The Singapore-based Global Esports Federation (GEF) has detailed the members of its Brand, Marketing, Commercial and Communication Commission.

The commission will be led by Lorenzo Giorgetti, GEF Board Member and Chief Commercial Officer of top-flight Italian football club A.C. Milan. 

Commenting on his appointment, Giorgetti said:

“The Global Esports Federation convenes the stakeholders in the world’s dynamic esports community from different backgrounds, geographies and business models.

“I look forward to engaging with the world’s commercial brands – established and those emerging – and the market at large to bring tremendous value to the GEF and our worldwide properties.”

Several other senior sports industry executives are also on the board, including:

• Jerry Ling, chief of staff, World Taekwondo
• Chris Overholt, president and CEO, OverActive Media Group (parent company of MAD Lions, Toronto Defiant, and Toronto Ultra)
• Peter Zeytoonjian, senior vice president, United States Olympic and Paralympic Properties
• Yasuhiro Nakamori, director, sport department, Japanese Olympic Committee
• Ali Kiremitcioglu, executive board member, National Olympic Committee of Turkey
• Anne Kelly Aikman, international sports marketer, former vice president in marketing at the International Olympic Committee
• Marco Nazzari, managing director, international, Nielsen Sports

Backed by Chinese conglomerate Tencent, the GEF launched last year to “convene the world’s esports ecosystem.” Reflecting its ambitious intentions, last month the GEF entered an exploratory partnership with the Commonwealth Games Federation. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Though the GEF undoubtedly has some extremely talented and influential people onboard, one has to question if allowing itself to be so dominated by Olympic and former Olympic executives is really the best thing. 

While Olympic athletes are widely respected, the International Olympic Committee, which has attracted persistent allegations of corruption and cronyism, doesn’t exactly have the best public image.

This, coupled with the GEF’s close connections to Tencent, could well cause much of the esports world to reject its attempts to build a cohesive, standardised global esports ecosystem. 

‘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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Esports Entertainment Group has appointed Magnus Leppäniemi new Vice President of Marketing and Head of Esports at betting platform VIE.gg.

Leppäniemi is a seasoned veteran of the esports and gaming industry, with more than two decades of sales and marketing experience. Since 1996, he has sold and managed global esports partnerships for major brands and partners including Intel, Ben! Zowie, Electronic Arts, ESL, and the NBA. 

Before joining Malta-based Esports Entertainment Group Leppäniemi was Global Sales Director for Wehype, and prior to that he served as Sales Director North America at DreamHack. 

Commenting on the appointment CEO of Esports Entertainment Group, Gran Johnson, said:

“Magnus is a proven marketing executive with invaluable knowledge of the gaming and esports industry. Over more than two decades in gaming, Magnus has built an extensive network of relationships that could provide tremendous value as we execute on our global growth strategy.”

While Leppäniemi himself added:

“I’m very excited to join the Esports Entertainment team. As the first online betting company to list on NASDAQ, the Company has a great pedigree that we can continue to build on. We want to build trust with the players, fans, teams, publishers, and the community and give them a unique esports experience. 

“Esports betting is here to stay, and we want to build the premier platform in the industry that benefits the gaming and esports communities. I look forward to accelerating our marketing efforts, refining our go-to-market models, and building out our esports initiatives.”

Staying with Esports Entertainment Group, a few weeks ago we reported the company had started onboarding new affiliate marketing partners for its relaunched VIE.gg esports betting platform. 

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Online casino platform provider Digitain has appointed Peter Nolan as its new Strategic Consultant. 

With more than two decades of experience in the iGaming industry behind him, including in senior roles with Ladbrokes and SkyBet, Nolan will be responsible for managing media relations, and consulting on B2B marketing, sales and business strategy at Digitain. 

As a consultant, Nolan has also worked for Betfair, Scottish Television, 188Bet, Plumbee, and Codere. In Brazil he led the development and launch of international horseracing tote business Suaposta – the country’s first legal online service of its kind.

Regarding his appointment, Nolan said:

“Digitain is a renowned market-leader with a widely acclaimed offering, and I’m immensely proud to join such an enthusiastic and skilled team as their Strategic Consultant. I look forward to helping the Digitain team consolidate the remarkable achievements to date, and help them to drive innovation, improve quality and deliver best-in-class customer satisfaction.”

While CCO of Digitain, Suren Khachatryan, welcomed Nolan to the company, saying:

“With a wealth of experience working internationally for some of the industry’s most established businesses, we are thrilled to welcome Peter into the Digitain family. The knowledge and experience he brings to Digitain, gained in a corporate environment and also as a consultant, will deliver fantastic added value to our teams and business.”

Staying with Digitain, last month we reported the company had partnered with slots developer Yggdrasil. 

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Founder and CEO of marketing agency Digital Chain, Iryna Kurochkina, has announced she will be departing the company on 1 July. 

Kurochkina says she is leaving to pursue other projects, and until a replacement is found, the company’s board of shareholders will take over strategic and operational management of the company. 

Reflecting on her time with Digital Chain, Kurochkina, said:

“I have put all of myself into this project and I am incredibly proud of the result that the team and I have achieved. Digital Chain today is a chain of knowledge, inspiration, and support, the most powerful comprehensive expertise, experience in both local and global markets.

“The agency has successfully overcome the turning point of all startups, the first three-year period, and is ready to confidently move on. Plans for the future are outlined, and a new leader’s fresh approach will help to find new and effective ways to achieve them.”

