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08/04/22: Dota Pro Circuit’s ’23 scope; Evo’s big return; Blizzard tests Variety


Medias First Morning Read
Thursday August 4, 2022

Good morning! It’s Thursday and this is your early morning Esports brief.
Valve revealed its scheduling slate for the Dota Pro Circuit 2022/2023, with the slate now seeing separation between divisions in regional leagues in addition to shortened leagues. The Winter Tour begins play with open qualifiers on Dec. 11-13 and play running through March 5. The Spring Tour begins on March 13 with the Summer Tour launching May 15, opening up the likelihood of The International returning to its pre-COVID late summer home.

COMPETITION

Championship Weekend is finally here for the 2022 Call of Duty League season, with play starting today and running through Aug. 7 with the top eight teams taking the stage at the Galen Center in Los Angeles and $2.5 million in prizing on the line. In addition, the league will be announcing its season awards beginning today with the All-Star First and Second Team. League partners and sponsors will be setting up special activations, booths, and experiences for fans on the ground at Championship Weekend. Sponsors will include Game Fuel, Aim Lab, Zenni, SCUF and Upper Deck.

The big weekend also includes Evo, which is back and in-person this week in Las Vegas after a three-year hiatus. In addition to the previously announced roster of tournaments dedicated to the fighting game community, Evo unveiled plans to welcome developers, publishers, players, personalities, and more to its mainstage with a slate of panels, exhibitions, interviews, trailers, reveals, a concert, and more.

Meanwhile, Riot Games will dangle North America’s Last Chance Qualifier starting today as the top eight North American teams face off in order to join OpTic and XSET as NA’s third and final representative at VALORANT Champions in Istanbul. The teams with the most VCT Circuit Points that have not yet qualified for VALORANT Champions will face off in a double elimination bracket, with a final showdown at the Grand Finals on August 14. Signature partners for the event will include Red Bull, Verizon, Aim Lab, and Secretlab.

Don’t Wait! The Tempest Awards bring together the entire esports ecosystem to celebrate cutting-edge innovation in the competitive gaming industry. Open to individuals and teams worldwide, find out more and enter by August 12th to save! ENTER NOW

Fandom is teaming with RED ahead of the Creator Cup with some of the world’s top Minecraft creators today that will see 115,000 gaming fans and dedicated Minecraft community access a tournament in support of AIDS & COVID-19. The tournament will be live streamed on Fandom’s Twitch channel beginning at 2p. Bajan Canadian, AntVenom, Loony, Papaplatte, Legundo, the ItsFunneh Krew, and SpideyArmy from the Misfits Gaming Group will team-up for the (RED) Creator Cup,

The inter-Asian esports tournament for EA SPORTS FIFA Online 4 will be hosted by Electronic Arts along with and ONE Esports. The second edition of the season, EACC Summer 2022, will run span Aug. 15-21 and be broadcast across China, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam with 12 teams competing. ONE Esports will also collaborate with EA to produce content and comprehensive coverage of the tournaments for fans.

STREAMHATCHET
Aim Lab, an aim training game from publisher State Space, is quickly becoming one of the most active brands in esports and live streaming. The game’s innovative partnerships with major leagues like Valorant 2022 Champions Tour & Rainbow Six Pro League, as well as gaming creators, like ImperialHal & HusKerrs, are fostering unique experiences for fans to train like the pros.

Aim Lab currently has extensive training support for: Apex Legends, Fortnite, League of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege & CS:GO, however its popularity within the Valorant community is increasing at rapid rates. 33% of all instream banner appearances for the Aim Lab brand were generated during Valorant streams (Average Feb 2022 – Jul 2022).

By investing in Valorant, Aim Lab is hitting a strong target audience of core gaming fans. Last quarter (Q2 2022) Valorant was the 3rd most watched title in streaming, and increased total streaming hours watched by 18% year over year.

For more insights on how Stream Hatchet can help brand marketers build meaningful connections with streaming audiences, visit us at: www.streamhatchet.com

SPONSORSHIP & ACTIVATION

EVO 2022 landed a partnership with Bud Light NEXT, which will now sponsor the tournament and open the doors to a lounge for attendees to try samples of the beer beverage. With the signing, the brand becomes the only non-endemic sponsor of EVO announced so far.

Bush’s Beans announced that its Foodservice Team has partnered up with Version1 and GENYOUth, a national non-profit organization which creates healthier school communities and battles youth food insecurity, to host an invitational collegiate Rocket League Tournament during Hunger Action Month this September. Version1 will host the Rocket League tournament on Twitch and is targeting top collegiate esports teams to compete.

2022 THAT BIG TV CONFERENCE

Kids’ Content is the “Future (of) Today”

BIG TV is proud to announce Future Today will be one of the sponsors at this year’s conference, with Co-Founder Vikrant Mathur speaking as a panelist on “In the Streaming World, Kids’ Content Is Key,” joined by fellow panelist Richard Hickey, Head of Creative at Moonbug Entertainment. Interested in learning more?

