Team Liquid Renews Successful Partnership With Marvel
North American esports organization Team Liquid has renewed its partnership with Marvel Entertainment. The renewed deal cements collaboration between Marvel and Team Liquid going into 2022. It includes merchandise, apparel, and content collaboration.
Marvel and Team Liquid first joined force up in June 2019. At the time, it was Marvel’s first foray into esports sponsorship and collaboration. Since then, the company has pursued similar agreements with Australia’s Chief Esports and the ESL.
As part of the deal, Team Liquid frequently sports jerseys with iconic Marvel character tie-ins, such as Captain America. Many branded products sporting both Marvel and Team Liquid logos have been produced since the start of the partnership.
Asia Esports News
TOP Esports Heads Into Semis Against Suning As Clear Bookmaker Favorite
Chinese League of Legends team TOP Esports is set to face their Suning countrymen tomorrow. The winner will get a coveted spot in the LoL Worlds 2020 Finals match, facing the winner of the DAMWON-G2 match.
As both teams gear up for the best-of-five series, TOP is the clear bookmaker favorite. Both Asian betting sites and global sportsbooks favor the squad.
TOP betting odds average -200 for a win bet. Meanwhile, Suning has betting odds hovering around +155. That means bookies are assuming an implied probability of a TOP victory of around 66%. Suning’s estimated probabilities to win come out around 33%.
Interestingly, Fnatic’s Selfmade said he believes Suning will beat TOP in the match. He added that he believes Suning to be the strongest squad in the competition. Clearly, bookies are betting on Selfmade being wrong.
Africa Esports News
Riot Games Announces New Valorant Tournament For North Africa & Middle East
Riot Games, developers of League of Legends and Valorant, have announced a new Valorant tournament for the MENA region. Strike Arabia will bring together Middle Eastern and North African players for a month-long gauntlet.
Sponsored by Logitech, among other partners, Strike Arabia will feature two stages. First, sub-regional events will take place in the GCC, North Africa, Egypt & the Levant. Three teams from each region will move on to First Strike MENA, the main event.
The first stage is slated to begin on November 1st, concluding on November 25. The main event will take place between December 3 and 6. Matches will be streamed on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook each week, Sunday through Wednesday.
Europe Esports News
Team Singularity Axes Dashthreads Sponsorship Deal
Denmark’s Team Singularity announced the end of its partnership with clothing company DashThreads. The team made the announcement through an official release. DashThreads has supplied merchandise for Singularity since early 2020.
In the statement, posted to Singularity’s website, the team apologized to the community. Many problems with team merchandise recently plagued Singularity. The team placed the blame for these issues squarely on DashThreads’ shoulders.
Singularity founder and CEO, Atle Stehouwer didn’t mince words when speaking of the
apparel company. Stehouwer accused DashThreads of “unprofessionalism, lies, and mistreatment of the partnership”.
The company allegedly failed to fulfill its obligations on multiple occasions. This resulted in missing products, botched marketing campaigns, and more. The team vowed to take action against the company.
South America Esports News
Brazil’s CBGE Coordinates Push For Olympic Esports With GEF
The Brazilian Confederation of Games and Esports (CGBE) is doubling down on a bid to take esports to the Olympics. Coordinating with the Global Esports Federation (GEF), CGBE seeks to promote official Olympic inclusion of esports.
CBGE recently negotiated a partnership deal with S?o Paulo-based Arena Hub, a center for entrepreneurial innovation. GEF has now hand-picked CBGE as the Brazilian arm of the Olympic esports inclusion effort. CBGE president Paulo Ribas has a long history in sports.
Ribas worked on Brazil’s candidacy for the Rio 2016 Olympics and was an observer in 2008 and 2012. He also has extensive experience working in high-profile sporting events like the FIFA World Cup (2010/2014) and the Pan American Games.
Oceania Esports News
Seven Australia CS:GO Players Banned For Match-Fixing
ESL subsidiary ESEA, along with the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), have concluded their investigation of the Mountain Dew League (MDL). The process, which started back in early September, identified a number of worrisome irregularities.
According to ESIC and ESEA, seven Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitors in the MDL Australia were found guilty of assorted offenses. These include engaging in Mountain Dew League betting—a direct violation of ESIC anti-corruption guidelines and ESEA rules.
As a result, Australian Esports offending players are banned from all CS:GO events organized by ESIC partners. That includes the ESL, WePlay! Esports, NODWIN Gaming, Eden Esports, DreamHack, BLAST, and LVP. ESIC also notified law enforcement, as there may be legal consequences.
