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A chat with the 76ers' first all-female eSports team, Dignitas
Back in September, the Philadelphia 76ers bought Team Dignitas -- an established esports organization with teams across League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Heroes of the Storm -- making it the first North American sports franchise to plant a flag in the world of professional gaming. In February, Dignitas picked up its first all-female professional team with players from Selfless Gaming, which had just placed second at the Electronic Sports World Cup in Bordeaux, France.
Lionsgate makes another move into eSports
Film and television production company Lionsgate has invested an undisclosed amount into Immortals, an eSports organization with teams competing in League of Legends, Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Super Smash Bros.
'League of Legends' owners open up revenue streams to pro teams
"We recognize that the current ecosystem isn't consistently profitable yet for team owners or for the league." That's how Riot Games' directors of eSports Jarred "Bradmore" Kennedy and Whalen "Magus" Rozelle laid out the studio's plans to funnel more money to professional League of Legends teams in 2017. The changes come after four years of explosive growth across the eSports industry, with League of Legends leading the charge, but it also follows a public spat between coaches and founders about the game's booming economy.
ESPN and 'League of Legends' studio aren't making a broadcast deal
League of Legends is one of the most popular esports titles in the world, but it's not heading to ESPN any time soon. Spokespeople for Riot Games and ESPN tell Engadget that the companies are not working on a broadcasting deal, despite a report on PVP Live claiming otherwise. "The story is inaccurate -- no active talks with ESPN at the moment," the Riot spokesperson said. An ESPN spokesperson further confirmed, "The story is false. We do not have a deal with Riot Games to broadcast League of Legends."
It's official: Activision buys legendary eSports company MLG
Mike Sepso co-founded the eSports organization Major League Gaming in 2002. In October 2015, he left MLG to work for Activision Blizzard -- the studio behind Destiny, Call of Duty and Hearthstone -- as Senior Vice President of its new competitive-gaming business led by former ESPN CEO Steve Bornstein. In the division's first major move, Activision today announced its purchase of MLG's eSports staff and assets in a deal reported to be worth $46 million. Sepso just helped Activision acquire the business he founded 13 years ago.Did he ever dream of ending up in a situation like this?"No one could have put that together," Sepso tells me, laughing. "And if you'd asked me four months ago, I would have said no."
EA launches an eSports division led by Peter Moore
Electronic Arts, the studio responsible for Star Wars: Battlefront, SimCity and the Battlefield franchise, has launched a new Competitive Gaming Division led by former COO and EA Sports President Peter Moore. The goal of the new business is to cultivate eSports opportunities within EA's library, most notably in the Battlefield, Madden NFL and FIFA franchises. EA's CGD will develop live events and broadcasting featuring eSports, plus create new, officially branded competitive experiences, CEO Andrew Wilson says in a blog post.
Meet the high school dropout paving the way for indie eSports
It sounds like a classic Silicon Valley success story: A young, inexperienced entrepreneur drops out of school to pursue his dreams and ends up founding an influential, innovative company. Except, Alex Nichiporchik isn't from California; he's from Latvia. And he didn't drop out of college to follow his passion -- he dropped out of high school. Nichiporchik is the CEO and co-founder of tinyBuild GAMES, the studio behind No Time to Explain and SpeedRunners, and he's leading the indie charge into eSports. Professional gaming is new territory for small studios, which means Nichiporchik has made a lot of it up along the way, from hosting low-quality live streams to producing tournaments with the Electronic Sports League. "We didn't know what we were doing," he says, but "it took off" anyway.
'League of Legends' shoutcaster loves the game, not the fame
Trevor Henry doesn't like to think of himself as "famous." He prefers the term "recognizable," and then only in certain situations -- like at the League of Legends World Championships in Europe this year. Henry, professionally known as Quickshot, is a shoutcaster for League of Legends, which means he's often the face and voice of professional matches as he commentates on live games and analyzes important moves afterward. Literally millions of people know who he is: In 2014, 27 million fans watched the final match of the League World Championships. For perspective, the NBA Finals in 2014 averaged just 15.5 million viewers per game. Quickshot has been in the shoutcasting game for half a decade, first as a hobby and now professionally in a rapidly evolving industry. He knows where professional League of Legends started and sees where it can go -- and he told us all about it.
Professional 'StarCraft 2' players, coach accused of match-fixing
South Korean authorities have arrested nine people, including two professional players and their coach, on charges of fixing professional StarCraft 2 matches, according to translated reports on the Team Liquid forums. The site says PRIME head coach Park Wae-Sik ("Gerrard"), and professional players Choi Byeong-Heon ("YoDA") and Choi Jong-Hyuk ("BBoongBBoong") have been arrested and charged with manipulating the outcomes of five matches throughout 2015. They're suspected of receiving between 5 million and 20 million won ($4,400 and $17,600) for fixing the games. At least three other people have been arrested and charged with match-fixing in the same sting, and two additional people have been indicted but not arrested. One other is at large, the report says. The Korean eSports Association plans to ban Gerrard and YoDA from the organization for life, a statement translated on TeamLiquid reads.
