Good morning! This is your weekly Esports Brief.

Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege is taking over the desert, announcing plans for the launch of a new North American League that will open in late June. The league will feature two major divisions with a four-team Canadian league along with an eight-team US league as well as an overhauled path-to-pro system to cultivate new stars with the minor league system featuring eight teams apiece, creating an overall landscape that will have 28 teams competing in the new North American League.

The US division of the North American League will be headquartered in Las Vegas and deliver an offline format, while the Canadian division will be played online. The inaugural eight teams competing in the US division will be: Spacestation Gaming, TSM, DarkZero Esports, eUnited, Oxygen Esports, Disrupt Gaming, Susquehanna Soniqs and Tempo Storm. Each competitive season runs for nearly a year – from March through the following February – concluding with the Six Invitational global championship. A full season is comprised of three five-week Stages.

“We are tremendously excited for the new Rainbow Six Esports global structure that prioritizes investment and regionalization in each of the territories,” Che Chou, senior director of esports at Ubisoft, said. “In the North America League, the eight US Division teams were selected to ensure a thriving and stable team structure for a premium offline league. “Setting down roots for Rainbow Six Esports in Las Vegas puts our pastime within one of the greatest epicenters of entertainment in the world, which as of today now has an esports league to call it home. Alongside the US Division, we believe the Canada Division and respective Challenger Leagues completes the competitive scene in North America, providing vast opportunities for players of diverse skill levels to pursue the esports dream.”

COMPETITION

Big news for the NBA 2K League, which cemented TV broadcast deals in the US and Canada. Stateside, ESPN and the NBA 2K League announced an agreement for ESPN networks to air live NBA 2K League matches throughout the 2020 season. ESPN2 will carry NBA 2K League matches on Tuesdays at 7p through May 19. Matches on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays will air at 7 p.m. ET on the ESPN app and ESPN.com throughout the season. ESPN telecast and streaming details for matches beginning May 26 will be announced at a later date. NBA 2K League matches on ESPN2 will mark the first-ever linear telecast of NBA 2K League games in the U.S. Every NBA 2K League match on ESPN’s platforms will also air live in the Caribbean, Latin America, Oceania and Sub-Saharan Africa on ESPN2 or on one of ESPN’s digital platforms. In Canada, the NBA 2K League is hitting Sportsnet.

ESL announced that the 2020 edition of ESL One Cologne will take place without a live audience from August 21-30. In addition, the company stated that Intel Extreme Masters Melbourne 2020 will now be rescheduled for 2021. ESL One Cologne 2021 is set to be held on July 16-18 of next year while IEM Melbourne 2021 will return on August 21-22.

Epic Games shut down plans for The Fortnite World Cup for 2020, announcing that all remaining Fortnite events for the year will now be hosted online as a result of the pandemic. “Physical Events – For the rest of 2020, all Fortnite competitions will be held online,” the company announced via the Fortnite Competitive, Twitter account. “Due to the limitations of cross region online competition, there will not be a Fortnite World Cup in 2020.”

Meanwhile, Valve and the Defense of the Ancients team are postponing The International due to travel concerns due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The International main event was set to run Aug. 18-23 in Stockholm, Sweden. “We have been exploring various date possibilities, but it is likely that the event will need to happen in 2021,” the company said in a blog post. “Given the highly volatile landscape for local gathering restrictions, virus trajectory, and global travel policies, we don’t expect to have enough confidence to communicate firm dates in the near future.”

Also going fully online this year will be EVO, the biggest fighting game events in the world, which was set to return to Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas starting July 31. “The health and well-being of our community is our highest priority,” the Evo team announced in a statement Friday. “We hope everyone stays safe during this time.”

Finally, DreamHack confirmed the postponement of four upcoming festivals: DreamHack Valencia, DreamHack Dallas, DreamHack Summer, and DreamHack Montreal. The company noted that “We are currently exploring new dates in 2021 for DreamHack Dallas, DreamHack Summer, and DreamHack Montreal and are looking forward to sharing more information with you on our plans as soon as possible.” DreamHack Valencia will now take place October 8-12, 2020.
All DreamHack Starcraft 2 Masters and DreamHack Warcraft 3 Open stops of 2020 will be moved online, including the previously-announced stops at DreamHack Valencia, DreamHack Summer, DreamHack Dallas, DreamHack Rotterdam, and DreamHack Montreal. DreamHack is working together with ESL on a redesigned ESL Pro Tour for both Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 which is soon to be revealed for fans.

