UK-based organisation Resolve Esports is acquiring fellow British organisation Barrage Esports. 

The deal will see Resolve take control of all Barrage’s esports and business operations, including its Northern League of Legends (NLC) spot. Specific financial details of the deal have not been revealed. 

Although some Barrage staff will be retained after the acquisition, some will be made redundant, and Resolve has confirmed it will be compensating those affected. Former owner of Barrage, Jeff Simpkins, will be stepping down as Managing Director, but will retain an advisory role. 

Resolve Founder, Ilias ‘Rai’ Pajoheshfar, commented: “It has always been our intention to compete at the highest level and the journey so far has been a brilliant one. When Barrage kindly presented us with this opportunity, we felt an obligation to ensure the UK continues to be represented and after careful consideration, we felt the timing was right. We would like to thank Barrage for their hard work and service to UK esports, and will honour their legacy.”

Former Barrage owner, Jeff Simplins, added: “I reached out to Ilias and Resolve as I felt it was time to make a decision about Barrage’s and my own future in esports. I specifically reached out to Ilias as he is someone I have known for a couple of years now, who I have had a good rapport with and trust, as well as being wise beyond his years. To all those who have supported Barrage, have been part of our journey and specifically supported or helped guide myself over the years, thank you so much. It has been an absolute honour.”

Resolve’s League of Legends team had been competing in the UK’s second-division League of Legends tier, UKLC. With the organisation now inheriting Barrage’s Northern League team and spot, its former UKLC spot will be given to another organisation, with its original roster forming an academy team. Resolve will also give up its place in the UK’s third division, the UKEL. So far there’s no word on plans for Barrage’s amateur North American team. 

To commemorate the occasion, 50 limited edition Resolve/Barrage esports jerseys will be produced and offered for sale, with all proceeds going to the charity SpecialEffect. 

We are Barrage. We are Resolve. We are one. pic.twitter.com/56JrwNlLdb

— Resolve (@RSVGG) May 7, 2021

Activision Blizzard Esports has signed a Call of Duty League broadcast rights deal with Seven.One Sports

The sports business division of Seven.One Entertainment Group, has secured exclusive linear TV broadcasting rights in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for selected German language Call of Duty League (CDL) events. 

Commencing this month, ProSieben MAXX and esports.com will be showing selected finals of CDL Major tournaments, playoffs, and championship games. Esports.com has also been granted global digital video rights. 

Commenting on the agreement, Stefan Zant, Managing Director at Seven.One Sports, said: “Our agreement with Activision Blizzard Esports is the prelude to a far-reaching new partnership that we intend to expand beyond just broadcasting the League. Our commitment to esports in recent years has made us, together with ProSieben MAXX and esports.com, the market leader in the medialization of esports in German-speaking countries. With a globally relevant game like Call of Duty, we are now additionally accelerating the international expansion of esports.com.”

Brandon Snow, Chief Revenue Officer of Activision Blizzard Esports, added: “Call of Duty League will be expanding its broadcasting horizons to now reach one of its strongest European fanbases. Thanks to this long-term partnership, four of Call of Duty League’s Major Tournaments this season will be broadcast on ProSieben MAXX exclusively in German. We look forward to continuing to work with Seven.One on this new chapter of Call of Duty League broadcasting.”

In a further sign that some form of normality is returning to the esports world, CDL will see the return of in-person events on 17 June, when all 12 franchise teams will engage in LAN matches for the Stage 4 Major weekend at Esports Stadium Arlington, Texas. 

Staying with Call of Duty League, in April the league announced a multi-year partnership with online eyewear retailer Zenni.

Red Bull Wololo IV, the global online 1v1 Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition tournament is returning on 29 May. 

Red Bull Wololo IV is a unique take on the Empire Wars game mode where two players will face off in one-on-one competition. Each game starts in the Feudal Age meaning the first stages of a traditional match have been scrapped. 

As part of the competition series, each Red Bull Wololo has introduced a different story arc for players to compete in. In each event, players fight over a castle that has a library containing knowledge required for world domination. 

Red Bull Wololo I and II had players compete for control of a castle and library in a Western civilisation. Red Bull Wololo III represented Asian Civilisation. In Red Bull Wololo IV, players will take on the role of battle-hardened Viking warriors in a Nordic-themed event. 

