There’s been a lot of action in the esports world over the last seven days. ESL has been busy, announcing the $1,000,000 “Intel Grand Slam” or CS:GO as well as being involved with the Quake World Championships which also has $1 million on the line. Elsewhere, as Verizon closed their acquisition of Yahoo, the esports arm has been dropped and the staff made redundant. Finally, Momentum Worldwide and PMK•BNC have joined forces to create an esports agency which, considering their pedigree away from esports, is an exciting prospect.
ESL announce “Intel Grand Slam” and extend partnership
Intel and ESL have come together to announce a $1,000,000 (£790,201.51) CS:GO prize dubbed the “Intel Grand Slam.” The prize is available to the first team to win four of the ten remaining $200,000 tournaments hosted by DreamHack and ESL. This includes the Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL Pro League and the DreamHack Masters series. ESL One Cologne will be the first event to count towards the Grand Slam prize.
In addition, ESL and Intel have broadened their partnership. According to the press release, this massive partnership will have Intel “power[ing] all of ESL’s activities in amateur and professional gaming, including online competition platforms ESL Play and ESEA, National Championships in multiple countries and major events such as the Intel® Extreme Masters, ESL One and ESL Pro League.”
The press release further states that “ESL’s studios in North America and Europe will be renamed to The Intel Esports Arenas.”
Read the full article here.
ESL, Bethesda and id Software reveal $1 million Quake World Champs
The newly released Quake Champions will have a $1,000,000 (~£787,800) World Championship taking place at QuakeCon in late August.
The qualifiers for the finals, which will take place in Dallas, start on the 29th June and will be split across the “Duel” and “4v4 Sacrifice”. 8 Sacrifice teams will qualify and 24 Duel players will travel to QuakeCon 2017 and compete for the prize money. In addition, eight additional Duel players will qualify at the QuakeCon BYOC Qualifier in Dallas.
Quake has a storied history with esports and the Champions relaunch come as it looks to reestablish itself as a modern esport. Tim Willits of id Software told Red Bull in an interview: “Quake has always been a competitive game, we’ve run esports events for 21 years, so it’s funny – a lot of people that run esports companies got their start playing Quake, they just love Quake.”
Read the full article here.
Momentum Worldwide and PMK•BNC launch collaborative gaming and esports practice
Two very well established agencies, Momentum Worldwide and PMK•BNC have joined forces to announce the formation of a new cross-agency practice focused on connecting brands with the video games and esports industry.
It will serve to “identify opportunities for sponsorships, in-game marketing, influencer marketing, team and league representation, and more; best-in-class activation expertise for brand experiences and live events; branded content; digital/social engagements; and PR and media outreach, among other services”.
Momentum has worked with the likes of Coca Cola, Facebook, Microsoft, XBOX and the Premier League whilst PMK•BNC‘s Corporate Entertainment clients include global stars such as Cameron Diaz, Christina Aguilera, Eric Clapton and Seth Macfarlane but to name a few.
Read the full article here.
Yahoo Esports to cease operations following Verizon acquisition
As of Friday June 16, Yahoo Esports will close its doors and no longer be updated. It follows Verizon’s $4.5 billion acquisition of Yahoo as it becomes part of Oath.
The statement from Travis Gafford, Head of Esports Media at Yahoo Esports, states that Yahoo Sports is to become part of Oath and as part of the transition “they are focusing on aligning with the new company strategy and are focused on growing the Yahoo Sports brand”.
It came as a shock to many as Yahoo was well respected in the space and had a number of well respected contributors in the industry. They offered frequent quality video content as well as written editorial so it’s a real shame to see Verizon shun the esports side. Many believe they’re making a mistake in doing so. The talented team at Yahoo has now been released into the free market and we’re sure they’ll be snapped up and find new homes shortly.
Read the full article here.
