Immortals Gaming Club’s LCS franchise, Immortals, has announced partnerships with GameStop and Ironclad Performance Wear, and an “intimate season kickoff party.”

Immortals will be launching the season that sees it return to the North American league, and the partnerships, with a special event on 13^th January 2020 at Button Mash – a vintage arcade bar in the Echo Park neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

The organisation says its partnership with GameStop will be geared towards the amateur community and allow League of Legends fans to participate in exclusive content and special access activations.

Immortals’ partnership with Ironclad will feature a ‘handy’ collaboration to be revealed at their first event in January – namely, a gaming glove designed and tested in collaboration with Immortals Gaming Club teams. Apparently, a prototype glove will be available to try at the Button Mash event.

Discussing the partnership, and new gaming globe, President of Ironclad Performance Wear, Jun Xu, said:

“Ironclad gloves are built on innovation, authenticity and quality. Through our partnership with IGC, we worked with professional gamers, embracing those key elements to create a totally new glove category.

“These are exciting times for us to finally bring this glove to market after extensive product development and field testing which took us through uncharted territory. Our hope is that these gloves will allow players to push the envelope of their gameplay performance and endurance, by reducing sweat and fatigue to create a better gaming experience.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Well, if we were in LA we’d definitely be swinging by Button Mash (tickets are only $7 and available here)!

The GameStop partnership sounds run-of-the-mill, but the Ironclad partnership is interesting, as it marks a whole new world for the company, which normally creates gloves for manual and skilled tradespeople, DIY enthusiasts and construction workers. They obviously have the tech know-how when it comes to making gloves, but will they be able to successfully market to the gaming crowd?’

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

Social media behemoth Facebook has acquired Spain-based cloud gaming startup PlayGiga for a reported €70 million (US$78m).

The PlayGiga team have posted a statement on their website hinting at Facebook’s plans for the company, saying: “We are continuing our work in cloud gaming, now with a new mission.”

Is Facebook looking to take its experience with Instant Games, which launched in 2016 and gave users the ability to play HTML5 games without downloads, and take things to the next level with a real, high-quality cloud gaming service? It certainly looks that way…

Prior to the acquisition Madrid-based PlayGiga had been offering its services across Italy, Spain, Argentina and Chile. According to Variety, the company had also been planning to launch in the Middle East region, and had been exploring opportunities in Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands and Guatemala.

AYO.NEWS says:

The cloud gaming market looks set to explode in 2020, with Google having just launched its Stadia service, Microsoft previewing its xCloud service ahead of a 2020 launch, and Sony having dropped the subscription price of its PlayStation Now service to just $9.99 per month.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

Mogul, the Australia-based esports platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Mineski Global, the Philippines-based esports events organiser.

Slated to last for five years, the partnership will make Mogul the primary esports tournament platform for Mineski’s city-based tournament league in the Southeast Asian region. Mineski will also launch its own branded hub, and introduce Mogul’s platform throughout its extensive network of cybercafes.

Mogul and Mineski will also work together to introduce new revenue streams including subscription-based packages aimed at cybercafes and other Southeast Asian organisations looking to engage with esports promotions.

The deal is structured similarly to those Mogul has with Tier One Entertainment, SG Esports and SARENA (read more) – with the company collecting half of all tournament, event and sponsorship revenues generated by the partnership.

Discussing the partnership CEO of Mineski Global, Ronald Robins, said:

“We’re very excited to enter this strategic partnership with Mogul where we will now launch a Branded Hub, offer online tournaments and events across the Southeast Asian region, as well as roll out Mogul’s platform at our gaming cafes.

“Mogul offers Mineski an exciting way to engage with our existing fans and audience, as well as develop new ways of increasing that audience on a global scale – particularly with novel initiatives such as group subscriptions enabled by Mogul’s platform.”

While Managing Director of Mogul, Gernot Abl, added:

“Partnering with Mineski brings Mogul to the largest esports organisation in Southeast Asia, covering live and online events, online tournament series, cybercafes, as well as marketing and promotions programmes in the region. Mogul and Mineski will work closely over the coming months in advance of the launch of Mineski’s Branded Hub and commencement of our joint marketing activities.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Its all go for both Mogul and Mineski recently! A week ago we reported Mogul had secured $3.97M in its latest share placement (read more), while in November Canva co-founder Cameron Adams joined its board of directors (read more). And, just last week Mineski opened an impressive new global headquarters facility in Manila (read more).

