The PUBG MOBILE Club Open (PMCO) is adding new regions for 2021, with the UK, France, UAE, Africa, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore getting their own semi-pro tournaments. 

Aspiring mobile esports semi-pros from around the world can sign-up and compete in the new 2021 PMCO, the biggest PUBG MOBILE semi-pro esports competition to date, from 1-24 January. 

The expanded PMCO is aiming to build on the success PUBG MOBILE esports saw in 2020, during which over 120,000 teams applied to compete. The expansion means the competition is now available across 27 regions, giving even more players an opportunity to improve their skills and get experience of competitive play. 

The full list of regions is as follows:CIS, Europe WC, MENA WC, Africa, South Asia WC, LATAM WC, North America, Malaysia & Singapore, Southeast Asia WC, HMT, Wildcard, Turkey, Germany, UK, France, Saudi, Iraq, Egypt, UAE, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Mexico.

In total PUBG MOBILE esports will boast an incredible $14M USD in prize money for 2021.

AYO.NEWS says:

Despite some hiccups for PUBG MOBILE in 2020, most notably the banning of the title by the Indian government in September, the game and its esports scene saw tremendous growth in 2020, and there’s no reason to suggest we won’t see this continue through 2021. 

‘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.

Chinese esports organisation FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) has unveiled a brand update and new logo. 

The new logo features a phoenix bird flying across the letters ‘FPX,’ adding an extra burst of energy to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship 2019 winners. 

FunPlus Phoenix’s General Manager has also revealed the organisation is in talks to acquire GODSENT’s CS:GO roster. 

In addition to League of Legends, FPX now also competes in CS:GO, Valorant, and Call of Duty Mobile, and has commercial partnerships with BMW, Huya, Lenovo Legion, OPPO, and Puma.

We’ve upgraded our brand vision from now on for all our divisions and franchises. Our totem phoenix soars from oriental, engraved it’s burning mark rapidly on the letters of FPX. The vision we want to share is the spirit of Faith, Passion, and Xpossibility. Fly Phoenix, Fly!#FPX pic.twitter.com/BqLYRRBhJY

— FPX (@FPX_Esports) December 28, 2020

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Chinese entertainment giant Tencent Holdings has added several more game developers and publishers to its portfolio after acquiring Leyou Technologies for $1.5B USD.

The acquisition was announced earlier this year, but officially finalised on Wednesday 23 December when Leyou withdrew its listing from the Hong Kong stock exchange. 

In addition to Tencent, since Leyou was offered for sale nearly a year ago several other parties had also reportedly expressed an interest, including iDreamSky, Zhejiang Century Hautong Group, and Sony Corporation.

The deal sees UK-based Splash Damage, and Canada-based Digital Extremes join Tencent, and also gives the Chinese conglomerate a minority stake in Certain Affinity and Athlon Games.

Splash Damage has collaborated with Activision Blizzard on several first-person shooter games, Digital Extremes is developer of Warframe, Certain Affinity has worked on Call of Duty and Halo, and Athlon Games is currently partnered with Amazon for a Lord of the Rings MMO. 

Leyou’s properties join Tencent’s already impressive video game holdings, including Riot Games, Supercell, and Funcom. Tencent also has minority stakes in Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Krafton and others. 

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Italian asset management firm Gruppo Amodei has acquired a 51% stake in Milan-based esports event organiser PG Esports. 

The stake was acquired from event organising company Fandango Club, which is also co-owner of the Milan Games Week. Fandango Club has retained a 34% stake in PG Esports, with founder Pier Luigi Parnofiello also holding 15%. 

Parnofiello will remain at the helm of the organisation, which will continue to operate from its headquarters and studios on the Fandango Club campus, and organise leagues and tournaments for League of Legends and Rainbow Six across Italy.

Headed by Roberto Amodei, Gruppo Amodei is the family’s asset management firm, and currently owns a number of Italian newspapers, including sports daily Corriere dello Sport-Stadio and Tuttosport. 

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World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) executive, Craig Tello, is leaving the company to take up position as head of marketing communications & content strategy, esports, with Electronic Arts (EA). 

Though further details of Tello’s role with EA have not been disclosed, the company’s esports operations currently cover both FIFA 21 and NFL 21. 

Announcing the news on social media, Tello said:

“Days left in this year of infamy and I’m focused not just on a new ‘chapter,’ but a whole new ‘book’ in 2021. I am elated to share that I have joined Electronic Arts (EA) as its new head of marcom & content strategy within competitive gaming.”

A New York Times bestselling author, Tello’s has served in several roles at WWE over the past 14 years, the most recent being senior VP of programming and media operations, and prior to that, VP of digital & social content, VP of digital content, director and executive editor for WWE.com, editorial/executive editor for WWE.com, senior multimedia producer, content editor, and creative writer. 

His career before WWE included stints with NPR, A&E Television Networks, and Washington Square News. 

AYO.NEWS says:

2020 ends as it began, with the video games and esports industry continuing to poach talent from traditional sports and entertainment. We expect to see a lot more of this through 2021, as rapid growth piles on the commercial pressure, and the lack of a mature, specialist business talent pipeline becomes even more evident. 

Staying with Electronic Arts, earlier this month the company announced its acquisition of Codemasters, thwarting Take-Two’s plans and giving it serious clout in the sim racing world. 

‘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.

Complexity-Limit is the Castle Nathria Race to World First champion, bringing back-to-back World First titles to North America. 

Daily viewership of Complexity’s Race to World First stream exceeded last year’s event by over 50% each day, surpassing last year’s 10-day total in just six days.

Total concurrent viewers for Complexity-Limit’s Race to World First streams, across Complexity and guild members’ Twitch channels, peaked at 220,000, and Complexity-Limit’s Raid Leader, Maximum, had the second most-watched Twitch channel in the week. 

Reflecting on the success, Complexity-Limit guild officer Luke “Tagzz” Moran, said:

“Taking home back-to-back ‘Race to World First’ titles is a testament to this guild’s determination and perseverance. We strategized for hours on end leading up to our first raid and entered Castle Nathria with the same intensity and mentality that we had last year, and it paid off.

“Our second win under the Complexity banner shows the indispensable value of having a dedicated support system that can equip us with the necessary tools we need to achieve peak performance and keep us connected, especially when we can’t all be together.” 

[#LimitGuild #RWF]

If you’re not first, you’re not @LimitGuild 🏆

Congratulations on being the Race to World First back-to-back CHAMPS!#WeAreCOL | #COLWIN pic.twitter.com/ZdmNTHqB6T

— Complexity Gaming (@Complexity) December 23, 2020

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