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Where to watch #Esports live online or on your TV $GMBL $ATVI $TTWO $GAME $EPY.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:06 AM on Wednesday, January 17th, 2018
  • Esports has historically been an online product
  • But as the industry grows, TV is getting in on the action

Mai-Hanh Nguyen

eSports has historically been an online product. But as the industry grows, TV is getting in on the action.

There are now more places to view competitive gaming than ever before. eSports on TV is becoming more prevalent, and many networks are vying to be the go-to eSports TV channel.

Below, we’ve compiled a list of the most popular places for eSports broadcasting and eSports streaming.

eSport Live Streaming Online

Twitch

Twitch is one of the leading online services for streaming and watching digital video broadcasts. Founded in 2011, it originally focused almost entirely on video games but since has expanded to include streams dedicated to artwork creation, music, talk shows, and the occasional TV series.

After Amazon’s acquisition in 2014, Twitch remains one of the highest sources of internet traffic in North America with more than two million unique streamers every month.

Twitch streams can be viewed on the official Twitch website or on one of the many official Twitch apps that are available for iOS and Android devices, Xbox 360 and Xbox One video game consoles, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and 4, Amazon’s Fire TV, Google Chromecast, and the NVIDIA Shield. Watching broadcasts and videos on Twitch is completely free and doesn’t require viewers to login.

YouTube

Billions of hours of eSports and gaming content watched per month places YouTube at the top of the list of main sources of video consumption. Of their list of Top 10 All-Time Video Games, four of the ten – League of Legends, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, and FIFA – are considered eSports. The popularity of live streaming on sites such as MLG or Twitch has not affected YouTube’s growth in gaming video consumption. YouTube landed two exclusive deals with popular Counter-Strike leagues – ESL Pro League and the eSports Championship Series.

MLG.tv

Major League Gaming is one of the fastest growing digital networks (especially in eSports) as it continues to pioneer the competitive gaming industry. MLG.tv is the free to watch, ad-sponsored, premium video streaming platform built to showcase eSports. MLG is the longest-running league in North America and broadcasts its own large-scale Championship events, competition from the MLG.tv Columbus Arena, online competition such as MLG’s Pro-League, and flagship events like the MLG X Games Invitational.

Some of the top leagues, players, and teams have dedicated MLG.tv streaming channels including Gfinity (UK), ACL Pro (AUS), UMG (US) and teams such as OpTic Gaming. It allows viewers to watch at any time with options to interact with MLG.tv personalities on a new level, and allows users to chat through their MLG account usernames.

eSports Live on TV

ESPN

Melia Robinson

The network broadcasted exclusive live coverage of Heroes of the Dorm (a competition in which collegiate teams compete in Blizzard Entertainment’s popular game Heroes of the Storm) with the final airing live on ESPN2. This was was the first live, televised coverage of a collegiate eSports event for ESPN. Furthermore, ESPN3 carried live coverage of BlizzCon and the International Dota 2 Championships over the past two years, as well as the 2014 League of Legends tournament. Also, over the past few years, the X Games have medaled the top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty pro gamers through a partnership with Major League Gaming (MLG) offering views coverage across ESPN.

TBS

ELeague, the eSports competition that draws more than 9 million viewers, is broadcast on TBS as well as online. ELeague is a global eSports event for games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Street Fighter V, Overwatch and Injustice 2. Last summer, TBS also broadcast Clash for Cash: The Rematch, a $250,000 match between Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams Astralis and Virtus.pro, as well as the 10th ELeague Major tournament, which was sponsored by Valve. Turner Sports was selected to host the tournament after completing just one three-month CS:GO season. TBS also televised live the Overwatch Open, the first professional Overwatch tournament to ever hit TV. Turner and its ELeague partner WME IMG’s live broadcast was shown in front of a sold-out audience.

More to Learn

The market for eSports viewership continues to grow, and it’s only going to grow in the next few years. That’s why BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has put together a comprehensive guide on the future of professional gaming called The eSports Ecosystem.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/live-streaming-esports-online-tv-2018-1

The biggest companies sponsoring #Esports teams and tournaments $GMBL $KO $ATVI $TTWO $GAME $EPY.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:17 AM on Friday, January 12th, 2018
  • Esports and competitive gaming are growing in popularity and gaining viewership each month
  • Current value of the eSports market is approximately $900 million, a figure that should continue to rise throughout the year
  • International 2017, the world championships for Dota 2, broke the record for the largest prize pool in eSports history at $24,787,916

By: Andrew Meola

eSports and competitive gaming are growing in popularity and gaining viewership each month. The current value of the eSports market is approximately $900 million, a figure that should continue to rise throughout the year.

