German esports venue developer VERITAS Entertainment has teamed up with in-game advertising platform Anzu. 

The partnership will see the Berlin-based VERITAS, and Israel-based Anzu, collaborate to help advertisers communicate their messages within games and esports tournaments. 

Discussing the deal Managing Director of VERITAS Entertainment, Dorian Gorr, said:

“We’re thrilled to work together with Anzu to push the limits of what brand integration looks like in esports. 

“In collaboration with Itamar Benedy and his team, we will help companies that want to enter the esports space to position their products and messages in completely new ways that are more immersive than ever before. We’ve been following the progress of Anzu over the past year and are nothing but impressed by their vision, which fits perfectly to the LVL brand.”

While Co-founder and CEO of Anzu, Itamar Benedy, added:

“Anzu is always looking to push the limits of what was considered possible–and this new partnership with LVL is the perfect example of just that! 

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with a true innovator that creates real-life, interactive video games and esports experiences for eager fans while still taking full advantage of the digital nature of the medium through their live streams and tournaments. We look forward to what will surely be the first step in a global phenomenon, starting right here in Berlin!”

In March this year, VERITAS secured $10m USD in funding for its Berlin LVL gaming facility, while Anzu’s in-game advertising solutions are already employed by major brands including Ubisoft, Turner Sports’ ELEAGUE, and Vivid Games. 

Just last month, Anzu also expanded its partnership with independent game developer Axis Games. 

AYO.NEWS says:

One of the reasons in-game advertising is so promising is because, unlike pretty much every other type of advertising today, instead of being intrusive and annoying players, it can actually complement games by adding authenticity. 

However, it’s also possible to argue that because players are focused on playing, and not on the in-game advertising, it actually relies on something akin to subliminal techniques… hmmm…

‘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

Two Honor of Kings team acquisitions have been announced at the Tencent Global Esports Summit. 

Yesterday, the chief brand officer of Honor of Kings and president of the KPL Union, Yijia Zhang, announced Chinese social media platform Weibo has acquired Honor of Kings team TS Gaming, while short-form video company Kuaishou has acquired Honor of Kings team YTG.

Financial details of the acquisitions were not revealed, but in June YTG was known to be looking for initial bids in the regions of ￥61M RMB ($8.82 USD). Reports suggest that Weibo actually started the acquisition process as early as March – before the team won the KPL Spring Split. 

Following the acquisitions, TS Gaming has rebranded to WB.TS, while YTG is rebranding to KS.YTG. Both are set to keep their franchising slots in the King Pro League – China’s premier Honour of Kings competition. 

With its acquisition of TS Gaming’s Honor of Kings team, Weibo has now completely acquired the organisation, after buying its QQ Speed division, and the franchising spot at Tencent’s QQ Speed S League earlier this month. 

Zhang also confirmed that the KPL will be adding two more flexible slots, giving the opportunity for the top two teams in the KPL G-League to compete in the top-tier KPL – though the 16 existing teams in the KPL will not be liable to relegation.

AYO.NEWS says:

With esports conferences and expos around the world cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, it’s odd to see the Tencent Summit go ahead in China, where the crisis began.

Staying with the Tencent Global Esports Summit, yesterday Spanish La Liga football club FC Barcelona announced it had entered a partnership with Tencent, to “engage in deep communication” regarding “esports competitions, esports education and industry exchange in the future with a view to exploring the many possibilities of collaboration between sports and esports.”

‘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

According to research from esports betting site Luckbox, online esports tournaments are delivering more shocks than LAN events. 

With most LAN esports events cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, organisers have been forced to switch to online events over the past few months. From CS:GO and Dota 2, to League of Legends – everything pretty much switched to an entirely online format – including the biggest events like ESL One Birmingham, DreamHack events, and ESL One Cologne. 

And, according to Luckbox, this switch from LAN to online has delivered more than a few surprises. Analysts at the company looked at collected between March and July, and compared the expected outcome of matches based on pre-match odds to the final results. The same was then done to data from the same period last year, and the results compared. 

The biggest surprises came in League of Legends, where 10% fewer matches played out as expected. Dota 2 saw 5% more deliver surprise results, and for CS:GO 3% more matches delivered shock results. 

Reflecting on the research Luckbox’s Director of Sportsbook, Metodi Zaburtov, said:

“Our data shows that we see an increased number of upsets when moving from LAN to Online.

“It’s especially noticeable for favorites in ranges 1.2-1.3 and 1.4-1.5, where the trends are clear – there are respectively 6.81% and 11.02% more upsets since the start of Covid-19 pandemic.

“Apparently, the trend is continuing into August, as fans placing a bet on CS:GO during ESL One Cologne this month have already witnessed a big surprise with 125/1 shot Sprout progressing through their group to reach the playoffs with two stunning victories against the odds so far.”

As for the reasons behind the upsets, Zaburtov put forward several factors, including the fact that online matches are more prone to technical issues, like latency, which can upset the balance – comparing it to a football match played on a bad pitch. 

He also pointed out that when competing online, players are often in their own homes, which can affect players differently, for example, the lack of thousands of on-site fans reducing the pressure on inexperienced players and smaller teams. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Though the percentage of upsets might seem small, they are significant for bookies, and will undoubtedly be giving odds providers something to think about.