]]>The event is said to feature Street Fighter V and Rocket League tournaments with nation-based teams, with each event offering a US $250,000 prize pool.
Any player who wishes to represent their country at the Tokyo Olympics needs to qualify via open qualifiers, which are set to begin in early 2020.
Once the national squads are assembled, each of the teams will then have to compete for their spot at the World Open qualifying event in Katowice, Poland, in June 2020.
Out of all participating teams, only seven will earn a ticket to join Japan at the main event, set to kick off on July 22 at Zepp DiverCity.
The qualifying process, dates and venue will be the same for both Street Fighter V and Rocket League tournaments.
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The two tournaments are set to run for two days and conclude on July 24, which is the same day as the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics.
The World Open further builds on the collaboration between Intel and the IOC for the IEM PyeongChang esports event that took place ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
“As we explore the engagement between esports and the Olympic Movement we are looking forward to learning from this event and continuing to engage with the passionate esports community from around the world,” said Kit McConnell, IOC sports director.
Mark Subotnick, the leader of Intel’s esports efforts, also revealed why Intel chose Rocket League and Street Fighter as the two games featured in the World Open tournament.
“These two titles are something that the average consumer or audience member can look at and get what’s going on, and that’s unfortunately not always the case in esports,” he said.
“So that makes a lot of sense to work with these two partners.”
While esports events are not yet part of the Olympic Games, there is a possibility they could enter the fold after Paris 2024.
As reported by numerous sources, the American multinational corporation and technology company Intel recently entered talks with the International Olympic committee in hopes of speeding up the process of esports finding their way into the Olympic Games.
The never-ending debate has split the community in two. Should esports be included in the Olympic Games? And does esports even have a place in the Olympic Movement?
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Not only has this question been asked numerous times before among friends and family, but on the global scale as well. While there are understandably people and companies which disagree, there are also several big corporations and companies that are trying to do their best to help esports become officially recognised as a real sport. And what better way to do so than bringing esports into one of the world’s leading international sporting events?
It is hard to ignore the incredible growth of the esports industry. Like it or not, the youth is our future and today’s gamers are the people who will dictate what will happen in 20-30 years’ time. To many people, perhaps even most people, the idea of including esports into the Olympics seems like the fever dream of a mad man. But the world is evolving and with it the thinking process of people, so it is time to acknowledge the change and adapt.
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The IOC has shown some interest in including esports as a medal event in the Olympic Games. While an official decision is some ways off, there are several signs that suggest the committee’s thinking favours the side of progress.
Recent reports claim Intel wants to enter into an official partnership with the IOC, which would be a huge step for the esports community. However, IOC president Thomas Bach stated that if or when esports find their way into the Olympic Games, no violent games will be played, which will exclude industry-leading titles such as CS: GO, Dota 2, League of Legends and many more. Still, that statement shows the IOC has put some thought into the inclusion of esports in the Olympic Games.
There are a lot of arguments to be made in favour of esports being equal to traditional sports, but there are also plenty of points to be made against it. Rather than listing them all here, instead we can celebrate the cooperation between IOC and Intel and the possibilities it might open up for the future of esports.
While we look towards the greater goal of esports joining the Olympic Games, it is worth noting that esports have already appeared in a traditional sporting tournament. They were a featured discipline at the 2018 Asian Games, where countries competed in Clash Royale, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, PES 2018, Arena of Valor and League of Legends.
Considering how well pro gaming has been accepted in Asia, we might be closer than we think to seeing esports hit the mainstream.
Just a couple of months after German State Minister of the Interior and for Sports of Hesse, Peter Beuth, went public with his distate of the industry, Alfons H?rmann, the president of the DOSB has followed suit.
H?rmann said this week that “Esport does not exist (as a sport)” and “It will not be included in the Olympic program.”
Beuth and H?rmann are on the same page, expressing strong opposition to any kind of government sport and development of esports programs and esports athletes.
“This congress is about education and health. We want to get the kids into the gym and into the field. Gaming has its value. But it does not belong in a sports organization as such because it adorns itself with a title whose values I miss there,” Beuth said.
“The idea that the e-gaming industry is vying for funding, I think, is absurd,” H?rmann said.
The comments seemingly go against what is a thriving German eSports industry — one of the biggest in Europe and around the world. The Electronic Sports League (ESL), based in Cologne, is the world’s biggest and oldest esports company.
Esportbet has reported in recent months that despite Germany’s objections, esports is indeed being discussed at the highest levels in regards to an Olympic Games debut, but concerns over the violence of the industry’s biggest titles remains a sticking point.
