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09/07/23: The International Olympic Committee has created an official competitive gaming offshoot

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Medias First Morning Read
Thursday September 7, 2023

Good morning! It’s Thursday and this is your early morning Esports and Gaming brief.

The International Olympic Committee has created an official competitive gaming offshoot, the IOC Esports Commission, the sports governing body announced. David Lappartient, who joined the IOC in 2022 and was chairman of the IOC Esports and Gaming Liaison Group, will take on the chairperson role for the IOC Esports Commission as well.

The IOC has been slow to come around to esports, and its primary focus has been on virtual versions of the competitions you already see at the Olympics. Traditional sports games, meanwhile, are a hyper niche in the esports world, making initial IOC efforts seem out-of-touch and inauthentic to the esports audience.

This likely means far less to esports than those outside the competitive games space will make of it, particularly if the IOC sticks to traditional sports titles or using tools like Unreal Engine for Fortnite to create competitions that are adjacent to the actual Olympics.

Struggling to understand why the IOC’s efforts mean less to gaming fans than the general public? You can learn more about the importance of authenticity to this audience above all else, and the right ways to connect with gamers, at the Esports & Gaming Business Conference from Oct. 22-24 in Las Vegas. Get your tickets HERE.

COMPETITION AND GAMING NEWS

OpTic Gaming won the Halo Championship Series Fort Worth Major this weekend after a thrilling final series against Spacestation Gaming on Sunday. The Green Wall took home $100,000 of the $250,000 prize pool, and the top eight teams from Fort Worth qualified for the Halo World Championship scheduled for Oct. 13-15 in Seattle.

Luminosity is becoming a mobile esports superpower as its unbeaten streak in Call of Duty Mobile continued this weekend. The team qualified for the CoD: Mobile World Championship with its top finish at the Snapdragon Pro Series North America Challenge Finals during PAX West over the weekend. The team’s string of success in mobile esports includes a world championship in Pokémon UNITE earlier this year — the game is available both on Nintendo Switch and mobile platforms.

The International Esports Federation will bring its World Esports Championship to Saudi Arabia in 2024, the IESF announced during the closing ceremony of this year’s WEC on Sunday. The tournament is a global event, with national teams competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Tekken 7, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and more. The WEC will add to Saudi Arabia’s increasingly robust esports slate, which includes the Saudi Esports Federation’s $45 million Gamers8 tournament that wrapped up in August.

Moderate at EBS
Interested in being a part of the Esports & Gaming Business Summit program? EBS is looking for expert moderators to guide key conversations at our conference from Oct. 22-24 in Las Vegas. If you’re interested, contact Stephanie Cronk for more information.

SPONSORSHIP & ACTIVATION

The Call of Duty League’s London Royal Ravens have rebranded and relocated, with the team headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, under the Carolina Royal Ravens banner. The Royal Ravens were the only remaining CDL team outside of North America, with the Paris Legion (now Vegas Legion) relocating ahead of the 2023 season.

Days after announcing its marquee Creator League activation, eFuse has laid off 30% of its staff and postponed the hyped event. The Creator League, which featured an high-profile lineup of organizations including OTK, OpTic, MrBeast and more, is set to feature an innovative system of fans being able to buy NFT-style passes to support teams; with those passes come exclusive content and some ability to influence team decisions. A new start date for the League has not been announced.

The Saudi Esports Federation is partnering with KFC to support the country’s grassroots esports efforts and launch the First Female Saudi E-League, a program that will give top competitors access to a training accelerator program put on by KFC and the SEF. KFC is leaning into the women’s initiative at the center of the three-year deal as its motivation for working with the SEF and underlined its “unwavering commitment to inclusivity and empowerment as we champion the growth of female gamers.”

LGD Gaming will no longer sport Paris Saint-Germain branding, and the partners are going their separate ways after a multi-year collaboration, the Chinese esports organization and soccer club announced. The collaboration has previously seen LGD’s Dota 2 squad rebranded as PSG.LGD, and that branding will dissolve along with the partnership. PSG is still heavily involved in the esports space, including through its work with PSG Talon, a League of Legends team supported by PSG and Talon Esports.

STREAMHATCHET

STARFIELD’S STELLAR DEBUT: HOW BETHESDA’S NEWEST RELEASE IS DOMINATING LIVE-STREAMING CHARTS

The long-awaited Bethesda game, Starfield, was finally released on early access last Thursday, August 31st 5pm PDT. Despite not being released in some time zones until Friday, the game managed to gather almost 4M hours watched and viewership hit a peak of 607K across live-streaming platforms (Twitch, YouTube Gaming, Kick, and Facebook Gaming) on Thursday alone. In fact, the peak viewership was reached even before the game was playable, as fans gathered in their favorite creator communities to wait for the launch.