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IT’S ALIVE: YouGov Living Data Insights
The potential for Call of Duty to become an Xbox exclusive given the pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft could have tangible implications on gamers’ console preference. Our data shows that a plurality of Call of Duty players in the US indicate that the presence of their favorite titles on a specific platform has an influence on their console preference.

PLATFORMS/METAVERSE

Blizzard is opening the curtains to The WoW Variety Show, a new three-event live broadcast coming to Twitch on August 24 that will feature aof renowned Warcraft Celebrity Contestants and chosen community members will go head-to-head as they compete in a triathlon of unique WoW activities. Players will have to “show off their in-game knowledge, mastery of leveling, and speed in our specially-tailored segments for bragging rights over their fellow heroes and a slew of giveaway prizes.”

The International Esports Federation and the North America Scholastic Esports Federation, with support from Busan Metropolitan City, announced the launch of the free certificated online esports courses for IESF’s 128 Member Federations and esports enthusiasts to “streamline organizational structure and educate and empower the World Esports Family.” The Basics for Esports courses are available for free on “NASEF x Skillshot Academy” for aspiring and established esports coaches, educators and enthusiasts.

TEAMS

100 Thieves revealed the addition of Twitch streamer Peter Park to its roster. Park also announced the team’s new podcast channel, which debuts on Aug. 9. Park’s first production with the company will see him team up with fellow 100T creator Kyedae, titled Boomer vs Zoomer.

FaZe Clan and the National Football League announced that Donald De La Haye will take the ‘1ON1’ series to cities across the country during NFL preseason. Each ‘1ON1’ series features episodes made up of wide receivers and defensive backs going head-to-head in multi-stage competitions. The first episode will kick off with the Miami Dolphins at The Baptist Health Training Complex on Aug. 5.

Brazilian esports outfit FURIA is deepening ties to the US and will be opening a 5200 square foot venue in Miami that is slated to open this fall. Esports Insider writes that the venue will feature a LAN house, FURIA clothing shop, an area for events and a stage for esports fans to watch FURIA games live.

Ball State University tied up an alliance with Gen.G Global Academy that “expands Ball State’s global influence and role as an innovator in the emerging industry of esports, while offering unique opportunities for student-athletes within Ball State’s esports program.” “We not only help students learn about the esports industry, we teach them how it came about, what are the real jobs in esports, and how to work together in order to move the industry forward,” said Joseph Baek, Gen.G’s executive director of education initiatives.

Counter Logic Gaming announced its involvement at EVO, detailing plans to have a booth on the main exhibition floor of EVO featuring meet and greets with CLG’s fighting game players, along with the opportunity to play against them in casual matches. The booth will also introduce community voting, where attendees are invited to vote on a fighting game to be played at a future iteration of CLG’s weekly online tournament series, “Run It Thursdays.”

Tickets to TwitchCon San Diego are officially on sale with the event running October 7-9 and featuring names such as pokimane, tytyoakley, DisguisedToast, MsAshRocks, cheebs and neeko. This year’s event will see the return of TwitchCon staples such as the cosplay contest, Rivals tournaments, meet and greets, rare loot, panels, Artist Alley, and a musical performance in addition to the event’s first Drag Showcase.

Electronics Arts and LaLiga entered into a multi-year partnership that starts with the 2023/2024 season. The deal will include title naming rights for all LaLiga competitions, a complete rebrand of LaLiga with EA SPORTS including all logos, graphics, fonts and other visual elements, while also delivering new in-game integration, broadcast highlights, and joint commitments to supporting grassroots initiatives. This new partnership will encompass the first and second divisions of LaLiga, LaLiga Promises (the league’s annual youth tournament) and eLaLiga.

Riot Games’ entry into the fighting game genre, Project L, will be free to play, per a post from project lead Tom Cannon. Project L is set in the world of Runeterra, where League of Legends also takes place.

ROSTER MOVES

Riot Games named esports vet Artem Bykov as Commissioner of the League of Legends European Championship Series. Bykov previously worked at Natus Vincere (NAVI), Blizzard Entertainment and most recently, ESL Gaming.

READYUP WHAT TO WATCH

2022 Esports Business Summit

A Session with Erickson Immigration Group

Take a trip to Las Vegas to hear from Erickson Immigration Group, a global immigration law firm that will be putting forth an exclusive custom session, with panelists Hiba M. Anver, Partner and Brett Diamond, Chief Operating Officer at Version1.

You don’t want to miss out on this three-day program.

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TRIVIA
Name just one of Daenerys’ dragons on Game of Thrones. (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city).

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question
In the Lord of the Rings movies, which actor played Samwise Gamgee? Answer: Sean Astin. Kudos: Barbara Capella Loehr-Equal Opportunity Publications/NY; Rob Casalaina-ITN/NY; Gil Galad/Miami; Danny Araque/NY; Creed Heilskov-ImOn Communications/Cedar Rapids; Brett Schneider-Warner Bros. Discovery/Chicago; Julie Schell/Chicago; Jason Morrow-Toyota/Houston; Tom Bombadil/Boseman; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG•AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Greg Dudsic/Palmdale; Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo

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