'Call of Duty: Black Ops 3' looks like 'Dota 2' with new features
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is banking big on eSports with a handful of new, updated and returning features that make the professional game stand out from everyday matches. Arena, for example, replaces Black Ops 2's League Play as an online ranking system where players compete to reach the top division. CODcaster Mode returns, allowing spectators to commentate over the top of live matches and control some of the visual cues of the game. That's all fine and dandy, but Black Ops 3's real eSports meat comes in the form of Specialist Draft and the "Ban and Protect" systems, which serve to make the professional game play out more like massively successful pro games League of Legends or Dota 2.
The business of eSports in numbers
It takes about 50 years for a "game" to become a "sport," according to Andrew Paradise's calculations. He's an entrepreneur who recently joined the wave of investors getting in on the eSports game: His app, Skillz, allows mobile-gaming fans to win real money while playing some of their favorite titles. That's right, mobile eSports. From smartphones to dedicated eSports arenas, Paradise knows why professional gaming is a booming market and he explains it all in a straightforward, money-focused manner. If you've ever looked at eSports and wondered, "Why?" Paradise might have your answer.
Swedish media house buys world's largest eSports company
Professional gaming is a hot item in the investment world right now and even the largest eSports organizations are getting in on the action. On Wednesday, international entertainment company MTG purchased ESL, the largest eSports organization in the world. MTG spent 78 million euros ($86.4 million) for a majority stake -- 74 percent -- in ESL's holding company, Turtle Entertainment GmbH. This deal marks the first acquisition of an eSports company by a traditional media organization.
Pro gaming doesn't need balls to be considered a 'sport'
The hockey game on the flat-screen behind the bar had served as a pleasant background visual as I ate dinner. But with my plate cleared, the action on-screen drew my full attention. I took a sip of beer as players converged on the puck, white jerseys sliding into red and sticks slapping intently over a small, swift black dot. More furious movement and some of the athletes fell back as others rushed forward chasing their objective: Control the puck. I took another sip. Two men, one from each team, flew toward the black dot as it slid across the bottom wall of the rink and the rest of the players settled into position behind them, constantly moving, pushing for dominance of their immediate areas. Each person on the ice clearly had a specific role. And then halfway through my second beer, it clicked. "It's like they're playing League of Legends in real-life," I thought, frozen in mid-sip. "Holy shit. I think I understand hockey now."
Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit controller review (PS3)
While most of us play games purely for their entertainment value, an elite few get their game on while calling themselves "professionals." These superstars of simulated battle make the rounds in various tournaments, including, most notably, Major League Gaming Pro Circuit championships. Now those digital athletes, as well as the masses of seasoned "amateurs," can compete with professional (or at least officially licensed) equipment -- we're talking about gear like Mad Catz' Major League Gaming Pro Circuit Controller for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This Major League gamepad promises to give competitive gamers a professional, customizable edge over their opponents with swappable "ProModule" thumbsticks and d-pads -- invoking the customizable spirit of Mad Catz' transforming RAT mouse. We gave the PlayStation 3 edition a chance to make its rodent cousin proud. Read on to see if it lives up to its professional branding.
SteelSeries Sensei gaming mouse goes up for pre-order, obeys your macro come October
Competitive gaming scored itself a new peripheral vying for the top spot back in August, when SteelSeries unveiled its ambidextrous Sensei mouse. If you'll recall, the Sensei tracks up to 150-inches per second with its 10.8 megapixel sensor, and uses a 32-bit ARM processor to calculate it all without bogging down your rig. Making things sweeter, a trio of illuminated sections can be set to differing hues befitting your mood, and an LCD planted on the Sensei's underside will let you change some settings without a computer. If you've been dying to get your FPS-loving mitts on this $90 input device, it's now officially up for pre-order from the company's website and due to hit doorsteps during the first week of October. As usual, the full PR is located just past the break.
Mad Catz Major League Gaming controllers offer swappable thumbstick layouts, fancy arcade buttons
If we didn't already know those cats were mad about customizable controllers, we just got a reminder: the Mad Catz Major League Gaming Pro-Circuit Controllers. These professional-grade PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers allow competitive gamers to adjust the gamepad's weight and swap out key components -- such as exchanging the controller's analog stick for a D-pad. Want your PS3 controller to have a Xbox 360 layout? No problem. If the insane kitty's ambitious Onza competitor isn't your thing, check out the MLG Tournament Edition Fightstick, featuring the same Sanwa Denshi components used in Japanese arcade cabinets. It may not have its sibling's stick-swapping action, but its 13-foot controller cable, classic layout, and left-right stick toggle mode (for emulating the missing analog thumbstick) still aims to please. The Arcade Fightstick can be had now at the GameShark store to the tune of $160, but the Pro-Circuit gamepads aren't due out until closer to the end of the year. Hit the break for a pair of extra pictures and the standard PR.
