Good morning! This is your weekly Esports Brief.

EA is giving a facelift to its FIFA 22 Global Series, opening the doors to teamplay as well as new competitions. In what will be the publisher’s largest celebration of FIFA to date, EA’s marquee esports competition kicks off in December with 2-vs-2 competition (1-vs-1 play will remain as well) and Team of the Year & Team of the Season Cups. Players from more than 70 countries are eligible to compete with players representing themselves, globally recognized esports organizations, real-world football clubs, and their nation in a diverse set of FIFA esports events. The three competitions featured in the expanded esports ecosystem are the FIFAe Club Series 2022, the FIFAe Nations Series 2022, and the EA SPORTS FIFA 22 Global Series on The Road to the FIFAe World Cup 2022 with all three taking place in summer 2022.

“FIFA competitive gaming is the future of global esports entertainment, enhancing how fans experience the game they love,” said Brent Koning, VP, EA SPORTS Competitive Gaming. “FIFA possesses the pivotal platform for football fans around the world to insert themselves into their own sports story. In partnership with FIFA, the mainstream appeal of esports is evident.”

“Newcomers, as well as established superstars – individually or as a team – will inspire entire nations of EA SPORTS FIFA players and get the opportunity to fame their game,” said Christian Volk, Director of eFootball and Gaming at FIFA. “A historic season full of thrilling competitive FIFA stories will captivate a global fanbase with this expanded ecosystem.”

With the 2021 Overwatch League season in the books, the org saw the Grand Finals matchup between the Atlanta Reign and Shanghai Dragons rank as the most-watched Overwatch League match of all time, according to viewership stats published in Forbes. Shanghai’s sweep of Atlanta notched a global AMA of 1.68 million, marking a rise of 8% over the 2020 Grand Finals. On YouTube, there was an AMA of 218,000, up 36% increase from last year’s Grand Finals.

Halo’s HCS Kickoff Major will land in Raleigh on December 17-19, 2021 with a starting prize pool of $250,000 and will feature the new games from the franchise in Halo Infinite. The HCS Kickoff Major will feature an open bracket, seating for spectators, as well as full main stage and featured stations for pool play and the championship bracket with Esports Engine operating the event

Meanwhile, the League of Legends: Wild Rift Summoner Series Regional Finals locked in the first LAN event for the game in North America. Nerd Street partnered with Riot Games and Wisdom Gaming to produce the event, and announced that the finals will happen at the Localhost Gaming and Esports Center in Denver. Eight teams will compete in the finals from Oct. 8-10 to become the first North American champions. The winner will move on to represent the region at the first global event for Wild Rift esports, the Horizon Cup in Singapore in November.

Sim racing org Veloce Esports found a partner in racing game developer Codemasters to launch a new multi-title esports league, titled The VERSUS ULTRA Series. Competition will begin in 2022 with six teams competing.

The Mythic Dungeon International concludes Season 2 with the Last Stand Tournament, where six teams will face off to see who can complete every dungeon in the fastest time and secure the last spot at the 2021 Global Finals. Competition runs this weekend starting at 1p ET on YouTube.

Evo announced that it was pulling the plug on the upcoming Evo Showcase, which was set to serve as a live, in-person event. The company noted that the decision was due to continuing complications of COVID-19 and the spread of the Delta variant.

LEARFIELD and Electronic Arts announced the return of the collegiate esports league, LevelNext, with competition kicking off first with EA SPORTS Madden NFL 22. Kicking off on October 13, college students across the country will go head-to-head in seven weeks of Madden NFL 22 competition comprising a regular season, playoffs, and championship. During the live broadcast finals on November 18, the top collegiate players will be crowned the LevelNext Madden National Champion on behalf of their university. “The LevelNext Madden National Championship completes an extensive ecosystem of football competitive gaming giving fans the opportunity to connect via NFL, collegiate athletics, or professional esport licensed competition,” said Matt Marcou, Madden NFL Competitive Gaming Commissioner. “Madden NFL continues to stand out as preeminent entertainment with recent esports broadcast viewership skyrocketing. We look forward to growing franchise fandom in key youth demographics in partnership with LEARFIELD through centralized collegiate competition.”

Blizzard set a date for this year’s Hearthstone World Championship. On December 18-19, the top eight players from around the world will face-off in the Hearthstone World Championship for their share of the $500,000 prize pool and a spot in the Hall of Champions. The final four competitors to head to World Championship will be decided in the coming weeks. Grandmasters 2021 Season 2 concludes on October 10, where the champions for the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe will be decided. Following the conclusion of Grandmasters Season 2, the final spot will go to China’s Gold Series champion, which will be determined in early November.