When will these old men learn?
]]>While eSports is on the charge, exponentially growing its viewership and revenue in recent years, the IOC decided it was still “premature” to include them in the Olympic Games.
Given its recent rise, by 2024 the IOC may come to regret its decision, but the door has not been completely closed on the idea of competitive gaming at the Olympics.
Co-president of the Paris Olympic Committee, Tony Estanguet, has publicly supported the progressive move of including eSports, but there were a number of fundamental hurdles that still need to be cleared.
In a statement following the summit, the IOC confirmed it would continue to engage with the eSports community and plans to invite stakeholders in the eSports industry to a liaison group.
The main issues are that the titles, mostly violent in nature, are “not compatible” with the Olympic values. The IOC currently believes that eSports is commercially driven at its core, as opposed to the “values-based” aim of other sports — a debatable finding from many in the eSports industry.
The Olympic Games has consistently introduced new, controversial sports over the last two decades, including BMX biking and a number of ‘X-games’ that grew in popularity during the 1990s and early 2000s. Skateboarding is among five new sports that will make its debut in the 2020 games in Tokyo.
Key eSports stakeholders still have time to help the IOC review its decision — the final deadline to make a call on the 2024 games will come shortly after the 2020 games are complete.
]]>President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, confirmed that in December’s Olympic Summit, the introduction of eSports would be on the agenda.
You read that right. One day in the foreseeable future, you could earn an Olympic gold medal for playing video games.
Speaking at a press conference during the week, Bach said he hoped an esports strategy could be devised at the coming Summit, but did pour some cold water on any thoughts of a quick entry into the Olympic Games.
There are significant hurdles for eSports to overcome if it is to reach the Games.
The first, being the lack of an over-arching eSports governing body in which to oversee talks.
“We thought we would invite the community, only to realise that there is no such thing,” Bach said.
“There is an aggregation of varying individuals and economical interests, with most of them having met for the first time at our Forum.
“Because they are competitive amongst themselves, several of them had not ever met with each other.
“We realised it was very difficult to find a partner with whom we could deal or address issues and challenges.”
The other issues will be a head-scratcher for eSports representatives and the next IOC president.
The ‘inactivity’ and lack of physicality that eSports propagates, as well as the violent nature of the video games — like League of Legends, Overwatch and Fortnite — that eSports players compete on.
While Bach did say that professional eSport players were certainly fit, healthy and capable of achieving the same physical fitness as other Olympic sports, he did say that games that contravene Olympic values, such as violent games or those which discriminate, were a “red line” for the IOC.
We’ll keenly watch this space as news develops.
]]>Intel Extreme Masters key to esports Olympic future
Intel has promised to make use of the recent Intel Extreme Masters PyeongChang event as grounds for a serious campaign to catapult esports into the group of Olympic sports. IEM PyeongChang hosted a $150,000 Starcraft II tournament won by Canadian Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn. The most successful woman in all of esports took the trophy by beating hometown favorite and Starcraft legend Kim “sOs” Yoo-jin.
The tournament was held a week prior to the start of this year’s Winter Olympic Games and was directly supported by the International Olympic Committee. The games were broadcast on official Olympic channels, and in the words of the organizer, were a chance to show the Olympic representatives a taste of competitive gaming.
Intel and ESL refer to the tournament’s success as a “first step” towards making esports an Olympic sport. Intel’s Vice-President and General Manager for esports and Gaming, John Bonini, was quoted in an interview with The Australian Financial Review as saying: “We’re really happy with that first step. It’s going to take several steps and several years, I think, to figure out where we’ll end up, but so far we’ve been making some progress.”
“The Olympic Committee has acknowledged it’s a sporting activity, and I think that helped open the door for some testing.”
Intel also became a tech partner to the Olympic Games in 2017 and will remain in that role until at least 2024.
Bonini gave a speech at this year’s global esports Forum held in Katowice and stated that Intel wishes to be the “Switzerland” in tying esports and the Olympics closer together.
The CEO of ESL, Ralf Reichert, stated that IEM PyeongChang was an unusual tournament in the sense of demonstrating esports to a huge potential partner. He compared the recent tournament to the first IEM finals held back in 2007, which was also made to showcase the potential of esports to IT industry executives, rather than as just a simple event for the fans.
He referred to the huge viewer numbers of both live and online viewers as a proof that esports are loved around the world, and noted the wild success IEM tournaments have achieved in the past 12 years. He said that it would surprise him if a similar advance isn’t made in the next 12 years, since the tournament in PyeongChang.
