Through all of Overwatch Season 9, Blizzard kept track of the top players worldwide. They then went on to select the best 24 countries to compete in the Overwatch World Cup. Those top teams from around the globe then battled through 4 different Group Stages, hosted in France, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States. […]
Group Stage Predictions A: Flash Wolves (LMS1), Afreeca Freecs (LCK2), Phong V? Buffalo (VCS1), G2 Esports (EULCS3) B: Royal Never Give Up (LPL1), Gen.G (LCK3), Team Vitality (EULCS2), Cloud9 (NALCS3) C: KT Rolster (LCK1), MAD Team (LMS2), Team Liquid (NALCS1), Edward Gaming (LPL3) D: Fnatic (EULCS1), 100 Thieves (NALCS2), Invictus Gaming (LPL2), G-Rex (LMS3) Note: […]
The last tournament these teams attended together – barring last year’s Play-Ins – had both teams making the quarterfinals (Season 3 Worlds). It’s ironic that despite being essentially relegated to an apparently lesser region, Gambit Esports are the ones with more of their roster from their glory days intact. And yet, their performances this tournament […]
Here we are. The most important match in Japan’s League of Legends history so far, and just another notch in China’s belt. The winner of this series qualifies for the main stage of the League of Legends World Championship 2018. For a team that, in the past, choked in the Worlds Qualifier and had a […]
The official trailer unveiled at Ti8 by valve showed off two new heroes. One of those heroes was Grimstroke, who has seen his implementation into the game and already undergone the cycle of buffs and nerfs with changing patches. Alongside Grimstroke, Valve also teased Mars. But unlike the latter hero, Mars’ abilities are completely up […]
2018 has been quite the year for CoD. A year filled with drama, shattered dreams, and great new prospects. As the release of Black Ops 4 nears, Activision, Treyarch, and the CWL executives have taken the competitive scene by storm by recently declaring that the next season of competitive call of duty will be pitting […]
There’s no need to underline the fact that esports are in a state of spectacular growth. Organizations like the Overwatch League clearly show that the amount of money, effort and public interest in esports is quickly rising. As the market grows, many analysts are pointing towards the expansion taking place inside of the mobile esports […]
The League of Legends World Championship are underway in South Korea! The tournament will be played using a 24 team format consisting of three stages. The teams will be competing for a prize pool of $2,225,000. 1st place will take home 37.5 % of the total pot ($834,375). The three stages of the LoL World […]
Blizzard is a company that has proven time and time again that it can change the landscape of gaming. Even in their early years, the team gathered around the core members, some of which are still in the company, seemed destined to make gaming history. Today, that history includes another brand new accomplishment – an […]
Why are millions of dollars and piles of cold hard cash being thrown around for esports investments and prize-pools? One of the answers is the fanbase that continues to grow. Esports also provides experiences that you cannot get anywhere else. Here are a couple of reasons why people flock to the scene and get so […]
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is officially launching via FACEIT following the success of it’s beta. The official launch will take place tomorrow on September 28th in NA, EU and SA. The PUBG and FACEIT beta started August 17th. There have since been 200,000+ sign-ups. FACEIT’s analytics suggest that half of all CS:GO players on the platform […]
Staffordshire University, located in England, recently announced a new undergrad degree. The BA (Hons) Esports is a three-year program focused on the business of esports. The new program will teach students how to run and organize an esports team or franchise. “The degree covers not only the technical aspects of esports but also how to […]
At one point, PUBG seemed like the biggest competitive game in the world. With millions of active players, it looked like almost everyone was chasing that chicken dinner. The addition of PUBG mobile was also a success and the path of the game towards esports stardom seemed assured. However, more recently, the game’s popularity has […]
In the crowded and ever expanding esports landscape there are more events to attend than ever. This article will give you 4 types and examples of events and how they differ. The wins and losses under each event type will help you better understand what to expect when attending. 1. Local Community Tournaments and Meetups […]
What looked to be a one-sided map 1 on Mirage in favor of Team Liquid, started to turn towards Hell-Raisers as they started showing signs of life nearing the end of the first half with a score of 3-12. After taking the game to 6-12 and a nearly perfect clutch from woxic, the game tilted […]
The second game of the grand finals between Fnatic and TNC. Predator was expected to be a game to look out for. It was all that, and much more but not for the reasons one would be thinking. The game commenced with all players on TNC smoking and heading for mid to catch Fnatic off-guard. […]
The Faceit London Major is in full swing. A strong showing in the group stages of the Major set BIG to be the team to look out for. Gob b especially demonstrated exceptional site holding skills, he would routinely be able to hold his own against Tier 1 players. The underdog run, however, came to […]
Valve’s flagship DOTA 2 has the newest addition to its roster in the form of Grimstroke, an aggressive, intelligence-based ranged hero. As with every new hero, there’s always the balancing issue that renders the hero “too broken” for competitive play. This seems to be the case for Grimstroke as well. As of now, the hero […]
