Yesterday saw the launch of the Global Esports Federation (GEF), backed by Tencent Esports.

Headquartered in Singapore, the federation is the first body of its kind directly backed by a game publisher. GEF’s president is secretary-general of Singapore’s National Olympic Council, Chris Chan, and, according to Chinese publication People Esports, the federation aims to hold an international tournament at the start of next year.

Also involved with GEF are former secretary-general of the Chinese Olympic Committee and honorary life vice-president of the Olympic Council of Asia, Wei Jizhong; former Olympian and founder of NGU consultants, Charmaine Crooks; and vice-president of Tencent Holdings and CEO of Tencent Pictures, Cheng Wu.

The GEF board also includes CEO of OverActive Media and former CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Chris Overholt; CEO of the British Esports Association, Chester King; Chief Business Officer of Italian football club AC Milan, Lorenzo Giorgetti; and Chief Investment Officer of Calypso Investment and former Chief Business Officer of British Petroleum, Adrian Lismore.

Illustrating the extent of its ambitions, in an announcement at its launch conference the GEF claimed it wanted to be the “voice and authority for the worldwide esports movement.” Apparently, it also aims to establish national esports federations, integrity guidelines, governance structures and an athlete commission.

AYO.NEWS says:

At the moment the esports industry has no globally recognised governing body, instead made up of a decentralised web of game publishers, which own rights and regulate competitions, and multiple national and regional governing organisations.

Though the new Global Esports Federation (GEF) certainly has some impressive talent onboard, and powerful backers in the form of Tencent, it remains to be seen if the organisation will be able to convince the disparate nodes of the esports world to unite under its banner (or, should we say, “submit to its authority?”).

Note: there is already a Global Esports Federation (GEF), based in London. Aimed at providing esports education, it already claims to work with over 2,500 esports organisations, more than 500 sponsors and over 100 leagues. Maybe the new GEF should have Googled first?

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

Deutsche Telekom has acquired a 25% stake in German esports organisation SK Gaming.

Negotiations for the deal started way back in June 2018, when the mobile communications company, which owns the T-Mobile brand, became an official partner of SK Gaming.

Discussing the news CEO of SK Gaming, Alexander T. Müller, said:

“With Deutsche Telekom, we intend to further develop the eSports sector, and in some ways to redefine it. In the course of our cooperation in the past, we’ve managed to move forward a lot at many different levels. We’re now looking forward to taking the next steps together.”

While Head of Sports Sponsorship at Deutsche Telekom, Hiro Kishi, added:

“Our acquisition underlines the importance and value that Deutsche Telekom places on eSports and gaming. Our networks, products and services provide the best possible environment for the eSports and gaming community. SK Gaming is the perfect partner with whom we can cooperate to shape the market into the future.”

SK Gaming fields teams in Riot Games’ LEC, FIFA, SMITE, Clash Royal and Hearthstone, and is also owned by FC Köln, Mercedes-Benz, and Müller – each 25% each (read more). Deutsche Telekom is also an official partner of Riot Games’ Premier Tour.

AYO.NEWS says:

The fact that negotiations for this deal have been ongoing for so long gives an indication of how much value Deutsche Telekom now places on esports! Staying with SK Gaming and communications partnerships, just two weeks ago we reported the organisation had announced Chinese tech brand OnePlus has its official smartphone partner (read more).

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

Chinese esports organisation eStar has acquired a franchise spot in Riot Games and Tencent’s League of Legends Pro League (LPL).

A couple of new spots had been offered for the 2020 season, which starts in June, by LPL organiser TJ Sports, and eStar has landed one of them.

eStar was able to successfully bid for the spot after receiving investments totalling more than ¥100M ($14.3M) from former Chinese Invictus Gaming League of Legends player Liu “pdd” Mou and the Wuhan Tourism Development Investment Group.

Discussing the news eStar investor Liu Mou, said:

“As an esports practitioner, it is my dream to own one esports club to compete in the LPL. After establishing YM Esports Club in 2015, four years have passed and the club has become one of the famous academy teams in China. However, it is still a shame that we didn’t obtain the LPL spot.

“I prepared a lot for this bid and finally partnered with Wuhan Tourism Development & Investment Group to invest eStar Esports Club. It is really tough to obtain this year’s LPL franchise. We will work hard to lead this newbie and try our best to face the challenge in the future.”

Wuhan-based eStar was founded in 2015 and has since grown to be one of China’s most successful esports organisations, competing in Honor of King’s Pro League and the CrossFire franchised league, and having earned a total of $2.4 million in prize money in Honor of Kings.

