Esports Charts has teamed up with Gaming in Turkey, to increase its coverage of the Turkish and MENA region. 

The partnership has seen the statistics agency launch a Turkish version of its website, and the company will work with the Turkish gaming and esports provider to increase its activity in the region. 

Discussing the partnership Co-founder of Esports Charts, Igor Krivich, said:

“Even a naked eye can see the progress of esports in the MENA region, especially in Turkey. We are glad to become a full-fledged participant in the local esports market and will do our best to develop it.”

While General Manager of Gaming in Turkey, Uluç Ali Kırangil, added:

“As the Gaming in Turkey team, we are proud of shaping esports in Turkey together with Esports Charts. Working as partners together with Esports Charts’ team will be the key to many successful projects and achievements in our region.”

This year Esports Charts has also partnered with other esports organisations including Alliance, Fnatic, Natus Vincere, and Team Liquid, while last year the company partnered with StarLadder and TSM. Recently, Esports Charts also entered a partnership with Japanese game publisher H2 Interactive. 

Gaming in Turkey provides a complete marketing service for esports organisations and game companies, bringing together players and gaming companies in Turkey and the Middle East. It offers social media management, influencer marketing, user acquisition, PR, partnerships, digital marketing, and more, and counts big brands like SteelSeries, Tencent, PUBG Mobile, Wargaming.net, and Red Bull among its clients. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Turkey and the MENA region are experiencing rapid growth in both gaming in general and esports, but are still relatively underserved and underrepresented on the global scene, so this partnership is great to see. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Visa and FACEIT have announced a partnership with Gazprombank, to launch the first esports card product for Russian Dota 2 and CS:GO gamers. 

In addition to enabling everyday purchases, Gazprombank’s new FACEIT Visa debit card will give gamers access to exclusive tournaments on FACEIT – the world’s largest independent competitive gaming platform. 

Part of the global Visa and FACEIT partnership announced at the end of 2019, the program will provide the Russian esports community with a new competitive experience through a series of online programs open to all skill levels, and featuring a substantial prize pool.

The CS:GO and Dota 2 action will start this month, and see USD $450,000 in prize money awarded to players within the first three months, across several different tournament formats. Both cash and FACEIT points will be up for grabs, with points exchangeable for virtual goods for games, and branded merchandise. 

Discussing the program Director, Strategic Partnerships and Fintech at Visa Russia, Evgeniy Zelenyi, said: 

“In designing this product, we always stuck to the core question: “What does a player really want?” The answer to this is surprisingly simple: the player wants to be rewarded for his success in the game.

“So we accepted the challenge of putting together a diverse, rich, exciting reward infrastructure that motivates players’ to become better while putting real tangible prizes into their hands when they win tournaments. With CS:GO and Dota hitting a peak of 1.3M and 800K concurrent players, we are saying to the world: come compete with us and get prizes!”

While Co-Founder & CEO of FACEIT, Niccolo Maisto, added:

“We are very excited to launch the program with VISA and Gazprombank as our first partner in this world first collaboration. This program is a great example of how brands can connect with our community and significantly contribute to the development of competitive ecosystems which is something that is hugely important for FACEIT. 

“The partnership aims to drive new competitive opportunities to esports players in Russia while also creating valuable content for CSGO and Dota2 players. It’s fantastic to partner with international industry leaders to create new initiatives.”

And, First Vice President and member of the Management Board of Gazprombank, Alexey Popovich, commented:

“Following the trends in the banking business, Gazprombank once again relies on personalization. This time we chose a rapidly growing segment – the mass e-sports market in Russia. 

“In partnership with Visa and FACEIT, we launched a unique card product for gamers, thanks to which we plan to significantly increase our customer base. I’m sure that the new card will be in demand, because now the e-sports audience in Russia has about 10-12 million people and is predicted to grow by 20% annually.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Banks and payment companies around the world are starting to pay more attention to esports, as they realise the sheer spending power and engagement potential of the rapidly growing esports fan base. Earlier today we reported that Barclays bank has partnered with National Students Esports in the UK. 

