BMW Motorsport has announced plans to significantly expand its involvement with sim racing in 2021. 

The motorsport division of the German car manufacturer has teamed up with G2 Esports, Team Redline, Williams Esports, and BS+COMPETITION – all of which will compete with BMW cars and represent the brand through 2021. 

In addition to continuing to grow its BMW SIM Cup formats (across iRacing, rFactor 2, and Assetto Corsa Competizione), the company is also launching the BMW Motorsports SIM Academy, the BMW SIM World Tour event circuit, and will be introducing more officially licensed cars across various major sim racing platforms. 

Discussing plans Head of BMW Motorsport Sim Racing, Rudolf Dittrich, said:

“At BMW Motorsport, we have learned a lot this year and are determined to put what we have learned into practice, with regard to our 2021 programme. The area of hardware development will also focus on technological innovations and new developments next year.

“Our BMW SIM Cups will once again play an important role, but in an adapted form. Our cooperations with four of the best sim racing teams in the world, and our new academy, see us continue our approach of promoting sim racing as part of the community through mutual dialogue. Together, we will continue to fuel the growth in this exciting Esports sector. The BMW Motorsport sim racing programme provides the ideal basis for this.”

The BMW SIM World Tour is scheduled to start in April 2021 in Austria, though plans could be subject to change due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Though it’s undeniable that the COVID crisis forced sim racing into the spotlight this year, it’s great to see BMW Motorsport continue to grow its involvement, even as real-world motorsports start to get back to a kind of normal. Indeed, with sim racing having proven perhaps the most accessible of all esports for fans and professional athletes alike, we’re sure BMW won’t be the only major motorsports operator to remain enthusiastic about the space. 

‘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.

Activision Publishing has cancelled the Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship 2020 Grand Finals in response to the worsening COVID-19 situation.

The event, sponsored by Sony, was scheduled to be held in Los Angeles later this month, capping off the five-stage Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship tournament. However, with COVID-19 worsening in many parts of California, and stay at home orders being issued for non-essential workers, the event became untenable. 

The $750K USD Grand Finals prize pool will now be split equally between the seven teams that qualified for the event through the Stage 4 Call of Duty: Mobile Regional Playoffs. 

pic.twitter.com/N8keH8ICAS

— Call of Duty: Mobile (@PlayCODMobile) December 7, 2020

AYO.NEWS says:

If we’re honest this was entirely predictable. Despite many event organisers being, understandably, impatient to re-started in-person activities, it’s plainly obvious that the COVID-19 crisis isn’t going away any time soon. 

Even the much touted vaccines have been misunderstood by an alarming number of individuals and companies to be some sort of magic silver bullet to end the crisis – a misguided belief that will only end in more disappointment and disruption.

‘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.

Several new esports teams are being added to Rocket League’s revenue-sharing in-game store program today. 

Psyonix has confirmed that in-game items, including car decals, accessories, and banners, will be available from Team Liquid, Envy, and Guild. The latest update will also include official branded items from Alpine Esports, Endpoint, Oxygen Esports, Solary, the Susquehanna Soniqs, and Team BDS. 

The Rocket League shop is also getting a makeover, with the entire collection of items from every team being made available at all times, instead of the six selected items per team previously offered. 

Launched in April 2019, Rocket League’s in-game store program offers teams a valuable new revenue stream, paying them a 30% share of revenue generated from sales of their items. Psyonix also pays an undisclosed share of sales revenue directly to North American and European pro players, even if their organisation doesn’t yet offer in-game items. 

A total of 18 teams now offer items through the program, with Dignitas, G2 Esports, eUnited, Ghost Gaming, NRG Esports, Pittsburgh Knights, Rogue, Spacestation Gaming, and Team Vitality joining those previously mentioned.

AYO.NEWS says:

Across the entire video gaming ecosystem in-game purchases are becoming ever more important as sources of revenue for publishers and developers, so it seems only natural that esports organisations and players also get a slice of the pie. Given the success of the initiative in Rocket League, we’re sure it will become commonplace across other titles too. 

‘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.

WePlay has revealed player brackets for its upcoming Dragon Temple professional Mortal Kombat 11 event.

Each group contains a mix of player strengths and nationalities, giving fans plenty of choice to, and promising a brutal competition. 

Group Mortal

1. A F0xy Grampa Hayatei
2. Konqueror
3. Asodimazze
4. Avirk
5. Foreverking
6. Hadoken

Group Kombat

1. Tekken Master
2. DizzyTT
3. GRR
4. Dubasik
5. 2EZ
6. Infinitii

WePlay Dragon Temple is a Mortal Kombat 11 invitational tournament with professional players and a substantial $60,000 prize pool.

