Ultimate Gamer is partnering with global real estate firm Jamestown for an epic Virtual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square. 

The world’s first and only multi-genre esports and gaming proving ground is working with Jamestown to create VNYE: a brand new, immersive virtual experience that will bring the world of Times Square to everyone, everywhere, starting from 19 December. 

As exclusive gaming partner, Ultimate Gamer will be providing unique virtual experiences, interactive content, and streams geared toward gamers and esports fans, through the app and website – VNYE.com. 

From 19 December 2020 , through 3 January 2021, Ultimate Gamer will be hosting a variety of streams on VNYE, featuring popular esports teams like Misfits Gaming and Team Furia; gaming personalities including HipHopGamer and Jobless Gamer; and entertainment from NBA2K content creators HankDaTank, BreeZe, ColeTheMan, and Hollywood, among others.

Fortnite, Valorant, Apex Legends, and League of Legends competitions, with fun prizes and giveaways, will also be hosted in the run up to New Year’s Eve. 

Additionally, Ultimate Gamer will be working with its partners including Kinguin, Western Digital, CLX Gaming, Turtle Beach, and Roccat, and teaming up with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, to produce educational content and host online esports competitions to raise funds to support people living with paralysis. 

Looking forward to the events Ultimate Gamer CEO, Steve Suarez, said:

“2020 has been a landmark year for the gaming industry as gaming played a vital role in providing community and connection during a global pandemic. It is our hope that the planned virtual events offer a refreshed and innovative way to ring in the new year and create loyalty among the younger generation to this novel version of New Year’s Eve. 

“With over 2.7 billion gamers in the world, it’s time that one of the most-watched global events focuses its attention on this rapidly evolving audience. By providing a modern twist to a historic event, we are in essence symbolically passing the torch to the next generation and entrusting them to create highly entertaining and memorable experiences for years to come.”

While President of Fly Studio and Executive Producer of the VNYE Experience, Jean-Francois Talbot, added:

“It is more important than ever to continue the time-honored tradition of ringing in the New Year from Times Square. At Fly Studio, we were proud to collaborate with Jamestown to reimagine this experience for the virtual world and provide a way for everyone to celebrate safely this year.

“We are thrilled to be working with Ultimate Gamer as the exclusive VNYE gaming partner to bring this iconic experience to new viewers in an interactive and engaging way.”

From 19 December 2020 fans can download the VNYE app from all app stores, or visit VNYE.com to find out more about the Ultimate Gamer tournaments, esports content, and giveaways. 

AYO.NEWS says:

There’s no doubt about it, the upcoming New Year’s celebrations are going to be very different, but Ultimate Gamer and VNYE are proving that it can still be entertaining and uniting, bringing people together wherever they happen to be in the world, and raising funds and awareness for a great cause in the process. 

Last month, AYO.NEWS’ very own Simona Pinterova caught up with Steve Suarez, CEO of Ultimate Gamer, to find out more about what inspired the world’s first and only multi-genre esports and gaming proving ground, and where it’s going. 

‘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.

After 26 years, global esports event and tournament organiser DreamHack has rebranded with a new visual identity. 

The new visual identity was revealed yesterday, on the company’s annual DreamHack Day, and features a new logo, new colours, bold typeface, and “energized” graphics. 

It’s the first time that DreamHack, which began in 1994 as a LAN-event at a Swedish primary school and has since grown into one of the world’s biggest gaming brands, has gone through this kind of deliberate, carefully designed rebrand. 

Joining the iconic DreamHack orange are black, red, yellow, and white, while the wordmark has “been carefully crafted with unique letterforms”, with letters counters “perfectly squared to create a visual representation of screens.” The new brand headline font is Tusker Grotesk, while the core identity device is “the Warp”, which “pays homage to DreamHack’s heritage and represents the extraordinary things that happen when the gaming community gets together.”

In true 2020-style, DreamHack have also published a manifesto, committing itself to “infuse a sense of meaning” to its business, and guide it in creating future experiences. It reads as follows:

DreamHack is where our community join arms.

Around massive stages and booths made by hand.

In numbers, in spirit, and in any city brave enough to have us.

To discover where years of training can get you.

Or try something new for the very first time.

To play games that took years to create, and games we made up on the spot.

To embrace old enemies and fight new friends.

Play as hard as we can, mess about with a vengeance.

And crown the champion of everything – from Counter-Strike to cosplay to cabbage bowling

Because whether we’re first-timers or twenty-year veterans, eventually every one of us lives, breathes and sleeps DreamHack.

Some of us sleep at DreamHack.

So wherever gaming goes and however gaming grows,

this will always be the place where it all comes together.

In all our energy, creativity, glory, and absurdity.

And we will always be DreamHack.

Where the gaming community comes to life.

Of course, there’s also a brand new merchandise collection available, with the first drop featuring a hoodie, t-shirt, and sweatpants. 

In September, DreamHack merged with ESL, as part of a structural change in the MTG-owned businesses to better position them for the coming years. 

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

Simona catches up with Michael Klawiter, Co-founder and Marketing Director of Bet4Fun – the new gaming app that is defying established norms by allowing players to challenge each other and earn rewards, for free or real money, on a range of hyper-casual partner games.

Watch to get the inside view on how skill-based casual games are challenging the existing order, bridging the gap between video gaming and online casino-based igaming, and what Bet4Fun has planned for the coming months as it rolls out into new territories.

Bet4Fun is now available on the App Store and coming soon to Google Play.

Metafy, the game coaching platform, has secured $3M USD in a seed funding round led by Forerunner Ventures. 

The round also attracted participation from Tekton Ventures, M25, executives from Facebook and Microsoft, and the founders of esports organisations Tempo Storm and Tribe Gaming. 