In the first weekend (from Thursday to Sunday), the game generated just under 20M hours watched and had an average viewership of 205K viewers.

90% of that viewership came from Twitch channels. 9.2% from YouTube Gaming, 0.9% from Kick, and 0.1% from Facebook Gaming.

Read more on Stream Hatchet’s blog.

2023 Esports & Gaming Business Summit

EBS AFTER DARK
At this year’s Esports & Gaming Business Summit on October 22-24 in Las Vegas, experience nightlife like never before! With the EBS AFTER DARK Package, you’ll have VIP access to the best clubs that Sin City has to offer: the Marquee, Jewel and OMNIA. The package includes expedited entry, complimentary cover charge and dedicated nightlife concierge services. Purchase your pass today during registration!

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YOUGOV LIVING DATA INSIGHTS

Who’s gaming the most in the US?

The study unveils how dedicated gamers using various devices are to the hobby. Xbox Series X users leading the charge, as 51% commit to more than seven hours of gameplay each week. PlayStation 5 gamers closely follow with 47%. Meanwhile, Windows-based desktop/laptop users and Xbox Series S owners tie at 43%, while the Nintendo Switch community logs in at 40%. A similar portion of Apple desktop/laptop gamers maintain also play for at least seven hours each week (38%).

TEAMS

KRÜ Esports VALORANT pro Santiago “Daveeys” Ruiz died Sunday, the team announced. He was 23. KRÜ, which had been Ruiz’s home since 2022, said a medical issue led to his death. “There is no way to soften this; it took us all by surprise,” the team said in a statement on X. “Daveeys was a spectacular player and a first-class teammate. With his trademark hard-working humility, he was proud to be able to inspire and represent his country and region at the top of global VALORANT.”

The LA Thieves revealed its Call of Duty League roster, with the team undergoing a full rebuild going into 2024. The squad includes players from across the CDL, including Marcus “Afro” Reid (Minnesota RØKKR), Cameron “Cammy” McKilligan (Toronto Ultra), Daniel “Ghosty” Rothe (OpTic Gaming) and Joe “JoeDeceives” Romero (LA Guerrillas).

Evil Geniuses CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson has left the company. Jameson, who had been with the company since 2019, leaves EG with mixed reviews following a strong first few years with the organization and a 2022-23 marred by controversy. EG chief innovation officer Chris DeAppolonio will step in as interim CEO as EG explores its options.

Disguided has dropped its League of Legends roster following the team’s victory in the North American Challenger League Finals. The creator-led org, run by popular streamer Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang, reportedly had planned to release the team to give members a better chance at making League Championship Series rosters in the offseason. Wang has been transparent about the financial struggles tied to running even Tier 2 organizations in esports, including his VALORANT programs and NACL roster; this is the third time Disguised has released a team this year.

INDUSTRY

Garena Free Fire’s return to India has been postponed following the initial announcement that it would re-release in the country as Free Fire India on Sept. 5. Free Fire was banned by the Indian government due to data privacy concerns, and similarly to PUBG Mobile, developer Garena adapted to create an India-exclusive version of the game to bring it back to market. Free Fire India needs “a few more weeks,” Garena said, though an official date hasn’t been set.

More than half of game developers feel their careers are unsustainable, according to an IGN exclusive on a new report from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. The IATSE’s dive into supporting workers’ rights in the games industry continued with its “Gameworkers.org Rates and Conditions Survey,” which brought together survey results from hundreds of game developers. “Most game workers reported that their game career is either unsustainable or they’re unsure whether it is sustainable, and less than half make it to their seventh year working in the industry,” the researchers said, according to IGN. “Unfair pay disparities within singular job titles, lack of retirement security, pressure to work unpaid overtime, low wages, burnout, and exhaustion were widespread and commonly reported.”

Stray is getting a movie, according to Entertainment Weekly, making the 2022 title the latest member of the game-to-movie movement. Stray, which centers on a cat sneaking through a futuristic city, will see new life with the help of Annapurna Animation, whose debut film, Nimona, released on Netflix.

2023 Tempest Esports & Gaming Awards

YOUR HOST, CHRISTINA GRANVILLE!

NBA 2K League’s Christina Granville is your 2023 Tempest Esports & Gaming Awards host! The vibrant “Ms. Basketball” will bring her pizzazz to the annual awards ceremony, taking place October 23 at the HyperX Arena in Las Vegas. We can’t wait, can you?

REGISTER TO ATTEND HERE

TRIVIA
With Starfield out, let’s focus on another big moment: What major sports title is releasing this week? (Email [email protected] with your answer, and be sure to include your name, company and city).

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What date will Starfield release in the U.S. for non-Early Access participants? Answer: September 6. Kudos: Tom Moore | Kalt Productions, Los Angeles; David Westberg | SAG•AFTRA Federal Credit Union, Burbank, California

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