North American esports organisation Evil Geniuses has named Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light as its newest partner. 

As the official beer of Evil Geniuses, Bud Light will be collaborating with an “ongoing content mash-up across EG and Bud Light channels,” featuring some of the organisation’s most popular players. 

“Evil Geniuses is honored to welcome Bud Light into the EG family,” said Michael Fudzinski, Chief Revenue Officer at Evil Geniuses. “Bud Light is renowned for their support of elite organizations across sports and entertainment, and the pairing with EG and our 21+ year history represents the latest continuation of this legacy that our fans and the community will celebrate.”

The partnership is billed as providing fans with unprecedented access to in-game communications of the EG League of Legends squad in “Evil Intercepts” content series. 

EG players will also be taking turns broadcasting on “Bud Light Streams” hosted on Bud Light’s Twitch channel, with new episodes streaming regularly throughout the rest of the year.

“Bud Light has always sought out new ways to engage sports fans and our new partnership with Evil Geniuses gives us an opportunity to further engage LCS fans,” said Joe Barnes, director, Bud Light sports marketing & head of esports and gaming. “We look forward to bringing 21+ gaming fans even more unique gaming content on our Twitch channels which is perfect for both our established fanbase and for those just getting into esports.”

Kicking things off, on Sunday 7 March, EG LCS jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen will join the Bud Light League Lounge on Twitch following the weekend’s LCS games.

AYO.NEWS says:

Over the past few years we’ve seen several beer brands enter the world of esports sponsorships, including Bitburger 0.0% with ESL in Germany, and Miller Lite with Complexity Gaming in the US, and we’ve even seen Team Secret launch the world’s first esports branded beer in partnership with Pennsylvania-based Levante Brewing Company. 

However, no brand seems as enthusiastic about esports as Bud Light, which has partnered with several esports organisations and events, including Fnatic, NBA 2K League team Magic Gaming, the NBA 2K League itself, and Overwatch League. We guess that means Anheuser-Busch is getting results. 

Esports tournament software and management company, Mainline, has partnered with Steel Planet Esports to assist in the management of esports rights for a number of Division II, Division III, NAIA and community college conferences and universities under the newly created entity, Launch Esports™.

Steel Planet Esports is an affiliate venture of college multimedia rights holder Steel Curtain U. The partnership with Mainline will enable the company to immediately bring structure and continuity to conference-level play for small college conferences and schools across the United States.

“We’re proud to pair Mainline’s esports platform and tournament operations with Steel Curtain U, who has been a trusted partner to 18 Division II and NAIA conferences to help bring the needed foundation and structure to the growing esports programs found at their member colleges and universities,” said Mainline chief growth officer, Toby Wyman. “Thanks to the depth of experience that both of our teams have in this space, Launch Esports will be able to drive incremental value by immediately offering its services to numerous conferences.”

Steel Curtain U carries years of multimedia rights management experience with various college athletics conferences for traditional sports and, now with Mainline, they can offer their partners, and others, a new esports management solution through Launch Esports. 

“We’re excited to introduce our conference partners to the new Launch Esports experience that will create a dynamic platform for their esports programs and students while providing brands the opportunity to engage these important audiences,” said Darin David, president of Steel Curtain U.

One of the first conferences to utilize Launch Esports is Conference Carolinas with additional conferences to be announced in the coming weeks. They are now launching their initial esports tournaments and leagues. 

“We must find unique ways to engage not only our student-athletes but all of our member institutions’ students,” said Conference Carolinas’ commissioner, Chris Colvin. “We’re growing our esports programs and now incorporating them into our traditional sports like our NBA2K21 Championship occurring alongside our 2021 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships.”

More information on Launch Esports can be found at www.launchesports.gg.

EA SPORTS™ has announced the EA SPORTS Madden NFL “The Yard” Invitational, a unique team-based competition using the highly popular backyard football-inspired game mode. 

Today and tomorrow, some of the most well-known Madden NFL 21 Championship players in history will team up with each other as well as with influencers in this new competitive format.

The Madden NFL “The Yard” Invitational reimagines historically one-on-one Madden gameplay by introducing teams and collaborative strategy in a new competitive experience, which could appear in future editions of the Madden Championship Series. 

Leveraging the customizable features of The Yard, competitors will also be able to express their individuality by designing their own jerseys and avatars, who will take to the new backyard-style Pizza Hut virtual football field, designed exclusively for the event.

