Chinese esports solutions provider VSPN (Versus Programming Network) has completed its acquisition of Banana Gaming & Media. 

Though financial details have not been revealed, VSPN has confirmed that Banana Gaming & Media will be maintaining its current operations as an independent subsidiary, and that its founder, Sicong Wang, will sit on the group’s strategy committee as vice chairman.

Wang is the son of billionaire Wang Jianlin, the founder of Dalian Wanda Group – a major Chinese real estate developer. In addition to Banana Gaming & Media, Sicong Wang also founded esports organisation Invictus Gaming and live streaming platform Panda TV. Though Panda TV filed for bankruptcy in 2018, Invictus Gaming has enjoyed significant success. 

Banana Gaming & Media has offices in Shanghai and Xi’an in China, and Seoul in  South Korea, and has been involved in esports covering various titles including Brawl Stars, FIFA 4 Online, PUBG Mobile, and others, both in China and abroad. Notably, in 2018 the company hosted the PUBG Global Invitation in Germany. 

Founded in 2016, Shanghai-based VSPN currently provides production services for some of Asia’s largest esports competitions, including League of Legends Rift Rivals, King Pro League (KPL), and the PUBG Mobile Club Open (PMCO) Global Finals.  The group raised almost $100M USD in a Tencent Holdings led Series B funding round last October. Tiantu Capital, SIG (Susquehanna International Group), and Kuaishou were among the other participating investors. 

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Brazilian esports organisation FURIA has partnered with energy drink brand Red Bull for the 2021 season. 

The deal will see the Red Bull logo feature on FURIA player jerseys, while all live streams will also be branded, and further activations are planned. 

Discussing the partnership FURIA Co-founder, André Akkari, said:

“The partnership with Red Bull magnifies FURIA and our athletes. Working together, the two brands are going to make a lot of noise, because I’m sure that the synergy between them is total.

“[Red Bull is] more of a global partner, that engages themselves in this winning and innovative trajectory that FURIA has been doing in Brazil and beyond. We are full of amazing plans.”

FURIA also has commercial partnerships with PokerStars, Nike, esports betting operator Rivalry, Unilever shampoo brand Clear, monitor brand AOC, HyperX, LEGION by Lenovo, and Twitch. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Energy drinks sponsorships are common in esports, and Red Bull has been heavily invested in the scene for years, but securing such a high profile deal is still a great start to the year for FURIA, and will certainly help it grow on the international stage. 

Pronto pra ganhar asas com a gente?

A FURIA agora é @RedBullBR#RedBullFuria pic.twitter.com/QzO46r34uM

— FURIA (@FURIA) January 14, 2021

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UK-based competitive gaming culture brand EXCEL ESPORTS has teamed up with Spanish confectionary brand Chupa Chups. 

The deal makes the Perfetti van Melle lollipop brand the Official Candy Partner for EXCEL’s full League of Legends roster, which competes across both the League of Legends European Championship and the Northern League of Legends Championship. 

According to EXCEL, the partnership will help align its new “Power of Better” identity with Chupa Chups’ “Forever Fun” belief, which encourages everyone to keep a childish spark alive inside them. 

EXCEL and Chupa Chups will be collaborating on a fun content series called Sweet or Yeet, which will involve the organisation’s League of Legends players being asked quickfire questions and either being rewarded with a sweet treat for answering correctly, or made to eat something gross if they get it wrong. 

The partnership will also cover social media posts, including celebrations and League of Legends happy birthday assets, while Chupa Chups branding will be featured on both the LEC and BTXL player jerseys, which will be released in the coming weeks. 

Regarding the news Chief Commercial Officer at EXCEL, Robin McCammon, said:

“We are very excited to partner with such a globally recognised brand in Chupa Chups, a business we naturally align well with given the fun and youthful nature of both our organisations, industries and audiences. 

“It’s always fantastic to work with non-endemic brands that appreciate the culture of our industry and we’ll work with Chupa Chups to create engaging, fun content that works for both our audiences. At EXCEL ESPORTS we are always striving to be better and we are excited to kick off 2021 with a partnership which helps further build on our vision,”

While International Brand Manager at Chupa Chups, Eva Karkoni, added:

“We are thrilled to have found a partner in EXCEL ESPORTS, an organisation that shares many of the same values and audience, with both youth and fun in our core identities. 