WSVG shuts down, cancels all events
Wow. Last we heard, the WSVG was going gangbusters. They had events appearing on CBS, they were working with Blizzard to make Arena PvP huge, and their president was extremely optimistic about the future of professional videogaming.But earlier this afternoon, the World Series of Videogames shut its doors, and announced that all of their future events are cancelled. In their notice, they cite the "challenge of securing adequate revenues" to keep up their big events (they had tourneys planned in LA, London, and Sweden yet this year). Games Media Properties, WSVG's parent company, says they will continue to grow the "online advertising network" of websites-- which sites these are, we're not sure.Again, wow. GotFrag has already talked to Pandemic about the closing, and they say they're going to go into a "waiting game" as regards to professional Arena PvP, and that they're "deeply disappointed" in WSVG's "inability to finish out the season." They, too, had no idea this was coming. Will someone else step up into the WSVG's place in professional gaming promotion? Blizzard was doing a lot of work directly with the WSVG in terms of presentation, and while it's hard to say this will be the end of professional Arena PvP, there's no question this will have a major effect on professional gaming at large. The World Series of Videogames as we know it is no more.Thanks, Jason!Update: Curse has more, including players calling it "a huge blow to WoW professional gaming."
CGS draft (and Joystiq) at the Playboy Mansion
The Championship Gaming Series had their inagural gamer draft at the Playboy Mansion last night, and we took it upon ourselves to attend and give you the scoop. It was grueling and arduous to make it through hours at Hef's historical hangout, but somehow we managed to survive. The things we do for you readers really shows our resolve.First of all, we'd really like to know where all the money is coming from, because this event certainly wasn't cheap. We know they had some big name sponsors last night (Mountain Dew, XPS, Xbox 360, DirecTV, IGN, etc), but did they pay for all of it? Will they be funding the whole gaming season? According to the folks we talked to last night, this production alone cost a million dollars (rented crane, multiple cameras, live streaming, flatscreens galore, and a partridge in a pear tree), plus once you factor in the cost of hosting an event at the Mansion, providing food and drinks for 500 people, parking, shuttles and hiring Bunnies and CGS girls ... you've spent a pretty penny. But will it all be worth it?%Gallery-3926%
Will professional gaming change the World of Warcraft as we know it?
With the arena system introducing a new kind of competitive PvP to the World of Warcraft, we're seeing our first professionally sponsored WoW arena teams. While Blizzard continues to market WoW to a core casual audience, the introduction of paid professionals into the arena brackets is anything but casual friendly. (Not that I've ever been a good enough PvPer to hit the top levels, but it was always nice to look at the arena gear and dream!) And the truth is we've probably only just seen the beginning of such sponsorships. Says Stephen Schoder of Check Six (sponsors of team ZERG IT UP):In the future you will soon find that Blizzard has tweaked the game to near perfection [in regards to game balance] in preparation for mainstream eSports competition.There's a whole new world of gaming out there, and Blizzard is only just getting its feet wet. [Via 1up, with thanks to Dave for the tip!]
5v5 Arena team gets a sponsor, goes professional
One of the top 5v5 teams has become one of the first groups of WoW players to become professional gamers-- Curse reports that CheckSix Gaming, an e-sports agency (or should that be promoter? sponsor?), has picked up ZERG IT DOWN as the first professional 5v5 arena team (one of the first actually, see Update below). CheckSix also sponsors Counterstrike, Call of Duty, and BF1942 teams, and while they say they were skeptical Blizzard would be able to make WoW a part of "eSports," the arena system is what put it over the top-- it provides a quantifiable way to determine which team has the better players.ZERG IT DOWN is made up of players in Insurrection, a guild on the Horde side of Tichondrius (the team is currently second place in the Bloodlust battlegroup). As part of the deal, CheckSix is sponsoring the whole guild-- they've put up a new website and are running a Vent server for them. In return, ZERG IT DOWN will serve as CheckSix's official team at future Arena tournaments. If there are any, that is-- the only real competition is currently the ongoing ingame season, but it's not a stretch to think that in the future, gaming tournaments will set up shop in Azeroth and pit certain arena teams against each other. In fact, Blizzard could probably benefit from helping them do that-- one of the team's leaders speculates that some Arena matches would benefit from seeing a normalized gear system, which currently only Blizzard could implement, if they even wanted to.But it's awesome that these guys were able to pick up a sponsor, and even more awesome that a company like CheckSix was willing to take a chance and bring WoW into the growing realm of professional gaming. Congrats and good luck to both of them.Update: Almost simultaneously, Boubouille sent a tip (thanks!) that Team Pandemic, another gaming sponsor, has also picked up another Arena team-- it's Power Trip, currently the first place team in Bloodlust. Looks like we've got our first professional rivalry.Update2: Curse has an interview with Power Trip.
