01/16/20: FIFA will hit Milan for its eClub World Cup

Good morning! It’s Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 and this is your weekly Esports Brief.

FIFA and Electronic Arts are bringing the FIFA eClub World Cup to Milan this year with the world’s top 24 teams competing for the world title in Italy from Feb. 7-9. Competition will see Italian teams Mkers, AS Roma and Team QLASH battle it out against 21 other outfits from all over the world, including organizations and clubs from Mexico, Germany, England, Spain, France, Japan, USA and other countries.

“We are proud that over 190 teams from all over the world took part in this season’s qualification and we are beyond excited to find the world’s best team out of the top-class field of participating teams. The introduction of team-based 2v2 matches showed a new level of excitement and competitiveness at last year’s event and will undoubtedly spark huge emotions at this year’s tournament as well,” said Adrian Rölli, Head of eFootball at FIFA.

Esports Charts revealed its list of the most popular esports leagues in 2019, leveraging data from the regular stages, final stages and qualifiers for the biggest leagues in the world, counting the total sum of all related events over the course of 2019. Taking first by total hours viewed was Overwatch League, snagging 75 million hours watched. That said, League of Legends took up the next three slots with its Korean, European and North American leagues, with the PUBG Mobile Club Open and CS:GO ESL Pro League rounding out the top six, respectively.

The NBA 2K League announced the return of 2020 NBA 2K League APAC Invitational, the league’s second international qualifying event in the Asia-Pacific region, taking place Jan. 20-21 in Seoul, South Korea. The two-day event will identify several top players from the Asia-Pacific region who will become eligible for the 2020 NBA 2K League Draft. The event will feature 20 of the top NBA 2K players from Australia, China, New Zealand, the Philippines and South Korea competing over two days of gameplay, including scrimmages and a tournament, and participating in interviews with league representatives. The NBA 2K League also today launched the league’s official Weibo channel in China.

Turner Sports’ ELEAGUE and Electronic Arts welcome the pro EA SPORTS FIFA 20 players to WarnerMedia Studios in Atlanta this weekend, where they will play for $200,000 in prize money and EA SPORTS FIFA 20 Global Series Rankings points. Live tournament coverage runs Jan. 17-19, beginning daily at 1p across platforms that include Twitch, YouTube, B/R Live and ELEAGUE.com. Coverage will be led by host Kevin Egan; play-by-play announcer Chris Tunn and reporter Jillian Sakovits make their ELEAGUE debuts, while studio analysts Mike LaBelle and Chu Morah – along with game analysts Dan Gaskin, Aaron West and play-by-play announcer Scott Cole – round out the crew.

Combo Breaker 2020 firmed up plans to run May 22-24 out of the Renaissance Schaumburg in Chicago. Overall, 24 official tournaments will be in play, with the 24-hour venue remaining open until the end of the final tournament on Championship Sunday. The event will also serve up dedicated streams for every tournament, including a Top Eight presentation for every game.

More changes for Overwatch Leagues talent lineup. This week saw the announced departures of Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat as well as Malik Forté ahead of season three of the league. The pair had been with the league since launch, and join Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles, Chris Puckett and Erik “DoA” Lonnquist from this year’s roster. The league has stated that new faces are on the way and will be announced shortly.

Super League Gaming locked in a new partnership with Wanda Cinemas Games, a subsidiary of Chinese media conglomerate Wanda Media. The new alliance will bring live, competitive gaming experiences to Wanda’s 700+ owned and operated theaters in multiple cities across China, with more activations to be announced in the future. In the agreement, Wanda theatres will be transformed into esports venues hosting live Super League events and tournaments throughout China, driving an entirely new gaming experience for the massive Wanda customer base. “Our partnership with Super League will bring a new theater and esports experience to the millions of Chinese esports fans and players,” says Jian Huang, CEO of Wanda Cinemas Games. “We are looking forward to closely cooperating with Super League to create and perfect this new venture into the China market.”

The 2020 Chel Invitational will see the North America Scholastic Esports Federation team up with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, LA Kings, Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers for this year’s event. Each team will host a qualifying regional esports competition for youth and adults. Winners of those local events will receive a trip to Southern California to compete on-stage in a live finals event at DreamHack Anaheim. Scholarships, grants, and team prizes totaling more than $50,000 will be awarded.

Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames will host the second annual 2020 CHEL Showdown presented by Scotiabank, partnering with WorldGaming for the event, taking place over a two weekend span (Feb. 1-2 and 8-9). The top two players from each of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms will earn the chance to compete in the Grand Finals hosted at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Feb. 22.

DreamHack detailed plans for its US West Coast debut via DreamHack Anaheim from Feb. 21-23. Events will include live music concerts in addition to The Dreamies, an awards show slated for Feb. 23. DreamHack will also launch a new charity initiative in 2020, entitled “Pause for a Cause” to impact the local communities in each U.S. city where a DreamHack festival is located. Beginning with DreamHack Anaheim, DreamHack will pick three local communities. Tournaments are set to feature Fortnite, CS:GO, Magic The Gathering Arena, Halo, as well as fighting game, collegiate and high school tournaments.

