Faith_bian’ Ruida, for example, won $100,000 for being the 2022 Dota 2 tournament’s MVP. On June 12, Gamers8 revealed that $5 million will be handed out to the eight best-performing esports organizations at the festival. High placements in every esports tournament will lead to ranking points, with the top club at the end of the event earning $1.5 million. The following esports tournaments will be played at Gamers8: July 6-9: Fortnite ($2 million) – July 6-9: Tekken 7 ($1 million) – July 6-19: FIFA 23 ($3 million) – July 11-23: PUBG Mobile ($3.1 million) – July 13-16: Rainbow Six Siege ($2 million) – July 17-30: Dota 2 ($15 million) – July 27-30: ESL R1 ($1 million) – August 3-6: StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II ($500,000 combined) – August 10-13: Street Fighter 6 ($1 million) – August 10-20: PUBG ($2 million) – August 16-20: CS:GO ($1 million) – August 21-27: Rocket League ($2 million) – Gamers8 2023: Controversy explained Gamers8’s whopping prize pool may be lauded by many, but that hasn’t stopped the festival from drawing criticism from several quarters. The Saudi government has been accused of taking its sportswashing formula to gaming and esports in an attempt to overshadow its human rights abuses. Last year, Moist Esports, the organization founded by popular streamer Charles ‘MoistCritikal’ White, refused an invite to Gamers8’s Rocket League tournament. “I will not be associating with a country that does not recognize LGBTQ+ people as human beings,” Moist manager Noah Hinder said at the time. “I think it’s important to put my morals and beliefs over money.” Gamers8 will take place amid concerns about the growing influence of Saudi Arabian money in esports. The Savvy Games Group (SGG), which is fully owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, recently announced a SAR 142 billion (~$37.9 billion) investment strategy as it aims to turn the kingdom into a global hub for gaming and esports by the end of the decade as part of the Vision 2023 project. Last year, SGG acquired ESL and FACEIT in a deal worth $1.5 billion. ESL will serve as the production company for the Gamers8 festival, according to HLTV.org.

Galaxy Racer lays off North American staff amid reports of owing multiple months of salary Galaxy RacerGalaxy Racer has allegedly laid off its entire North American staff amid reports that it owes the staff three months salary. Galaxy Racer reportedly laid off multiple staff members of its North American office and offshoot Her Galaxy, which is a company focusing on facilitating tournament competition in the region specifically for women. The Esports Advocate reported in July that the company owed employees weeks worth of back pay and also laid off multiple women from the company. Galaxy Racer said at the time that the terminations were on the talent and sales side of the business and that the employees owed payment would be paid by the next week. Galaxy Racer issue statement on layoffs On November 30, 10 full-time employees of Her Galaxy and the North American office were laid off, according to the staffers on social media and TEA. According to a follow-up report on the situation, Galaxy Racer owes months in back pay to the impacted employees. Those employees have reportedly threatened to sue the company and have sent a legal letter to Galaxy Racer over the issue. One employee said that during the meeting announcing the layoffs, staff emails were disabled and employees were kicked from the call. Another former staffer confirmed the reports that they were owed months of back pay and warned others about working with them. “Stay away from their creator scam! They have no staff, no budgets, no plan forward. They owe vendors, talent & tournament winners,” former Her Galaxy Esports Manager Bethany Pyles said on social media. The company has since issued an update about Her Galaxy and said it is going through a “strategic shift” and is “restructuring” its business to focus on influencer and content creator programs. An anonymous tipster alerted multiple esports reporters and publications about the situation at Her Galaxy in July (including Dexerto). The person claims the company also owes its employees three months of health care in its most recent email blast. The company has responded to the tipster’s email saying that they do not and have not “been part of Galaxy Racer for a while now, as all payments to all employees have been settled in full prior to any layoffs.” One former employee has confirmed that Galaxy Racer eventually paid everyone what they were owed after initially only paying two months’ worth of back pay, and withholding the final month until they signed a termination agreement.