North American esports organisation Evil Geniuses has revealed a new logo and jersey design as part of a complete visual rebrand.

Seattle and Los Angeles-based Evil Geniuses have ditched their round logo for a simpler entirely text-based design, and introduced new jerseys that feature their own branding prominently, and sponsors’ branding on the stomach, collars and arms.

Evil Geniuses currently fields teams in Dota 2, League of Legends (read more), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rainbow Six Siege, Fortnite and various fighting games. Current commercial partners include AMD, Design By Humans, FVBET, Monster Energy, NEEDforSEAT, Razer (read more), Twitch and Xfinity.

Evil Geniuses is one of the oldest esports organisations, having formed in 1999, and the rebranding follows its acquisition by Chigaco-based investment firm PEAK6 in May 2019, when Nicole LaPointe Jameson was appointed CEO and the organisation adopted the slogan of ‘Live Evil’.

It’s time for a new decade of EVIL.

2020 isn’t ready for us. #LIVEEVIL pic.twitter.com/spCwp9uiVM

— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) December 12, 2019

AYO.NEWS says:

In such a fast-paced digital sector its no surprise to see an organisation go through a visual rebrand. In 2019 alone we saw Complexity Gaming, ESL, Excel Esports, MAD Lions and NRG Esports go through rebranding.

It goes without saying that the change has drawn mixed reactions on social media, but we’re sure most people will learn to love it.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

ELEAGUE has secured exclusive domestic TV broadcast rights for the FIFA 20 Global Series.

The deal with EA Sports, gives ELEAGUE on TBS United States broadcasting rights, and will also see it host three FIFA Ultimate Team Champions Cup events – with the first being held at the ELEAGUE Arena, Atlanta, from 17-19^th January 2020, and the other two being held in Europe.

Commenting on the agreement Vice President of Esports at Turner Sports, Jennifer Dill, said:

“This expanded partnership builds on the successful relationship we’ve established with Electronic Arts and represents even more opportunities to provide fans with compelling live moments and culturally relevant esports content.

“In addition to the role ELEAGUE will play in the growth of EA SPORTS FIFA 20 as a top-tier esport and viewing experience, we are looking forward to leveraging the full breadth of Turner Sports’ platforms and sports programming to drive additional excitement surrounding the EA SPORTS FIFA 20 Global Series.”

While EA Sports FIFA Competitive Gaming Commissioner, Brent Koning, added:

“Turner Sports is the ultimate sports entertainment partner because they create culturally relevant and engaging content, optimized for traditional and digital platforms.

“This year’s partnership with ELEAGUE and the EA SPORTS FIFA 20 Global Series is much larger in scope and will bring the world’s esport to the masses in North America and beyond.”

ELEAGUE has previously worked with EA Sports, hosting the FUT Champions Cup in February, and producing a documentary series about the tournament.

Highlights from the FIFA 20 Global Series will be televised by ELEAGUE in new episodes starting in January.

AYO.NEWS says:

ELEAGUE have consistently proven they know what they are doing when it comes to the production aspect of esports tournaments, so this seems like a pretty solid partnership that will result in some top notch content for fans.

Staying with ELEAGUE, in November we reported it had entered a partnership with in-game advertising platform Anzu (read more).

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

International betting operator Parimatch has been confirmed as an official partner of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) EPICENTER series.

The tournament’s group stage is scheduled for 17-19^th December 2019, with the LAN final set for 21-22^nd December at the “Crocus Expo” centre, Moscow. Total prize pool for the tournament is $500K.

Commenting on the partnership Head of Parimatch Esports Department, Stepan Shulga, said:

“We have already created a unique CIS-based league thanks to our partnership with ESforce, but we are not stopping here. EPICENTER is a brilliant tournament featuring top-tier teams and increased viewer involvement, so we have prepared exciting activities for our players.”

While ESforce Holding Commercial Director, Sergey Barkhudaryan, added:

“Partnership with Parimatch became a stellar case of viewers enjoying a huge, emotionally fuelled show, and partners appreciating sincere gratitude and high level of audience engagement. We are happy to take the next step in our partnership by greeting Parimatch as the official partner of our main event – the EPICENTER.”

Only yesterday, AYO.NEWS confirmed that Goryachaya Shtuchka, a popular Russian frozen food brand, has also partnered with EPICENTER CS:GO 2019 (read more).

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, Parimatch and ESforce Holding have previously partnered to organise the Dota 2 Parimatch League – the inaugural season of which racked up more than 6 millions views on Twitch (read more). The second season of the league is scheduled for the first half of 2020, and has an increased prize pool of $100,000.

Game.tv, the AI-powered esports tournament platform, has secured $25 million in a Series A funding round let by Intel Capital.

The news comes as Game.tv launches its Tourney we application, which allows players to create and operate mobile gaming tournaments through Discord.

Discussing the developments CEO of Game.tv, Rosen Sharma, explained:

“AI is the key. In esports today it is difficult to make money unless you are running large professional tournaments and events. Most tournaments run and make money from sponsorships, which exist only for the big events. AI doesn’t need to make money in order to host an event, thus enabling tournaments in communities at any scale so long as people are willing to participate.”

While Managing Director at Intel Capital, Arun Chetty, added:

“When Game.tv’s platform crossed 10,000 tournaments in a short period of time, we sensed something big was going on here. As a big supporter of both esports and emerging technologies, Intel is always looking for ways to accelerate adoption of esports. We believe that Game.tv has a unique vision and technology and with this funding, they can gain a big piece of the esports market segment.”