Nerd Street Gamers sealed a new partnership with high school esports platform PlayV and will serve as the broadcast partner of the PlayVS High School Esports Championships this year, with Nerd Street Gamers carrying high school championship League of Legends and Rocket League on Twitch across 13 states. Nerd Street Gamers will also produce video content surrounding championship events and the high school players who compete.

Save the date and get in now as slots are already being filled! Be a part of the 2020 Esports Upfront, taking place this year on April 21, 2020 at CNVS New York. Last year saw some participants score millions in new business as a result of presenting, so don’t miss your opportunity to lay out your plans in front of an invitation-only audience of leading brands and agencies. Contact [email protected] for details.

As the platform wars wage on, there appears to be one situation that has resulted in a positive change in viewership. Although there are many variations in platform changes, like from Twitch to Mixer or from YouTube to Twitch, the change showing the most promise thus far has actually been from Twitch to YouTube. This week, Stream Hatchet analyzed and predicted the growth from two streamers who recently made that move.

· By taking a week of CouRage’s viewership on Twitch from October and comparing it to a recent week of his on YouTube, his total hours watched grew by 16.37%.
· Applying the same growth percentage increase to Valkyrae over one week, Stream Hatchet predicts she will reach 33.4k hours watched after moving from Twitch to YouTube.
· Both CouRage and Valkyrae had YouTube channels where they posted VoD content before making the switch for live streaming. This pre-existing presence on YouTube could be a reason they’re seeing this level of success.

For more information regarding streaming statistics and analysis, please visit www.streamhatchet.com.

The League of Legends European Championship will see the return of two partners this season. Kia Motors will again serve as the official automotive partner of the league in 2020. Kia will continue as the presenting sponsor of the “Player of the Game” segment and will become the new presenting sponsor of the “All-Star Team of the Split” and “MVP of the Split” Awards which will come at the end of each split. Kia Motors will also exhibit the latest Kia automobiles for LEC fans at roadshows later this year.

The LEC also announced Alienware as a returning sponsor to provide official competition hardware for LEC, including outfitting the league with the latest Aurora R9 desktop and their brand new AW2521HF 240Hz IPS gaming monitors in 2020. Alienware will be the presenting partner of the Match of the Week show. “As a league, the LEC has had a fantastic year of strong viewership growth and competitive success internationally,” says Bryan DeZayas, director of global marketing for Alienware. “The rebranded broadcast and talented on-camera team create a show that is entertaining for viewers of all levels of play to enjoy. The impressive 2019 performances from rosters like G2, Fnatic and Schalke and have shown the world that some of the best players and competition to come will be found here in the LEC.”

Secretlab locked in a partnership with G2 Esports. Secretlab will be the official chair sponsor of G2’s ten teams, including its League of Legends team, its Rainbow Six Siege players and Rocket League. To celebrate, Secretlab and G2 created the Secretlab G2: Army of Champions Edition gaming seat. “We take it seriously when it comes to deciding what equipment and hardware to use and Secretlab consistently provides top-quality products for our pro players who spend countless hours training and competing from their seats. Our G2 League of Legends and CS:GO players experienced firsthand the unmatched quality and comfort of Secretlab’s gaming chairs on the global stage last year. Now, the pinnacle of sitting experiences is available to our entire #G2Army with the Secretlab G2 Edition, uniting our fans and players on a whole new level.”

YouTube snagged more names to its exclusive list, reeling in the trio of LazarBeam, Muselk and Valkyrae making the platform their new exclusive live streaming home. The three content creators boast over 21 million subscribers. LazarBeam (12.3M subscribers) has the eighth most viewed channel on YouTube with over 2B views in 2019; Muselk (8.15M subscribers) whose boundless excitement for gaming has driven him to gain 7.8M subscribers over the last two years; and Valkyrae, a key live streamer on the verge of breaking 1M subs on YouTube. Muselk, in coordination with Click Management and LazarBeam, will host a 12-hour charity livestream with the goal to raise $1M AUD for the Australian Bushfire Crisis. Lannan (LazarBeam) is one of the world’s biggest content creators, with over 12 million subscribers.

Prize Payments provided its first live payments for Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Nordics Championship, in which winning players from six countries received prize money in an average of 15 hours. Prize Payments distributed prizes from Ubisoft to players in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom. 95% of all winners from the Rainbow Six Siege Nordics Championship elected to be paid by direct bank transfer using the Prize Payment platform rather than PayPal, Check or Wire transfers.

DreamHack and ESL announced that Maincast, an esports solutions provider, acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights for Russia and CIS, including Ukraine and Georgia, to the companies’ joint CS:GO tournament circuit, ESL Pro Tour, as well as DreamHack’s DreamLeague and ESL’s Dota tournament circuit. The agreement is a three-year deal starting in 2020, and expiring February 2023, making the included tournament circuits available to a broad audience all over Russia & CIS.