Consider that the prize pools for the most popular eSports games (League of Legends, Dota 2, Call of Duty) get richer with each passing year. The International 2017, the world championships for Dota 2, broke the record for the largest prize pool in eSports history at $24,787,916. But more impressive is that every International since 2014 has accomplished that feat.

And as with any successful industry, a greater valuation means more money will follow. For competitive gaming, that has taken shape in the form of eSports sponsors and gaming sponsorships. These eSports sponsorship deals are helping push international competitions from a niche segment to full-fledged sporting events.

Below, we’ve compiled an eSports sponsors list that highlights some of the major companies that are attaching their names and dollars to competitive gaming.

Intel: Has sponsored Intel Extreme Masters along with ESL (Electronic Sports League) since 2006. This is the longest-running eSports tournament in existence.

Melia Robinson

Coca-Cola: The soda giant sponsors the League of Legends World Championship, one the largest eSports competitions on earth. But to take it a step further, Coca-Cola and Riot Games partnered with some cinemas to host more than 200 simultaneous viewing parties for the 2016 League of Legends World Championships throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Comcast Xfinity: The cable and internet provider sponsors both ESL and the eSports team Evil Geniuses, which competes at the highest levels in Dota 2, League of Legends, and more.

Red Bull: Energy drinks such as Red Bull are major proponents of eSports. The company began by sponsoring tournaments for Blizzard’s StarCraft 2 and then branched out into Dota 2. Red Bull sponsors competitions and teams, such as Tempo Storm.

Mountain Dew: The soft drink company sponsors several eSports teams, including Team Dignitas, Splyce, and Team SK Gaming. It also started the Mountain Dew League, which helps amateur teams try to make it to the pros.

T-Mobile: The wireless carrier sponsored eSports organizations TSM and Cloud9 starting in August 2017. T-Mobile also sponsored Twitch’s E3 fighting game tournament “Twitch Esports Arena” in June 2017 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Mobil 1: The synthetic motor oil brand sponsors the Rocket League Championship Series. It’s a natural fit, as Rocket League is a game in which two teams of three remote-controlled cars play soccer.

Audi: The German automaker began sponsoring Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Astralis in January 2017.

Airbus: The aeronautics company announced a sponsorship with eSports team Out of the Blue in October 2017.

More to Learn

As the eSports market grows, more sponsors and investors will flow into the industry, which will create a booming opportunity for all the players involved. To see how it all fits together, BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has put together a comprehensive guide on the future of professional gaming called The eSports Ecosystem.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/top-esports-sponsors-gaming-sponsorships-2018-1

Jobs and careers in the #Esports & video gaming industry continue to grow $GMBL $ATVI $TTWO $GAME $EPY.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:09 AM on Monday, December 11th, 2017

Dec. 8, 2017

eSports is on the brink of becoming a billion-dollar industry and continues to grow exponentially.

In Asia, it was recently announced that eSports would become a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games in Hanghou, China. Even the International Olympic Committee has been considering eSports gaming as a sanctioned sport for the Games.

The global audience for eSports will reach 385.5 million this year, according to research firm Newzoo. With growth this rapid, opportunities for more jobs and careers to support this expanding industry are sprouting faster than ever.

Athlete

Though still in the early stages of development, eSports league teams continue to grow in number, and they look a lot like teams in other sports leagues. Teams hire players, train them, build stadiums, and sell tickets for fans to watch games.

And similar to established sports leagues, there’s big money involved, Activision Blizzard was seeking $20 million per team and players are being paid in excess of $100,000 per year in certain cases.

However, to become a player in a professional league, the time commitment is no less than any other sports team. For example, to excel at League of Legends, the world’s most popular competitive video game, only a select few can handle the pro-level regimen required to gain the extensive game knowledge, elite mechanical skills, and reflexes to compete.

