This week in esports: Mercedes-Benz, Critical Force, Evolved Talent Agency, Cloud9

This week in esports has been another big one with a variety of interesting and major stories. This, for example, includes Mercedes-Benz sponsoring Royal Never Give Up, Critical Force receiving a hefty sum of funding, Evolved Talent Agency finding a resourceful new partner, and Cloud9 re-establishing its deal with Red Bull.

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Mercedes-Benz sponsor LPL side Royal Never Give Up

German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is the new sponsor of LPL side and recent Mid-Season Invitational champions Royal Never Give Up.

This deal includes a jersey sponsorship and will see the squad that represents Royal Never Give Up feature in advertisements that are aimed towards League of Legends fans, understandably. This isn’t Mercedes-Benz’ first experience sponsoring within the LPL, but we hope this experience is much more positive for the car manufacturing giant.

Read the full article here.

Critical Force raises $6.3 million in funding

Critical Ops

Critical Force, a Finnish developer that’s behind the popular mobile esports title Critical Ops, has raised $6.3m (£4.7m) in funding from public grant organisation Business Finland.

This funding will be used to scale Critical Ops’ popularity, making it the leading FPS title in the world of mobile esports. The game had been downloaded over 40 million times prior to Critical Force acquiring this additional sum of money.

Read the full article here.

Evolved Talent Agency enters joint venture with ICM Partners

Birdring

Evolved Talent Agency, a firm that specialises in representing esports players and content creators, has partnered up with ICM Partners – a talent agency that typically works within television, movies, and production arts.

This venture will see ICM Partners provide “ancillary opportunities and strategies” for clients represented by Evolved Talent Agency. Said clients include the likes of Overwatch League stars Brandon “Seagull” Larned and Ji-hyeok “birdring” Kim.

Read the full article here.

Cloud9 welcomes Red Bull back as major sponsor

Cloud9 Red Bull

After ending the partnership because of a potential conflict of interest when Red Bull had a presence in EU LCS Challenger Series, Cloud9 has re-established its relationship with the energy drink brand.

Red Bull is now a major jersey sponsor for the North American organisation and will provide “fitness training, sleep analysis, and other programs” for Cloud9’s competitors.

Read the full article here.