“The partnership was long-awaited given the numerous times our consumers have said that lollipops are the favourite sweet to enjoy while playing. We are excited and looking forward to working closely with EXCEL ESPORTS by making fun and engaging content that our audience will surely love.”

EXCEL’s LEC team will officially begin its League of Legends European Championship campaign on Friday, January 22nd, while the BTXL team will kick off it’s Northern League of Legends Championships season on Tuesday, January 19th.

2020 was a landmark season for EXCEL as its LEC team received its best results yet, narrowly missing out on a playoffs spot, while also undergoing a brand update and unveiling Tottenham Hotspur footballer Dele Alli as it’s new global ambassador. 

On Sunday, January 10th, a brand new BBC documentary, Fight for First: EXCEL ESPORTS will be available to stream on BBC IPlayer. Voiced by Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Cillian Murphy, the five-part series follows the team as they experience the highs and lows of competing in Europe’s biggest esports league.

AYO.NEWS says:

This isn’t Chupa Chups’ first foray into the world of esports, as in April 2020, the brand partnered with local esports organisation Vodafone Giants. The new deal with FNATIC suggests the sponsorship was judged a commercial success, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see more partnerships as 2021 progresses.

‘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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Iconic video games pioneer ATARI has signed a three-year deal with entertainment startup Virtually Human Studio (VHS). 

VHS is the creator of ZED RUN, a blockchain-based game built on the Ethereum network, which allows players to interact with non-fungible (NFT) tokens in the form of cryptographically unique racehorses.

The partnership gives VHS full usage of ATARI’s complete catalogue of licensed game assets, logos, and marks, including in-game sponsorship and brand visibility across the ZED RUN gaming platform. 

ZED RUN will be offering an exclusive ATARI Breeding Program, which will feature a series of rare racehorses from which players will be able to spawn offspring for a limited time. Each of the collectible ATARI digital racehorses will be sold off via auction when the program has concluded. 

The collaboration will also see ATARI contributing its signature cryptocurrency, ATRI (Atari token) towards ZED RUN events. The official ATARI-sponsored events will include tournament-based qualifiers and main events set to a weekly racing schedule. ATARI token will be awarded to participants in both the qualifiers and main events. 

Discussing the partnership CEO and CO-founder of VHS, Chris Laurent, said:

“Partnering with the legendary ATARI brand is an honour. Partnerships like this strengthen our work, reputation and progress within the blockchain and entertainment space. We are deliberate with partnerships that propel us toward expansion and the improvement of the applications we build.”

While CEO of ATARI, Fred Chesnais, added:

“We see the vast potential in NFT gaming on the blockchain. VHS showcases what is uniquely possible with blockchain technology for entertainment. Working together with VHS enables us to introduce our loyal ATARI community to an exciting new game such as ZED RUN as we take steps to play our part in shaping the blockchain gaming and technology space.”

AYO.NEWS says:

To say blockchain has given ATARI a new lease of life is something of an understatement. From being an iconic but distinctly heritage brand, the company has undergone a resurgence of the last year or so, embracing the very latest technology, from mobile gaming to blockchain, to catalyse its historical catalogue and explore entirely new fields. 

As previously reported, in addition to its blockchain initiatives, ATARI has also licensed its brand to GSD for a chain of video game themed hotels across America. 

‘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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Belgian football club Club Brugge has announced an expansion into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). 

According to the club, which already fields a roster in FIFA21 and competes in the Belgian Proximus eProLeague, its entry into CS:GO will help expand the club’s reach in the esports sector, and give its commercial partners more visibility. 

eClubBrugge, the club’s esports division, will be competing in the betFirst Elite Series – the CS:GO league organised by Benelux esports agency META (formerly 4Entertainment). META is the official operator of League of Legends esports’ Dutch and Belgian Leagues, along with the Rainbow Six Siege Benelux League, and the Belgian College League. 