The American PUBG Mobile Pro League is now locked in to run from June 6-28 in an online-only format. “In order to ensure the safety of everyone, which is of paramount importance to us, we have decided to completely reimagine the first season of the PMPL Americas as an online competition”, said James Yang, Director of PUBG MOBILE Global Esports, Tencent Games. “While this has not been a decision we’ve taken lightly, we do think it also generates new opportunities and exciting avenues for teams to gain even more exposure, while enjoying an improved format and quality, with a new exciting twist to it!” The new schedule also sees the introduction of Scrims, giving players and viewers a chance to warm up ahead of the proper season with the American Scrims starting today.

Overwatch League VP Jon Spector served up a state of the league, where he addressed dips in viewership after moving to YouTube from Twitch before this season, noting that the global nature of the league made YouTube a better fit and that the league has seen strong viewership upticks in Asia. “We are not satisfied with where things are today. So, we are working with YouTube to improve discoverability of our content while looking at other changes to build excitement and raise the stakes,” Spector said. “The May Tournament is a good example of a change in response to that feedback. And I’m excited to share that we are a few weeks away from bringing back token drops for watching on overwatchleague.com and our mobile app.”

Collegiate StarLeague unveiled plans to host its 2019-2020 collegiate season finale all online on May 30-31. Produced with remote production staff and casters entirely online, the event will feature the culmination of CSL’s largest collegiate esports leagues, including League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Magic: The Gathering Arena, and Rocket League.

Estars Studios unveiled a new online adaptation of its classic World Showdown of Esports competition series, WSOE Online. The six-event series will run May-September and feature titles that include Hearthstone, Tekken and Soulcalibur, with additional titles to be announced at a later date. The first event, WSOE Champions for Charity: 16 v. 18, takes place today. “We are thrilled to launch WSOE Online with the Champions for Charity event,” said Estars Studios Vice President David Lee. “Esports is a powerful method for raising awareness of and money for charitable causes—which is more important now than ever before.”

EBS announced its full lineup for this year’s Board of Advisors, featuring a lineup of game-changing executives representing publishers, leagues, platforms, brands and teams. New faces this year include: Greg Via, Global Head of Sports, Esports and Entertainment at Procter & Gamble/Gillette; Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO of Evil Geniuses; Major General Frank M. Muth, Commanding General, Recruiting Command at U.S. Army; and Naz Aletaha, head of Global Esports Partnerships & Business Development at Riot Games. Thanks to all for their help. For the full list click here.

After announcing the PUBG Continental Series, PUBG Corporation detailed the first event – the PCS Charity Showdown. The event will consist of four regional online tournaments taking place throughout the month of May across Asia (Korea, Japan, China and Chinese Taipei), Asia Pacific (Southeast Asia and Oceana), Europe and North America. Play begins with the Europe West Open Qualifiers starting May 2.

Activision Blizzard recently made the move from Twitch to YouTube for all of their esports leagues. While YouTube has been growing their streaming market share, they still remain a distant second to Twitch in total live viewership but have had success streaming esports events. This week, Stream Hatchet analyzes how the Call of Duty League and Overwatch League have performed YoY on each platform.

The Overwatch League had a slight decline of 3.9% in average viewers from their inaugural season in 2018 to the 2019 season; nothing unusual. However, after switching to YouTube, the average viewership plummeted 64% to under 50k viewers.The Call of Duty League realized an opposite effect as it grew 89% on Twitch then 94% on YouTube over the past two years.The growth of the CDL may be partially attributed to its new franchised model (from the CWL to the CDL) and a popular Call of Duty title. The OWL is fighting several battles to retain professional players, fans, and consumers as the switch to YouTube may have accelerated its decline.For more information regarding viewership of platforms and leagues, please contact [email protected] or visit www.streamhatchet.com.

Enthusiast Gaming Holdings locked a new partnership with energy drink brand G FUEL in a deal that will see the pair build an integrated marketing campaign that leverages the full Enthusiast Gaming platform and its reach of over 200 million gamers. The partnership will also bolster its esports organization, Luminosity Gaming. Enthusiast Gaming will leverage its platform of gaming and esports communities to promote G FUEL by providing user generated content, influencer marketing, online entertainment and advertising across its entire media network. G FUEL will be a key sponsor of Luminosity Gaming and will tap into Luminosity’s influencer and content creator network to reach its combined social following of over 60 million fans. As a sponsor, the G FUEL logo will be placed on Luminosity’s jerseys.

