Esports and gaming company ESL FACEIT Group has announced a significant partnership expansion with esports data company Bayes Esports.
The new long-term partnership will see Bayes become the exclusive match data provider for several EFG leagues, such as all ESL Pro Tour competitions in CS:GO, as well as ESL Impact and FACEIT Collegiate CS:GO tournaments. The deal, set to run until 2025, will also include all of EFG’s Dota 2 properties.
Bayes Esports and EFG have been partners since 2020, with the goal of building match data infrastructure to bolster esports properties. Alongside the new deal, both companies will continue to collaborate on practices to protect esports integrity, they said. This includes ESL utilising Bayes’ integrity market monitoring and rightsholder protection solutions.
The new deal will also see both parties establish a team to ‘innovate and transform’ when it comes to data-driven content creation. As such, EFG will gain access to Bayes Esports’ technological product portfolio.
For the most part, Bayes Esports’ major collaboration with EFG has been largely unseen to public-facing audiences. However, this new deal will also include ‘data-driven Bayes Esports brand integrations’ in broadcast segments and at live events.
Finally, Bayes Esports and EFG are looking to build on existing game data technology for EFG’s media and fans. Notably, this includes the development of automated content-creation solutions for the esports company and its partners.
In the announcement, Bayes Esports highlighted the development of ‘Project V’, a tool that automatically synchronises video and data to create highlight clips for social media.
Bernhard Mogk, Senior Vice President of Global Business Development & Commercial Strategy at EFG, commented on the deal: “Over the last couple of years, we were able to establish uniform industry standards for official data together with Bayes Esports. Because of our joint initiatives, we are at the forefront of preserving and promoting integrity in esports.”
“We are excited to continue our long-term strategic partnership and to keep on innovating in the area of data-driven content solutions to create additional value that will contribute to the long term commercial sustainability of the entire ecosystem.”
Alongside ESL, some of Bayes Esports’ other notable data partners include the likes of Riot Games, BLAST Premier and KRAFTON, among others.