Played in two parts, the open qualifiers will take place over two weekends with the top players moving through to a two-stage Final event. There, the eight qualifier winners will face the top players from Red Bull Wololo III.

The 16 person final will take place over two weekends, the first on June 19th and 20th, with the second and final stage on June 25th, 26th and 27th. The event will be streamed globally and hosted by prominent Age of Empires 2 casters including Nili_AoE, MembTV, T90Official and Dave_AoE for the English stream, with Mario Ovalle and Nacho_AoE for the Spanish stream.

The tournament is welcoming Logitech G as official Peripheral Partner, providing headsets, keyboards and mice, while AOC is returning as official Monitor Partner.

You can register for the open qualifiers here.

Check out redbull.com/wololo for more information.

Join the official Red Bull Wololo Discord for an open discussion.

Watch the main event on the official Red Bull Twitch and YouTube channels.

After being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Intel World Open will be going ahead this year, coinciding with the Tokyo Olympics. 

Organised in partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the global Rocket League and Street Fighter V tournament was originally announced back in 2019, and was scheduled to coincide with the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

However, with the COVID-19 crisis forcing the postponement of the Olympics, the Intel World Open was also put on ice. 

Qualifiers for both Rocket League and Street Fighter are now scheduled to get underway in June, with regional finals planned for mid-July. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Staying with the Olympics and esports, in April, the IOC announced the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series (OVS). The first ever official Olympic-licensed event for virtual sports, the OVS will feature sim sports including baseball, cycling, motorsports, rowing, and sailing. 

However, despite the improving COVID situation in many countries, the crisis is still worsening in some areas, particularly in India and surrounding countries. Also, the rapid spread of numerous variants, and their continued mutation, still threatens to undermine the global vaccination program, and poses the very real threat of a descent back into crisis everywhere. 

With this in mind, it’s easy to see why there is so much opposition in Japan to the games going ahead. And, if the IOC does press ahead despite the clear risks, and it results in a serious outbreak, it could irrevocably damage the reputation of the IOC and the games.

Brazilian PUBG MOBILE tournament, Copa Netenho, has announced PC hardware brand Pichau Gaming and Facebook Gaming as sponsors. 

Consisting of four groups, each with 16 sides, the tournament is run in partnership with local influencer Neto Cavalcante, and will be broadcast on Netenho’s Facebook page, and Brazilian gaming television channel, Loading. 

Group one will include PUBG MOBILE Pro League Brazil (PMPL Brazil) players, while the second will feature Netenho Facebook supporters, and the remaining two will include members of the esports community and the Creator Squad made up of PUBG MOBILE program partners.

Commenting on the news, Netenho said: “It is very gratifying as a PUBG MOBILE ambassador in Brazil to have all this support while I launch my own cup. Today, a large part of my base of followers who follow me are from PUBG MOBILE, so I am very happy to launch this project, which is an idea that I have had for a long time.”

In addition to a prize pool of $48K BRL, PUBG MOBILE merch including exclusive kits, headphones, and gaming chairs, will also be awarded to players according to “audience goals.”

Neto Cavalcante currently has 258K followers on Instagram, over 141K on Facebook, 61.3K on Twitter, and 933K subscribers on YouTube.

Global interactive entertainment company, Zynga Inc., has announced it has entered an agreement to acquire mobile programmatic advertising and monetisation platform Chartboost. 

Chartboost is a unified advertising platform, including a Demand Side Platform (DSP) and Supply Side Platform (SSP), with mediation capabilities delivered through an SDK solution. 

The platform currently has a worldwide audience of more than 700 million monthly users and more than 90 billion monthly advertising auctions.

Regarding the acquisition, Frank Gibeau, Chief Executive Officer of Zynga, said: “Chartboost is one of the most dynamic monetization and discovery platforms in mobile, and we could not be more excited to welcome their talented team to our company. By combining Zynga’s high-quality games portfolio and first-party data with Chartboost’s proven advertising and monetization platform, we will create a new level of audience scale and meaningfully enhance our competitive advantage in the mobile ecosystem.”

Rich Izzo, Chief Executive Officer of Chartboost, added: “We are thrilled to join with Zynga to further build and expand our full stack advertising platform that will serve Zynga and the entire mobile ecosystem. Together, we share a vision of the future where a combined advertising, analytics and content platform will accelerate growth across both of our companies. Zynga already feels like family and an extension of our own company culture.”