The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the nation’s oldest historically black athletic conference, and the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports, the national governing body for two-year college esports in the United States, are partnering up with a focus on the collective growth and development of collegiate esports and gaming across their respective associations. The CIAA and NJCAAE will collaborate on programming geared towards initiating growth within the gaming and esports industry, identifying competitive gaming opportunities among CIAA and NJCAAE institutions, and developing relationship and college recruiting pipelines between each associations’ respective membership.

Esports Collegiate is teaming with eFuse to produce ESC events for the 2021-22 academic year. eFuse will produce, stream, and coordinate 280 competitive matches for the conference’s 14 teams across the three-month season. ESC currently sees teams compete in Rocket League, League of Legends, and Overwatch.

Meanwhile, Cxmmunity, the nonprofit working to increase diversity in the esports and video game industries, announced plans to host a 16-team NBA 2K tournament for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (in partnership with Michael B. Jordan’s Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic. The event will take place on Dec.18, at Prudential Center in Newark. “As part of our mission, and in every event we take part in producing, it’s of the utmost importance that we prioritize students’ access to education through gaming and STEM, but also in a setting that includes sports, entertainment, culture and empowerment,” says Ryan Johnson, Cxmmunity’s Co-Founder and Executive Director and tourney participant Oakwood University alum.

Judging is finished and we are proud to present this year’s finalists for The Tempest Awards, with categories spanning production, marketing, talent, events and technology in esports. Congrats to all the finalists and a HUGE thanks to all of our judges! You can click here to view the contenders (and get your tickets to this annual event now as it ALWAYS sells out!)

After The Tempests, get ready to grind as XSET is hosting the official Tempest Award afterparty at HyperX Esports Arena! All EBS attendees are invited to join the music and the festivities to eat, drink and be merry. We look forward to seeing you there!

The latest MMORPG from Amazon Games launched Tuesday, September 28th with incredible success. New World has been on the minds of gamers since the first official trailer in 2019 followed by positive beta gameplay. The beta earlier this year generated massive viewership garnering the attention of many of the top streamers across Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming. The official release this week likely marks the beginning of the most popular MMORPG of the year. Will New World be a staple in gaming and live streaming or will it fall behind other games within the genre?
New World generated over 12.3 million hours watched on its launch day, enough to claim the 12th highest single-day viewership of 2021.
· The new title also reached over 1 million peak viewers while averaging over 514 thousand viewers across live streaming platforms.
· New World set the record on Steam during its launch for most concurrent players at over 700 thousand, shattering the previous record by about 200 thousands players.
· MMORPGs create incredible opportunities for brands to get involved, especially with the expanding metaverse and in-game assets, so be on the lookout for companies to deploy marketing tactics within New World.
For more information about live streaming viewership, please visit www.streamhatchet.com.

AT&T is dialing up a deal with content creator Tim “TimTheTatman” Betar, collaborating on content, events and innovation designed to showcase AT&T’s 5G capabilities. The collaboration activated this week when AT&T and TimTheTatman embarked on the AT&T 5G Roadshow.

Bud Light Seltzer detailed plans for the Bud Light Seltzer Showdown: the brand’s NBA2KL esports tournament open to West Coast gamers. In partnership with NBA2KL alongside top gaming partners including Amino Energy, the*GameHERs, Zenni, and Razer, Bud Light Seltzer Showdown is a virtual competition for age appropriate fans in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington that will feature casters Autumn Johnson and Jamie “Dirk” Diaz. “As the Official Hard Seltzer of e-Sports, Bud Light Seltzer is excited to provide gamers an immersive experience with the Bud Light Seltzer Showdown,” said Joe Barnes, Director, Bud Light Sports Marketing. “We’re always finding new ways to give every gamer 21 and older epic virtual and in-person opportunities regardless of their level of expertise.”

PLATFORMS

Valve locked in a partnership with esports merchandising company We Are Nations to produce and distribute a line of merchandise for Dota 2’s The International 2021. We Are Nations will be charged with creating official branded apparel and accessories related to the event, which runs Oct. 7-17.

ESL revealed a new partnership with data startup company Shadow Esports in a move that will see ESL expand the distribution of Shadow.GG’s Esports Widget, a data tool that provides a detailed 2D map of the game that can be used as a supplement or replacement of the live stream in addition to other features.