Marketing

For brands and marketers, there are huge opportunities to build new fan bases and engage with this growing audience, which is made up largely of young people who are willing to spend hour after hour at venues and online. As a marketer, assets such as naming rights, branded content, experiential activation, tech integration, jersey branding, and so forth are available for brands willing to invest in the eSports space.

As the market continues to mature, more opportunities will grow in co-branded merchandise, as well as direct selling to fans during livestreams. Currently, brand sponsorships are made up of largely endemic brands such as Razer, Hyper, and Turtle Beach, (all of which are gaming accessory manufacturers) and other major brands such as Coca-Cola, Buffalo Wild Wings, Bud Light and Gillette closer behind. However, eSports still remains largely untapped.

Melia Robinson

Event Planning

As the growth and success of eSports leagues continue to rise, the execution of tournaments and competitions requires thorough planning and precise detailing. Understanding the event production and conceptualizing design, as well as developing and maintaining productive business relationships are only just the standard requirements to excel in eSports events.

Understanding the culture and community of video gaming can have a heavy influence on the success of tournaments. With thousands of attendees and millions of viewers, some tournaments have millions of dollars in prize money on the line. And other festivities. such as musical performances and shows, can surround the main event. Hosts of such events treat teams as they do with traditional sports teams, and use similar broadcasting tools, such as professional livestream broadcasting, commentating, and signings.

Streaming/Broadcast

Starting as an online-only venture, eSports was only thought as a niche group. But recently, eSports have proved that their size and level of engagement are that of any other sports event.

Amazon’s Twitch recorded 100 million viewers per month in 2014, a 66% increase in viewership from 2013. and Newzoo projects that figure to grow to 345 million by 2019. As an audience, eSports viewers are highly engaged, so projections indicate that 213 million people will watch competitive gaming this year.

BI Intelligence

Streaming and broadcasting have been instrumental in bringing eSports to the masses, and on-demand platforms such as Twitch and YouTube only add value as larger stakeholders and events emerge.

But eSports have more restrictions in terms of broadcasting. In traditional sports, there are no rights to the game. For example, in baseball, there are no rights to claim the rules and regulations, of the game which allows anyone to play it.

However, in eSports, those rights belong to the publisher of a game, such as Sony or EA, who own the underlying IP in that game. Publishers grant rights on an exclusive basis to licensees and broadcasters and charge fees accordingly. The growth and demand for major broadcasters into the eSports arena could incentivize publishers and event organizers to have tighter control and to more actively enforce rights. This is despite the history of eSports growing from a culture of players and fans who created and shared content with one another, all of which exposed publisher’s games to the public and caused the industry to explode at the rate it is today.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/esports-gaming-jobs-careers-2017-12

Alibaba $BABA betting on long-term gain from #Esports investment, bodes well for $GMBL $ATVI $TTWO $GAME $EPY.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:16 AM on Thursday, November 30th, 2017

  • Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba believes it is only a matter of time before its bet on competitive video gaming comes up big
  • Alibaba’s sports arm Alisports was opened in 2015 with the aim of cashing in on the rapidly growing world of electronic sports, where players square off in lucrative video game tournaments that draw millions of viewers online

BARCELONA: The booming eSports industry may not yet attract the sponsors and television rights of real life sports, but Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba believes it is only a matter of time before its bet on competitive video gaming comes up big.

Alibaba’s sports arm Alisports was opened in 2015 with the aim of cashing in on the rapidly growing world of electronic sports, where players square off in lucrative video game tournaments that draw millions of viewers online.

“We are prepared to lose money. We can accept the losses now as we hope to promote this sport,” Alisports CEO Zhang Dazhong told AFP in an interview at the European final of the second edition of Alisports’ World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) in Barcelona, which wrapped up on Sunday (Nov 26).

“For a sport that has a lot of participation, it must have a bright future. Even if for now you don’t make a lot of money, in the future, you’ll definitely be rewarded. This is something we firmly believe in.”

In 2016, Alisports entered into an agreement with the International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) to create the WESG, a market-leading international tournament.

The first edition of the WESG saw 63,000 participants from 125 countries battle for a share of the US$5.5 million prize pot.

Yet the results weren’t so lucrative for Alisports, who lost 70 per cent of their investment.

“We estimate that we will be losing money for the next five years,” admitted Zhang.

LONG-TERM RETURNS

Alisports’ strategy, though, is a long-term one.

