IOC launches Olympic Virtual Series, ePremier League expands to China| ESI Digest #39

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.

On this week’s ESI Digest we cover, Olympic Virtual Series’ launch, ePremier League’s expansion into China, Rocket League’s Lamborghini partnership, ORDER’s $5.3m investment, and EA announcing Apex Legends Mobile.

This edition of the ESI Digest is in partnership with REELY.AI.

International Olympic Committee unveils Olympic Virtual Series

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has partnered with five international sports federations and video game publishers to produce the Olympic Virtual Series (OVS), the first Olympic-licensed event for virtual sports.

DreamHack Sports Games, MTG’s sports simulation business unit, has been selected to handle OVS’ marketing and production. Some of the titles selected for the event include eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020, Zwift, Virtual Regatta, and Gran Turismo.

ePremier League announces expansion into China

Credit: Premier League

The Premier League has partnered with Tencent Sports, Tencent Gaming, and EA SPORTS to take its sports simulation esports competition, the ePremier League, to China.

According to the release, this is the first ePremier League event to be staged outside of the United Kingdom. The tournament will take place on EA SPORTS FIFA Online 4 and commences on April 28th. The ePremier League event will see ‘some of the best Chinese gamers’ from FIFA Online 4, as well as hand-picked content creators and influencers, represent all 20 Premier League clubs.

Rocket League strikes Lamborghini partnership

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Rocket League developer Psyonix has announced a partnership with Italian car manufacturer Automobili Lamborghini.

As a result of the partnership, Lamborghini will sponsor the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) X Lamborghini Open and a new event titled the ‘Battle of the Bulls’. The RLCS X Lamborghini Open is Rocket League’s final North American regional event for its Spring Season.

Australian esports organisation ORDER raises $5.3m

Australian esports organisation ORDER has raised AUD$5.3m (~£2.94m) from its latest funding round, with Jason Peterson, Managing Director of CPS Capital, and Gemelli Group Chairman Harry Karelis announced as investors. 

Karelis has been appointed to ORDER’s board as a Director as a result of the investment.

EA announces Apex Legends Mobile

Electronic Arts (EA) has announced that Apex Legends will launch a mobile variant, with regional beta tests for the game expected to take place this month. 

The game, simply titled Apex Legends Mobile, will feature similar gameplay mechanics to its PC edition but will be adapted for mobile devices. Chad Grenier, Apex Legends’ Game Director, noted in a release that India and the Philippines will be the first markets to take part in the beta tests. The first tests are expected to only include a ‘few thousand’ players in the mentioned markets, with a more global release scheduled over the course of the year.

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ESI Digest, in partnership with RocketReel, powered by Reely.ai, is part of the 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.