Tag: eSports

Intel, Shaquille O’Neal Enter Esports with NBA 2K League

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Yesterday, Intel announced its multi-year agreement with NBA 2K to become the Esports league’s official technology partner. The league which is a product of the partnership of NBA and Take-Two Interactive is set to debut in May and it will feature 17 NBA teams fielding their own Esports lineups to compete in the electronic basketball games.

Intel’s announcement further included information on the league’s technology, which will be provided by Intel – the NBA 2K games will be played on the Intel Core I7-8700K-powered Alienware PCs instead of PlayStation or Xbox. In addition to this, Intel will also be providing the tech infrastructure for tournaments, playoffs as well as regular season games.

“Intel plans to provide the best gaming experience for competitors and fans through its cloud to client solutions,” said John Bonini, vice president and general manager of the VR, Gaming and Esports Group at Intel Corporation. “Intel has been a leader in the growth of the Esports industry and community for more than 15 years, and the NBA 2K League’s fresh format will be a great showcase for Esports. With more than 15 years in the industry, Intel is committed to advancing Esports through new and innovative partnerships so it was a natural fit for us to work with the NBA 2K League to deliver our cloud to client solutions and showcase that the best experience for fans and players is on a PC with Intel Core i7 processors.”

Shaq’s Second Gaming Venture

Basketball legend Shaquille ‘Shaq’ O’Neal also recently revealed that he would be entering into the Esports arena with NBA 2K. This is the second competitive video gaming venture that Shaq will be pursuing – his beat’-em-up reboot of Shaq-Fu has proven to be quite successful.

Shaq made the announcement via his Twitter account where he also revealed that he is now the general manager of Kings Guard, an NBA 2K team. While he did not give any precise details on what the position entails, Shaq’s involvement goes in line with the NBA’s vision of the Esports league – the Esports teams are matched with actual NBA players to oversee their direction. The Sacramento Kings Guard is one of the 17 NBA-owned Esports teams that will be participating in the inaugural NBA 2K League draft that begun filling up player rosters on April 4.

More Traditional Sports Practitioners Set Eyes on Esports

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The Esports revolution already took off and it seems to be waiting for no one. A number of tradition sports leagues are beginning to catch on to this fact. As it stands, the NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB and NASCAR are venturing into the Esports space in a bid to appeal to younger audiences. It is no longer surprising to hear of traditional sports ventures into Esports but we are definitely excited about seeing how they will implement it.

Many of these leagues and collegiate programs have opted to integrate Esports into their business models. These integration efforts range from interactive contests to fan experiences or ticket sales for events that are designed to bring younger audiences closer to traditional sports. However, while this has paid off for some hopeful Esports investors, all of them do not share the same level of success.

NBA’s approach is by far one of the most followed in Esports. The league chose to partner with NBA 2K and thus there have been very clear tie-ins between the two – the NBA teams provide the infrastructure for their Esports counterparts. The NBA has taken a less regional approach in promoting its Esports league and this is definitely going to create a very interesting dynamic as the league grows. How the NBA 2K League plays out once it kicks off will determine the establishment of future leagues for other gaming titles such as FIFA and Madden.

But what have the others done?

NASCAR

During the Dayton 500 race weekend, NASCAR got to partner with 704Games and Esports Arena Drive in order to bring NASCAR Heat Champions to Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR’s interest in Esports is almost natural owing to the fact that it has an older and a wide fan base of about 58 years for television viewers.

During the Dayton 500 race weekend, the NASCAR fans who attended got a chance to win prizes while playing NASCAR Heat 2. This mostly oozed of an independent activation feel and seemed to be more of a showcase for new mobile arena instead of a NASCAR-run. Regardless, the activation is off to a great start and if everything goes well it will grace NASCAR with more ticket sales on non-race days while at the same time giving them a piece of the younger audience that everyone is desperately trying to get a hold of.

NCAA

One of the most recent developments in college basketball as far as Esports is concerned is the move by two different NCAA basketball conferences to jump into the Esports add-on world. Mountain West Conference and Horizon League, the two conferences, therefore effectively tied their championships to events.

According to Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson, “Globally, Esports is enjoying a boom in popularity – particularly among young people who are in the same age bracket as the students on our campuses. We are also seeing universities add Esports programming, technology and business to their curriculum offerings.”

Both conferences have organized tournaments that are considered to be extensively valid moves towards making college programs formed at universities more acceptable. Most of them are still run by students making such support vital to their survival and prosperity.