“The Madden NFL ‘The Yard’ Invitational is unlike anything we’ve done before,” said Matt Marcou, Madden NFL Competitive Gaming Commissioner. “This is a fast-paced, dynamic game mode, which will offer fans and players another opportunity to experience the excitement of team-based Madden NFL gameplay. It’s a glimpse into how we might experiment with this format for future Madden competitions.”

On Friday, March 5, at 6 PM ET, 16 of the best Madden NFL pros will team up and go head-to-head in a 2 vs. 2 round-robin-style tournament bracket. The eight competing teams include: 

• Bombs and Dots: Henry “Henry” Leverette and Pavan “Pavan” Lakhat
• 818: Shay “Kiv” Kivlen and Wesley “Wesley” Gittens
• ELI: Jordan “Millz” Thompson and Dwayne “CleffTheGod” Wood
• EMB: Tony “Young Tony” Calloway and Frank “Stiff” Sardoni Jr.
• Tew Dewds: Kyle “KMaC” McAllister and Eric “Problem” Wright 
• DRI/JCP: Drini “Drini” Gjoka and Joel “JoelCP” Crooms-Porter
• TNC: Jacob “Fancy” Worthington and Jacob “Jwall” Wallack
• Young Guns Noah Jon: Noah “Noahupnxt” Johnson and Jonathan “Jonbeast” Marquez

Following the first day of competition, influencers and streamers YoBoyPizza, Dockery, Kristopher London, and Erin Ashley Simon will participate as team captains in an NFL-style draft, choosing which of the final four teams they want to be a part of.

In addition to each MCS pro team releasing their own pre-produced video letting the team captains know why they should pick them, the community will be able to determine which team captain gets to select first in the draft by voting during the live broadcast. 

Then on Saturday, March 6, at 6 PM ET, influencers will join their Madden pro teams to face off in a 3 vs. 3, best-of-five semifinals and finals showdown to claim the first-ever Madden NFL “The Yard” Invitational championship chain.

Viewers can tune into the action on the official Madden NFL Twitch and YouTube pages. For more information on the Madden NFL “The Yard” Invitational, be sure to check out: Madden NFL 21 Championship Series -The Yard Invitational – EA SPORTS Official Site

Staying with Madden NFL, last month the first-ever Pro Bowl: The Madden NFL 21 Edition, Presented by Verizon, became the most watched Madden NFL event of all time, generating 3.5M live views. 

Paris-based esports organisation, Team Vitality, has announced a partnership with high-performance gaming controller brand SCUF. 

The partnership will see Team Vitality’s FIFA, Fortnite, and Rocket League players, plus brand ambassadors like Brawks and LittleBigWhale, compete and play using SCUF controllers. Both parties will also be working on collaborative projects, details of which will be revealed later this year. 

“We are really excited to work with such an industry-leading brand in SCUF gaming who really understands the demands of playing in different competitive environments. It’s great to be able to have our players across FIFA, Fortnite and Rocket League compete with the highest level of peripherals. It’s great to kick off 2021 with another great partner by our side who truly shares our goals and values,” said Nicolas Maurer, CEO, Team Vitality.

“Since inception, SCUF has been dedicated to supporting the French esports community by bringing innovation to the competitive gaming controller category. Team Vitality is a giant in French esports and in just a few years, Vitality has been able to become one of the best esports organizations in the World. With initiatives like Vitality’s Hive in Paris, high-quality content, influencer support and unique brand collaborations, this partnership is a natural fit for SCUF and we’re excited to continue our journey sharing our values and passion.” said Duncan Ironmonger, CEO and Founder, SCUF Gaming.

Since being founded in 2013, Team Vitality has grown into a global esports brand, and now has more than 40 players competing in eight of the biggest esports titles. 

Staying with Team Vitality, last month the organisation expanded into Riot Games’ rising esports title, Valorant, following a successful talent search which began in July 2020. 

New game studios Theorycraft Games has secured $37.5M USD in a Series A funding round led by NetEase, Inc.

Other participants in the round included NEA, BITKRAFT Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners, SISU Game Ventures, and a small group of strategic angel investors. Theorycraft says it will use the new capital to recruit diverse and driven talent to its team to develop a community-driven, PvP game available across multiple platforms. 