The NBA 2K League and DUX Gaming, a sports organization with teams that compete in a variety of video game titles and Spanish football leagues, locked in a deal that will see DUX Gaming launch an NBA 2K League expansion team based in Mexico, marking the first NBA 2K League team in Latin America. The city in Mexico where the team will be based will be announced at a later date. DUX Gaming’s NBA 2K League team will join the NBA 2K League next season in the spring of 2022 and expands on the league’s global footprint following the addition of the Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai in 2020. “This is a historic day as we welcome another premier international organization to the NBA 2K League family,” said NBA 2K League President Brendan Donohue. “DUX Gaming has a demonstrated track record of growing its fan base in new and creative ways which makes it an ideal partner to help the NBA 2K League successfully expand to Latin America, where basketball and 2K are already incredibly popular. We’re thrilled that DUX Gaming will represent Mexico in the NBA 2K League for years to come.”

Misfits Gaming Group announced a $35 million investment round led by The E.W. Scripps Company. As part of the investment, Scripps also will appoint a designee to Misfits’ board of directors. Scripps will invest $10 million into MGG’s global esports organization, which includes its two Florida esports franchises. With its investment, Scripps has the power to distribute MGG’s content through its linear and over-the-top television platforms in Florida and across the U.S.

Ahead of the start of the first Rocket League Championship Series 2021-22 Regional, the Rocket League Esports Shop is adding 34 new Team Decals on Oct. 5 (including teams from South America and Oceania for the first time). All teams will get “Home Kits” that feature Team Decals custom made by the esports team themselves. Team Decals for Octane, Dominus, and Fennec will be sold individually for 300 Esports Tokens. There will also be more teams and new content such as “Away Kits” added to the Esports Shop throughout the RLCS 2021-22 Season.

Fnatic landed a three-year deal with online fashion and cosmetic retailer ASOS, which will now serve as the org’s Official Retail Fashion Partner. Deal points will include on-and-offline activations, along with ASOS logo placement on the front of Fnatic jerseys. The deal marks the first esports brand partnership for ASOS.

Intema Solutions completed the acquisition of Team Bloodhounds. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to finalize the acquisition of Team BH,” said Laurent Benezra, President and CEO of Intema. “Matteo built Team BH from the ground up, and in just three years, transformed it into a global juggernaut and Canada’s second most followed Fortnite esports team. Team BH has an engaged audience yet has barely scratched the surface as far as impact, influence, and reach in the esports space. We envision Team BH as a game-changing member of our growing esports ecosystem and are ready to help them take things to the next level.”

INDUSTRY

Developer and publisher Supersocial raised $5.2 million dollars in seed funding to build “iconic metaverse experiences.” The seed funding was led by Initial Capital (founded by the serial entrepreneurs behind Playfish who led seed rounds for Supercell, Hutch Games, Nexmo, Supersolid and Space Ape), with investment from Griffin Gaming Partners (investors in Discord, AppLovin, Skillz, Forte), Warner Music Group, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, LightShed Ventures (investors in Genvid, Cameo), Powerhouse Capital (investors in Calm, MasterClass), Aream & Co, and prominent angel investors.

ROSTER MOVES

Immortals Gaming Club announced a corporate restructuring into four “separate, cash-flow positive business units” along with a series of executive promotions for Immortals, MIBR, Gamers Club, and LA Valiant. As part of IGC’s strategic positioning to continue its operational growth and pursue new initiatives Jordan Sherman was promoted to CEO of Immortals effective today. Ari Segal was promoted to Co-Managing Director of IGC, Executive Chairman of Immortals and Gamers Club, and non-Executive Chairman of MIBR. Tomi Kovanen was promoted to Co-Managing Director of IGC and will serve as Executive Vice Chair of Immortals, MIBR, and Gamers Club. Yuri Uchiyama, Gamers Club’s Co-Founder, will remain its CEO and has taken on the title of Executive Chairman of MIBR. Roberta Coelho has been hired as the first full-time CEO of MIBR.

Comcast Spectacor named Russell Arons as President of G4. Arons will usher in a new phase of G4 when it officially returns on linear, OTT, and streaming channels later this year. “Russell’s proven expertise in the entertainment and gaming industries makes her exceptionally poised to lead the launch and growth of the return of G4 with a new, digital-first approach,” said Dave Scott, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Spectacor. “As we proceed toward our launch, Russell’s leadership will ensure that G4 is developing and acquiring creative content that is meaningful and engaging to the growing gaming and pop culture enthusiast community.”

Wisdom Gaming promoted Wade “Dreadnaught” Penfold as its first Vice President of Esports. Penfold joined Wisdom Gaming in 2020 as Director of Esports and prior to, was a professional player, streamer and commentator for Apex Legends, Rocket League and Heroes of the Storm for the past decade. In his new role, Penfold will lead Wisdom’s competitive esports initiatives that include driving brand value through strategic partnerships, develop an arsenal of title focused content creators, and fielding competitive rosters to expand into new games.

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