“We estimate that in five to ten years … the business model will be more complete. On top of the competitions, we have to bear in mind the electronics business and marketing related to eSports,” added Zhang.

Participation in eSports has soared as virtual games gain traction with a worldwide fan audience now estimated at 400 million people according to a study by Deloitte, more than that for baseball or American football’s National Football League.

The size of the eSports market will more than double to US$696 million this year from US$325 million in 2015, according to Deloitte’s study. It predicts the market will be worth US$1.5 billion in 2020.

But the market is fragmented, with different operators staging their own tournaments, and sales of television rights and merchandising remain weak.

An eSport fan brings only three euros to the table annually on average, according to a recent study by market research group Nielsen Sports, compared to 30 euros for a football fan.

Yet, Alibaba believes its position as the market leader in China, the worldwide powerhouse of eSports, ensures the return on eSports will be plentiful.

“In China we have 1.8 million eSport fanatics and 65 per cent of those are between 18 and 25,” continued Zhang.

“They play video games, but they also buy all sorts of products from Alibaba. We understand them very well.”

OLYMPIC DREAM?

The leap in popularity has helped fuel talk that professional gaming could become an Olympic discipline, but not everyone is convinced.

“I think we have to differentiate eSports and gaming in general,” Zhang said when he was asked about the controversy.

“Gaming of course isn’t a sport, but eSports involve high-level confrontation, teams, individual resistance, so I think it’s a sport. And I think that sport in general is evolving towards a combination of technology and physical activity.”

Zhang said he hopes eSports will be part of the 2024 Olympics in Paris or the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“It could happen, because at this year’s Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, we already gave a demonstration of games. In the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2022, it’s already an official event,” he said.

The director of the Paris 2024 Olympics committee said earlier this month that the door to the Games was “not closed” to eSports.

Source: AFP/zl

Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/alibaba-betting-on-long-term-gain-from-esports-investment-9453652

What I learned visiting my first live #Esports tournament $GMBL $ATVI $TTWO $GAME $EPY.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:36 AM on Monday, November 20th, 2017

  • The appeal of the live experience for most sports is obvious
  • For all the convenience of a televised game, it can’t compare to the sense of scale and 3D perspective you get actually seeing professional sports in person;
  • Watching plays develop and players perform nearly superhuman feats right in front of you.

Just watching on Twitch isn’t the same as being immersed in the crowd.

Kyle Orland – 11/19/2017, 10:00 AM

At this point, I don’t have much patience for the argument that eSports fans should stop watching other people play video games and just play those games themselves.

For one, it’s an argument that few people make about spectator sports like basketball and football, where the skill difference between a pro and a novice is roughly the same as in eSports. For another, the thrill of watching a competitor at the top of his or her game is entirely distinct (and better in some ways) from competing yourself.

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What I’ve never quite understood, though, is the concept of paying money for a ticket to watch a live eSports competition in-person.

The appeal of the live experience for most sports is obvious. For all the convenience of a televised game, it can’t compare to the sense of scale and 3D perspective you get actually seeing professional sports in person, watching plays develop and players perform nearly superhuman feats right in front of you.

None of that really applies in eSports, where you’re basically going to a large room to watch a big screen that has the exact same game content you could see at home on Twitch, down to the pixel. Watching the eSports competitors themselves as they sit like statues and become part of the machine during a match hardly seems worth the price of admission, either.

Yet plenty of people pay that admission. The League of Legends World Finals alone filled 80 to 90,000 seats in the Beijing National Stadium this year. What were these people seeing that I wasn’t?

To find out, I decided to check out the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Season 4 world finals in nearby MGM National Harbor last weekend. What I quickly found out is that the point of being in a live eSports crowd is, to a large extent, just being part of the crowd.

Take a seat

Rocket League is by far my favorite eSport to watch as a spectator. While I can follow a high-level game of Hearthstone or Smash Bros. with the best of them, Rocket League‘s simple two-teams, two-goals format makes it incredibly simple for even a novice player to keep track of the action.

Watching a high-level Rocket League match, you get a real sense of the strategy and coordination necessary for the three-person teams to balance an offensive threat with the ability to rush back and knock a ball away on defense. And while pros make it look exceedingly simple to make precision passes and shots while rocketing at high speeds through the air, regular players know how hard it is to just make contact with a ball high above the arena.