Violence in video games have no place in the Olympics
Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, noted that the violence in many video games could prevent them from fitting in at the Olympics. Bonini disagrees suggesting his opinion might have changed as he discovered more about the world of esports.
“Of course, we don’t want violent games – that’s not consistent with the Olympic charter,” he said.
“But I still think there’s a lot of other opportunities.
“When they talk about trying to bring different cultures together to peaceful promotion of mankind, certainly esports can create that kind of opportunity.
There is also a practical side for the Olympics organisers. They see the young demographic and the huge growth in esport and they think how do we help deliver the next growth phase for our consumers.
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Grindel made this declaration while speaking with Weser Kurier newspaper in Northern Germany. He went further to say he would not like to see esports featured in any future Olympic Games.
“I consider this absurd,” Grindel said about the future possibility of including esports in Olympic Games. “I hope this does not happen.”
Grindel says esports threatens real sport
Considering that esports players numbers around the world have grown to an estimated 250 million people, many fans would be shocked to hear Grindel say that.
This is largely because esports’ audience is growing every day and more official sponsors are coming to the table.
But, Grindel the head of DFB, the largest national football association in the world with 6.8 million registered members has a different take.
He says one of the reasons fans are embracing esports is because it is the competitive side of electronic gaming. It also has great earning potential for players, operators and sponsors around the world.
The community generates up to one billion dollars and growing. The global esports population at the moment is also more than many local Olympic sports federations combined.
“The biggest competition to kids coming to our sports clubs is not handball or basketball but the use of digital equipment,” he said.
“That is absolute impoverishment.”
Other governing bodies of football competitions around the world are embracing esports, like Spain’s La Liga, which recently announced a fledgling competition.
Grindel: real sports are physical
Intel Corp put together an esports tournament close to the venues of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.
The esports players that took part in the competition wore Olympic rings-branded sports shirts to portray the Olympic spirit. They were all competiting for a prize of $150,000.
Even traditional sportsmen who win gold at Olympic competitions do not earn up to $150,000 in bonuses from their respective countries.
But Grindel does not want to hear this and was quick to discount the esports tournament.
According to the Germany’s DBF president, traditional sporting events bring direct contact with competitors. But this is never the case with esports. He argued that sports promote social values within and outside the local community, but not with esports which is an electronic gaming model.
He added that football for instance is played on the green pitch with spectators cheering and so on, and so is the case with other physical sports. And based on this, computer-based esports should never be regarded as real sports.
]]>Esports will be included as a medal sport for the first time at the Asian Games in 2022, providing a gateway to the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee is also considering esports for the 2024 Olympic Games.
However, some say that esports is becoming too professional.
Independent Dota 2 caster and content creator, Austin “Capitalist” Walsh, spoke to the Japan Times and explained that gamers believe that they are losing the essence of esports, which he said, “is supposed to be guys in jeans and T-shirts talking to their mates about video games.”
“There are people who feel like we are trying to be too professional,” he added.
The American esports commentator acknowledged that the addition of esports at the Olympics would help gamers clarify what they do while generating respect for the industry.
“I am happy that people are interested in eSports and want to include it, but I don’t care if it is in the Olympics and most people in esports don’t,” he said.
“All the Olympics does is get people involved in a scene that they don’t really understand and they will put up certain rules and regulations that just don’t fit.”
Australian Dota 2 commentator, Toby ‘TobiWan’ Dawson, confirmed Capitalist’s opinion that the restrictions will hamper esports teams.
“Personally, I think the Olympics will put too many restrictions on us,” he told the JT.
He explained that creating teams based on their nationalities will break current top teams up and threaten “what makes esports strong”.
“What makes eSports really strong is the fact that you take a blend of multiple regions and you put them into one team,” he added.
China’s professional esports organisation, LGD Gaming, features around 100 players who are managed by Pan Fei.
He expanded on TobiWan’s point, stating that they entered a tournament where teams competed based on nationality, which resulted in a disadvantage as they had to cut three non-Chinese players and a coach.
However, he noted that some esports professionals liked the idea that they would be representing their country on a global scale, including LGD player Yao Zhengzheng.
He said that the Olympics would give the industry self-worth and value.
Alisports esports general manager, Ivon Wong said that the addition of esports to the Olympics is a mutually beneficial advancement.
He said that the Olympics “urgently needs rejuvenation” and that esports is the answer.
“The Olympics needs to attract young audiences through such a project to inject energy into it, while eSport needs such a platform to further regulate the industry so it can draw broader public attention,” he added.
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