Each week, ESI Digest breaks down the weekly happenings in the esports industry, making sense of things so you don’t have to. As well as being housed on YouTube, ESI Digest is available on all major podcast platforms and is also available in written form below.
This week on the ESI Digest, we cover Team Liquid’s Naruto collaboration, AS Monaco partnering with Gambit Esports, Los Angeles Thieves’ agreement with Dollar Shave Club, 3D Aim Trainer’s €1m investment, plus Espo launching its esports fan engagement platform.
This edition of the ESI Digest is in partnership with apparel and esportswear firm We Are Nations.
Team Liquid unveils apparel collaboration with Naruto
North American esports organisation Team Liquid has announced an apparel collaboration with popular anime and manga series Naruto Shippuden.
As a result of the partnership, Team Liquid will showcase some of the anime’s main characters — such as Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto — across a range of apparel items.
According to the release, the esports organisation will launch ‘over a dozen’ apparel pieces including a denim jacket, Jonin-inspired parka, cargo joggers, hoodies and a variety of short sleeve t-shirts.
AS Monaco join forces with Gambit Esports for Dota 2 and Fortnite
AS Monaco Esports, the french football club’s competitive gaming division, has announced a partnership with Russian organisation Gambit Esports to launch a new esports team, AS Monaco Gambit.
According to the release, the team will consist of three Fortnite and five Dota 2 professional athletes, including Russian Fortnite players Mark ‘letw1k3’ Danilov and Ilya ‘Toose’ Chernishov.
Los Angeles Thieves partners with Dollar Shave Club
North American esports organisation 100 Thieves has announced it has entered a deal with subscription-based shaving brand Dollar Shave Club.
The deal will see Dollar Shave Club become a founding partner of the organisation’s Call of Duty League franchise, the Los Angeles Thieves.
As a founding partner of the LA Thieves, the two parties will collaborate to create the Dollar Shave Club LA Thieves Practice Facility situated within the 100 Thieves Cash App Compound. The dedicated training facility is said to ‘help the team perform their best in and out of the game’.
3D Aim Trainer secures €1m in latest funding round
FPS practice and training tool 3D Aim Trainer has raised a total of €1m (~£881,224) in its latest round of funding, with the likes of Ron Doornink, the former CEO/President of Activision, and Freshman fund investing in the company.
According to the release, the investment will be used to expand the company’s team, bring its product to other platforms, whilst also ‘making aim training fun’.
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Esports fan engagement platform Espo.io launches
UK-based gaming startup Espo has announced the launch of its esports fan engagement platform Espo.io, which was built in collaboration with esports organisations Built By Gamers, Team BDS, BOOM Esports, F2K, GODSENT and Team Queso.
According to the release, the platform aims to ‘bring esports fans closer to their favourite teams, pro players and content creators by offering unrivalled access through a wide variety of exclusive Fan Perks’.
ESI Digest, in partnership with We Are Nations, is part of ESI Network, a collection of podcasts encompassing the esports industry. For deep dives into the major areas of esports with subject matter experts, check out ESI Focus. For conversations with key personnel and major stakeholders in esports, ESI Insight is the series for you.