The domains of video game streamers and pro esports players are often so tightly connected that they heavily overlap. However, for one figure in the Overwatch esports community, the two fields have become so close that they are practically interchangeable. The person in question is Daniel Francesca, better known as Dafran. Recently, it was revealed […]
TwitchCon 2018 will host the ‘Doritos Bowl’ where the world’s top streamers will battle it out in Call of Duty’s new Battle Royale mode (Blackout). Having just played the Call of Duty Blackout beta, there are still some kinks to work out. One being that the player with better armour will easily win any shootout. […]
Epic Games have announced their plans for the Fortnite Fall Skirmish esports event. The Fall Skirmish will take place over 6 weeks, with the finale taking place at TwitchCon from October 26-28. The prize pool is much larger than the Summer Skirmish fortnite tournament ($1.5 million). During the Summer Skirmish there were over 500 players who took […]
Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends has announced a new arena in Seoul, South Korea. The new venue will be called LoL PARK. The venue will host the 2018 LoL World Championship play-in stage from October 1-4 and 6-7. The LoL PARK will host the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) starting in 2019. LoL Park Features […]
Sneaky (Zachary Scuderi | Clould9) clinched his sixth straight trip to the League of Legend World Championships. He has now passed Dyrus and Yellowstar, whom each hold five straight appearances. Sneaky also holds the record for most damage dealt at Worlds and damage per minute (dpm). Doublelift, Clearlove, sOAZ and Sneaky have each appeared in […]
Toronto OWL appear to be all business with a clear goal of going for the Grand Finals in their inaugural Overwatch League Season. They have signed former London Spitfire coach Beomjun ‘Bishop’ Lee. As most know, the London Spitfire were the Grand Finals champions in OWL Season 1. Bishop was not the Spitfire coach during […]
Elon Musk’s OpenAI Dota 2 bot will play a full match with all heroes later this year or in 2019. We were first acquainted with OpenAI’s Dota 2 bot at last years The International 7. At the time the bot was only able to play 1v1, where it defeated Dota 2 esports pro Dendi in less than […]
Epic games recently shared some good news with us via Twitter: “The weather may be cooling down, but the battle is heating up. Fall Skirmish starts soon, with $10,000,000 awarded across 6 weeks. Stay tuned for major details dropping later this week!” Epic Games began their $100 million Fortnite esports tournament season with the Summer […]
Overwatch World Cup 2018, LA Group Stage. September 7-9. Next up on the Overwatch World Cup tour is Bangkok, running from September 14-16. The final group stage matches take place in Paris from September 21-23. The Overwatch World Cup Finals will take place at Blizzcon 2018 on November 2nd and 3rd.
Activision Blizzard has just confirmed the rumors that have been swirling for months. Eight new Overwatch League teams have been officially announced. We can’t wait for the #OWL2019 season! Here are the 8 new teams joining the league! pic.twitter.com/zhkrNYDlko — Overwatch Esports (@OW_Esports) September 7, 2018 It is estimated that the franchise fees for Overwatch […]
OG Dota recently took home The International 8’s $11.2 million first place prize. The $25.4 million prize pool was the biggest in esports history. Second place PSG.LGD took home $4 million USD. OG’s International 8 Grand Finals win can definitely be classified as an upset, especially since PSG.LGD was the odds on favorite. According to The […]
Overwatch League (OWL) season 2 signing season begins shortly, but do you have a chance to become an Overwatch pro? Overwatch Contenders has put together a FAQ to help educate potential esports stars who are taking the ‘path to pro’. Q1: What is the age of eligibility to sign an Overwatch League contract? A1: To sign an Overwatch […]
Sources at ESPN are reporting Activision Blizzard has added Vancouver, Canada and Chengdu, China to Overwatch League (OWL) for Season 2. This news comes a day after a report surfaced that Washington, DC and Hangzou, China expansion teams are joining OWL. The Vancouver, Canada team is said to be owned by the Aquilini Investment Group, the owner of […]
Overwatch World Cup Info Dates: September 7-9 Location: Blizzard Arena, Los Angeles Live Stream on ESTNN TV Broadcast: ESPN3 and Disney XD Full Schedule: Available on the official OWWC site. Overwatch World Cup Rosters USA Indy Halpern (LA Valiant) Shane Flaherty (Houston Outlaws) Jay Won (SF Shock) Austin Wilmot (Houston Outlaws) Zachary Lombardo (Contenders NA: Fusion University) […]
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President, Thomas Bach, has not yet decided if or when esports will be integrated into the Olympic Games. During an interview with The Associated Press at the Asian Games this past weekend, he discussed conditional requirements that are needed before approval. “We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which […]
Tencent’s value fell by $20 billion today due to the new video game and internet restrictions enforced by China’s Ministry of Education. The new restrictions have hindered Tencent (a now $413 billion USD company) from capitalizing on its mobile version of Player Unknown’s Battleground (PUBG). Tencent is a leading investor in the esports industry, with holdings in […]
Video game addiction affects 2-7% of the total world population. A study from Germany that looked at people between the ages of 12-25, about 5.7% met criteria (with 8.4% of males meeting criteria for video game addiction. In the United States, an estimated 10-30 million people meet the criteria for video game addiction. There was recently […]
