04/14/22: Infinite Realty gets Rekt; OWL’s new faces; CDL reups w Scuf

COMPETITION

With the countdown now just weeks before the launch of Overwatch League’s fifth season on May 5, the league unveiled its talent lineup for the year, which will feature play from the upcoming Overwatch 2. Soe Gschwind returns as lead host, accompanied once again by desk analysts Danny Lim, Scott “Custa” Kennedy and Jonathan “Reinforce” Larsson. Caster pairings, meanwhile, will blend veteran faces with new ones and include Mitch “Uber” Leslie and Matt “Mr. X” Morello; Jack “Jaws” Wright and Rosemary “Nekkra” Kelley; Seth “Achilios” King and Kevin “AVRL” Walker; Jennifer “LemonKiwi” Pichette and Harry “LEGDAY” Pollitt; and Tom “Tridd” Underwood and Victoria “VikkiKitty” Perez.

The Global Esports Federation confirmed plan for the second edition of the Global Esports Games to take place in Istanbul from December 14-18 this year. “Istanbul 2022 Global Esports Games is going to be epic. When you stand in the heart of Istanbul, you really feel that you are at the center of something historic and energizing. Together with Alper Afsin Ozdemir, the President of TESFED and Board Member, Talha Karatas, and leadership of Spor Istanbul, we are creating programs and plans for the second edition of our flagship global event,” said Paul J. Foster, CEO of the GEF. “We’re thrilled to see the excitement from the Turkish community, lighting up a new world of possibilities as the GEG moves from Asia to Europe.” Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh is expected to host the third version of the Global Esports Games in 2023.

Electronic Arts announced that the EACC Spring 2022 will continue the 2022 season of EA SPORTS FIFA Online 4 esports events, hosted by EA and Official Tournament Organizer and Lead Agency, ONE Esports. The Spring edition of the EACC will take place online from April 18-24 and will be broadcast across China, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. The tournament will feature 12 teams competing over a week of intense competition for a total US$100,000 prize pool.

YouTube creator Ludwig locked in a $100,000 partnership with Epic Games for his ‘Fortnite Mondays’ tournaments. The creator posted alongside his partnership announcement, that his first tournament would be open to small creators only with the next one running April 18. Overall, there will be a total of three tournaments held.

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SPONSORSHIP & ACTIVATION

The Call of Duty League locked in a new two-year deal with partner SCUF Gaming to remain the official controller of the CDL. This marks the third year that SCUF has partnered with Call of Duty League as exclusive controller and controller accessory partner. As part of the partnership, SCUF Gaming will activate at all live in-person League-hosted events to offer fans the chance to see and experience their controllers firsthand. SCUF has also teamed up with the CDL to bring fans official league controllers featuring team colors and logos.

Papa John’s is going deep on Smash, revealing partnerships with a dozen key Super Smash Bros. tournaments throughout 2022. The deals were announced by Beyond the Summit with activations beginning with Genesis 8 this weekend, and running through Mainstage 2022 in December. “Better Brackets, Better Pizza, No Johns,” tweeted CEO 2022 organizer Alex Jebailey in reference to the announcement. “But seriously happy to see a collective put together with @BTSsmash leading the way and including @CEOGaming into the mix. This is how big support starts when you work together.”

Buff.game inked a year-long partnership with NRG Esports, which will promote the Buff platform through branding, content and tournaments organized for NRG fans while debit card BuffPay becomes the official debit card of NRG Esports.

BLAST Premier announced a season-long partnership with global logistics company A.P. Moller – Maersk. BLAST Premier and A.P. Moller – Maersk will look to use the partnership to bring fans closer to esports through integrated digital campaigns and an MVP activation and broadcast segment.

FaZe Clan named RESPAWN as the organization’s official gaming chair partner. The new collaboration will outfit FaZe Clan’s roster of content creators and esports pros with RESPAWN’S premium gaming chairs. Additionally, a new set of FaZe Clan x RESPAWN branded chairs, which will come in various colorways and three different price points, will be available for purchase later this year. “RESPAWN is excited to partner with FaZe Clan, bringing together two powerhouses in the gaming community,” says Rachael Boone, President of OFM, Inc. (parent company of RESPAWN). “This partnership highlights the best of gaming performance by uniting ergonomic furniture expertise with top-level gamers and creators – resulting in meaningful content and a performance-driven product to meet the needs of the gaming community.”

Misfits Gaming Group extended its partnership with ROG, which will continue to provide Misfits’ teams and content creators with PCs, laptops, and accessories. Misfits Gaming will also sport ROG branding on team jerseys. The two companies first partnered in early 2021.