ESL is extending ties with SAP to continue their partnership at ESL One Birmingham Online 2020 after partnering for ESL One Los Angeles Online 2020. SAP data analytics will deliver viewers with data insights into the world of professional Dota 2, using technology to create interesting insights about players’ and teams’ in- game performances. “We are excited to be expanding on our partnership with SAP. Together, and with the continuous development of these new technologies, we will make the next steps towards professionalizing esports even more,” said Stephan Schröder, SVP Global Brand Partnerships at ESL.

The Overwatch League’s Houston Outlaws announced that GameStop will continue its partnership and serve as the official consumer electronics and video game retailer of the team in 2020. The deal sees the pair team-up for a second year to “offer the amateur community an opportunity to learn how to play Overwatch from the pros through GameStop’s esports pro training series.” GameStop will release 10 online videos from the Houston Outlaws to teach audiences, fans, and gamers the basic and advanced featuring techniques from certain characters in the Overwatch league.

FOX Sports reports that its NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series continues to deliver solid numbers, with an average of 1.135 million viewers through dive races, with each of the five ranking as the top % esports TV broadcasts of all time, lead by 1.353 million viewers for the virtual Texas race.

EA SPORTS wrapped the FIFA Stay and Play Cup, carried in over 100+ countries worldwide and drawing 3.8 million in total U.S. TV viewership on ESPN with 66,549 total digital average minute audience – a 62% improvement YOY to the April FIFA 19 FUT Champions Cup event.

YouTube signed on to serve as the exclusive live streaming home of famed content creator for Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, Kjellberg boasts 104 million subscribers and has generated over 25 billion views to date. “YouTube has been my home for over a decade now and live streaming on the platform feels like a natural fit as I continue to look for new ways to create content and interact with fans worldwide,” Kjellberg said. “Live streaming is something I’m focusing a lot on in 2020 and beyond, so to be able to partner with YouTube and be at the forefront of new product features is special and exciting for the future.”

Super League Gaming reports audience growth across new user registration, total hours of gameplay, video views, and digital advertising impressions with April 2020 serving as a record-breaking month for the company and propelling year-to-date numbers to higher levels than the company notched in all of 2019. Metrics include: more than 16 million monthly gameplay hours on the Super League platform in 2020 through April, which represents nearly 10% more gameplay hours than all of 2019; and 205 million monthly video views and digital ad impressions across Super League’s network of digital and social channels in April, up 70% over all of 2019.

Philanthropic Players

With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Twitch streamers are wondering how to get in on the fight against the disease. This week, the top two streams were TheGrefg’s special event, a Fortnite stream with a fundraising focus for COVID-19. The stream raised $100,000. The funds will be donated to the United Nations’ efforts to research the disease and develop a vaccine, as well as supply frontline workers with personal protective equipment.

Notably, the 4th and 5th streams were Grand Theft Auto V, perhaps due to Auronplay’s specific roleplay server and the story he builds on his stream. GTA continues to be a top game due to players continuing to creatively innovate how to play the game. A good example of this is the new war between the “green gang” and “purple gang.” With in-app purchasable skins, players are able to team up with the gang of their choice and wreak havoc on Los Santos. This shows a clear opportunity for brands to build stories in-game with branded skins.

For more information on esports streams, visit us at https://fanai.io/fanai-news/.

Oxygen Esports unveiled its debut, looking to compete in tier 1, multi-title esports courtesy of strategic mergers between Helix eSports, one of the nation’s leading provider of esports/VR centers, Team Genji, a leading provider of esports analytics and pro rosters acquired from Team Reciprocity. The team announced that titles would include Rainbow Six: Siege, Rocket League, Fortnite, Hearthstone and Magic the Gathering Arena. “We are beyond excited to breathe new life into New England’s esports scene and build on the region’s winning heritage with our championship teams,” said Murphy Vandervelde, a Co-Founder of Helix eSports. “OXG will create the path-to-pro for all of New England esports. We cannot wait to leverage our chain of Helix eSports centers, including our soon-to-be-opened Patriot Place location, to create a hub for content, social and competitive environments across New England’s amateur esports scene.”.”