NBA Getting into Esports with Creation of New League

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The inevitable advance of competitive video gaming, otherwise known as Esports, will break new ground in April when the National Basketball Association (NBA) makes history by becoming the first American professional sports organization to operate a dedicated Esports league. So far, 17 of the 30 NBA franchises have confirmed they will be fielding their own NBA 2k League teams in pursuit of the $1 million prize fund. Still, more teams are being invited to join the NBA 2K League.

To qualify to be a participant in the new league, prospective players must be at least 18 years old and be high school graduates. Also, they must have purchased a copy of the game either for PlayStation or Xbox and won no less than 50 games in Pro-Am mode prior to January 2018. Every player who meets these requirements can look forward to a six-month contract worth $35,000 as well as a $32,000 basic salary. These lucky players will be the top 102 ranking applicants of the tens of thousands who applied and they will be taking part in the opening round of the games in May.

Considered to Be the NBA’s Fourth Branch

Other than the $35,000 six-month contract and the $32,000 basic salary, the players will also have the opportunity to supplement their incomes by signing various endorsement deals. To sweeten the deal, the NBA job will also include a retirement plan, medical insurance and housing! Considering how big this budget is, the NBA certainly has huge expectations for this new venture.

In fact, NBA’s vice president of global partnerships Matt Holt confirmed that the NBA considers the eLeague to be the fourth of its branches alongside the WNBA, minor G League and even the NBA itself. This is further proven by the fact that the benefits offered to Esports players are at par with those offered to professional basketballers.

Getting a Piece of the Esports Gold Mine

The NBA’s interest in online gaming is well founded – the Esports community boasts of approximately 130 million competitive video gamers from all corners of the globe. This makes it one of the fastest growing markets in the world of entertainment with its estimated value standing at $1 billion at the moment.

NBA’s partnership with NBA 2K is an attempt at becoming one of the lucrative tournaments that have been springing up across the globe where professional Esports teams compete for huge prize money as millions of viewers watch online.

The league is taking a slightly innovative approach – they eventually seek to have an eLeague counterpart for every regular-season NBA team. The idea here is that the leagues will be complementing each other. Case in point, the NBA 2K games will kick off in May and run all through the summer, the period during NBA’s offseason.

Rivalry.gg Joins Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC)

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Dedicated Esports betting operator Rivalry.gg has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) to become the coalition’s latest member with the goal of ‘supporting the application of best practice across the Esports betting industry’. Rivalry.gg which is a fairly new entrant into the Esports betting business is licensed in the Isle of Man and it will be joining a host of other outstanding ESIC members that include DreamHack, Betway, Sportradar, LVP, ESL, Intel, LVP and UKGC among many others.

The Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) was formed in July 2016 so as to clamp down on all forms of cheating in the professional Esports market. ESIC is currently considered to be one of the most reputable Esports regulatory authorities in the world especially due to its unambiguous endeavour to create an unequivocal Esports playing field for all the members of the Esports community.

“ESIC is pleased to welcome another specialist Esports betting operator into membership to extend our suspicious bet alert network and help us detect possible match-fixing as it happens and having a legitimate, licensed operator that supports Esports integrity and our vital education program helps lessen the influence of dodgy operators and betting fraudsters,” noted Ian Smith, the Integrity Commissioner at ESIC.

Rivalry.gg, being quite young in the industry has employed a steady approach towards a conquering the Esports market – they are focusing on original content and pre-match betting at the moment. But, there is definitely so much more to come.

“This is just the beginning for us. Next steps are implementing the minimum requisite of features from a traditional sportsbook perspective, such as live betting, followed by a much deeper offering. We spent the better part of 2017 curating and testing various bespoke feature sets that we believe the community will love and can’t wait to share them with everyone,” Rivalry Co-Founder, Steven Salz confirmed.

Salz also pointed out that while they just recently rolled their service offering, they have been members of the community long enough to notice that members of the Esports market were being frustrated by underage and unregulated betting that was growing rapidly with little to no intervention. He believes that this was partly due to the lack of viable alternatives for gamers as well as the lack of education on the importance of regulation in online gambling. As an ESIC member, Rivalry will be supporting the coalition’s goals by reporting any and all suspicious online betting activity.