Commenting on the news Director of Operations at META, Steven Leunens, said:

“We are incredibly thrilled for the start of the Elite Series. With amazing partners on board like betFIRST, the best regional esports teams, and strong newcomers to CS:GO such as eClubBrugge, it’s looking to become an exciting first season after quite some time away from CS:GO for META.”

The betFirst Elite Series commences in February, and will see six top Benelux teams compete for a share of a €15K prize pool.

A new chapter begins.. 😍

We’re participating in the CS:GO Elite Series! 👊🏼 @EliteSeries_GG@betFIRSTesports #eClubBrugge pic.twitter.com/AHN7NjCOrN

— Club Brugge eSports (@eClubBrugge) January 14, 2021

AYO.NEWS says:

Though it’s only natural that traditional football clubs tend to make their debut in esports with titles like FIFA, the fact that more and more are now expanding into games like CS:GO suggests that they are now seeing a real commercial viability in 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. 

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2020 was a record breaking year for the F1 Esports Series, with live stream views rocketing 98% compared to 2019, to 11.4M across all digital platforms.

December’s Grand Final event saw Alfa Romeo’s Jarno Opmeer secure his first F1 Esports title, as both the drivers’ championship and teams’ championship came down to the final race of the campaign, before being won by Red Bull for the second successive year. 

The Grand Final alone racked up 2.7M digital views, setting a new record for a Pro Series event, and saw 1.7M social media engagements – an all-time record for an F1 Esports Series event. Across the whole season, the Pro Series registered 291M social media impressions – up 151% on the 2019 series. The series also recorded 23.8M video views, up 29% on 2019. Additionally, the number of people attempting to qualify for the 2020 season increased 117% to 237,000. 

Over 30M tuned in to the Virtual Grand Prix series in 2020, to see F1 stars, sporting icons, and music artists represent ten F1 teams in eight live events that replaced the official calendar, which had been halted due to the pandemic. Looking ahead to 2021, F1 Esports says it aims to build on the success of 2020, and is kickstarting the new year with the return of the Virtual Grands Prix, with a three-race competition and a charity prize fund up for grabs. 

Though the return of the Virtual Grand Prix Series will be F1 Esports flagship event for the start of 2021, it is just one of many events scheduled. The F1 Esports Series China Championship will find its second winner in next week’s Grand Final in Shanghai, while the inaugural F1 Mobile Racing Esports champion was crowned earlier this month, as Matteo Pagliania came out on top from more than 60,000 qualifiers. The Challenger Series will also be continuing with a further eight rounds across PS4, Xbox, and PC platforms until April, before the F1 Esports Series Pro Championship returns in the autumn.

Reflecting on 2020 and looking ahead to 2021, Head of Digital Business Initiatives & Esports at Formula 1, Julian Tan, said:

“It is fantastic to see the F1 Esports Series 2020 break viewing and engagement records after a brilliant championship where we saw competitive racing and high drama at every event. We had to adapt in the way we operated for this year’s Pro Series due to the pandemic, but we’re thrilled to see that it didn’t affect viewers enjoyment, or consumption, of the action. 

“2020 was a tough year for everyone, but we look forward to bringing fans more excitement in 2021, starting with the return of the Virtual Grands Prix as we welcome back some of the faces that made it such a special experience last year, and invite some new ones too, all in the name of charity. Watch this space!”

AYO.NEWS says:

Although sim racing, including F1 Esports, was already growing in popularity prior to the pandemic, there can be no doubt that the COVID-19 crisis massively accelerated its rise, as even mainstream broadcasters picked it up as an alternative to cancelled real-world events.

One thing has become abundantly clear, from F1 Esports to eNASCAR, drivers, broadcasters, sponsors, and most importantly, fans, have found the switch from real-world to sim to be surprisingly easy. 

In November 2020, AYO.NEWS’ very own Simona Pinterova caught up with Head of Digital Business Initiatives & Esports at Formula 1, Julian Tan, to find out how the iconic racing organisation has expanded its esports offering, and what it has planned for the future. Check out the video below. 

‘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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