Brazil has a new esports, gaming, and geek culture TV broadcast channel, with the launch of Loading. 

Owned by retailer Grupo Kalunga, and headed by CEO Thiago Garcia, the new channel is aiming to bring online-type content to broadcast television, and has enlisted local esports journalists Bárbara Gutierrez (from IGN Brasil), and Chandy Teixeira (from Globo’s GE). 

Grupo Kalunga is no stranger to esports, being main sponsor and naming rights partner to Red Canid Kalunga, owner of a Brazilian League of Legends Championship (CBLoL) franchise. 

In addition to esports, the channel will also feature music like K-Pop, anime and other nerd culture subjects in an attempt to attract Brazil’s younger generations. 

The launch of Loaded follow’s Grupo Kalunga’s acquisition of the broadcasting concession of the former MTV Brasil channel. In addition to airing on broadcast TV, Loaded will also be available via pay-TV, on-demand channels, live streaming, and social media. 

AYO.NEWS says:

While this is great news for the development of esports and wider video game culture in Brazil, the commercial viability of any broadcast TV channel as we enter the second decade of the 21st century must be doubtful. Will Loading manage to revitalise broadcast television, or will it quickly evolve into an online only channel? Time will tell. 

‘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.

ESE Entertainment Inc. (ESE) has entered an asset purchase agreement with the owner of K1CK Esports Club, Pedro Fernandes. 

The agreement will see the entertainment and technology company acquire all assets “relating to, and required for, the continued operation of K1CK.”

K1CK, which was established in Europe way back in 1998, and fields teams in titles including League of Legends, FIFA, Apex Legends, and CS:GO, already has a close relationship with ESE through the licensing and management of its pro teams. 

The deal will see ESE pay Fernandes an aggregate consideration of C$207,500, consisting of C$120,000 in cash, and C$87,500 in common shares of the company. Fernandes has also agreed to work with ESE to operate K1CK following the acquisition. 

Discussing the acquisition CEO of ESE, Konrad Wasiela, said:

“K1CK Esports is a brand that is recognised and respected globally. Finalising the acquisition of K1CK’s intellectual property will allow us to focus on continuing to build the next big esports brand. 

“We hope that with the additional infrastructure ESE can provide, K1CK will become a tier one brand that will be in the same conversation as the Cloud9, FaZe Clan and G2 Esports of the world.

“Our core focus is to continue building our fan base and engaging with the esports community. ESE will also invest in technologies that will allow K1CK to scale its monetisable assets globally.”

While current K1CK owner, Pedro Fernandes, added:

“This is another big step in K1CK’s long-lasting journey towards excellence. Having access to technologies and creating infrastructures with ESE will support the brand’s rise to leadership positions in the global esports market. This is exactly the right opportunity and fit we have been looking for, and undoubtedly a great moment for K1CK.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Considering the already close relationship between ESE and K1CK, and the obvious potential of such a well-established esports organisation, this deal seems to make a lot of sense, and may give K1CK the kick it needs to take things to tier one. It will be interesting to see what happens. 

Staying with ESE, earlier this month the company entered a global distribution agreement with Esports Television (ESTV).

‘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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Indian Gaming League (IGL) has announced a women’s Call of Duty Mobile tournament for this weekend. 

The Call of Duty Mobile Women’s Cup will run from Saturday 28 to Monday 30 November, and is intended to encourage the participation of girls and women in competitive esports. 8 of the top Call of Duty Mobile players, including KashPlays, have been invited to participate. 

A Rs 5,000 prize pool has been confirmed, and all matches will be streamed live on IGL’s YouTube channel, starting on Saturday at 6pm, with the highlights being available on IGLTV and IGL’s Instagram.

Commenting on the initiative CEO of Indian Gaming League, Yash Pariani, said:

“It is highly necessary to provide equal opportunities to the women segment for taking up Esports. Usually, the Esports industry is highly dominated by male players but regular Women based tournaments will help to equalise the bar. With this thought, we have come up with this COD Mobile Women’s Cup Tournament”.

AYO.NEWS says:

Despite a miniscule prize pool (unless there was a typo in the announcement, the entire prize pool is around €57), it’s good to see IGL encouraging women to get involved with competitive esports. Let’s hope it’s just the start, and the prize pools get serious. 

Staying with the Indian esports scene, last week US tech company Qualcomm announced its debut mobile esports program in the country, Snapdragon Conquest. 

‘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.

Hong Kong-based Talon Esports has entered an agreement with Denmark-based sponsorship and analytics solution provider Cavea.

The partnership will see Cavea utilise its AI-powered platform to analyse Talon’s data ecosystem, optimising the provision of information to commercial partners. 

Discussing the collaboration co-founder and CEO of Cavea, Mircea Gabriel Eftemie, said:

“We are more than happy to announce and welcome another great addition to the client roster – Talon Esports! 

