Esports betting operator Unikrn has revealed the most watched Call of Duty: Warzone Twitch streamers of 2020. 

In a year that has seen millions of people stuck at home and watching more online gaming content than ever, NICKMERCS took the crown as the King of Call of Duty: Warzone streamers, notching up over 53M hours watched. That’s more than double his nearest rival, TimTheTatMan. 

Symfuhny had a great year too, coming in 3rd, and amassing a smidge over 700K followers from Warzone streaming over the year. Swagg took 4th place, while Tfue jumped to 5th place and has the second highest number of followers on Twitch, with over 9.6M. 

Perhaps most interesting of all is that, despite being banned from Twitch in June, Dr Disrespect still managed to make it into the top ten, taking 8th place. 

Commenting on the results a Unikrn spokesperson said:

“NICKMERCS remains the king of Call of Duty streaming after picking up nearly one million Twitch followers in 2020 from his Warzone content. He’s now the go-to guy for updates and hacks, keeping his content engaging and relevant to his audience.

“Though the real story here is Dr. Disrespect still featuring in the top 10 after a strange set of circumstances. If he ever does make a triumphant return to Twitch like Ninja has, we could see the Doc competing with NICKMERCS for next year’s crown.”

Here’s the full rankings:

Staying with Unikrn, earlier this month, the operator announced Co-founder Karl Flores will take over as CEO, in a leadership transition intended to help improve operations efficiency as the company continues its explosive growth. Co-founder and former CEO, Rahul Sood, will remain on Unikrn’s Board of Directors to drive global strategy and company relations. 

Commenting on the news, Sood said:

“Unikrn is leaning into our most anticipated stretch since launch. We’ve seen unprecedented growth in 2020, and we expect 2021 to blow the doors off. Karl has progressively stepped into an active role leading the entire Unikrn team, but Unikrn is still punching way above our weight class and we simply couldn’t continue this growth without redefining our corporate structure, including shifting each of our own responsibilities.”

Since being given the boot from Twitch, Dr Disrespect has focused his efforts on YouTube:

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Florida-based Misfits Gaming Group has announced it will be joining ESPAT TV’s Creative Collective – the first esports organisation to do so. 

Misfits will be lending the collective its media representation rights across all properties for streaming services and distribution, and is joining a prestigious roster of creators, filmmakers, producers, and marketing specialists.

As reported last week, these include Ridley Scott Creative Group’s family of companies (RSA Films, Scott Free Films, Black Dog Films, and Darling); sports and esports event, movie, and television production company PRG; esports and gaming community-focused content creator and Esports Stadium Austin owner Esports Locker; video production and content creation firm Unbridled Media; and TikTok-focused agency Movers & Shakers.

Discussing the news CEO and co-founder of Misfits Gaming Group, Ben Spoont, said:

“While their focus remains on the gaming and esports industry, ESPAT TV‘s influence and prominence spans much further; and that’s why we are extremely proud to call them a partner.

“Their distribution is second-to-none and collectively, we look forward to continuing to push the industry forward by reaching new audiences, and creating content that esports fans are excited to watch.”

While CEO and Co-founder of ESPAT TV, Dante Simpson, added:

“The opportunity to partner with such a respected organization, which truly aligns with our brand vision, has been a pleasure.

“Working with the Misfits Gaming Group, aligned with the ESPAT TV Creative Collective, to redefine and amplify the fan’s content experience has amazing implications for the future of gaming, esports and entertainment. Our expanded relationship will offer no shortage of opportunities to get closer to the gamers, the team and the titles.” 

Misfits Gaming has competed in some of the most successful video game titles worldwide and are permanent partners in three franchised esports leagues: Riot Games’ League of Legends European Championship (Misfits Gaming), Activision-Blizzard’s Overwatch League (Florida Mayhem), and Activision-Blizzard’s Call of Duty League (Florida Mutineers). 

AYO.NEWS says:

As we said last week, ESPAT TV has managed to get some serious talent and production capabilities onboard with the Creative Collective project already, and Misfits just adds to this, so we can’t wait to see what results from it all over the coming months. 

‘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.

Super League Gaming has launched two new Snapchat series, bringing the total offered to six. 

The California-based competitive video gaming and esports entertainment community and content platform Super League Gaming has launched two new series on Snapchat’s Discover, bringing its slate to six. 

Collectively, Super League’s Snapchat shows reached over 8.5M unique viewers in November 2020, with the top performer being Emergency Meeting, which features popular user-generated highlights from 2020’s breakaway hit game, Among Us. 

Super League’s newest shows include Cyberpunk 24/7, featuring user-generated gameplay highlights from newly released Cyberpunk 2077; and Queue Dodgers, featuring League of Legends user-generated gameplay highlights, which is set to launch on 20 December. 

They join the company’s existing weekly series, which include Taking Shape, a twice-weekly show featuring Minecraft user-generated highlights; Sticks N Stones, and Spike Rush. 