The organisation is set to open a home venue in Wuhan next year – the first home venue for a Chinese mobile-focused esports organisation.

eStar joins prominent names like Edward Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, Invictus Gaming, LGD Gaming, Royal Never Give Up and Vici Gaming in the LPL.

AYO.NEWS says:

This marks quite a jump for eStar, but their investors obviously have faith in them, coughing up a considerable amount of cash for the LPL spot. It will be interesting to see if the currently mobile-focused organisation can make the transition to the very different PC scene.

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

English Premier League football club Arsenal has enlisted Esports Gaming League (EGL) to take care of its esports division.

The agreement has already seen EGL scout, interview and sign players for the Gunners’ Konami eFootball League roster – which it will manage on behalf of the club.

Commenting on the news Managing Director of EGL, Glen Elliott, said:

“We’re excited to be working with Arsenal FC, embracing esports culture and authentically entering into the space through EGL. We’re looking forward to seeing what this team can do with the assistance EGL will be providing.”

The second season of Konami’s eFootball League will see ten clubs competing, with Arsenal being joined by FC Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Juventus, Barcelona, Schalke 04, AS Monaco, Celtic FC, Boavista FC, and FC Nantes.

In addition to the eFootball League, Arsenal will also be competing in the FIFA ePremier League in 2020.

Arsenal already have a commercial partnership with Konami, that was extended by three years in the summer, and the club’s players and stadium are featured in eFootball PES 2020 – with an exclusive Arsenal edition of the game also available.

AYO.NEWS says:

Increasingly we are seeing football clubs turn to experienced esports organisations to manage their esports efforts – signalling that traditional top-flight football is, at last, taking esports seriously. And, if the second season of Konami’s eFootball League results in success for Arsenal, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this turn into a long-term partnership.  

Just last week AYO.NEWS reported that Italian Serie A football club Juventus had entered a partnership with Astralis Group, the Danish esports organisation (read more).

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

LGD Gaming, the China-based esports organisation, announced a rebrand during its 10^th anniversary ceremony in Hangzhou.

The rebrand included a new logo, mascot, song and spokesmen in the form of Hongkai Qiu for LGD.REC and Chuyu Peng for PSG.LGD.

Founded back in 2009, LGD has risen to become one of the biggest Chinese esports organisations, and currently boats thirteen competitive rosters. According to the organisation’s Chief Brand Officer, LGD stands for ‘Legend, Gladiator, Dedicate.’

In 2017 LGD raised 30 million yuan (around €4 million) in a Series A funding round, and moved its headquarters to the city of Hangzhou – the capital of China’s Zhejiang province. Last year the organisation entered a partnership with French football club Paris Saint-Germain, and this year it also entered a partnership with Team Reciprocity.

Reflecting on the rebrand CEO of LGD Gaming, Jie Pan, said:

“In these ten years, we were constantly dedicated to developing and popularizing esports. Compared with the public misunderstanding to esports at the initial stage, current esports is gradually recognized by the public. With the development of LGD Gaming, the club has been expanding its influence and completed the business expansion from Hangzhou to the world. Actually, the huge success is inseparable from the effort devoted by every staff at LGD.”

AYO.NEWS says:

In such a rapidly growing and evolving market its no wonder we’re seeing increasing numbers of esports organisations rebranding to stay fresh and connected. Just last week AYO.NEWS reported that US-based Evil Geniuses had rebranded (read more), while the last year has also seen rebrands from Complexity Gaming, ESL (read more), Excel Esports, MAD Lions and NRG Esports.

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

On Saturday 14^th December, exclusive footage from the latest Star Wars movie debuted inside Fortnite.

A movie screen within the game showed exclusive footage from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, coinciding with Epic Games’ release of several official Star Wars-themed cosmetics, in what was described as the “Star Wars Event.”

The in-game promotion was first announced by director J.J. Abrams at The Game Awards last week, and represents Epic’s latest movie collaboration, following on from a partnership with Marvel Studios for the last two Avengers films and John Wick 3.

In February Epic also organised a live in-game concert from American DJ Christopher Comstock, a.k.a. Marshmello.

AYO.NEWS says:

The in-game world represents an entire new dimension in which to promote real-world products and services, yet its potential is yet to be realised by most.

With hundreds of millions of gamers around the world spending as much time in virtual worlds like Fortnite as the real world, marketing in the virtual space is sure to turn into a mega business, and provide a massive new revenue stream for game publishers, while at the same time adding more realism, depth and content for players.

Last month AYO.NEWS reported that ELEAGUE has partnered 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.