I’ve only been a casual fan of the RLCS, checking out a few stray matches when my weekend schedule allows. Going into the finals weekend, I was at least peripherally aware of the stories surrounding competing teams like the robotically efficient Cloud 9 and the crowd-pleasing G2 eSports. I also knew that these hometown favorite North American teams were extreme underdogs to the European powerhouses like Method and Gale Force.

But it was something else to see a crowd of 3,000 react to those teams right in front of me, rather than just hearing their cheers through an ambient microphone via Twitch. In that National Harbor ballroom, the crowd itself practically became a participant in the competition, going crazy for the North American teams and icily silent for the European competition.

The competitors themselves almost faded into the background in this environment. Ghost Gaming player Zanejackey tried to get the crowd riled up at one point, standing and raising his arms above his head to get the noise pumping louder, but he received little to no notice for his efforts. While the crowd was treated to live webcam close-ups of the players at many points in the matches, the stony-faced videos may as well have been photographs.

What the crowd did react to was the action on those big projection screens. In tense overtime situations, the entire room swooned in crescendo with each shot and cried out in pain or glee with every close miss or solid goal. In quiet moments between matches, audience members might pick up a cheer of “Let’s go G2!” or try to get a wave going through the stands.

If I had been watching from my living room, I wouldn’t have heard the guy sitting behind me exclaim “it’s getting lit now, man!” after a big overtime goal. I wouldn’t have witnessed a neighbor literally jump up and slap his knee after a close crossbar miss.

I’m still not sure these kinds of moments are in and of themselves worth the significant money it costs to attend one of these events live. That said, I can now say I at least understand the potential appeal of sharing a dramatic eSports competition with a few thousands strangers.

Listing image by Kyle Orland

Source: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/the-odd-appeal-of-watching-esports-live-and-in-person/

How #Cryptocurrencies And #Blockchain Are Taking #Esports $GMBL To The Next Level #Blockstation #ThreeD $IDK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:40 AM on Tuesday, November 7th, 2017

Alexander Kokhanovskyy

Alex is the CEO/ Founder of DreamTeam, an Esports and gaming recruitment platform using blockchain to help gamers monetize their teams.

Team Method: Triforce compete with Team Grmbl at World of WarCraft at BlizzCon 2017. BlizzCon is the site of the Overwatch World Cup 2017 eSports tournament. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

Revenue from eSports — or competitive video gaming – will grow to $700m in 2017, a 41.3% increase from 2016 , according to Newzoo research. The industry is forecast to reach $1.5 billion by 2020. Major investors, high-profile celebrities, big-brand sponsors and major tech companies are banking on eSports’ profitable trajectory.

DreamTeam

Study shows the Esports market has tremendous untapped potential

Blockchain-powered solutions are the latest trend to shake up transactions and data for the entire sector. To gamers, blockchains and digital currencies are nothing new, and this attitude enables the industry to adopt new technologies faster than other industries like banking or logistics. Part of that has to do with age. According to Newzoo‘s 2017 Global Esports Market Report, electronic gaming entertains a young and marketable demographic: Millennials. More than half of eSports enthusiasts globally are aged between 21 and 35, and they are often early adopters of technology, including blockchain.

 

Blockchain applications across eSports

Startups are leveraging the benefits of blockchain to deploy smart contracts, fuel betting, host tournaments, and ease the purchase virtual assets, all of which help grow the eSports ecosystem. Much has been written about blockchain startups tackling eSports betting and the purchasing or trading of skins (cosmetic items), but another important application is how this technology can help amateur gamers on their pathway to going pro though both tournament and team building platforms.

Guests demo the new World of WarCraft game at BlizzCon 2017 at Anaheim California Convention Center (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

Tournaments are a way of life for avid eSports gamers and online gaming platforms that have embraced blockchain are seeing the pay-off. FirstBlood, an eSports platform created on the Ethereum blockchain, decentralizes tournament setup and winnings distribution. It allows players to test their skills and to bet on games without being dependent on traditional money transfers, financial regulations and middleman corruption. With FirstBlood, players can game solo or with a team in order to improve their skill through games in a competitive environment. Other blockchain companies including Gilgam.es and EloPlay have entered the tournament space as well.