Co-founded by Josh Fabian and Thomas McNiven in August this year, Pittsburgh-based Metafy enables players to monetise their talent by offering 1-on-1 coaching and courses. 

Aimed at all skill levels, from aspiring professionals to casual players wanting to keep up, Metafy gives people the chance to learn from some of the most respected and talented players in the gaming community. The company says it hand-selects coaches from the top 1% of players, and that its talent has combined tournament winnings of over $1.5M. 

The platform currently supports over 40 games, including League of Legends, Rocket League, PUBG, Overwatch, and Mortal Kombat 11. 

AYO.NEWS says:

What platforms like Metafy are doing is fascinating to say the least – offering players the chance to monetise their existing skills, and possibly creating entire new career paths in the process. The fact that it relies on real people, rather than AI like many other coaching platforms, also adds that human factor – which has only become more in demand since the social disruption of the pandemic. 

It also offers hope for those of us in their late 30’s who are fed up with getting beaten by Belarusian teenagers.

‘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.

ThriveFantasy has announced a strategic partnership with North American esports organisation Envy Gaming. 

The multi-year deal makes ThriveFantasy the ‘Official Daily Fantasy Esports Platform’ of Team Envy, and marks the first time the fantasy sports and esports proposition (prop) betting platform has teamed up with an esports organisation.

In addition to cross-branding and promotion across Envy’s teams, which include Call of Duty (Dallas Empire), CS:GO, Halo, Rocket League, Smash Bros, and VALORANT, the collaboration will also see ThriveFantasy offer a 360-degree second-screen engagement platform for fans during Envy matches. 

A Discord bot will also be launched on Envy’s Discord channel to educate new users on prop betting, and provide live in-game statistics. 

Discussing the new partnership CEO of Envy Gaming, Adam Rymer, said:

“We know gaming fans crave interactive experiences that can bring them closer to their favourite players and teams – and that is exactly what ThriveFantasy is powering with their focus on a fantasy esports ecosystem and prop betting.”

While Founder and CEO of ThriveFantasy, Adam Weinstein, added:

“Team Envy is the perfect partner for ThriveFantasy. Not only has Envy proven themselves as winners with several championships across major gaming titles, but they have one of the most loyal and passionate fanbases in North America.

“We look forward to pushing further into esports and becoming the go-to fantasy platform for the esports community with great team partners like Envy.”

Though when ThriveFantasy launched in April 2018 its focus was on the big US sports leagues, like many other operators, during the COVID-19 pandemic the company refocused attention on esports. And, according to the company, this has resulted in its esports vertical growing 140% in just six months. 

Team Envy also has commercial partnerships with fast food chain Jack in the Box, Acer’s gaming brand Predator, gaming peripherals brand Corsair, video game retailer GameStop, meat snack brand Jack Link’s, and social media tech company Team Infographics. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Like regular esports betting, fantasy got a huge boost from the COVID-19 lockdowns, with many operators and fans turning to it for lack of other options. The question now is, with many real-world sports now back up and running, even if society is still far from normal, can esports maintain its momentum? 

The answer may well depend on partnerships like that between ThriveFantasy and Envy Gaming, and whether they can drive engagement and interest, and keep drawing in new fans. 

Staying with Team Envy, just yesterday official in-game car decals, accessories, and banners were added to Rocket League’s in-game store 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. 

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

Super League Gaming has announced the launch of Virtualis Studios, a fully virtual production studio. 

Aimed at production companies in need of experienced teams with a deep understanding of remote production technologies and systems, Virtualis Studios provides proprietary, state-of-the-art, scalable solutions for video, television, and branded content. 

Virtualis Studios was born from cloud-based esports broadcast solutions designed to enable thousands of simultaneous gameplay and player cam feeds to be live streamed across dozens of endpoints. It specialises in integrating multiple technology solutions to ensure any project can be produced and monitored on a partially or fully remote basis. 

Discussing the venture Chief Commercial Officer at Super League, Matt Edelman, said:

“We created Virtualis Studios based on the rapidly increasing demand for premium video across the pandemic-beleaguered production landscape.

“While there are individual off-the-shelf software products that address certain aspects of remote production quite well, we have found that production companies need a solution that can do everything well, with flexibility and creativity that applies across production types. 

“That’s what we’ve built – our expertise is as important as our technology systems, and both will bring immense value to our partners for years to come.”

Leading commercial production agency, The Woo, recently tapped Virtualis Studios to support an upcoming national campaign for a well-known household brand.

Regarding the project, Head of Production at The Woo, Lorna Paul, said:

“The Virtualis Studios solution went beyond our expectations for remote monitoring of an important commercial shoot. Our client was able to provide real-time input throughout the production with ease, which helped ensure we were meeting their core objectives.”

And, Head of Virtualis Studios and SuperLeagueTV, Brian Gramo, added:

“Virtualis Studios already had a vast amount of experience evaluating, testing, and integrating dozens of technologies for both traditional and REMI workflows well before COVID-19 hit.

“Our success has come from designing the right mix of solutions for each project, and building proprietary workflows that inspire confidence among every member of the production crew, any executive who needs oversight via our remote multi-views, and all on-camera talent, from wherever they may be located.”

AYO.NEWS says:

We often comment about how the video games and esports industries have been able to weather the COVID-19 storm better than most, and how the various forms of digital entertainment, including television, movies, and music, are rapidly merging with gaming, but Super League are really taking things to the next level with this. But, it makes perfect sense, and we’re sure it will inspire other companies to explore new opportunities too.

Staying with esports and gaming merging with the wider entertainment industry, earlier this week New York-based ESPAT TV announced the launch of the Creative Collective, with involvement from the Ridley Scott Creative Group, PRG, Esports Locker, Unbridled Media, and Movers and Shakers. 

‘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.