There has been a lot of talk surrounding the Overwatch League in the last few weeks and while we have yet to receive an update on the logo trademark situation, Blizzard is still charging ahead. This week, the publisher announced its salary plans for players in the Overwatch League, promising …
Read More »Mass Luminosity launches eSport project for casual gamers
The world of esports is growing at a rapid pace, with sponsors recognising the sizeable audiences that professional teams draw in. Most gamers are unlikely to transition from audience member to pro, but Dallas based company Mass Luminosity hopes to give them a platform by launching its global esports project for …
Read More »ASUS announces return of ROG Masters, $500,000 prize pool up for grabs
ASUS Republic of Gamers this week has announced its very first esports tournament, featuring some top professional teams and some aspiring competitors. The tournament is known as ROG Masters 2017 and will consist of four continental qualifier rounds and 30 qualifying national rounds all capped off by a grand finals …
Read More »Overwatch League too big for eSports teams
Activision Blizzard's Major League Gaming (MLG) operation netted, back in November 2016, what became known as the Overwatch League, a Premier League / NFL sports franchise of sorts for the namesake videogame. MLG already operates a number of CoD and GoW leagues. To fill in the new league's spots, teams …
Read More »MSI is looking to sponsor up and coming esports teams, applications now open
If any of you happen to be part of a competitive gaming team and are in need of sponsorship to take things to the next level, then MSI may be willing to help. Over the next week, MSI is opening up its sponsorship program to applicants. The sponsorship program includes …
Read More »Adidas is now the official sponsor of Spanish eSports team ASUS ROG Army
It seems like one of Europe's best-sponsored eSports teams, ASUS ROG Army, has snapped up another major deal under the form of German sporting goods brand, Adidas. The company has announced it has signed a sponsorship with the Spaniards to supply them with custom-designed uniforms, bearing team and sponsor insignia, …
Read More »Las Vegas to get 30,000 square foot eSports venue in 2018
Allied Esports International and MGM Resorts International have penned a deal to create “the first permanent eSports venue” on the Las Vegas strip and promise to make it the eSports go-to venue, in much the same way Wembley and Wimbledon are for footie and tennis. MGM has commissioned the conversion …
Read More »Bethesda wants Quake Champions to become an esport
It looks like Bethesda has its eyes on the esports scene as it turns out that the publisher is hoping Quake Champions will go on to become the next big esport. The free to play hero shooter will be launching later this year, with some modes designed around the idea …
Read More »Could you be the next Hearthstone eSports caster?
Do you know Hearthstone like the back of your hand? Can you and a pal talk your friends' ears off with endless chatter of which card trumps which and what the best deck building strategy is? Can you top it all off with a winning personality? Then you might be …
Read More »Love trumps Wolves at Intel Extreme Masters eSports event
The Unicorns of Love have been crowned champions at the latest Intel Extreme Masters XI in Oakland, California, in a tough bracket of pro League of Legends teams. Fellow eSports organisation, Ninjas in Pyjamas, won their own trophy and cheque for taking the crown in the Counter Strike: Global Offensive …
Read More »Valve launched the DotA 2 VR hub right before The International
With The International 2016 kicking off in just a few days' time, Valve has released its promised virtual reality spectator mode for DotA 2. That means if you have a VR headset you can watch the action with others, with an interactive, zoomable map and giant display complete with commentary and …
Read More »Fierce PC eSports Imperial Overlord Review
FiercePC has rushed us its new E-Sports Imperial Overlord gaming PC that is built around a Founders Edition GTX 1080 graphics card. This is especially big news for your reviewer who hand-carried a GTX 1080 back from the Nvidia event in the USA and passed it on to our man …
Read More »Sky and Virgin to broadcast 24 hour eSports channel
eSports is constantly growing and while some matches have been broadcast on US TV, the same experiments haven't quite made their way to the UK yet- well until now. Sky and Virgin are set to host a 24-hour eSports TV channel this year, known as ‘Ginx eSports', which will broadcast …
Read More »Porn sponsors banned again in Esports tournament
Despite efforts by some of the more well known tube pornography websites to legitimise themselves as mainstream companies, Esports organisations are doing their best to push back on that narrative. Following a ban of Youporn's pro team from the ESL competition, the same has happened with Capcom's Pro Tour. Although the ESL …
Read More »ESL has banned YouPorn’s sponsored eSports team from tournaments
Many of you will remember that last year, the site YouPorn began seeking an eSports team to sponsor and thus, Team YP was born. Unfortunately, not everyone is looking favourably on porn companies getting involved in eSports. More specifically, ESL, one of the biggest eSports tournament organisations around seems to …
Read More »Eight arrested in connection to StarCraft II match fixing scandal