Sharma, who is also president and CEO for cross-platform virtualisation developer BlueStacks, founded Game.tv in 2018.

AYO.NEWS says:

$25 million is a serious sign of faith in Game.tv on the part of Intel Capital and the other investors, and will surely give the platform a fighting chance of carving out sizable market share.

Staying with esports tournament platforms, only yesterday we reported that Australia-based Esports Mogul had secured commitments for $3.97M AUD ($2.71M) in a placement led by CPS Capital (read more).

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

ReKTGlobal, parent company of esports organisations Rogue and London Royal Ravens, has announced Taylor Fritz as its latest celebrity investor.

The 22-year old American tennis prodigy is the third pro-traditional sports athlete to join the ReKTGlobal team in the past six months, joining Washington Redskins Landon Collins (read more) and the NBA’s two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert (read more), along with EDM sensations Steve Aoki and DJ Nicky Romero (read more), the Billboard Award-winning Imagine Dragons, and renowned Latin music producer Tainy (read more).

Notably, while NBA, NFL and MLB stars have been investing millions in esports over the past year, Fritz is one of the first tennis pros to invest in competitive gaming – an industry expected to generate $2.4 billion next year.

Discussing his investment in ReKTGlobal, Fritz said:

“As the first tennis pro and youngest investor to date, I’m really excited to join the ReKTGlobal team. “It’s a dream come true to invest in this fast-growing esports organization and follow my passion for competitive gaming. As the esports industry continues to blow up and go mainstream, I’m looking forward to collaborating with the team and making magic happen. Livestreaming with the Rogue squad and DrLupo will be a fun bonus too.”

While Founder and Chairman of ReKTGlobal, Amish Shah, added:

“Taylor Fritz is a rising star, both in tennis and esports. In addition to his role as our latest investor, Taylor is an avid gamer who takes his PlayStation on the road so that when he has downtime or is in need of a release, he can jump on the sticks and play Fortnite and Call of Duty. He truly knows his stuff when it comes to the esports industry, teams, and players so we’re very excited to welcome him to the ReKTGlobal family.”

Fritz played his first Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour tournament at Nottingham in 2015, where he received a wild card and won his first ATP match. He turned pro after winning the US Open and by age 17 had risen into the top 250 of the ATP rankings and become the 9^th player to win multiple Challenger Tour titles.

With a serve that can hit 149mph and an ability to hit powerful groundstrokes, Fritz won his first ATP Tour title at the 2019 Eastbourne International tournament, rising to a #25 world ranking, and made his Davis Cup debut representing Team USA.

AYO.NEWS says:

How does ReKTGlobal keep attracting so many high-profile celebrity investors!? Whatever they are doing, its making the company one of the most interesting in the esports world! Besides being able throw fantastic parties, having so many high-profile, well connected celebrities and sports people on the team must be opening up many exciting avenues for collaborations, and further merging the world of traditional sports and entertainment with esports and gaming.

We wonder who’ll be next to invest in ReKTGlobal?

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

Esports Mogul, the Australian online esports tournament platform developer, has secured commitments for $3.97M AUD ($2.71M) in a placement led by CPS Capital.

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed Mogul’s placement priced at $0.01 AUD per share. The company owns and operators online esports tournament and matchmaking platform mogul.gg.

In addition to automation, including chat and streaming, for major esports titles, Mogul.gg provides “Branded Hubs” to game publishers.

Discussing the news Managing Director of Mogul, Gernot Abl, said:

“We’re pleased to have received such significant support for this placement, raising a total of AU$3.97 million. Investor appetite well exceeded the Company’s placement capacity. Our achievements as a company over the past few months including signing some of the largest names in esports, enhancing our product offering, and securing Cameron Adams as a director of the Company have been well recognised by the market.

“We now look forward to next year as we seek to capitalise on our world-class technology platform, further developing our monetisation strategies, and continuing to secure partnerships with industry leading esports brands and organisations.”

While Managing Director of the Lead Manager, CPS Capital, Jason Peterson, added:

“We’re pleased to have supported Mogul in raising AU$3.97 million in this placement. We’ve seen the significant progress the Mogul team have made since commercial launch of the Mogul Branded Hubs model in August 2019, and are excited to be part of their future.”

Mogul says it will use the new capital to expand its “Branded Hubs” technology, fast-track revenue monetisation of the platform through 2020, forge new international partnerships and develop its core tournament platform.

The company says it expects to complete allotment of shares to issued under the placement by 18^th December – the placement consisting of 397M fully paid ordinary shares to investors.

The news comes just three weeks after Mogul appointed Cameron Adams, co-founder of Canva, to its board of directors (read more).

In May 2019, Mogul raised $3.1M AUD in another heavily oversubscribed share placement.

AYO.NEWS says:

Mogul seems to have no trouble in selling shares, that’s for sure, and its certainly got plenty of ambition looking ahead. While its still early days, it will be interesting to see what impact Cameron Adams’ appointment has on the direction of the company over the coming year.

It worth noting that Mogul’s competition in the esports tournament platform space is also attracting investment. For example, in September, XY Gaming secured a $2.5M investment to develop its branded tournament offering and grow its advertising vertical.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.