The Florida Mutineers, of Misfits Gaming Group, are hosting the $25,000 Wrecked Royale charity Warzone tournament, presented by SoFi, with all prize money going to COVID-19 charities. May 13 will see the team join pro athletes that include: Terrell Owens, Ryan Shazier, Mack Wilson, Sheldrick Redwine, Shaq Thompson, James Bradberry, Jedrick Wills, Vernon Butler, and Deejay Dallas to play with pro Call of Duty players and streamers to compete in a one-day Call of Duty Warzone tournament made up of 12 squads of 4. Fans will be able to tune in and watch the tournament live on the Florida Mutineers Twitch channel.

With E3 down this year, Geoff Keighley, founder of The Game Awards, announced plans for the Summer Game Fest, described as a four month long run of announcements and news from platforms and game publishers. Major game companies participating include 2K, Activision Publishing, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Bethesda, Blizzard Entertainment, Bungie, CD Projekt Red, Digital Extremes, Electronic Arts, Microsoft (more details coming next week), Private Division, Riot Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Steam, Square Enix, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Meanwhile, EA has announced that its EA Play Live event for this year will be held on June 11.

ReKTGlobal locked in an investment and partnership with TalentX Entertainment, for a new company titled TalentX Gaming, catered toward personality-driven esports athletes and streamers. “TalentX Gaming is the formation of a unique and dynamic talent management company, combining ReKTGlobal’s esports industry leading position and TalentX’s meteoric and unprecedented success with TikTok content creators,” said ReKTGlobal co-founder and CEO Dave Bialek. “This partnership now affords gaming and esports influencers and athletes with unparalleled support, insights and execution.”

Electronic Arts unveiled financial results for both Q4 2020 and the full fiscal year, topping investor expectations, reporting $1.39 billion in revenues for Q4, and $5.54 billion for their fiscal 2020 to represent a 12% markup over 2019. “We’re humbled to see people around the world connecting through our games during this unprecedented period,” EA chief executive officer Andrew Wilson said. “Thanks to the amazing dedication and determination of our teams at Electronic Arts, we’re able to deliver the games, experiences, and content choices that our players are looking for during this challenging time.”

Activision Blizzard posted its own earnings, reporting Q1 revenue of $1.79 billion, with in-game net bookings up 21% to $1.52 billion for the period. “Activision Blizzard exceeded its first-quarter outlook, driven primarily by our investment in creative and commercial initiatives for Call of Duty delivering better-than-expected results throughout the quarter,” said Activision Blizzard. “We also saw continued momentum for World of Warcraft and better-than-expected results for other key franchises, as populations sheltering at home turned to our content for entertainment and social connection. These trends have continued so far in the second quarter, with business momentum accelerating further in April.” The company also upgraded its outlook for the year ahead, increasing its revenue expectations from $6.45 billion to $6.8 billion.

ROSTER MOVES

Tempo Storm hired Robert Allam, aka u/GallowBoob, to serve as its Director of Social Media & Community. Allam will be helping to build communities around its content, teams, and interactive media after building his reputation on Reddit, where he established and grew his own influence on the site, with online communities consisting of more than 50 million users, managed alongside his teams of co-moderators. “With Robert’s incredible background building massive communities from nothing, we couldn’t wait to bring him on to the Tempo team,” says founder and CEO Andrey “reynad” Yanyuk. “As we continue to grow Tempo from a more traditional esports organization to a media franchise with live interactive shows, games, and other media under our belt, we couldn’t have a more perfect fit to help us grow than Robert.”

G2 Esports appointed Jordan Bellar as its new Business Development Manager, where he will become the first full-time employee of the organization dedicated to building up its operations in New York City. He will be charges with driving commercial growth for G2 Esports in his new role, not only in North America but on a global basis.

Panda Global unveiled a slew of new hires to its organization, announcing the additions of Zak “CONEY” Zeeks as its Creative Lead, Jack “Jackie Peanuts” Moore as the Director of Growth for its PGstats brand, Bien “Xiily” Nguyen as its Director of Engineering, Robin “Juggleguy” Harn as its Project Manager, and Brandon “EveryDamnDay” Brady as its Social Media Manager.

On This Day 2018
Paladins is released.

Trivia
Easy one! Super Mario World featured the first appearance of this character, pictured above. Who is it? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question
How many different players can you choose from in the 1989 game Golden Axe? Answer: Three. Kudos: Matt Sautter-WideOrbit/Harrisburg; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank