French esports organisation Team Vitality has officially launched its Indian operations. 

At the end of October, Team Vitality signaled its intention to launch in India through social media. Now the organisation has officially planted roots in Mumbai, and partnered with some of the biggest content creators in India, including YouTube sensation Nischay Malhan. 

The organisation says it’s immediate focus is on building its local presence and community in order to establish a deeper connection with its fans in India. Joining Malhan are content creators Rachit Yadav, Nitin Chougale and Saloni Kandalgaonkar – whose respective YouTube channels Live Insaan, Rachitroo, Classified YT, and Mili kya Mili, have a combined following of around 10M. 

They will be hosting a variety of events and contests across their social media channels, as well as on Team Vitality India’s Facebook and Instagram pages. 

Team Vitality plans to establish a purely competitive branch in India in 2021, with the goal of becoming the best esports organisation in the region, and says it will reveal further details soon.

Discussing plans CEO of Team Vitality, Nicolas Maurer, said:

“Team Vitality constantly strives to build winning teams on the international stage. Our entry into India is a big milestone for us and part of our endeavour to conquer the world of esports. Our mission here is to not just build professional teams but to also make ourselves the most aspirational esports brand in the country. We’re very keen to engage with our fans in India via our content creators before competing in the biggest local tournaments with our incoming professional teams.”

While General Manager of Team Vitality India, Randall Fernandez, added:

“This is an interesting time to enter India and the arrival of Team Vitality is welcomed with great optimism and excitement. With professional esports significantly picking up in India, our approach will include finding new talent at a grassroots level and offering them the opportunity to join Team Vitality. 

“We will then focus on bringing their performance up to the standard of our global esports athletes, not least at our world-class V.Hive HQ in Paris and our resident training facilities at the Stade de France.  Expect to see new Indian esports stars winning tournaments as part of Team Vitality very soon.”    

AYO.NEWS says:

As we’ve said many times recently, the Indian esports, and wider video gaming, scene is one of the most exciting in the world, and is primed for explosive growth – especially in mobile titles. 

Staying with Indian esports, US-based Qualcomm Technologies recently announced its debut esports program in the country, Snapdragon Conquest, while last month Krafton revealed it had partnered with Microsoft as it seeks to return PUBG Mobile to India. 

‘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.

Chilean data tech company Barracks has scored a major coup, being made an official partner of Riot Games’ esports competitions globally. 

Barrack’s technology aims to increase audience engagement by providing player statistics for use in esports broadcasts. Riot says it will roll out the tech across the United States, Latin America, Europe, Turkey, Oceania, Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea. 

Discussing the partnership CEO of Barracks, Pablo Díaz-Muñoz, said:

“We are passionate about extending our work together with the largest esports organiser in the world and contributing positively to provide a better show to the millions of fans in every corner of the planet. We are an agent of change in the industry, and we are extremely happy to understand the scope of this project with Riot Games.”

The first esports event to benefit from Barracks’ technology is the currently underway VALORANT First Strike competition, which concludes on 6 December. 

AYO.NEWS says:

With esports now generating serious revenues, and becoming a major force in the betting industry, the importance of highly accurate, real-time data and analytics is only going to grow. To land such a big deal is an impressive achievement for Barracks, and puts it on the map as a challenger to the likes of GRID, Newzoo, and Nielsen. 

‘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.

North American esports organisation Panda Global has revealed a new logo and brand identity. 

The organisation has also decided to drop the ‘Global’ and will now be known simply as ‘Panda.’ 

Created by New York-based design firm Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (CGH), the new visual branding has been implemented across Panda’s social media platforms and sites, including their PGstats, PGhardware, and PGhealth divisions. 

A new merchandise range, including a jersey and jacket, designed under the creative guidance of CGH and produced by Meta Threads, has also been launched.

Shop the new Panda line now at https://t.co/v8LiPcaIDl! pic.twitter.com/kHCM2aRsTf

— Panda (@PandaGlobal) December 3, 2020

Established in 1957, CGH is well versed in working with high profile brands like Viacom, NBC, Xerox, National Geographic, State Farm, and the US Open, but Panda is its first esports and gaming client. 