TEAMS

Esports Charts locked in a new partnership with Team Liquid, and will now provide Team Liquid with esports events’ detailed viewership analytics, statistics on Team Liquid’s teams and competitors’ analysis. Among other things, Esports Charts will provide access to up-to-date statistical information about audience preferences and streaming growth trends.

Fortnite is building up the Icon Series, unveiling plans to blend gaming, music, film, and fashion in the game beginning with Ninja. Players looking in tonight starting at 7p will be able to get the Ninja Outfit, Ninja’s Edge Back Bling, Ninja Style Emote and Dual Katanas Pickaxe. Other upcoming collaborations will include names such as Loserfruit and TheGrefo along with other creators from games, music and entertainment.

Allied Esports Entertainment announced that real estate company Brookfield Property Partners will become a shareholder of the company through a $5 million equity investment. Per the agreement and strategic alliance, Brookfield Properties will bring Allied Esports’ new on-mall esports venue concept to its existing retail destinations. The two companies will collaborate on the development of dedicated esports venues and gaming experiences that will be designed for tournament play of all levels, with PCs and consoles available for daily use, complete broadcast and streaming production capabilities, full food and beverage options, and experiential retail.

Allied Esports and Simon announced that Mall of Georgia in Buford will serve as the location for the companies’ first dedicated esports venue as part of their previously announced strategic alliance. The two-level, 13,000-square-foot facility will be located at The Village and feature regular amateur and professional esports tournaments and events across a variety of games and genres.

Riot Games continues to expand its portfolio, this time announcing plans to deepen its library of tabletop games, beginning with Tellstones: King’s Gambit, described as “ a 2-4 player bluffing game from the lawful kingdom of Demacia.

The New Year brought news of a bevy of deals from MMA outfit ONE Championship, with the partnerships and subsequent activations set to reach into its esports division, ONE Esports as well. Brands, many of which are activating in esports for the first time, while others are staples, include: JBL, TUMI, Red Bull, Lazada, DBS Bank, Foodpanda, Hugo Boss, Harvey Norman, Secretlab, California Fitness, Kredivo, Reckitt Benckiser, and Unilever. Brands are all primed to collaborate with ONE Championship and ONE Esports on various martial arts and esports initiatives. Following its first events at the end of 2019, Cynopsis Esports caught up with ONE Esports CEO Carlos Alimurung to talk about the state of the league and its events.

Alimurung on joining ONE Esports: There’s really three things that convinced me to join ONE Esports at their CEO. The first one is that when you have an opportunity to meet with a guy like Chatri Trisiripisal, you want to work with him because he has such a passion for his business and his personality is magnetizing and you realize that there is a lot you can learn from him. The second reason is that after four years at Battlefy, I learned how to harness the energy and enthusiasm of the community through technology. I had also worked at Univision, which labels itself as the voice of Hispanic America, because they know how to tell the stories of Hispanic Americans in a very authentic way. So when I looked at the story of ONE Championship and how they pitch it around deep cultural values and heritage, I said to myself that if one can take those same capabilities and apply to esports, I would have a huge impact on the ecosystem.

On goals: Our mission is to unleash onto the world esports superheroes. The reason that is our mission is because our community needs that. From a commercial perspective, if you do the storytelling right, that allows you to broaden your audience beyond just hardcore gamers, and it also allows your brand partners to talk about their company values beyond just logo slapping. We are looking to do this across titles, across platforms and across time. You will see a lot more of that in 2020.

On early takeaways: We proved that the community was there. The net promoter score for attendees was above 90%; that’s huge. The brand recall was also above 80%. When it comes to opportunities to improve, it was our first event so there are all these little production things that I want to get better at. Fortunately, there are no big red flags there and they are all doable. We are only going to get better at producing these kinds of events. When we can go back and saw we got over 80 million views from our Singapore event, I think that is a great place to start from.

On picking titles: There are two ways we think about the titles. We are starting in Southeast Asia but we have global aspirations. We truly believe there is a multi-billion dollar opportunity in esports and we are going to go after it, but that means you have to have a global perspective. The first one is what is relevant and popular in Southeast Asia. That has a different set of game titles than other parts of the world. They way over-index on mobile esports and you will soon see some announcements in that space. But we also have to consider global titles that we think have longevity to them, which we think of as Street Fighter, Tekken, Dota 2. There will be other titles we announce, but that’s how we think about it.

ROSTER MOVES

North American outfit Noble Esports announced that Jeremy “Lambzy” McLamb will return to the organization as CEO. McLamb was a co-founder and former COO before departing in 2015.

Saira Mueller’s new landing spot has her on the dark side, announcing that she would be joining Evil Geniuses to serve the team as Director of Marketing. he was most recently at Gen.G.

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