Turner & IMG’s ELEAGUE is giving CS:GO fans an inside look at the key moments of the recent ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018. The seven episode series will begin airing August 31 at 11pm EST/PST on TBS. Eight of the world’s best professional Counter-Strike / CS:GO teams will be featured during the show. According to ELEAGUE.com, “ELEAGUE will kick […]
The Overwatch League (OWL) has signed a multi-year content deal with Twitter. The partnership will broadcast Overwatch League highlights and live streams directly to Twitter. The deal begins this weekend, August 25-26, as Twitter will broadcast content from the OWL All-Star Game. Daniel Cherry, VP and CMO for Activision-Blizzard Esports Leagues discussed the partnership: “From […]
DOTA 2 is known as the esport with the highest prize pools. This year, according to the official website, the prize pool has surpassed $24,800,000, making The International the highest prize pool esports tournament to date. According to https://www.esportsearnings.com/players/highest-overall the top 40 esports earners are DOTA 2 players. The second highest esports game tourney is the LoL […]
The Asian Games opening ceremonies begin tomorrow and will feature esports for the first time. The Asian Games are the second-largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games. Currently there is a debate going on with the International Olympic Committee about making esports a medal sport for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Esports games that are […]
Activision is taking a page from their partner company Blizzard. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be built to be an eSports beast. Black Ops 4 will feature enhanced teamwork mechanics similar to Overwatch in an effort to become eSports next big hit. This year it is once again Treyarch’s turn at things, likely […]
Four new NBA teams will be added for Season 2 of the NBA 2K League. The Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, and Brooklyn Nets will be the new franchises. “From their innovative spirit to their global reach, we know each of these teams will be a tremendous addition, and we are thrilled that […]
The FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 reached more than 29 million views throughout the 3 day tourney, from August 2nd-4th. The 29 million views is an increase of an estimated 400% over last years tourney. The streams/feeds were broadcasted among 12 digital platforms and 19 national broadcasters. The 29 million views also doubled the viewership numbers […]
Clash Royale creator Supercell has announced a brand new $1 Million USD eSports league will begin in 7 days. The league will be broken up into two divisions, one representing Europe, and the other representing North America. As seen below there are some major teams involved, including Cloud9, Team Liquid, and Complexity. Clash Royale has […]
The Overwatch League (OWL) finals which were played over two days, had an estimated 10.8 million viewers, states Blizzard. The finals were played at Barclays Center in Brooklyn between the London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion. The 10.8 million viewers is the total counted up from all broadcasters including ESPN, ABC, Twitch, and the Chinese networks. […]
A group of computer controlled bots just went up against a group of the best human DOTA 2 players. The PC absolutely destroyed the humans… We were first acquainted with OpenAI’s DOTA 2 bot at last years DOTA 2 tournament, International, the $20,000,000+ prize pool season finale. Sponsored by Elon Musk, the OpenAI group is […]
Dear Parents, You should be paying DOTA 2 tutors instead of Fortnite tutors! – ESTNN According to https://www.esportsearnings.com/players/highest-overall the top 40 eSports money makers are playing DOTA 2. This comes as no surprise as the biggest prize pools (by far) come from DOTA 2 tourneys. The DOTA 2 International prize pool is over $20,000,000 USD! The next […]
Atlanta, USA and Guangzhou, China are joining the Blizzard / Activision Overwatch League. Atlanta has seen their MLS soccer team surpass popularity expectations and are hoping for the same result here. The two new teams are over 8,000 miles from one and other. Rumors had been swirling for a while now that the league would […]
According to a new WSJ article; parents are paying Fortnite “professionals” an average of $35 an hour to teach their child Fortnite skills. One website that sources “Fortnite tutors” says it has found jobs for over 1,800 Fortnite pros/tutors. The full article can be read here with a WSJ subscription: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ready-aim-hire-a-fortnite-coach-parents-enlist-videogame-tutors-for-their-children-1533046708 Do you wish your parents […]
The worldwide esports industry is ablaze as a few financial specialists are getting bullish on the business. “No question this is changing the landscape for media companies and how people are participating in sports,” Tim Seymour, co-founder and managing partner at Triogem Asset Management, a hedge fund, said on “Fast Money” Monday. A week ago, […]
Fortnite creator Epic Games has announced they will be putting $100 million USD towards their eSports prize pool. A statement from their blog made it clear they will be doing this much differently than Blizzard’s ever popular Overwatch league. “This is for you, the players. Qualifications for the Fortnite World Cup will be based on […]
Happy 1st Birthday Fortnite! Game designer Epic Games propelled Fortnite, the hugely mainstream multi-player online survival amusement that has overwhelmed the gaming scene. With 125 million players and over $1 billion in income, so far. To enable players to commend its one-year breakthrough, Fortnite’s designers disclosed some birthday-themed changes to the Battle Royale mode on […]