From amateur gamers to going pro 

While fostering a tournament environment can help players sharpen their skills, we believe there is an opportunity to take this one step further, by lessening the barrier of entry when it comes to building and managing teams.

DreamTeam

Majority of top competitive game titles are team-based

There are 1.4 billion registered gamers, and most of those players are concentrated around the most competitive eSports titles that include LoL, CS:GO, Dota2 and Overwatch.  One of the most loved esports titles, League of Legends, has 250 million players players who want to build, grow and manage their teams, but there are only 100 League of Legends clubs worldwide. Let’s compare that to football, a traditional sport, with more than 300 million players globally, with around 300,000 clubs. This discrepancy of players to clubs was the catalyst for our company, DreamTeam, to develop a dynamic platform to solve this problem.

Building teams to advance 

DreamTeam takes blockchain-powered tournaments one step further by creating a recruitment and management platform for amateur, novice, and pro teams. Blockchain-based smart contracts ensure contractual financial relations for all users without participation of third parties. One function of DreamTeam is to aid the development of small tournaments and secure payments. On the DreamTeam platform, when a team that participates in a tournament gets a winning place, the prize money automatically transfers to their account according to predefined rules (the data is taken from game API’s — application program interface and oracles, or a service that verifies the data independently). All players receive their share of the prize money without issues or delay. This is just one aspect; we envision the platform developing into a multi-billion dollar ecosystem built upon media right sales, sponsorships, players salaries, and prize money.

People watch the World Championships Final of League of Legends at the National Stadium ‘Bird’s Nest’ in Beijing, the national stadium built for the 2008 Olympic Games. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize a wide variety of industries, but with eSports’ audience made up of younger, tech savvy individuals, blockchain is more easily embraced. Every corner of eSports is ripe for rethinking. Aiding amateur gamers through team building and tournaments is only the beginning.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/outofasia/2017/11/07/how-cryptocurrencies-and-blockchain-are-taking-esports-to-the-next-level/#4b962f364391

The Unbelievable #LeagueOfLegends World Championship 2017 Grand Final Stadium Crowd #Worlds2017 $GMBL

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 12:57 PM on Monday, November 6th, 2017

The League of Legends World Championship 2017 was one of the biggest events in esports history.

  • League of Legends owes a significant part of its status as arguably the biggest esport in the world to China
  • Streams reportedly pull in millions of viewers for the biggest matches

While online viewership, production, and of course the games themselves, are always at the heart of what makes a great esports event, Riot’s World Championship has also produced some of the most epic live environments for matches in the industry. This year, the bar may well have been raised once again.

The 2017 League of Legends World Championship took a tour of China, playing its group stages in Wuhan, moving to Guangzhou for quarter-finals, Shanghai for the semi-finals before finally culminating in Beijing for the final showdown between SK Telecom T1 and Samsung Galaxy.

League of Legends owes a significant part of its status as arguably the biggest esport in the world to China, where streams reportedly pull in millions of viewers for the biggest matches. While some dispute the veracity of some of the numbers, which often come from sources that cannot be independently verified, the live crowds at the various stages certainly didn’t disappoint. Nothing quite compared, however, to the masses present for the grand final.

If there were concerns that the lack of a Chinese team in the finals might have impacted interest, there needn’t have been. The Beijing National Stadium was packed out, producing one of the most epic arenas for a showdown yet seen in esports.

The World Championship ultimately concluded with Samsung Galaxy dethroning Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok’s SK Telecom T1, sweeping them 3-0 to deny SKT a third consecutive win at the event.

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#NBA #Esports investment ‘a long-term play’ that will be ‘around for decades’ $GMBL

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:20 AM on Monday, October 16th, 2017

“This is a massive industry, and we think we have a place in it.

  • Next year, the National Basketball Association will officially enter the world of esports by way of its NBA 2K League
  • Managing director Brendan Donohue has now billed the association’s esports involvement as “a long-term play” that he reckons will span multiple decades.

By Joe Donnelly 4 hours ago

Next year, the National Basketball Association will officially enter the world of esports by way of its NBA 2K League. Managing director Brendan Donohue has now billed the association’s esports involvement as “a long-term play” that he reckons will span multiple decades.

