Garena and Google have teamed up to launch a Play on Challenge Free Fire competition in Brazil this December. 

The tournament is set to take place on 12 December, and will feature a mix of professional players and popular content creators, including global Free Fire star Bruno “Nobru” Goes.

Google and Garena have put together 12 teams of four players, based on players’ region, gender, and race, in an effort to fully represent the diversity of the Brazilian Free Fire community. 

Though the Free Fire publisher Garena is supporting the tournament, it is primarily a Google initiative, and will not be broadcast on the company’s streaming platform BOOYAH! Instead, it will be broadcast live on the official Brazilian Free Fire YouTube channel. 

Brazil’s Play on Challenge follows similar events held in Taiwan and South Korea last year. 

Staying with the hugely popular mobile battle royale game, last week Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., announced its debut Indian mobile esports program, Snapdragon Conquest, would be kicking off with Free Fire.

AYO.NEWS says:

Free Fire is extremely popular in certain markets, more than giving PUBG MOBILE a run for its money, and Brazil is one of those markets, so this competition is bound to go down well, even though we’ve got no idea what the prize pool is yet… but, it’s not about the money, right?

‘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.

UK-based organisation Guild Esports has appointed Grant Rousseau as its Director of Esports. 

Rousseau is an esports veteran, who most recently served as Interim Head of Performance, and later Director of Operations, at fellow UK esports organisation Excel Esports. Before joining Excel, he was Director of Team Operations for OverActive Media Group, and Director of Operations at Splyce. 

According to a LinkedIn post, in his new role with Guild, Rousseau wants to “bring a winning mentality, and ultimately some trophies, to the company.” 

Taking to Twitter to comment on his new position, Rousseau said:

“The opportunity to lead from scratch the performance division of a growing esports org, is one I have always aspired towards. Incredibly grateful to be standing at this point and cannot wait to crack on.

“For the first time, I see a true action plan of how an esports org intends to endemically build up the UK scene. Their academy system is well designed and will bring life to the UK industry. It’s the main reason on why I joined and brings value to the competition of UK Esports.

“That together with the calibre of staff having been hired means that I truly believe this org set to go far, and also bring more non-endemic fans into the space (both UK and more). I for one cannot wait to be a part of it all, and I hope many of you will join me on the journey.”

In October, Guild Esports, which is co-owned by footballing legend David Beckham, raised £20M GBP when it listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), giving it a market capitalisation of £41.2M. 

Earlier this month, the organisation dropped its first apparel collection, featuring designs by Fergus Purcell. 

Guild now fields teams in Fortnite, Rocket League, FIFA 21 and Valorant, and has hired Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields to help find a top CS:GO roster. 

AYO.NEWS says:

After having drummed up so much hype with its LSE listing, Guild is now under a lot of pressure to live up to expectations, so the pressure really will be on Grant Rousseau to get that winning mindset embedded in the whole organisation. 

‘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.

Aussie Fortnite player and streamer Kathleen ‘Loserfruit’ Belsten has teamed up with e.l.f. Cosmetics. 

The partnership will see the 27-year-old collaborate with California-based e.l.f. on activations across her various channels, to promote the company’s beauty and skin care products, in a campaign called Lufu x e.l.f Cosmetics. 

Belsten will also be launching the e.l.f.U initiative in early 2021, aiming to connect with her female fans and introduce her make fans to the brand’s products. 

Financial details of the partnership have not been revealed, but e.l.f. has said it worked with gaming content agencies LiveCraft and eGen eSports to develop the new campaign. 

Belsten currently has over 8M followers across her streaming and social media platforms, including 2.1M on Twitch, 1.6M on TikTok, 1.2M on Instagram, 558.1K on Twitter, and 2.88M on YouTube. 

She also has commercial partnerships with ASUS’ Republic of Gamers, CORSAIR, and GMYSHARK. 

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

Veloce Racing has confirmed Jamie Chadwick as its female driver for the inaugural season of groundbreaking, electric off-road championship Extreme E. 