“At Rivalry our foremost effort is to provide Esports enthusiasts with a legal, and safe way to bet on competitive play in the games they eat, breathe, and sleep. Our participation in ESIC is a cornerstone piece of this effort. Having a legitimate, licensed operator that supports Esports integrity and our vital education program helps lessen the influence of dodgy operators and betting fraudsters,” Salz added.

Two More Major Esports Player Associations Are in the Works

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Esports just keeps getting better and better in almost every way possible with the most recent development being the move to put together player associations to cater for professional video gamers who play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s association will include players in the FACEIT ECS as well as the ESL Pro. It is led by attorney Michael Doi and Esports broadcaster Scott “SirScoots” Smith.

In an interview with Sports Business Journal, Scott Smith said that the Counter-Strike Professional Players Association (CSPPA) will not be looking to establish itself as a United States Union simply because Counter-Strike players originate from many different parts of the world. However, the association will be working towards signing all of the 255 professional players.

“Every day I sign another guy,” he said. “I would say 70 or so have signed an official membership document that they are for the players association, are behind the players association, they want to be in the players association.”

There has not been any official news regarding the Overwatch players association but the officials have confirmed that formal details on the same will be availed in around four months. The Overwatch player association efforts are being led by former player and Overwatch coach Thomas “Morte” Kerbusch and sports labour attorney Ellen Zavian. It is reported that the Overwatch association is likely to be modelled after existing U.S. unions like the National Football League (NFL) Players Association.

“I don’t see this [players association] as any different than any other PA just because it’s eSports,” Zavian said. “So this isn’t something that will be a lighthearted step. This will be a big step.”

If the two associations are formed successfully they will be joining the Riot Games’ League of Legends players association that is ran by Hal Biagas. Esports player associations are still in the very first stages of development but many agree that it is certainly a logical step for competitive video gaming as it draws nearer to being a mainstream activity, just like traditional professional sports.

MARVEL’s Heather Antos Leaves for Editor-in-Chief Role

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Marvel Comics’ assistant editor Heather Antos is leaving the comic book publisher to become the Editor-in-Chief of Esports betting platform Unikrn – the position was previously held by Ryan Jurado, who has now been reassigned to be the betting platform’s Head of Global Content.

Antos, who previously worked as a comic’s editor on Unlawful Good: An Anthology of Crime, produce on a number web series such as Lagged Out and a journalist for sites like Geek Legacy, has been an Assistant Editor at Marvel Comics since 2015. Her work as an editor at Marvel Comics, principally for the Stars Wars and Deadpool franchises saw to the tremendous growth of both lines of comic books which has earned them very strong critical and commercial success over the past couple of years. Also, this made the star editor herself a public face for Marvel Comics both on social platforms as well as every popular comic convention we can think of.

In 2017, Heather Antos also became the focus of online harassment that led to the #MarvelMilkShakes solidarity hashtag from across the comic book industry. Apparently, Antos will be leaving Marvel Comics simply because she has been presented the opportunity of a lifetime at Unikrn, and not because of any issues that may have come up between her and her former employer.

“Plot twist! In today’s chapter of the Heather Antos Chronicles, I’m making a leap from Marvel comics to video games & Esports as editor-in-chief of Unikrn,” Antos tweeted. “It’s been a long-time goal of mine to branch out into the video game & competitive Esports world. To do so under the guidance & leadership of Rahul Sood and Ryan Jurado is something I never would’ve thought possible. I absolutely cannot wait to dig my heels in & get running!”

Antos will be tasked with managing and overseeing all the editorial content, tournament coverage, podcasts as well as video content.

A Little Insight into Unikrn

The Las Vegas, Nevada-based Unikrn is considered to be the world’s best Esports betting platform – its success can be attested by the many offices they have across some of the world’s most popular cities such as Berlin, Germany and Sydney, Australia.

The Esports betting platform primarily offers real money wagering as well as token-based betting on nearly all the available competitive video gaming tournaments from across the world. Unikrn essentially creates betting markets on Esports in a manner that can be likened to the way traditional sports betting is operated. The platform’s users are allowed to bet legally free from any part of the world using Unikrn’s own cryptocurrency that is referred to as Unikoin. Players from the United Kingdom and a few other areas are even allowed to place bets using real money but this number is likely to grow in the near future.