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

Zurich-based sports technology boutique Blocksport has announced a partnership with Paris-based esports data provider PandaScore.

The partnership will see PandaScore supply Blocksport with its range of live AI-based esports data, statistics and analytical services, to help Blocksport develop and launch esports-focused mobile apps.

Discussing the news CEO pf PandaScore, Flavien Guillocheau, said:

“Blocksport’s mobile app is bridging the gap between fans, sponsors and esports teams. It brings you everything in one hand. We believe in Blocksport – it’s the perfect way for us to deliver the esports data that fans truly deserve.”

While Co-founder of Blocksport, Semih Kaçan, added:

“The partnership with such an innovative data provider strengthens our social sports ecosystem significantly. We are looking forward to a successful partnership with PandaScore.”

PandaScore currently provides data covering League of Legends, Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and says it will be adding support for Rocket League soon.

AYO.NEWS says:

Esports generates huge amounts of real-time data, which can easily overwhelm and make for messy, clunky platforms and services, so having access to effective AI-based analytics and data services is critical to those developers looking to build apps that will deliver real-world value to esports fans.

Staying with PandaScore, in September we reported the company had entered a strategic partnership with UK-based multimedia news agency PA Media (read more).

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

Spanish esports organisation Team Queso has partnered with Italian sportswear brand Lotto.

The two-year deal will see Lotto supply the team with footwear and apparel for players, who will wear it while training, streaming and competing.

Commenting on the partnership CEO and founder of Team Queso, Alvaro “Alvaro845” Gonzalez, said:

“We are very excited to have Lotto as a partner for the development of the best technical equipment. During the next two years Team Queso and Lotto will work together to develop clothing and footwear for eSports competitions, as well as casual clothing that our players will wear.”

Team Queso currently fields teams in League of Legends, Clash Royale, Fortnite, CS:GO, Rainbow Six Siege, SMITE, Brawl Stars, Clash of Clans and PUBG Mobile. The organisation also has commercial partnerships in place with pizza chain Telepizza, food service Wetaca, gaming hardware brand Lenovo Legion, and gaming peripheral brand Razer.

AYO.NEWS says:

2019 has seen several sportwear brands enter partnerships with esports organisations, as they seek to connect with the millions of esports fans around the world. Some of the most notable have been both Team Vitality and Team Heretics’ partnerships with adidas, Vexed teaming up with Kappa, LPL and FURIA both joining forces with Nike, Luminosity Gaming working with Champion, and Cloud9’s deal with Puma.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

UK-based movie theatre chain Cineworld Group is set to acquire Canada-based movie theatre chain Cineplex after agreeing a $2.8B CAD ($2.1B USD) deal.

The deal is of significance to the esports and gaming world because, as movie theatres around the world struggle to attract customers in the face of rising costs and increased entertainment competition, they are increasingly looking to gaming and esports.

Cineplex, which operates 165 cinemas across Canada, has an amusement and leisure division that is heavily focused on esports, owning the World Gaming Network, the Collegiate Starleague and the Canadian Championship Series – so its acquisition will instantly make Cineworld a force in the esports industry.

The agreed deal will see Cineworld pay $34 CAD ($25.91) per Cineplex share in cash – a 42% premium on the closing price for its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange on 13^th December.

UK-based Cineworld Group plc is the world’s second biggest cinema chain, with over 9,500 screens across nearly 800 sites in the UK, US, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Israel, Hungary, Czechia, Bulgaria and Slovakia. Its main brands are Regal, Cineworld, Picturehouse, Cinema City and Yes Planet. In 2018 the group reported revenues of £4.119 billion GBP.

AYO.NEWS says:

Large cinema chains like Cineworld and Cineplex are ideally placed to capitalise on esports, already having large facilities in thousands of prime locations. From viewing major esports events, to hosting actual events, with comparatively little investment cinemas could become hubs of local esports and gaming communities .

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.