Founded by Riot Games, Bungie, Blizzard, and Valve Software veterans, the Theorycraft founding team has a strong track record leading some of gaming’s most successful franchises, including League of Legends, Halo, Destiny, Overwatch, Valorant, and Team Fortress 2. Joe Tung, CEO and Founder of Theorycraft Games, stewarded multiple genre-defining, billion-dollar franchises as the former EVP of League of Legends franchise and EP of Destiny and Halo. 

Alongside Joe, Theorycraft Games has an incredibly talented founding team that includes former Tech Lead for Valorant, Overwatch and Halo, Michael Evans, as Chief Technology Officer; former Creative Director at Bungie, Mike Tipul, as Chief Creative Officer; former Art Director on Valorant, League of Legends, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2, Moby Francke, as Art Director, and former Global Revenue and Finance Lead for League of Legends franchise, Areeb Pirani, as Chief Operating Officer.

“The Theorycraft team has a strong track record leading some of gaming’s most successful franchises. With the resources and independence they now have, we look forward to what they will come up with next,” said Simon Zhu, Head of Investment & Partnership at NetEase Games.

“We feel pretty damn fortunate—not only to have gotten off to such a great start to the studio—but to have found a group of such like-minded partners who believe like we do that games serve fundamental human needs; who support our goal of getting the game in players’ hands quickly and developing the game with them; and most importantly, who understand that we are in this for the long-term. NetEase and our co-investors are the ideal group of partners to help us bring the company’s vision to life,” said Joe Tung, CEO and Founder of Theorycraft Games.  

Based out of Seattle and Los Angeles, Theorycraft Games is on a mission to create deep games that give everyone the chance to connect, to compete, and to be infinitely delighted by stories that place players directly in the center. Theorycraft plans to meet players right where they are, regardless of what platform they play on, where they live, or how much money they can spend. 

The game studio is building a high-performance, talent-dense team of the world’s best game developers who share Theorycraft’s obsession of putting players at the center of everything they do. 

For more information about Theorycraft Games and how you can be involved in its growth, please view available positions on its website at http://www.theorycraftgames.com/careers.

AYO.NEWS says:

Over the past few months we’ve seen a LOT of money plowed into video game developers, but Theorycraft stands out due to the sheer weight of talent it has from the get go – not to mention the almost $40M in the bank! While nothing is really known about the game it has planned at this point, we’re sure the team has something pretty special in mind, and they certainly have the talent and resources to make it happen. 

Staying with BITKRAFT, one of Theorycraft’s investors, just last week the firm announced the formation of a strategic advisory board including executives from Snapchat, Amazon Web Services, ESL, and Survios. 

Real Luck Group, operator of esports-first betting platform Luckbox, has become an official member of the Canadian Gaming Association (CGA). 

The CGA is a national trade association that works to help the growth and evolution of the Canadian gaming industry, through research, innovation, and best practices. 

Real Luck Group, which operates Isle of Man-based esports betting site Luckbox, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in Toronto last December, under the ticker “LUCK.”  

Commenting on the news, Luckbox CEO, Quentin Martin, said: “Joining the CGA is an important step for us and our igaming experience has shown that a unified voice across the industry is key to driving and evolving public policy that is fair to all stakeholders.

“We are joining CGA at a key inflection point in the Canadian betting industry and we are optimistic that the legalisation of single-event wagering in Canada is on the horizon to give esports and gaming fans in Canada the option to bet on their favourite events in a safe and regulated environment.

“We know that esports is a large and growing market in Canada, and fans are demanding betting on matches. Luckbox’s proprietary award-winning platform is that platform for Canada, offering wagering on 13 major esports as well as sports betting. With CGA member support, legalisation, regulation and working with responsible operators is the best means to keep fans safe and offer them the best possible experience.”

While President and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, Paul Burns, added: We are excited that a Canadian played sports betting and iGaming technology company that is poised to take advantage of the anticipated changes to the Canadian gaming landscape has joined the association. They have shown that they can operate in highly regulated markets globally and Canada presents a great opportunity for their business here at home. We look forward to working together and to assisting the growth of this new segment in any way we can.”

Staying with Luckbox, earlier this week the operator announced the appointment of Mike Bazzi as its new Affiliate Manager, while last week former Red Bull, Riot Games and Fox lead, Nevzat Ucar, was named new Head of Content.