Commenting on the rebrand CEO of Panda Global, Dr. Alan Bunney, said:

“In the rapidly changing landscape that is esports, we need a brand that not only encompasses who we are today but who we will become ten years from now. CGH was able to capture a timeless image of Panda as a company and help us discover our identity in an industry that has not yet found itself.”

While Partner and Principal Designer for Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, Sagi Haviv, added:

“We were immediately drawn to Alan and David’s vision of an esports team that could foster talent and community—their plans for future expansion are compelling. They needed a singular identity that could reflect how different they are from their esports peers and would set them apart in the field and beyond.”

Along with the rebrand, Panda has also announced a new partnership with esports equipment monitor manufacturer BenQ ZOWIE. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The fact that esports organisations are now hiring design firms like CGH for branding shows just how far the sector has come. With merchandise and lifestyle appeal playing an ever greater role in the commercial success of organisations, we expect to see this become a trend. 

Staying with esports visual design, last month UK-based organisation Guild Esports, dropped its first apparel collection, featuring graphics by streetwear designer Fergus Purcell. 

‘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.

M.O.B.A. Network has acquired massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) gaming community MMORPG.com. 

Sweden-based M.O.B.A. Network is listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market, and runs 11 gaming communities, including Mobafire – a League of Legends community that racked up over 400M visitors in 2019. 

MMORPG.com was founded in 2002 and now caters for hundreds of titles in the genre, including huge hits like World of Warcraft, and boasts nearly 4M registered users, with around 1M visits per month. 

Both platforms primarily generate revenue through advertising and affiliate revenue streams. In its latest fiscal year, ending 20 September, M.O.B.A. Network reported net sales of some $3.65M, up 37% from $2.67M in the same period the previous year. MMORPG.com is expected to generate around $500K in sales for 2020. 

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

Tech behemoth Microsoft has acquired self-service esports tournament platform Smash.gg. 

The news was broken by Smash.gg on Twitter, and was confirmed by MSN Esports’ social account, but financial details have not been revealed by Microsoft. 

In a statement on its website, Smash.gg said

“Since we started in 2015, our goal has been to build active esports scenes around the games people love to play. Smash.gg has been acquired by Microsoft!”

Smash.gg was launched in 2015, and in 2017 secured $11M USD funding in a Series A round. Since then it has become particularly popular for fighting game esports, though it also supports other titles like Rocket League and Hearthstone. 

Microsoft has a massive presence in video gaming through its Xbox division, and has splashed a lot of cash buying up developers. Notably, it spent $2.5B for Minecraft in 2014, and an incredible $7.5B for ZeniMax Media – maker of Fallout, Doom, and The Elder Scrolls, earlier this year. 

However, the corporation has also seen some major flops, including streaming service Beam, which it acquired in 2016 and rebranded as Mixer. Despite integrating Mixer with the Xbox console, the platform never really challenged Twitch, and was shut down earlier this year. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Given Microsoft’s vast resources and talent pool, it should be able to take anything to the next level and beyond. But, in the strange world of esports and video gaming, where a slight change in tone or temperature can alter the trajectory of any business, nothing is certain. 

‘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.

Between 4 – 31 of January, an unlimited number of participants will be able to enter the first Jam Nation by TapNation.

Each team will have 1 whole month of production to try and come up with the best performing game, in terms of CPI and retention. The top 3 contenders that get the best performances in these metrics can win a part of the $150,000 USD prize pool, high-tech gifts, as well as a publishing opportunity with TapNation.

All applications will also be judged by members of the jury composed of experts of the industry, and each one of them will award their favorite game with a Jury Prize. They will be there to guide participants during the competition with us. Experienced game studios such as Pinpin Team, Redline Games, together with publishing managers and game designers from TapNation will help contestants create the best possible game.

Kinsey Dardanus, Head of Publishing at TapNation, said: 

“We are very happy to host the first hyper-casual game jam of the year, which is also the first one for TapNation. This will be a very exciting experience for us and for all the developers that we are going to work with. 

“We hope that everyone is going to have a good time by creating amazing games together. We also plan on organizing Masterclasses, live discussions and Q&A sessions during the whole Jam Nation so make sure you tune in to these events!”

Developers interested in taking part can send their game up until the 31 January.

Don’t hesitate any longer and fill in the form on the link below to enter the competition and get a chance at publishing a HIT game!

Event page here.

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