Esports and gaming media group Dexerto has appointed Matt Hatrick as Brand Agency Director, and Ken Olsen as Director of Creative Strategy. 

At London-based Dexerto Hatrick, who was previously with online media publisher JOE Media, will be tasked with strengthening the salesforce, and growing its portfolio of clients.

Commenting on his appointment Hatrick said:

“After almost two years at JOE, it was clear to me that Esports, Gaming and Entertainment were areas where lots of brands were gravitating towards. The guys at Dexerto demonstrated incredible knowledge and passion, which explains why Dexerto is growing so rapidly, especially at a time where a lot of businesses are moving in the opposite direction. I am very excited to help build out the commercial proposition for Dexerto.”

While co-founder and CEO of Dexerto, Joshua Nino De Guzman, added:

“Matt comes to Dexerto with a wealth of experience in Brand Agency partnerships and will help expand our already substantial offering. Dexerto is enjoying a record year, both in terms of volume of traffic and commercially, and Matt represents the expansion of our sales strategy, enabling more non-endemic clients to reach our audience through exciting campaigns that offer great value to our fans and partners alike. 2020 will be another landmark year for Dexerto and we expect Matt to play a huge part in that.”

Olsen, who was formerly senior director for espots marketing agency REV/XP, will be focusing on expanding client activations and building business. 

Regarding his new role, Olsen said:

“Dexerto’s leadership understands the unique needs of each sponsor and it is my goal to ensure that my team’s efforts make activations as turnkey and effortless as possible while driving true value for all of our partners, whether it is a league, a publisher, or a brand.”

Dexerto claims to own and operate the world’s largest esports and gaming news hub and social media network, and in addition to its London HQ, has “multiple outposts” in the United States and content creators in six countries. The company claims over 20 million monthly unique website users and 7 million social media followers, reaching 300 million gaming fans.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the company says it has experienced a 34% growth in website users since March, and is enjoying a record commercial quarter, having been a key partner in campaigns with brands including Chipotle, LG, and Kaspersky. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Again we’re seeing the esports and video gaming industry buck the trend and continue to recruit even as most sectors start announcing record redundancies. If ever there was a time for the industry to scale up, it’s now. 

‘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

Ubisoft has announced the Ubisoft Collegiate Esports, their first ever proprietary collegiate esports league. 

Premiering with Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Siege, the league is launching this month in partnership with online competitive gaming platform FACEIT. The league’s premier sponsor is CORSAIR, with CORSAIR’s Origin PC subsidiary also lending its support. 

The program will feature a user-friendly online platform allowing registered school clubs (no online schools) to register themselves and start competing in a variety of local and cross-continent programs. 

In addition to the online platform, schools will also be able to nominate one team each to take part in the Rainbow Six Collegiate Championship – which will see all contending schools face off for a chance to win part of a $30K prize pool and hardware from Origin PC and CORSAIR. 

The championship pre-season starts in October 2020, with the full season commencing in January 2021. 

AYO.NEWS says:

It’s great to see Ubisoft, FACEIT, and CORSAIR supporting the growth of grassroots collegiate esports. While leagues like this might not be as headline grabbing as the big money events, they are vital to ensure the long-term success of esports as a whole, helping provide a pathway into professional competitive esports for young talent.

‘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

Live esports odds and statistics provider PandaScore has announced partnerships with Betcris and Pixel.bet.

PandaScore, which has offices in Paris and Malta, uses proprietary artificial intelligence technology to provide real-time esports odds and data to betting operators.

The company says it has now integrated its services with Latin American sportsbook Betcris, and has launched its innovative esports stats widgets through an integration with esports bookmaker Pixel.bet. 

PandaScore says its new widgets, which cover the most popular esports titles like CS:GO, League of Legends, and Dota 2, are designed to give esports bettors all the information they need to bet confidently, giving data on recent wins and losses, head-to-head records, and in-game performance statistics at the touch of a button. 

Commenting on the news COO at Plannatech/Betcris, Adam Bjorn, said:

“We’re delighted to have access to PandaScore’s abundance of real time esports odds and data. They have feeds for every in-play market we need across all esports and thanks to their efficient collaboration with our development team, we completed the integration in no time.”

While CEO at Pixel.bet, Eirik Kristiansen, added:

“We were very impressed with the content capabilities of PandaScore’s esports Widgets and I’m excited that Pixel.bet is the first esports betting operator in the world to offer such an innovative data delivery tool to our players”.

And, Founder & CEO at PandaScore, Flavien Guillocheau, explained:

“Successful esports betting is a matter of good luck and good judgement and whilst PandaScore can’t help with the former, the latter can be greatly enhanced through the data provided to players and our new esports Widgets. We’re delighted to launch this new innovation with leading esports betting operator Pixel.bet and to be providing esports data to a brand as well regarded as Betcris. We look forward to integrating with more leading operators in the near future”.

AYO.NEWS says:

PandaScore is another company that has found itself perfectly positioned to scale as the demand for esports betting has rocketed during the COVID-19 crisis, due to disruption to the traditional sporting calendar. 

The question now is, with lockdowns returning in many areas, and the threat of second wave of infections hanging over other regions, will we see more disruption to traditional sports and a further acceleration of esports betting?

‘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

Aussie organisation Chiefs Esports Club has partnered with telecommunications company Optus. 