German FA President Opposes Induction of Esports As Sports

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According to Reinhard Grindel, the President of Germany’s Football Association (DFB), Esports is not a sports activity thus the induction of competitive gaming into the Olympics is bizarrely absurd. This was on Sunday 4th March 2018 when the members of Germany’s social democratic party opened the way for joining the country’s government as a junior partner in a grand coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel. This new development came with more certainty that Esports could soon be recognized as sports in accordance with guidelines set out by the coalition governments.

As it stands, Esports has amassed over 250 million players from all around the globe which makes for a steadily growing market that currently rakes in more than a billion dollars every year. This is more than what a decent number of traditional Olympic sports federation can manage, even when combined. However, despite the heavy lobbying that was required to have Esports acknowledged as real sports as well as increasing amount of support that it has been amassing, there are many critical opposing voices that are still not convinced. Thus, apparently, the debate about whether Esports should be considered as “real sports” is not even close to coming to an end.

“The biggest competition to kids coming to our sports club is not handball or basketball, but the use of digital equipment. That is absolute impoverishment,” Grindel said, as reported by Reuters. “Sport plays a social function and this happens in the community. With sport, you have direct contact with those you play. Soccer is home to the green turf and has nothing to do with other, computer generated things. For me, Esports is not sports.”

Furthermore, the Grindel pointed out that he his opinion on the increasing amount that children and young adults spent on mobile devices to be “eine absolute Verarmung,” which can roughly be translated to “a total degeneration.”

There are, obviously, underlying interests on both sides of these debates and this makes it more complex than what people think is happening on the surface. Esports is inherently a for-profit industry and this is especially true for the industry players that have been backing it. The people on the opposing side, like Grendel, are also fighting to protect their market shares. Unfortunately, Esports is catching up quite quickly.

In November 2017, the International Olympic Committee would only consider having Esports as a component of the Olympics if Esports did not “infringe on the Olympic values.” This means that Esports games that feature explosions, violence and killing had to be ruled out.

Spain’s La Liga and Barcelona Venture into Esports

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Recently, there have been a couple of huge announcements affecting or involving the Spanish football; scene and they all revolve around Esports.

First, Barcelona announced its first Esports team that will compete against other European soccer giants in Pro Evolution Soccer 2018. Barcelona is now the first Catalan club to compete in the Esports game after it reached an agreement with Konami and eFootball.Pro. The team members are also quite excited about the Barcelona’s entry into the world of Esports. Gerard Pique, FC Barcelona’s center-back pointed out that the team would be able to contribute their values to the competition on top of being a formidable foe to the other teams.

“Barça is attentive to what happens in this global and technological world, and in view of the important growth of eSports, it is opening the way to also being a leader in this field,” said the Vice President of Marketing and Communication for FC Barcelona, Manel Arroyo. “FC Barcelona, in keeping with its innovative spirit, has decided to participate in a pioneering competition in the world of eSports, by the best partners, Konami, and eFootball.Pro. We are confident that this competition will continue to make members and culers from all over the world, as well as followers of eSports, proud.”

La Liga Sees Bright Future for Esports

La Liga, the Spanish football league has also revealed that the league will be expanding by venturing into Esports with a number of Esports projects they plan to effect in the very near future with soccer, or football, being at the center stage.

The league’s projects are intended to bridge the gap between the league and millennial generations as well as increasing engagement with the already established audiences. They also intend to grow the brand further in a way that will certainly appeal to new audiences.

To kick off its venture, La Liga has launched La Liga Esports, which, as stated by them, will include “ambitious projects, the details of which will be revealed in the coming months, which aim to bring together a passion for football and the exciting world of esports. Hard work, competitiveness and teamwork are some of the values that are common to both football and esports and these are the characteristics that football-loving gamers or those who, over time, may acquire such a profile will get the chance to showcase through these projects.”

Some of La Liga’s sponsors are clearly impressed by what the Esports scene has to offer. However, the Esports projects will initially be rolled out only in Spain in coming months before being expanded further to include international audiences.

Zeroedge Is Offering Esports Betting With Zero Commission

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The past few years have seen online sports betting grow tremendously which has eventually led it to its current state of being the leading form of online gambling in many parts of the world. Esports, a rather new and interesting niche in the world online sports betting, has also been increasing in popularity over the past decade and sooner than later it might be just as mainstream as the other sports leagues – it is already a close competitor to the leagues.

The Rise of Crypto Casinos

Cryptocurrencies have undoubtedly grown on nearly everyone in the online gambling space. However, Esports betting at emerging or established online crypto-powered casinos may not be already as polished as gamblers may desire but in most cases, the pickings are just slim – this is because not many of them are dedicated Esports betting operations.