Staying with FACEIT, in mid-May Ubisoft announced it had signed a multi-year agreement with the company, covering North American Rainbow Six Siege esports. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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English Rugby Union player Ellis Genge and friends will be taking on Berlin-based G2 Esports in a mixed 5v5 League of Legends game later today. 

From 5pm to 7pm CET today, G2 Esports Founder and CEO, Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodriguez, and select League of Legends players will face off against Ellis and four of his friends.  

Carlos, Ellis, G2’s Rainbow 6 player Pengu, and one of G2’s League players will stream via Twitch-Squad Stream. You can follow Carlos’ stream at https://www.twitch.tv/ocelote or Ellis’ stream at https://www.twitch.tv/g2esports. 

According to Ellis, during the lockdown he frequently tried his hand at a variety of esports competitions, including FIFA and League of Legends. 

G2 Esports has also been collaborating with other traditional athletes during this season. For example, Ibai Llanons, one of G2 Esports’ content creators, and one of the most famous casters in Spain, put together at least one player from every team in the Spanish first division, to compete in an online tournament over the weekend, raising more than €140,000 to help fight COVID-19 .

AYO.NEWS says:

Today’s game perfectly illustrates one of the few positive things to come from the COVID-19 crisis – the strengthening of ties between traditional sports and esports. Good luck to Ellis and friends though – they are going to need it! 

Staying with G2 Esports, last week we reported the organisation had enlisted the help of Brandgenuity as it works to expand its global licensing program. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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London-based esports staking platform Espo has announced pre-registration is open, ahead of a planned September launch. 

The platform will give esports fans the opportunity to “stake world-class teams and players” with the company saying it is “addressing the burning desire of fans to get closer to the action and the aspiration for teams to expand and generate revenue from their fanbase.”

Espo will also offer new ways for companies and brands to sponsor esports teams and players through staking. The company says this will enable sponsors to benefit not only from the exposure through sponsoring teams and players, but also engage with esports fans and promote products and services via the Espo platform. 

By staking, fans will be invested in the action, share in prize money winnings, and gain access to exclusive perks. 

Discussing Espo’s solution Founder and CEO, Henry James, said:

“Popular platforms in the esports sector like Twitch and YouTube are focused on enabling content creation and distribution but are not going to extra lengths to enhance the experience of esports fans and their engagement with teams and players.

“Our solution will enable fans to play a fundamental role in supporting their favorite teams and players in a collaborative and meaningful way that is intended to have lasting and rewarding benefits for all parties.  

“To make this possible, we have already received letters of intent from leading esports teams and organizations that have expressed interest to work with Espo and feature on the platform.  We’re still working through on finalizing these initial agreements and we look forward to sharing announcements with the community in the coming weeks.”

Espo also says it will help rising esports teams and players get spotted and achieve their potential, by levelling the playing field and giving more opportunities for talent to be discovered and compete at the highest level. 

The team behind Espo brings together experience from the video gaming, tech, finance and sports management sectors, with members having held positions at AT&T, Société Générale, Sony PlayStation, Tesla Motors, and TSM.

AYO.NEWS says:

With so many fan engagement products and services hitting the market now, across both esports and traditional sports, it will be interesting to see which model proves most successful. Will it be Espo’s staking concept, Socios.com’s cryptocurrency ecosphere, or Blocksport’s loyalty driven approach? Or, maybe there’s room for all? 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Multinational investment bank Barclays has expanded its esports presence, partnering with National Students Esports (NSE), in the UK. 

The deal covers sponsorship of the British University Esports Championship, with additional initiatives for student esports fans to be confirmed later. 

Barclays and NSE have collaborated previously, with Barclays hosting student esports matches at its London headquarters during the Barclays Game Technology Frenzy event in January.  

