WorldGaming Network is gearing up to unveil a rebrand, going live with a new look on Tuesday, with marketing materials designed to reflect the community being inclusive to all levels of players. The logo, pictured above, features the “‘WG’ to the power of ‘N’, reflecting the positioning of the network that “feeds the community and the players who drive our platform.”
Hi-Rez Studios opened the doors to Skillshot Media, a 35-person esports tournament operator and production company based in Alpharetta. The subsidiary of Hi-Rez Studios will operate multiple esports leagues for both SMITE and Paladins, as well as games from other publishers with a production studio that features 16,000 square feet of production technology, soundproof player booths for live events, and custom show stages designed for an immersive broadcast experience. Hi-Rez co-founder Todd Harris leads the new venture as our President, while Nabil Ismail acts as Vice President of Operations.
Social VR destination Sansar announced new partnerships with multiple professional teams from the Overwatch League including the Houston Outlaws and the San Francisco Shock. This collaborations will “give gamers a deeper way to connect and communicate – enabling fans to interact one-on-one with popular players and personalities, stream matches in virtual watchspaces created by their favorite teams, and show their support through exclusive branded merchandise.” Fans can use Sansar on both PC and VR to connect in their team’s branded virtual watch space, tune into live stream matches, and buy custom skins and merch. Other features coming soon include real-time stats integration, in-match player audio sharing, and more. The Outlaws partnership will see the debut of the Hideout, the first-ever virtual clubhouse for esports, available exclusively in Sansar, while the Shock will launch The SF Shock Epicenter: the first-ever virtual arena for esports.
Twitch is opening the doors to the Bounty Board, a service that allows streamers to add game and time-specific promotional deals, where game developers and publishers will be able to put up an ad on Twitch’s Bounty Board, and let streamers apply to receive the game, as well as compensation, for streaming the game play with opportunities in beta mode for now and limited to US streamers. Streamers will be required to announce that they are delivering sponsored content.
Congrats to our friends at Riot, who picked up a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Live Graphic Design for their presentation of League of Legends.
The International 2018 Battle Pass is open for business, going live on Tuesday and already garnering over $5 million that will be used for prize money are this year’s tournament. New for The International 2018 Battle Pass will be the Underhollow, a multi-team Dungeon clash allowing players to work together to explore the maze of caves before an enemy team or Roshan finds players first.
Meanwhile, Hi-Rez announced that this year’s SMITE World Championship, which ends at HRX Dreamhack Atlanta, will see its prize pool pumped with $0.33 for each Pantheon Chest roll purchased during the Divine Uprising event heading to the cash awarded at the event this year. The prizing will be split between the SMITE PC and SMITE Console Championships (roughly 66% to PC and 33% to Console).
Global messaging and calling app Rakuten Viber announced a new partnership with Fanbot.ai to become the global messaging platform for Fanbot.ai’s Esports chatbot. The new chatbot will offer gaming fans a slate of features and interaction capabilities on Viber that include instant access to exclusive content, videos, live score updates, schedules; a live community to share and chat with in real time; and the ability to embellish messages with sticker packs oriented with each league.
South Korean powerhouse KSV eSports underwent a brand overhaul and will now be known as Gen.G, “the global esports organization that transcends borders, offering the premier esports experience for fans, players and brand partners.” With the change, the company is unveiling fresh logos, branded jerseys and more for current and future Gen.G teams competing in the world’s most popular esports, including Overwatch, League of Legends, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. As part of the rebrand announcement, Gen.G is also announcing first details for a new esports team in Shanghai playing in Supercell’s China Clash Royale League.
The Belgian Football Association unveiled its new national team – Belgian eDevils – for FIFA esports. Belgium marks the second nation football association, following France, to create a national team for FIFA 18.
H2k-Gaming is making moves to land one of the 2019 EU LCS franchises, according to theScore Esports, and will apply for one of the slots. “We intend to submit an application to Riot to secure a spot in the new league,” Lippe told the site. “While I can’t disclose any confidential information, I strongly believe that the H2K application will be well-received by Riot. I also believe that Riot has respect for the current H2K team, which proved to be quite competitive, and we also believe that they have a high level of respect for the H2K management.”