Every clip featured in Super League’s series credits the player and their gameplay. 

Commenting on the new shows Chief Commercial Officer of Super League Gaming, Matt Edelman, said:

“We are honored to have become a go-to provider of gaming content for Snap and are having a ton of fun creating entertaining shows for millions of gamers and fans on their platform.

“Super League is all about celebrating players who may not otherwise have their moment in the sun. Bringing that ethos to our audience on Snapchat is an exciting component of the ongoing growth of our business.”

Staying with Super League Gaming, just last week the company announced the launch of Virtualis Studios – a fully virtual production studio providing proprietary, state-of-the-art, scalable solutions for video, television, and branded content. 

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Riot Games has announced major changes to the structure of the LCS for 2021. 

First up, there’s going to be a new LCS Lock In – a three-week season kick-off tournament to determine who’s the team to beat for the year, and who earns a $150K winner-takes-all grand prize. 

The regular season is also being expanded to five games a day, three days a week (Friday, Night League at 3pm PT; Saturday and Sunday at 1pm PT). The season will still be split into two parts, but Spring and Summer regular season records will be combined to see the end-of-summer LCS Championship. 

A condensed Spring Split, consisting of a double Round Robin over six weeks, instead of nine, will kick off the regular season – though teams will still play the same number of games as last year. 

Spring Playoffs and Finals are set to become the LCS Mid-Season Showdown, with the MSS winner earning the year’s first LCS championship title, and becoming the only team to represent NA at 2021’s first global competition (Mid-Season Invitational). 

The Summer Split regular season will be made up of a triple Round Robin over nine weeks, giving teams another opportunity to rise to the top of NA and onto the global stage. 

Finally, the year will culminate with the LCS Championship, featuring the top-seeded teams from Spring and Summer combined. The winner will take home the second LCS championship title, and the top three teams will qualify for the World Championship. 

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KontrolFreek®, the inventor of Performance Gaming Gear™, has been acquired by gaming peripheral company SteelSeries. 

The acquisition will see the KontrolFreek brand continue to exist within the SteelSeries organisation, as a wholly owned subsidiary. 

For more than ten years, US-based KontrolFreek has made peripherals for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles, and its FreekNation gaming community now has over four million members. 

Denmark-based SteelSeries has been offering gaming peripherals to both pro and enthusiast gamers on PC and console for almost twenty years. 

Commenting on the news CEO of KontrolFreek, Ashish Mistry, said:

“After more than 10 years of building our own brand and products, and as we continue on our mission to enhance gaming globally, it made perfect sense to join forces with SteelSeries to take both brands to the next level.”

While CEO of SteelSeries, Ehtisham Rabbani, added:

“With the next-generation consoles at the forefront of the gaming industry’s mind, there’s never been a better time to maximize our ability to provide the best gaming experiences and products to console gamers.

“With KontrolFreek’s expertise and global popularity, we know they’ll open new opportunities to entertain, delight, and assist new gamers across the world.”

AYO.NEWS says:

The acquisition of KontrolFreek, and its loyal following of gamers around the world, puts SteelSeries in a formidable position in the gaming peripheral market, spanning consoles and PC – and we’re sure we’ll see plenty more involvement in the esports scene from both brands over the coming year. 

‘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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ESL will be operating the official League of Legends: Wild Rift tournaments in Malaysia and Thailand through 2021, as official partner of Riot Games Southeast Asia. 

Open qualifiers for Riot’s first mobile-focused esports title will get underway in April, with local champions advancing to represent their country in a regional tournament. 

The collaboration will also see ESL host a Wild Rift collegiate tournament in Thailand, and further opportunities for competition will be provided by ESL through the hosting of Wild Rift Open Cups on its ESL Play platform. 

Discussing the news Senior Vice President of ESL Gaming Asia-Pacific Japan, Nick Vanzettii, said:

“The mobile esports market in Southeast Asia continues to grow at breakneck speed and we are excited to have Wild Rift in Malaysia and Thailand for 2021. We are proud to expand our partnership with Riot Games with more titles and build up the Wild Rift esports ecosystem together with them in Malaysia and Thailand.”

While Head of Esports for Riot Games Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macua, Chris Tran, added:

“We are delighted that League of Legends: Wild Rift players and teams in Thailand and Malaysia will have a chance to showcase their talents on the local and regional stage. In partnership with ESL, we look forward to bringing an exciting year of new legacies and team rivalries to passionate mobile MOBA esports audiences across these key markets.

“Our collegiate tournaments in Thailand will also set the scene for up and coming MOBA competitors, with community-focused gaming experiences that everyone can enjoy.”

AYO.NEWS says:

ESL has said that the Asia-Pacific region is one of its targets for expansion over the next few years, so we expect to see plenty more initiatives in the area. It’s also good to see Riot continuing to support the development of the Wild Rift esports ecosystem, and we’re sure ESL will help catalyse that further. 

‘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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