In The News
Congratulations to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on winning DICE’s game of the year award.
President Donald Trump jumped on the “video games = violence” bandwagon yesterday. “In a White House meeting held with lawmakers on the theme of school safety, President Donald Trump offered both a direct and vague call to action against violence in media by calling out video games and movies,” Ars Technica’s Sam Machkovech reports.
Discord now has verified servers for official partner teams. Those teams include “Team Liquid, DreamHack, and almost every Overwatch League team,” Engadget’s Rob LeFebvre reports. “The program launches February 22nd on the company’s verified servers.”
Funding news:
GamesIndustry.biz’s Matthew Handrahan reports “Vision Esports has raised $38 million in a funding round led by Evolution Media.” Big names like “NFL star Odell Beckham Jr., NBA star Kevin Durant, the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, and a number of unnamed sports professionals” were involved.
FanAI netted $2.5 million “in seed funding for its platform that uses artificial intelligence to monetize esports fans,” VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reports.
Looking to watch professional Smite? Head over to Mixer. “Microsoft has secured a deal to exclusively broadcast” the “Pro and Console series” for Smite, GamesIndustry.biz’s James Batchelor writes.
‘Tis the season of lawsuits. “Star Control’s original developers, Paul Reiche and Fred Ford, are filing a counterclaim against Brad Wardell and the company Stardock over the question of who owns Star Control,” Game Informer’s Imran Khan writes.
Millennial Esports’ Darren Cox did an interview with The Esports Observer’s Graham Ashton. Here’s a snippet: “‘“Let’s take these guys who have proved they are the best in their different aspects in the sport—Forza Motorsport 6, iRacing, rFactor 2, which are almost…’”
Come at me! UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic “issued a challenge to NFL star and FaZe Clan member JuJu Smith-Schuster” to play a game of Call of Duty, Dexerto’s Mike Kent reports.
Super League Gaming expanded its teams to include “the Atlanta Bashers, the Tampa Bay Dungeoneers, the Philadelphia Specters, and Washington D.C. Conspirators,” Esports Insider’s Sam Cooke writes. “Each of the new city teams will compete nationwide in both Minecraft and League of Legends tournaments.”
As a D.C. resident, I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.
Esportsbetting.com has arrived, according to Cooke. It’s partnering “with the Esports Integrity Coalition.”
Hearthstone is looking for additional broadcast talent. Check it out here.
Heroes of the Storm now has “voice communication,” according to Blizzard’s press release.