Electronic Arts released its financial earnings for the fiscal year ending March 31, reporting net revenues of $5.15 billion for a rise of 6.2%, with net income growing 7.9% to $1.04 billion, anchored by a surge in digital revenue streams (up 16.6% to $3.54 billion). “Fiscal 2018 was a year of strong growth and continued transformation for Electronic Arts, as we expanded the reach of our leading franchises like FIFA, Battlefield and The Sims to more players across more platforms and geographies,” CEO Andrew Wilson said. “In the year ahead, we will expand the world of play with amazing new experiences and new IP, more competition, and industry-leading subscription programs. There has never been a more exciting time to be engaging and entertaining global communities.”
Meanwhile, Capcom reports its most profitable year in history, courtesy of the success of Monster Hunter: World. The fiscal year saw net sales hit $867.5 million, up 8.4% with operating income up 17.5%. Again, digital streams propelled growth, up 26.3% to $681.1 million.
Nintendo will bow a paid online service for this Switch console this September. The membership platform will include access to a library of 20 games from Nintendo’s classic NES console, as well as cloud backup for game saves.An annual subscription will cost users $3.99 a month, $7.99 every three months or $19.99 for the year.
Square Enix will return to E3 this year, announced the Square Enix E3 Showcase 2018 – a livestream of a video that will have been “produced in advance.” The content will be available in both English and Japanese and is set to start at 10a PT on June 11, livestreamed across Facebook, Mixer, Twitch, Twitter and YouTube.
POWER PLAYERS – Brian Gordon
Engine Shop announced the acquisition of SA Studios Global esports and soccer divisions with the leadership team of Scott Debson and Jamie King now joining the agency as part of the deal. With this move, Engine Shop extends its industry-leadership in esports strategy, content and live event production capabilities, which includes last year’s pickup of The Gamer Agency. As part of the acquisition, ES is now the US agency for Umbro and will also act as the lead agency for eMLS, MLS’ competitive FIFA 18 league. Cynopsis asked Engine Shop CEO Brian Gordon about the acquisition and his vision for the future of esports.
Gordon on Engine Shop’s approach to esports: We initiated our business with the insight that the gaming and esports space needed knowledgeable service providers to help develop and activate campaigns. The two things we didn’t realize were a) just how many brands needed to go back to square one to truly understand the whole ecosystem, all of its entry points and then develop a strategy that custom fit their needs and b) just how many endemics needed true partners to help co-create platforms for their own platforms. These are both areas we’ve been active in over the past several months.
On adding The Gamer Agency: The Gamer Agency was critical to our ongoing education and understanding in the space. They have conceived and produced hundreds of events reaching global audiences for virtually every major publisher. The magic in bringing them on is in the merger of traditional engagement marketing with a lifelong understanding of gaming which included the more recent phenomenon of esports.
On opportunities: There is an insatiable appetite right now for the right access to gaming. We believe that centers around bringing great experiences and content to the global community of gamers; whether that’s through brands supporting with activation and content, publishers extending their titles through events and partnerships or the creation of new experiences.
On the addition of SA Studios Global: Scott and Jamie are unique – they believe in the value of brands, have tremendous experience in gaming and have a phenomenal ability to understand the type of content the community wants. That’s a hell of a trifecta.
On the future: What we believe is that five years from now gaming, as a consumer passion point, will be exponentially more relevant than it is today. We believe gaming will be a key driver of culture, commerce, competition and community. We also know that – as with what has been described as “traditional” sports, marketers have played a fundamental role in their success. In five years, I think we’ll look back and see, again, what a profound role they;ve played and in the emergence of esports as a top-tier sports industry.
The Entertainment Software Association announced the addition of Andrew Bowins, as Senior Vice President, Communications and Industry Affairs, and Nika Nour, as head of public affairs and strategic advisor to the CEO, to its leadership team.
VY Esports announced that Robb Hittner has joined the company as Chief Revenue Officer and Lisa Jenkins has joined as Director of Events. Hittner joins VY Esports from Edelman, where he led the company’s Los Angeles brand team and the global esports offering. Jenkins recently managed Red Bull North America’s national event strategy across a wide variety of sports disciplines and was responsible for creative event development.