While eSports is still growing here in the UK, over in Korea it is taken quite seriously with many tournaments taking place in huge stadiums and players hitting celebrity status. However, as always there are those looking to game the system to make a profit, as eight people have been arrested in …
Read More »Plantronics RIG 500E Gaming Headset Review
Today we are taking a look at the new Plantronics RIG 500E which incorporates a dramatic modular system allowing the user to customise everything about the headset and to switch out specific components whenever desired. The Plantronics RIG 500E is the eSports model in the range but it offers plenty of …
Read More »Spectating DotA 2 in VR could be a lot of fun in itself
As much as playing games in virtual reality might be wonderfully fun and immersive, VR might actually be a great place to watch games too. In a recent teaser trailer for Valve's theatre mode for the HTC Vive, it also showed off a spectator mode for DotA 2, which has …
Read More »Update: Mandatory military service threatens another Esports pro’s career
Update: Despite pressure on Esports professional, Konstantinos “Forg1ven” Tzortziou, to leave gaming behind for a nine month stint in the Greek military, he has now been given the option to defer it to a later time. Announced on the official H2K Twitter account, Forg1ven has been granted a “temporary deferment,” …
Read More »Valve raises CS:GO Major Championship prize pool to $1 million
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has been through plenty of drama in the eSports scene over the last year or so but Valve looks set to get things back on track and is kicking things up with a massive prize pool for the upcoming CS:GO Major Championship tournament. This tournament was initially …
Read More »ESPN just launched it own Esports site
ESPN has finally begun to take Esports seriously, launching a new website dedicated entirely to pro-gaming. It features coverage of many of the latest news stories for some of the more popular competitive games, as well as twinned social media accounts, strategy videos and profiles of the most iconic players …
Read More »Valve gives permanent bans to CSGO match fixers
Over the last year, there has been quite a bit of drama in the professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene, particularly when it comes to match-fixing after several teams were found to have intentionally staged games in order to profit off of illegal bets. At the time, Valve ‘indefinitely suspended' 21 …
Read More »Donkey Kong record broken in first days of the new year
Although competitive gaming is far bigger today than it once was, it's not just about League of Legends, Counter Strike and Call of Duty. There are still some classics kicking around the competitive scene and while there are a few popular ones among them, none are quite like the original …
Read More »Activision now owns Major League Gaming
Major League Gaming, one of the longest standing pro-Esports organisations, is now owned almost entirely by Activison, after the board of directors agreed to sell the publishing giant most of the company's assets for $46 million. This has annoyed some share-holders, as the move was approved – legally – without …
Read More »Activision reportedly buys MLG for $46 million
We recently heard that EA had set up its own eSports division internally to break into the pro gaming scene and get more involved with tournaments. Now, it looks like Activision is doing a similar thing, as the publisher has apparently bought Major League Gaming for $46 million. Activision has …
Read More »EA is setting up its own competitive gaming division
Competitive gaming is becoming a huge thing these days, with the rise of eSports and massive livestream tournament events like ESL or The International. Given how popular it is all getting it shouldn't be too surprising to hear that EA is jumping on that and has formed its own competitive …
Read More »Fnatic Esports team launches own range of gaming peripherals
One of the big trends for gaming peripheral makers in recent years has been to recruit a famous Esports team and have them endorse your gear. Often that same team will be ‘involved' in some capacity during the development, offering pointers on features or aesthetics, but a lot of end-user …
Read More »DotA 2 pro breaks scrimmage bro code – kicked out of Cloud9
In traditional sports, there's an unspoken rule that what goes on in the gym, stays in the gym. The same goes for professional Esports teams, especially when it comes to friendly scrimmages among them. So it's perhaps no surprise that Cloud9 DotA 2 player, Ravi “Ritsu” Kodippili has been kicked out for …
Read More »Ninjas in Pyjamas eSports team fires CEO over non-payment
There's trouble in the eSports scene once again, proving that even the paradise-sounding world of professional video game playing, there are pitfalls. One of them is your CEO just not paying you, as appears to have happened in the case of Swedish gaming outfit, Ninjas in Pyjamas. While no concrete admissions …
Read More »Cloud9 League of Legends player fined for flipping the bird
It seems that eSports authorities are really cracking down on player behaviour this year, we've seen tournament organizers like LCS impose proper rules against drug use, we have seen players banned and even arrested match fixing for profit and now, a Cloud9 player has been fined for flipping the bird …
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