Zeroedge online casino offers the solution to this problem with its cryptocurrency-based operation that also includes the casino’s own in-house unique cryptocurrency known as ZeroCoin. Zeroedge is one of the few online casinos that are exclusively offering Esports betting opportunities to bettors. To sweeten the deal, the casino further offers an unheard of and an unprecedented zero commission for all the games offered on the site.

Why Is Zeroedge Such a Big Deal?

Well, it is essentially the world’s first online casino that offers two unique advantages to the general online gambling community – the first being the fact that it runs exclusively on a cryptocurrency (ZeroCoin) and the second being that it will be offering a true zero percent house edge to its players. Most casinos usually stack the odds in their favor which makes it very difficult for players to win. Zeroedge, on the other and, does not profit from the losses that its customers incur and instead it benefits from the increased value of ZeroCoin, which is apparently Zero Edge Casino networks’ main economy driver.

Being that the casino offers zero percent edge on casino games, there has been an increase in demand for ZeroCoin which in turn has resulted in an increase in its value. Players are still able to play zero percent games as the price of ZeroCoin rises and they are also not required to pay any fixed amount of money in order to place bets. To achieve this sort of “free” gaming, players are subjected to a closed loop economy where the only requirement is that they buy the casino’s token with fiat currencies or other cryptocurrencies and since the supply of ZeroCoin is limited, its value is directly proportional t demand.

This is further facilitated by Blockchain & Smart contract technology which allow for the creation of a fully transparent and truly fair gambling ecosystem where players not only have more opportunities to participate but they are also offered true chances of winning while at the same time being part of a much larger community where social inclusion and mutual values are fostered.

MLS Reaching Out to New Breed of Soccer Fans Using FIFA 18

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Sports leagues are always racing to appeal to next-generation fans but Major League Soccer might have more at stake than any other league out there. In the Western sports world, that is, in Canada and America, soccer is still struggling to penetrate a market that is dominated by four big professional sports leagues: NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. However, this does not imply that there is no progress being made. Soccer has begun to become increasingly popular and this is all thanks to the young people of this era. How? You may ask. Well, apparently, the line between MLS fans and video game lovers is getting blurrier by the day and the league is capitalizing on this by launching its own Esports organization.

Dubbed eMLS, the Esports league was forked out of the MLS’ existing partnership with Electronic Arts (EA) for the video game provider’s popular FIFA series which in all rights can be said to have always had a near cult following. MLS is really focused on establishing an even stronger connection with their fan base. Based on the nature of the MLS audience, there is a distinct proof that there is a connection between electronic gaming and the league. According to 2017 research data from Simmons Research, MLS fans are twice as likely to be video game enthusiasts as average sports fans.

MLS also, through a survey that it conducted in 2014, found that over 60 percent of its avid followers pointed to Electronic Arts’ FIFA series as the first thing that got them interested in soccer – this is much higher than the percentage of FIFA players who got interested in playing the video game from being part of an actual soccer team.

“We’re starting to shift how we think about fandom holistically to say, ‘Hey, gaming’s a major component of that.’ Not only in where they spend their time, but how they express themselves as fans,” said James Ruth, the senior director of properties and events at MLS. “We want to use competitive gaming and eMLS to get the MLS experience to more people. There’s a ton of people — especially in North America — who engage with FIFA, but they’re not necessarily engaging with MLS.”

eMLS’ First Tournament to Stream on Twitch This April

The MLS’ first Esports league tournament first-ever is scheduled for the upcoming PAX East where the MLS’ 19-player team will compete for a spot at the league’s global payoffs. These 19 players will be split into two separate conferences – ten in the Eastern Conference and the other nine in the Western Conference. Each and every competitor will be required to create their own 11-player squads for the start, with seven more on the bench and additional five on reserve. The only catch is that three of 19 MLS players will have to be on the field at all times, including two from the club that the competitor represents.

The eMLS Cup will kick off on Thursday, April 5th with the preliminary rounds, with the top eight players from each of the conference progressing to seed being allowed to progress to seeded knockout rounds on Saturday prior to the Sunday’s Cup Final. The venue for the weekend matches will be the PAX Arena Main Stage, but if you cannot make it to the venue, you can stream it on PaxArena’s Twitch channel. The final, on the other hand, will also be broadcasted on MLS channel and its website.