Chadwick is a Williams F1 development driver and W Series Champion, and widely regarded as one of the UK’s brightest young talents.

Making her motorsport debut in the Ginetta Junior Championship, she went on to win the 2015 British GT Championship in the GT4 class, before moving to the British Formula 3 Championship in 2017, and in 2019 took the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 title. In the same year, she went on to make history in the W Series Championship, as the first driver ever with a brace of wins and five podium finishes from six races. 

When she’s not been driving, Chadwick has been acting as an ambassador for Girls on Track, an initiative led by Motorsport UK and the FIA to encourage more females to enter motorsport. 

Extreme E will mark Chadwick’s debut in the off-road scene, and the 22-year old has spent the past week driving the ODYSSEY 21 at Fontjoncouse in southern France, with more practice scheduled for a group test at MotorLand Arágon in Spain next month.

Alongside her new Extreme E commitments, Chadwick is also competing in the Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Powerteam, and the backing of Rodin Cars. 

Discussing her involvement with Veloce and Extreme E, Chadwick said:

“I am proud to be driving for Veloce Racing in such a revolutionary championship as Extreme E! I have been involved with Veloce for a very long time and they are like a family to me, so I am incredibly honoured to be their female driver for what is such an exciting and important race series.

“Climate change is something that affects us all, so I’m really keen to start doing my part to fight it. I can safely say that testing the car was one of the best and most fun experiences I have had in my career so far. I can’t wait to get out to the amazing venues where we’ll be racing next year; these are some of the most beautiful and endangered locations on our planet. Both on and off-track, it promises to be an incredibly rewarding journey.”

Super proud to have been given the opportunity to race with @VeloceRacingXE in next year’s @ExtremeELive Championship ⚡ Excited to be a part of such an important series for our planet! 💃🏻 🙌🏻 #VivaVeloce #ExtremeE pic.twitter.com/0bxmPZ1WIa

— Jamie Chadwick (@JamieChadwick55) November 25, 2020

While Veloce Racing Team Manager, Ian Davies, added:

“We are delighted to have Jamie on-board at Veloce for the first season of Extreme E. She is a very quick, talented and committed young driver, with a pedigree that quite frankly speaks for itself. Having won titles in both sportscars and single-seaters, there is no reason at all why she shouldn’t transfer those skills and win in Extreme E, in what promises to be a very high-calibre field.

“Her first test in the ODYSSEY 21 during our shakedown in France last week was a very positive and encouraging start. Her experience from single-seater and GT competition was invaluable to the early development of our car – from quick driver changes to initial and mid-corner turn-in – and she had significant input into our engineering refinements.

“Jamie would be the first to acknowledge that off-road driving is completely new to her, but she is a fast learner and she listened carefully to everything we had to say, worked well with the engineers, took it all on-board and – most importantly – got quicker and quicker with every run. We are all very excited to see what she can achieve when we go racing next year.”

Chadwick’s male teammate has yet to be confirmed, but will be joining her for the full 2021 Extreme E Championship, with events scheduled for Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia (20-21 March), Dakar, Senegal (29-30 May), Kangerlussuaq, Greenland (28-29 August), Para, Brazil (23-24 October) and Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina (11-12 December).

AYO.NEWS says:

Veloce Racing, which merged with Veloce Esports earlier this year to create a hybrid real-world/sim-world racing organisation, is gearing up for a serious start to the Extreme E Championship! In addition to bringing on top talent like Chadwick, it’s also forging impressive commercial partnerships – only last week, Veloce announced a partnership with Dutch watchmaker TW Steel. 

‘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.

Learfield IMG College has announced its key operation partners behind Level Next, The College Esports League. 

Level Next officially started this month with the Fall Champions Series, featuring EA SPORTS Madden NFL 21. It is the largest intercollegiate esports league, open to all students attending a four-year accredited university, and is also the first esports league to be supported by official school branding and athletics marketing assets. 

In addition to its cornerstone relationship with Electronic Arts (EA), Level Next is working with Esports Engine (a Vindex company), Mainline, and Endeavor, as the principal partners for overall operation and supporting elements of the esports tournaments to be housed within the platform. 