Discussing the news Managing Director at NSE, Jonathan Tilbury, said:

“From day one, we’ve been struck by how passionate the team at Barclays are about esports. We’re incredibly excited to continue working with a brand so committed to positively shaping the future of the student esports space.”

While CEO of Barclays Ventures, Ben Davey, added:

“We are delighted to be partnering with NSE. We see the important role they play in building UK grassroots esports. Not only does NSE bring students from around the country together online, to play the games they love competitively, they also champion programs like FutureGen, to create opportunities to help individuals and communities develop and grow.”

Barclays is also headline sponsor of the UKLC Summer Split, which begins on 14 June. 

AYO.NEWS says:

It’s easy to see how having one of the world’s biggest banks behind you could be useful, so we’re sure NSE are happy about this! From Barclay’s point-of-view, it’s a great way to build a connection with the hard-to-reach younger generations, and establish networks in the rapidly growing esports industry – one of the few sectors still attracting significant investment as the global economy tanks. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Real-world Formula 1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello will be racing for the new FA/RB Allinsports team in the Le Mans Virtual. 

The legendary French 24-hour endurance race will be going virtual on 13/14 June – the same date the 88th running of the real-life race was scheduled to take place. 

Alonso and Barrichello are one of only five drivers with more than 300 Formula 1 race starts under their belts – Barrichello being the record holder with 322, and Alonso not far behind with 311. Alonso also has two real-life Le Mans wins to his name. 

The Alonso/Barrichello team will also be joined by Finnish sim racer Olli Pahkala, and Norwegian sim racer Jarl Teien, and is backed by Torque Esports and its leading simulator manufacturer Allinsports.

Allinsports is headed by ex-Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull development and electronics expert Anton Stipinovich, and designs and builds full-size, full-motion simulators at its base in Maranello, Italy. 

Torque Esports itself has a long association with Le Mans, with President and CEO Darren Cox having created the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy program, which helped turn gamers into real-world race drivers, and helped the likes of Jann Mardenborough and Lucas Ordonez enjoy successful Le Mans debuts. 

Alonso and Barichello have both driven in Torque Esports’ The Race All-Star Series powered by ROKiT Phones, in the Legends Trophy Division – with Alonso starring last week at Indianapolis, and taking two victories, while Barichello chalked up a victory at NOLA Motorsport Park earlier this year. 

The FA/RB Allinsports team will be supported by former Le Mans LMP2 winning squad Greaves Motorsport, with Jacob Greaves and his team handling preparations and in-race strategy. Greaves Motorsport has previously worked with the UK-based squad for the GT Academy graduates.

Discussing the upcoming event Torque Esports CEO, Darren Cox, said:

“We have a massive task ahead, but we’re doing everything we can to make sure we give this the best shot we can.

“Even though the weather, safety cars, and everything may be virtual, we’re treating this like the real thing, and Jacob and his team have that race-winning experience that we’re adding to our ‘virtual’ pit wall. We had great real-world success with Jacob and his team with gamers in the past – now we’re taking two real-world motorsport legends into the virtual world. It is a perfect flip from what we’ve done previously.”

The 24-hour Le Mans Virtual will get underway at 15:00 CEST on Saturday 13 June. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The widespread cancellation of real-life sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic really has acted like a nitro boost to sim racing. Already a well-developed genre of esports, with a dedicated following, it has nevertheless taken the crisis to make mainstream broadcasters take it seriously. 

As we’ve said before, the nature of sim racing, with accurately modelled vehicles and tracks, plenty of opportunities for brand exposure for sponsors, and a large number of real-world racing drivers and teams eager to get involved, means it’s relatively easy to convert fans of real-world motorsports to the virtual world. 

A few days ago, Automobili Lamborghini announced it was entering esports with the inaugural one-make series The Real Race, in partnership with Assetto Corsa Competizione by Kunos Simulazioni. 

It’s not just four-wheel sim racing that’s benefiting from the virtual sports revolution either – last week organisers announced the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races were transitioning to the virtual world for 2020. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020