The event kicks off with a round-robin group stage (all sets are best-of-3) with four winners from two groups each advancing to a double-elimination bracket (all sets are best-of-5) to determine the champion.

All the action will be streamed on the tournament’s Twitch channel from 10-13 December, with players putting their fighting prowess to the test at the custom-built WePlay Esports Arena Kyiv. 

You can find exclusive content and coverage at the DashFight website. 

AYO.NEWS says:

It’s great that WePlay Esports are giving some attention to Mortal Kombat 11 – fighting games still don’t get anywhere near the attention they deserve in the esports world. You can find out more about WePlay Esports, how the company got where it is, and what it has planned for the future, by watching AYO.NEWS’ recent chat with WePlay’s CEO, Oleh Humeniuk. 

‘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.

United Arab Emirates-based YAS HEAT ESPORTS has entered a partnership with Microsoft. 

The companies will be collaborating on a series of activities aimed at promoting virtual racing, and developing new talent in the region. These will include activations featuring pro esports drivers at YAS HEAT ESPORTS’ global racing hub at the Yas Marina Circuit. 

The organisation will also be adopting Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud services, and will be promoting the tech giant with branding across team kits and car liveries. 

Regarding the partnership Acting CEO, ADMM (Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management – operator of YAS HEAT), Saif Al Noami, said:

“We have great ambitions for our esports programme across YAS HEAT as well as the Global Racing Series. Partnering with Microsoft is a testament to the collective vision and best in class partnerships and talent principles that are making this project such a success.”

While Public Sector Director at Microsoft UAE, Leila Serhan, added:

“Esports has rapidly developed into a billion-dollar industry and is continuing is expand. This advanced form of immersive virtual sport has now entered the mainstream in the UAE.

“The Microsoft Intelligent Cloud will provide an infrastructure that will enhance virtual gaming and enable fans to collaborate with improved performance, speed and agility – empowering them to achieve more.”

YAS HEAT ESPORTS was established in August, through a partnership between Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management and London-based Veloce Esports. The organisation is also partnered with major airline Etihad, and luxury watchmaker Richard Mille. 

🔥 YAS Heat x Microsoft 🔥

Hold on tight. Things just got upgraded 💨

We are super excited to welcome @MicrosoftUAE onboard as our official technology partner 🤝

Together we aim to develop the next generation of virtual racing talent in the rapidly expanding Esports world 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/CsLiBorFDM

— YAS HEAT (@yas_heat) December 8, 2020

AYO.NEWS says:

With the UAE already a high profile real-world motorsport hub, it seems only natural that sim racing should also do well there, and having a partner with the resources of Microsoft can only help YAS HEAT accelerate its efforts. 

‘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.

ESL has announced the US Air Force as the first official Armed Forces Partner of the North American ESL CS:GO Pro Tour. 

The tournament operator previously partnered with the USAF for the ESL Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) New York and ESL Pro League Season 11 in February 2020. 

Now the collaboration will extend to the DreamHack Masters, DreamHack Showdown, ESL Pro League Season 13, DreamHack Open Online, ESL Pro League Season 14, and IEM North America, along with the US arm of ESEA and CSGO HUB. 

Discussing the partnership Director of Strategic Marketing for the Air Force Recruiting Service, Barry Dickey, said:

“The Air Force is excited to continue our partnership with ESL, which serves as the perfect platform to reach a key demographic for us. We feel this collaboration is a great fit because we are able to showcase the shared interests of teamwork, problem solving skills, and intellectual challenges with both the audience ESL has grown and the Air Force.”

The partnership will also see the integration of the Aim High broadcast and Wingman Wednesday, the new tournament series on CS:GO matchmaking platform ESEA, while the USAF will also be the Report Card partner on CSGO HUB.

AYO.NEWS says:

The armed forces of several countries are taking a keen interest in esports and video gaming as a way to engage potential recruits, but the United States is way out ahead. Along with the US Air Force, the US Navy, US Army, and US Marine Corps are all investing resources in esports sponsorships, esports competitions and competitive teams. 

In addition to serving as an effective recruiting tool, esports and video gaming are also helping serving personnel and veterans to socialise and cope with the stresses and pressures they face. At the end of November, World of Warships hosted an exhibition tournament featuring veterans and service members of the US military branches, including the Army, Army National Guard, Air Force, Space Force, Air National Guard, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps. 

‘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.