The year-long agreement will see the Chiefs’ rosters use Optus internet connections for streaming and content creation, and the organisation will be helping the telecoms company develop gaming products and services. 

Discussing the collaboration Head of Marketing at Optus, Mel Hopkins, said:

“We’re excited to be adding The Chiefs to our esport sponsorship portfolio. As a major partner to The Chiefs, we will be working to expand our offering to Australian gamers and the team will play an instrumental part in our strategy moving forward.

“Our Optus network will underpin the rapidly growing esports segments, providing a reliable platform to keep gamers connected and play online successfully. We look forward to working with the Chiefs and confirming our introduction into the gaming sector.”

While CEO of Chiefs Esports Club, Nick Bobir, added:

“We couldn’t ask for a better partner in Optus. Gamers know how important a high speed and reliable internet connection is and need a provider they can trust. Through this partnership we will be able to assist the development of Optus products tailored to Australian gamers to optimise their gaming experience.

“This partnership reflects Optus’s continued support of the development of esports & gaming in the ANZ region and ensures they have a direct link to The Chiefs professional players & creators for feedback on how to make their products and services better tailored to our industry.

“Optus will be supporting our continued community events. These will allow our fans to get hands-on with Optus’ new products to test them out for themselves. Keep your eyes on our socials for ways to get involved.”

Opus isn’t a strange to esports, having partnered with both Legacy Esports and META High School Esports during 2019. 

Chiefs Esports Club currently fields rosters in League of Legends, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, Fortnite, and Street Fighter V, and has commercial partnerships in place with AOC, Bond University, HyperX, L’Oréal Paris Men Expert, Marvel, Menulog, Mwave Australia, and Red Bull. 

Our level up continues 😎 Welcome @Optus as The Chiefs’ Official Telecommunications Partner.

Read >> https://t.co/Ny0jB04FEU pic.twitter.com/deA43fwGV1

— The Chiefs (@ChiefsESC) July 15, 2020

AYO.NEWS says:

It seems obvious that any mainstream telecoms company now needs to be growing a presence in esports and video gaming, so this deal is a logical step for Optus, and we’re sure it will be useful for the Chiefs. 

‘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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WePlay! Esports and Epic Esports Events have announced a new $600K online Dota 2 tournament, OMEGA League.

Open Qualifiers will start on 20 July, and the action will culminate on 6 September. The league will include multiple competitive regions and divisions. English broadcasts will be handled by WePlay! Esports, while RuHub will take care of Russian content. 

According to the companies, the suspension of the WePlay! Pushka League Season 2, due to the COVID-19 crisis, has thrown the competitive scene into a “sort of twilight zone populated by an array of small tournaments making it very taxing on players, and hard for fans to engage emotionally.”

To remedy this situation, a coalition of organisations, including Alliance, Liquid, NAVI, Nigma, NIP, OG, Secret, and VP, has decided to build a “more sustainable competitive ecosystem” around Dota 2, with the first result being the new OMEGA League. 

Discussing the news Lead Esports Manager at WePlay! Esports, Vitaliy “Nexius” Bozhko, said:

“We are excited about the opportunity to work on interesting ideas and very curious about the reaction of the community. Our team and colleagues from Epic Esports Events are giving this event everything that we have. I really hope the audience will enjoy the results. The event takes place on the dates when we are used to seeing The International, and that impacts the level of responsibility we feel about OMEGA LEAGUE.”

While a representative of Epic Esports Events, Mark Averbukh, added:

“OMEGA League is a unique product. We are extremely thankful to the teams and our partners at WePlay! for working together on the vision of what an online event can and should be. We hope that this event will set the benchmark on the level of production and provide the fans many hours of premium content.”

AYO.NEWS says:

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we did indeed see a flurry of smaller, hastily organised online tournaments launched for a variety of titles, but now that the crisis is dragging on, it’s good to see organisers and teams come together to create bigger, more structured events. 

Earlier today we reported that ESL and the Thai tourism and sports authorities have announced ESL One Thailand – an online Southeast Asian Dota 2 tournament for August.

‘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

Esports tournament organiser ESL has announced another Southeast Asian Dota 2 tournament, in the form of ESL One Thailand. 

The online tournament, which is being organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism & Sports (MoTS) and Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), will offer a total prize pool of $200,000 USD, and be divided into two divisions; Asia and America. 

ESL One Thailand is set to start on 8 August and run through to 6 September. 

Discussing the event Senior VP Product at ESL, Ulrich Schulze, said:

“We are very excited to bring some of the world’s best Dota 2 players together for this online competition, which will pave the way for live events in Thailand in the future. 

“By hosting the event online we are able to cross borders to unite players and fans even in those challenging times, and we are proud to have collaborated with the Ministry of Tourism & Sports and the Sports Authority of Thailand to provide local Thai players the chance to compete against some of Asia’s best pro Dota 2 teams.”

 While Minister of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, added:

“Bringing esports to Thailand does not only grow the local esports environment but will also attract more and more people to engage with sporting activities that this country offers for tourists worldwide in the future.”

Staying with ESL, earlier this week the company announced Curacao-based esports bookmaker GG.Bet will be official global betting partner for select Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 tournaments for the rest of the year.  

AYO.NEWS says:

With physical events still off the table for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, it’s great to see the Thai tourism and sports authorities are looking at the long-term and realising that even an online tournament like this is a good way to build a country’s esports profile. 

‘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