In The News
CamSoda (yes, that CamSoda) wants to sponsor “a competitive gaming athlete for up to $100,000,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports. “CamSoda will expand into esports for the first time with a contest in which it will accept applications for its first-ever official esports sponsorship.”
EA News:
Electronic Arts is “closely monitoring” the Las Vegas police’s reopened investigation into an alleged 2009 rape by FIFA 19 cover star Cristiano Ronaldo. “His accuser made her complaint public in German magazine Der Spiegel last week,” PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk writes. “Ronaldo has strenuously denied the allegation, saying on Twitter that ‘rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.’” What’s more, VG24/7’s Sherif Saed reports EA’s social media channels have scrubbed Ronaldo.
EA’s partnering with English Premier League, GI.biz’s Haydn Taylor reports. “The inaugural ePremier League (ePL) tournament is the latest addition to the EA Sports FIFA Global Series.”
Telltale Games employee Rachel Noel tweeted yesterday that the remaining “skeleton crew” has also been laid off. She did clarify that “There are still good people at the company. MY team is done.”
Seems like at least one author wants The Witcher creator Andrzej Sapkowski to be a little more thankful for his involvement with CD Projekt Red.
Blizzard ended its Blizzard Holiday Plan, “a lucrative end-of-year bonus program, according to the Activision Blizzard 2018 Proxy Statment,” Variety’s Liz Lanier writes. “It will instead, a rep said on Thursday, integrate that money into the base salary of employees.”
Estars unveiled “an interactive engagement platform for esports events around the world,” Takahashi reports. “Estars Outlast, is a free-to-play competition that allows fans to test their knowledge of various esports tournaments and predict the performance of their favorite competitors.”
Romania “announced a €94 million investment fund for tech companies,” GI.biz’s Matthew Handrahan writes.
Partnerships:
Singtel and Razer are partnering to create “a new broadband service,” Esports Insider’s Joe Wong reports.
Virtual Athletics League, HP and HTC are partnering, TEO’s Trent Murray reports. “The league will organize tournaments in virtual reality arcades across the world.”
FC Utrecht eSports and Kinepolis are partnering “to integrate esports into the current entertainment package, including content and events where FC Utrecht eSports takes part,” Esports Insider’s Melany Moncav reports.
Madrid Games Week and Movistar are partnering, Esports Insider’s Lydia Mitrevski writes. “The multi-day video game fair will feature tournaments in Clash Royale, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rainbow Six: Siege, and Gran Turismo.”
London Games Festival is expanding to 13 days for 2019.
Unsurprisingly, Ninja was the most hours watched on Twitch last week at 4 million, TEO reports. Shroud came in 2nd at 1.9 million, nickmercs in 3rd at 1.3 million and tfue in 4th at 1 million.
Interviews: Com2uS CEO Casey Lee (GI.biz).
Extra Esports News:
Treyarch showed off another Black Ops 4 maps: Militia.
“The Chinese Taipei Hearthstone Global Games (HGG) team has been disqualified from the Hearthstone Global Games competition,” Hearthstone posted in its “Hearthstone Esports Administrative Rulings.”