The A1 Esports League in Austria gets underway in partnership with ESL

Ollie Ring
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Last week saw the opening event of the “A1 eSports League Austria” in partnership with ESL. The initial announcement saw League of Legends revealed as the first title, and it has now been revealed that Project Cars 2 will be played as the second title as a result of a cooperative partnership with the game’s developer “Slightly Mad Studios”.

Credit: A1 eSports League Austria

The release states that the opening evening was a success, citing the Build-Your-Own-Burger buffet as a rousing success. At the evening, the second title was revealed. The title is none other than racing simulation title Project Cars.

“Through the partnership with A1, we can not only introduce Sim-Racing to gamers in Austria, there are also concrete plans for cooperation across Europe,” says Joseph Barron, Marketing & Esports Manager at Slightly Mad Studios.

The racing simulation game will be played alongside Riot Games’ League of Legends, one of the big three esports titles alongside Dota 2 and League of Legends. Austria is yet to truly breed an esports star. Noctis is the most successful Austrian star by earnings currently, through playing Quake, whilst two up and coming players compete at GWENT – the card game spawned from Witcher 3. 

The country sits 48th on the overall rankings by country but it’s the latest grass roots initiative we’ve seen pop up across various countries as they take note of the growth of esports as a whole and start to provide the infrastructure necessary to help elevate the performance of local talent and help educate the masses as to the viability of a career in esports.

Esports Insider says: Great to see another grass roots initiative pop up. They’re becoming infinitely more frequent now, and the A1 initiative in Austria takes a nice mixture of League of Legends and Project Cars 2. There’s something for everyone – so for any Austrian readers, get involved!

Ollie Ring

Contributing Editor
Ollie swapped the abacus for Sonic on the SEGA Mega Drive at neighbor Frank's house at an early age and has never looked back. With thousands of hours in Dota 2 (and no ability to show for it), he still clings on to the hope that one day, he will replicate Natus Vincere at gamescom 14 years ago and lift the Aegis of Champions. Ollie has been at the intersection of video games, esports, and gambling for over ten years and has also worked in consultancy in the gambling industry. Ollie's work can be found on the likes of: BBC, Red Bull Gaming, Esports Insider, CasinoBeats, PC Gamer, Green Man Gaming as well as his own thought-leadership substack "Esprouts" looking at specific studies and stories where games meet gambling.
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