“[They are] joining us in our mission to standardise media valuations in the esports market by enabling our visual data capturing capabilities and automated reporting towards partners. We are looking very much forward providing our services and making Talon Esports data strategic across their entire organisation.”

While CEO of Talon Esports, Xiao (Sean) Zhang, added:

“Cavea.io is an all-in solution that simplifies the complexity of reporting on the huge amounts of data that is generated within Talon’s ecosystem. As an organisation that manages social media accounts and streaming channels across numerous teams, players and influencers, Cavea.io is an advanced tool that allows us to better track, analyse and quantify our social presence in one application.”

Cavea also has similar partnerships with esports organisations like Astralis, Fnatic, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, and tournament organiser DreamHack. 

Founded in 2017, Talon Esports fields teams in games including Clash Royale, League of Legends, Overwatch, and Rainbow Six Siege. 

As previously reported, in June 2020 the organisation teamed up French football club Paris Saint-Germain’s esports division to compete in the League of Legends Pacific Championship Series. And, in October, Talon raised $2M in a seed funding round led by the Korean Hana Digital Transformation Fund. 

AYO.NEWS says:

With the money being thrown into esports sponsorships growing by the month, brands are understandably taking an ever keener interest in their ROI, so solutions like Cavea’s are going to prove very useful for esports organisations wanting to build lasting commercial relationships. 

‘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.

GamingMalta has announced a partnership with the European Development Championship CS:GO series of tournaments.

The European Development Championship is organised by Eden Esports and Fantasyexpo, while GamingMalta is an independent non-profit organisation established by the Maltese government and Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) to promote the country as a gaming hub. 

Commenting on the collaboration COO of GamingMalta, Ivan Filletti, said:

“[the foundation is] delighted to see the local ecosystem grow in stature and adapting to new realities. This tournament is another example of a local based successful esports organisation forging a way forward.”

While CEO of Eden Esports, Sergey Bidzan, added:

“We are pleased to extend our partnership with GamingMalta, whose support within the last three years has played a key role in Eden Esports’ growth from a tiny local gaming centre to an international tournament operator.

“The way GamingMalta supports the esports scene is just incredible and their initiatives are an example to be followed by other governments. We are excited to move side by side towards our common goal – to make Malta one of the world’s esports hubs.”

GamingMalta has previously partnered with tournaments including Malta Vibes, and SuperNova Malta, while next year it will host ESL Pro League Events. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Being a Malta-based company, we’re probably more than a little biased, but it’s great to see Malta emerging as a serious location for esports events. Obviously, the COVID-19 crisis is having a major impact on efforts to promote the island, with air access to the island still very limited, but hopefully, once the crisis clears, the island will emerge as Europe’s premier esports and video gaming destination. 

‘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.

Gaming matchmaking platform FASTCUP has partnered with identity verification platform Sumsub. 

The partnership will see the companies implement customer verification to ensure FASTCUP players are unable to cheat by creating more than one account per user. 

FASTCUP is an esports league platform that caters for Counter-Strike 1.6 (CS1.6) and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and has more than 200,000 users worldwide. 

The platform allows players to team up against each other, matches them based on rank, and provides detailed profiles with rank, statistics, previous matches etc. League matches and tournaments give players the opportunity to win real money prizes from the $5,500 prize pool. 

However, FASTCUP has been concerned about users creating multiple accounts to increase their chances of winning prizes. Sumsub’s KYC/AML solution will now stop fraudulent signups and the abuse of the onboarding system. 

Commenting on the development Chief Operating Officer at FASTCUP, Ruslan Buhryn, said:

‘When we started leagues, we faced a problem where some users would create multiple accounts. As a result, they took up more places and stole prizes from other players. So, we needed to find a way to filter out cheaters to ensure fair play. 

When we implemented Sumsub’s onboarding solution, the number of unique user accounts grew, and the number of multiple accounts fell to almost zero. Thanks to Sumsub, we don’t have to stress about security and compliance while expanding our customer network.’

While Co-founder of Sumsub, Jacob Sever, added:

‘Like many other services, gaming platforms onboard a wide range of users from different age groups and locations. Because these platforms often involve monetary prizes, it inherently brings up the question of how to fairly and securely verify such a broad spectrum of users, while abiding by compliance laws and without harming conversion rates. We are happy to help FASTCUP create a safe and cheat-free environment for their dedicated players.’

AYO.NEWS says:

While we frequently hear about the importance of KYC solutions in the igaming industry, with online casinos and sportsbooks going to great lengths to remain compliant and protect their businesses, it’s an issue that is less talked about in the world of video gaming and esports. However, with the rapidly increasing popularity of platforms like FASTCUP, and the serious money now involved, we expect to see many more adopt KYC solutions like Sumsub’s. 

Staying with Sumsub, just last week Curaçao-based online betting operator, Pinnacle, announced it would be using its identity verification platform to improve onboarding for users.

‘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.