In conversation with Gamesindustry.biz, Donohue suggests the NBA is confident of its place in esports and that the success of the NBA 2K series makes the jump a “logical” step.

“We have great data on NBA fans, and that’s a massive audience,” says Donohue. “We see that NBA fans are more likely to play video games, and actually more likely to engage in esports than fans of other sports. We think there’s a pretty nice marriage here.

“I don’t think you have to be a fan of 2K to enjoy watching. That’s one of our advantages: the NBA 2K game, and basketball more broadly, are globally recognisable. You can watch having never played the 2K game before and understand what’s going on. That gives an advantage with that more casual audience. [Games like League of Legends] are awesome games, but they can be intimidating [to watch] of you’ve never played them.”

Donohue points to the fact League of Legends finals have pulled bigger audiences than the Oscars, and that awareness isn’t something he or his team consider an issue. That said, Donohue also describes revenues as “a secondary goal right now”, and that building scale is their current focus.

He continues: “There’s a significant appetite for the game in the US, but more importantly globally. We have a free version of the game in China that has 34 million registered users. That suggests there’s a global appetite for the game; in fact, I don’t think people understand how big the 2K game is globally.

“This is a long-term play for us. We expect this to be around for decades, so the primary goal is building an audience, doing that in the right way, and creating an environment where our players can be successful. We’re confident the revenues will follow if we do that right.”

The NBA 2K League is set to kick off next year. Gamesindustry.biz’s interview with Donohue in full can be read in this direction.

Source: http://www.pcgamer.com/nba-esports-investment-a-long-term-play-that-will-be-around-for-decades/

Lambton College opens gaming arena, offers cutting-edge #Esports diploma $GMBL

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:23 PM on Wednesday, October 11th, 2017

  • It started with a suggestion from the IT department.
  • Now it is part of the curriculum
  • Lambton College is becoming a Canadian leader in the burgeoning world of esports

The college, whose main campus is in Sarnia, Ont., has added esports to its varsity sports lineup — alongside men’s and women’s basketball and soccer — and next year will begin offering a cutting-edge two-year diploma in esports entrepreneurship and administration.

Lambton already has a dedicated gaming space — called the esports arena — with 20 high-end computers up and running. It’s in a prime piece of real estate, right in the middle of campus.

“The feedback’s been excellent, just in terms of the uniqueness of this,” says Rob Kardas, vice-president of student success and campus service at Lambton College.

Lambton believes the course is a door into the largely untapped academic world of esports and a way to differentiate itself from other schools.

Goldman Sachs valued the world of esports at US$500 million in 2016, with expected market growth of 22 per cent annually compounded over the next three years into a more than $1-billion business.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment got a first-hand look at the draw of esports when the North American “League of Legends” championship sold out the Air Canada Centre in two days in August 2016.

MLSE, owner of the NBA Raptors, subsequently signed up for the NBA 2K esports league, slated to debut in 2018.

In taking the esports course, Lambton students will study communications, sports marketing, finance, ethical leadership, teamwork, social media, health promotion, entrepreneurship and business development.

Courses will also cover the history of esports, industry hardware/software, game design and computer networking. A practical project course will ask students to use that knowledge to plan, develop and execute real-world esports projects.

The first class is expected to number some 40 students.

Graduates of the course will also have the option of continuing on to the college’s three-year sports and recreation management program.

The Lambton Lions esports teams, meanwhile, will compete against other North American schools in the Collegiate Starleague. Teams were chosen after open tryouts in “Overwatch,” “League of Legends” and “Counter Strike: Global Offensive.”

Dave Mastrobuono, a Sarnia native and Lambton graduate, has been named head coach. A former pro gamer himself, Mastrobuono is a certified service technician at the school.

College officials believe the gaming arena, which cost $140,000 to $150,000 to set up, will add to the social side of student life. It will also be open to the community.

Lambton officials visited Chicago’s Robert Morris University, a leader in the collegiate esports field and the first school to offer gaming scholarships, while putting together their program.

Robert Morris associate athletic director Kurt Melcher, Collegiate Starleague vice-president Neil Duffy, SetToDestroyX gaming team owner Charlie Watson and officials from Twitch, a popular live streaming video gaming platform, were among the industry experts who helped Lambton develop its course.

Rick Brown, a mobile device specialist in the Lambton IT department, was also a key mover in the expansion into esports.