Digital Chain has built a high-profile in the online gambling industry, with 85 clients including Parimatch, PokerMatch, and CASCAD, 72 sponsorship contracts, and over 16,000 advertising campaigns under its belt. 

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Everyone’s favourite crypto crazy, John McAfee, has backtracked on his previous prediction of $1m Bitcoin (BTC), saying Olympic “whale fucking” is more likely.  

The high profile, if somewhat eccentric, British-American entrepreneur, presidential candidate, outspoken libertarian, and crypto advocate, had previously predicted BTC hitting $1m before the end of 2020 – famously saying he’d eat his own penis if it didn’t. 

However, in a recent tweet, McAffee said that prediction had been “nonsense” and “absurd,” adding that if BTC did hit that level, “it’s market cap would be greater than the GDP of the entire North American Continent.” 

Put a different way:

If Bitcoin ever hit $1 mil, it’s market cap would be greater than the GDP of the entire North American Continent.

What idiot could believe such nonsense?

Whale Fucking is a thousand times more likely to make its way onto the Olympics Stage.

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) May 30, 2020

Indeed, McAfee’s views of Bitcoin seem to be turning distinctly negative, with the entrepreneur now calling it the “most crippled” crypto. Of course, given the fact that McAfee has launched his own cryptocurrency, Ghost, there are obvious reasons for him to be dissing Bitcoin. 

It’s also worth keeping in mind that two months ago John McAffee predicted the world’s fiat currencies would crash “within 2 months”, and advised people to “buy peanut butter”….

AYO.NEWS says:

Despite McAfee’s pessimism about Bitcoin (BTC), as we’ve reported over the past few weeks, an increasing number of respected voices are now predicting a major Bitcoin bull run, triggered by an unprecedented collapse of the conventional economy in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. 

Last week popular social media trader, investor, and entrepreneur Credible Crypto postulated that the last 896 days were “simply one massive re-accumulation phase” before the run to $100K+ BTC.

‘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

German Formula E driver Daniel Abt has lost his seat with Audi’s official factory team after cheating in the Formula E Race at Home Challenge. 

In a clear illustration of the dangers of traditional sportspeople not taking esports seriously, two-time Formula E race winner Daniel Abt has lost his seat with Audi’s official team after organising a “prank” that backfired. 

Launched in response to the suspension of the 2019-2020 Formula E season due to the COVID-19 crisis, the rFactor 2-based Formula E Race at Home Challenge, is part of a fundraising partnership with UNICEF. 

Abt is a well-known driver in Formula E, having started all 62 races since its 2014 Beijing launch. He initially drove for his family’s racing team, Abt Sportsline, but entered a partnership with German car manufacturer Audi in July 2017, joining its official factory team. 

The controversy involved the fifth stint of the Race at Home Challenge, when Abt came up with the idea of getting a top sim driver to race in his place, to “prank” the other drivers, and then create content around the drama. 

In the event, Austrian sim racer Lorenz “Lozbert” Hörzing masqueraded as Abt, and drove well, before crashing with Stoffel Vandoorne while fighting for the lead, eventually finishing third. The high standard of driving and good finishing position caused other drivers to suspect foul play, and organisers soon found “Abt” had used a different IP address than usual. 

Abt released a video statement explaining and apologising for his actions, 

“This is a game, a simulation, but it has nothing to do with motor racing, with what I usually do. Of course, they attempted to make it realistic, but it definitely is anything but what a real Formula E car is – how it drives, how it feels. Also, races are unrealistic. That became evident for everyone in the first [race at home challenge] race by what happened on track. Accidents happened en masse, everybody drove as they pleased, and the game had bugs.

“To be honest, I believe from an outside perspective it was not what constitutes a real Formula E race, the essence of professional racing. Our intention going into the races was primarily to entertain the fans at home rather than racing for results.”

“I can understand that we took it too far with our idea. In retrospect, we did not think about the seriousness and consequences of this and made an enormous mistake. I stand by my mistake and accept the consequences for what I’ve done and want to emphasize that I’m relieved that the sim racings guys haven’t been dragged into the scandal too much. It’s my responsibility and I’ll bear it.”

Although the series is for entertainment purposes only, with no points or prize money being awarded, and Abt admitted the “prank” immediately, Audi has taken a dim view of Abt’s shenanigans, and kicked him off the team. 

In a statement Audi explained:

“Daniel Abt, after six years and 63 races, will no longer drive for Audi in Formula E. He has been part of our Formula E team since the debut of the racing series in September 2014, and our official factory driver since the autumn of 2017. In Mexico and at our home round in Berlin, Abt took two fantastic Formula E victories and scored a total of ten podium results. With Daniel, we celebrated great success and made enormous strides with Formula E. We are thankful for our time together and look back on it proudly.

“However, integrity, transparency, and consistent compliance with applicable rules, especially with regards to the past, are top priorities for us at Audi. We stand by our culture of tolerating mistakes. However, the incidents that took place during the ‘Race at Home Challenge’ sim racing series were not a mistake, but a conscious decision to go against the rules.

“That is what makes the big difference for us. Therefore, unfortunately, we had no other alternative than suspending Daniel Abt.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Though it’s very likely that Abt didn’t intend anything nefarious in this incident, his statement makes it clear that he doesn’t take esports seriously, so Audi’s decisive actions should be applauded.  With the esports industry growing rapidly, it’s critical to protect the integrity of all competitive play, whether there’s prize money or betting involved or not. 

‘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