Chris Buckner, CEO of Mainline – which has been Learfield IMG College’s esports tournament operator since the company entered the esports space – called Level Next, “the culmination of every partner’s strength.” 

Learfield IMG, in coordination with EA and Endeavor, selected Esports Engine as its initial broadcast and production partner to develop new and engaging content for the college community. The company will deliver over 70 hours of broadcast content throughout the Fall Champions Series, featuring red zone coverage, matches of the week, and other shoulder content. 

Discussing developments Learfield IMG College EVP/Managing Director – Media and Partnerships Group, Rick Barakat, said:

“Level Next provides the esports player and overall student community the best of college fandom in an easy-to-follow, centralized format.

“We’re bullish on esports and the tremendous value we know it can deliver to sponsors and to schools. With EA and alongside Mainline, Esports Engine and Endeavor, we’re confident we’re delivering an exceptional experience for these students, while further authenticating and legitimizing the college esports community.”

While Esports Engine CEO, Adam Apicella, added:

“We are extremely excited to work with Learfield IMG College and bring the Level Next esports experience to life.

“Collegiate esports leagues are vital to driving the industry forward and continues our mission of facilitating a more accessible, open, and inclusive esports ecosystem. We’re proud to be part of this endeavor through the Fall Champions Series.”

Monday, 23 Nov., marked the start of Round 2: Conference/Regional Play, through 18 Dec. with winning players from each school competing as a team against other schools in the conference or region. 

This round follows the initial Fall Champions Series’ qualifying tournaments held 9-20 Nov. Round 3: Conference/Regional Championships will be held 4-9 Jan, 2021, followed by Round 4: Championship play, 13-17 Jan. 

The Fall Champions Series will have the largest-ever collegiate esports cash prize pool of $150,000; $50,000 of which will be awarded directly to campus esports programs through a social marketing competition.

AYO.NEWS says:

For those outside of North America, it can be hard to grasp just how big collegiate sports are – being a commercial powerhouse in their own right, in addition to a vital stepping stone into the world of professional sports. Unsurprisingly, we’re seeing the same happen with esports, which can only be a good thing. 

Maybe esports leagues like Level Next will help inspire collegiate sports and esports elsewhere in the world to graduate to the next level?

‘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 unveiled its plans for the inaugural VALORANT Champions Tour 2021 season. 

A global competitive structure, featuring a range of different tournaments played across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, the VALORANT Champions Tour, will take the action right through until the end of 2021. 

The new tour will be built around three stages; Challengers, Masters, and Champions. Open qualifiers will see teams battle for a place in the knockouts for regional Challengers tournaments, with the top teams securing positions in the international VALORANT Masters – of which three are scheduled for 2021. 

The best performing teams will then move on to battle in the VALORANT Champions -though there will also be a ‘last chance qualifier’ giving one more team a chance to move to the ultimate level, which will feature 16 teams. 

Regarding the plans Senior Director of Esports at Riot Games, Whalen Rozelle, said:

“The Champions Tour is our next step to grow VALORANT into a global esport worthy of the passion of our fans.

“We’ve spent a couple of years now talking to players, teams, fans, prospective partners, and other stakeholders, and we’re extremely excited to launch our first official season. 

“Our focus will be on elevating and showcasing the creative and talented players who are shaping this game across the globe. Fans and players both wanted high stakes competition, and that’s what the VALORANT Champions Tour is designed to do.”

Red Bull and Secretlab have both been confirmed as founding partners of the Champions Tour. 

AYO.NEWS says:

That’s a pretty solid setup for next year, with some major partners to boot, and reflects how VALORANT has already established itself as a respected esport – thanks in large part to the successful ‘First Strike’ competitive structure. 

Reflecting VALORANT’s popularity, earlier this month, Freaks 4U Gaming teamed up with marketing, media, and production agency Infront, to launch a new hub for the title, called Agent’s Range. 

‘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.