The question now has to be, with the COVID-19 crisis looking set to drag on for many months, if not years, will the changes we’re seeing across different sectors, including esports, become permanent? Are 100% online tournaments going to largely replace LAN events for good?

Earlier this month, AYO.NEWS’ Simona Pinterova caught up with Luckbox’s CEO, Quentin Martin, to talk about how esports betting has exploded during the COVID-19 crisis, and the company’s future plans.

‘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

Spanish La Liga football club FC Barcelona has entered an esports partnership with Chinese multinational Tencent. 

The strategic agreement, which was announced at the Tencent Esports Summit in Hainan, China, yesterday, will see the Spanish club and Tencent “engage in deep communication” regarding “esports competitions, esports education and industry exchange in the future with a view to exploring the many possibilities of collaboration between sports and esports.”

FC Barcelona currently competes in Psyonix’s Rocket League and Konami’s eFootball PES, but has expressed an interest in entering the Chinese League of Legends scene. Obviously, a partnership with Tencent would make that easier, given that Tencent co-owns TJ Sports and fully owns Riot Games, which jointly operate the League of Legends Pro League (LPL).

Tencent E-sports tied up with Spanish soccer club Barcelona to explore innovation beyond traditional sports and e-sports. The pair will also extend their footprints in e-sports education and gaming, Tencent Vice President Cheng Wu said today. @TencentGlobal @FCBarcelona pic.twitter.com/HHmydoVQ5v

— Yicai Global 第一财经 (@yicaichina) August 24, 2020

It’s not the Chinese giant’s first partnership with a European football club – last year it established a partnership with English Premier League football club Manchester City. 

AYO.NEWS says:

FC Barcelona are proving themselves one of the most switched-on football clubs in the world. In addition to clearly taking esports very seriously, they are one of the clubs to recognise the potential of blockchain and tokenisation, having launched a fan token on Chiliz’ Socios.com fan engagement platform.

‘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 esports organisation SK Gaming and North American hard drive manufacturer Western Digital have renewed their partnership. 

The 1-year extension will see Western Digital continue to supply storage solutions to SK Gaming, and will see the parties collaborate for activations including meet and greets, prize giveaways, and exclusive social media-based content and raffles. 

Commenting on the news CEO of SK Gaming, Alexander T. Müller, said:

“We are thrilled that Western Digital felt our partnership has been as successful as we did and we easily reached an agreement to extend it. With the WD_BLACK products on our side, we will continue to equip our players for success and support them in their data needs.”

While Senior Product Marketing Manager in EMEA at Western Digital, Ruben Dennenwaldt, added:

“Our continued support of SK Gaming is testament to an extremely fruitful partnership which has developed. It is great to see that the team is so successful and that WD_BLACK has contributed to their achievements.

“It is great to see how helpful the products are for SK Gaming and we are very excited about the variety of joint projects we have coming up.”

In June SK Gaming expanded its partnership with HYLO Eye Care, and announced the rekindling of a partnership with US-based multinational semiconductor company AMD. The organisation also has commercial deals with T-Mobile, Mercedes-Benz, and ARAG. 

SK Gaming currently fields teams in Clash Royale, Brawl Stars, FIFA, and League of Legends. 

AYO.NEWS says:

It’s always a positive sign to see a commercial partnership extended like this, especially in today’s troubling economic climate. But, if Western Digital wants to push its gaming specific WD_BLACK range, there’s no better way than by partnering with high-profile esports organisations like SK Gaming. 

‘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

Riot Games has announced a new multi-year partnership with music streaming service Spotify. 

The partnership makes Spotify, which has around 300 million active users, the first official global audio service partner of League of Legends. 

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it is known the partnership will include in-broadcast advertising and in-game signage (Summoner’s Rift arena banners). 

Spotify will also be launching a dedicated League of Legends hub, featuring exclusive content including a new show nine episode series Untold Stories: Top Moments from Worlds, that will precede the 10th League of Legends World’s – scheduled to take place this autumn in Shanghai. 

Until now League of Legends has kept most music production and distribution in-house, with Riot Games’ head of global esports partnerships and development, Naz Aletaha, explaining:

“Music and audio are an intrinsic part of our sport and game, so we are thrilled to partner with Spotify to provide our fans with another platform where they can enjoy the ultimate manifestation of League of Legends.

“As a disrupter in their space similar to Riot Games, Spotify allows us to collectively challenge the limits of possibility as we blend sports, technology, entertainment, and music to create iconic experiences and content that inspire generations.”

While global head of consumer and product marketing at Spotify, June Sauvaget, added:

“Our partnership with Riot Games will create a first-of-its-kind audio universe for the millions of Spotify and League of Legends fans across the globe. As the exclusive—and first ever—global audio service partner for League of Legends, we plan to create a world-class audio-streaming experience for our users, making discovering both music and podcasts easier than ever before.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Considering League of Legends’ official soundtrack is already racking up over 4.8 million Spotify listeners per month, we’re sure the new hub will prove very popular with fans. And, with the phenomenal growth of esports, and its spread into every aspect of popular culture, it’s not surprising that Spotify wants to get in on the auction to remain relevant.

‘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