LA-based esports org The Sentinels and G FUEL secured a long-term deal, which includes sponsorship of multiple Sentinels’ platforms – from a YouTube series to upcoming co-branded products. The brand will now power Sentinels’ “unSENsored,” showcasing behind-the-scenes moments from the biggest tournaments in the world. “G FUEL is a gaming and esports staple, so we predict great success with this partnership,” said Sentinels CEO Rob Moore. “Both fans and the esports community at large will get to connect to the Sentinels on a deeper level with ‘unSENsored.’”

PLATFORMS

XQC once again laid claim to the title of most popular English-speaking Twitch streamer for the first quarter of 2022, notching 62.9 million hours watched, according to Esports Charts. Tyler ‘Trainwreckstv’ Niknam took second for the period, clocking 30.6 million hours, followed by Asmongold.

Tencent is getting ready to shut down its esports-driven streaming platform Egame. The company has also stated that user data will be deleted in accordance with China’s Personal Information Protection Law.

Esports data platform GRID Esports entered into a two-year partnership with Riot Games that will see the company provide VALORANT data to its platform. GRID receives exclusive access to data from all of the title’s main global and regional tournaments.

TEAMS

Evil Geniuses is launching a new, full-service studio for content creators headed by John Jung, EG’s VP of operations and studio. He told GamesBeat in an interview, “This is our first foray into building out both a production facility as well as all of the talent that we would need to build and shoot, edit, post-produce, everything from beginning to end. As well, we’ve incorporated the Creator Collective to build a whole community or creative individuals who will all be part of EG’s content plan going forward.” According to the report, the company has already created its first round of content in its EG Files docuseries as well as a video starring CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson and plans to start construction of the facility, located in Seattle, within the next few months.

FaZe Clan inked content creator Donald “Deestroying” De La Haye to join the organization. The YouTube content creator from Costa Rica produceshis football and fitness-based content with a focus on his athletic skills, personal lifestyle vlogs, and one-on-ones with athletes. “We are beyond excited to broaden our footprint to a wider array of content with the addition of Deestroying,” said Nikhil Jayaram, Senior Talent Manager at FaZe Clan who also manages FaZe Clan’s biggest talent including FaZe Rug among others. “His natural starpower, work ethic and love for content creation fits perfectly into the FaZe family. We are constantly in innovation-mode at FaZe and looking for ways to embrace new types of talent. Dee joining FaZe signifies the expansion of the sports and athlete side of not only our talent roster, but our company and we can’t wait to keep building with him.”

Luxury auto brand Lamborghini launched the Automobili Lamborghini Esports Team, inking three sim drivers to join the squad. Lamborghini will now compete in “Assetto Corsa Competizione,” an Italian-developed car racing simulator, with Jordan Sherratt of South Africa and Italians Gianfranco Giglioli and Giorgio Simonini as the drivers. Their first competition is the GT World Challenge Esports Sprint Series Europe.

INDUSTRY

Epic Games landed a $2 billion round of financing involving Sony Group Corporation and KIRKBI. The financial injection will be used to support the company’s growth, and help advance its vision to build the metaverse. The investment round included funding from technology conglomorate and previous Epic Games investor Sony Group Corporation, and KIRKBI, the investment company behind the LEGO Group. Sony and KIRKBNI both invested $1bn each.

XSET added Astoic Management to its umbrella, where Lonnie Anthony will serve as Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) and Rob Martin will serve as Chief Experience Officer (CXO). Astoic Management has represented celebrities such as Offset, Floyd Mayweather, Ronnie2K, and Cassy Athena. “It’s an honor to join XSET,” said Lonnie Anthony, Co-Founder of Astoic Management. “XSET is at the forefront of intertwining entertainment, gaming, and driving culture forward. My vision for the organization is to move the needle forward and advance XSET’s foray into the world of Web3 and the metaverse. What we have in the pipeline is going to surprise a lot of people and create historical moments that the world will never forget.”

Legendary Play announced it has secured $4 million in funding for its latest project: A series of mobile games for esports fans. Bitkraft Ventures and MTG led the round, with participation from 1Up Ventures and Level Up. Legendary Play has also partnered with ESL to make virtual versions of the latter’s esports events and keep the games feeling authentic.

QuakeCon will return a digital event this year, Bethesda announced, with an online edition of the event running Aug. 18-20. “Like you, we’re disappointed to not return to Dallas this year,” Bethesda said. “An event of this size requires months of planning, and in this case, we had to make decisions when there was still too much uncertainty to commit to successfully executing an in-person QuakeCon.”