Duffy says Lambton is the first Canadian school to make esports a varsity program, joining more than 40 schools in the U.S.

But other Canadian schools also compete in gaming tournaments. The University of British Columbia, which also has its own gaming lounge, has had great success gaming.

Lambton is using esports researcher James Kozachuk of the University of Central Florida as its “subject matter expert” in the area.

The course itself has met the necessary approval of Lambton’s board of governors, a program advisory committee of industry experts, Ontario’s Credential Validation Service and Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development.

It was a learning experience for the college.

Donna Church, vice-president, academic, at Lambton, says she like many parents had thought of esports as “that little troll in the basement.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” she said. “It’s actually a highly social sport.”

Lambton has 3,500 full-time and some 6,500 part-time students plus some 800 international students. The college is ranked No. 1 in Ontario and No. 3 in Canada in applied research, according to Research Infosource Inc.

Source: http://nationalpost.com/pmn/entertainment-pmn/lambton-college-opens-gaming-arena-offers-cutting-edge-esports-diploma

Esports Entertainment Group $GMBL to Acquire Bet Exchange Software Company #Esports #Gaming #Egambling

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 8:05 AM on Thursday, October 5th, 2017

Esports large

  • Announced the execution of a Letter of Intent to acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Ardmore Investments SP. Z O.O, a subsidiary of Switzerland based gambling software developer Swiss Interactive Software GmbH

ST. MARY’S, ANTIGUA–(Oct 5, 2017) – Esports Entertainment Group, Inc. (OTCQB: GMBL) (or the “Company”), a licensed online gambling company with a specific focus on eSports wagering and 18+ gaming, is pleased to announce the execution of a Letter of Intent to acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Ardmore Investments SP. Z O.O, (“Ardmore”), a subsidiary of Switzerland based gambling software developer Swiss Interactive Software GmbH (“Swiss Interactive”).

ACQUISITION OF SOURCE CODE

Swiss Interactive’s Ardmore is the developer and owner of the source code of the Bet Exchange Software utilized to create the Company’s Esports wagering platform, as well as, other gaming and gambling software. Given the imminent launch of the Esports wagering platform, as well as, the Company’s online gaming expansion plans for the foreseeable future, Esports Entertainment Group made the strategic decision to acquire Ardmore in order to protect the source code from potential competitors and to acquire a proven development team.

Grant Johnson, CEO of Esports Entertainment Group, stated, “Owning our bet exchange technology and acquiring the development team behind it significantly strengthens our position within the Esports wagering space. As we are on the verge of launching the world’s first, most secure and transparent Esports bet exchange, the time was right to acquire the core technologies supporting our disruptive business model.”

In connection with the acquisition, the Company will issue 1,750,000 common shares and pay USD $250,000. Ardmore is a Polish corporation with offices in Warsaw, Poland. The transaction is expected to close within four weeks.

This press release is available on our Online Investor Relations Community for shareholders and potential shareholders to ask questions, receive answers and collaborate with management in a fully moderated forum at https://agoracom.com/ir/EsportsEntertainmentGroup

About Esports Entertainment Group

Esports Entertainment Group Inc. is a licensed online gambling company specifically focused on Esports wagering and 18+ gaming. Initially, Esports Entertainment intends to offer bet exchange style wagering on esports events in a licensed, regulated and secured platform to the global esports audience, excluding the US and EU. In addition, Esports Entertainment intends to offer users from around the world the ability to participate in multi-player mobile and PC video game tournaments for cash prizes. Esports Entertainment is led by a team of industry professionals and technical experts from the online gambling and the video game industries, and esports. The Company holds licenses to conduct online gambling and 18+ gaming on a global basis, excluding the US and EU, in Curacao, Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada. The Company maintains offices in Antigua. Esports Entertainment common stock is listed on the OTCQB under the symbol GMBL. For more information visit www.esportsentertainmentgroup.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The information contained herein includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. The safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 protects companies from liability for their forward-looking statements if they comply with the requirements of the Act.

Contact Information

 

Contact:

Corporate Finance Inquiries
Stephen Cotugno
Vice President, Corporate Development
[email protected]
201-220-5745

Investor Relations Inquiries
AGORACOM
[email protected]
http://agoracom.com/ir/eSportsEntertainmentGroup