eSports Update – 10 Things you may have missed!
ESL One Manila was announced this week and VIP tickets sold out in less than 1 hour! This is set to be South East Asia’s first premium Dota tournament and the buzz around the announcement was insane. More on the event side, NA and EU LCS shared that they are changing their format for the Summer Split 2016. NA LCS will become a Best-of-3 format and EU LCS will move to a double Best-of-2 format.
Roster changes continue in the off-season and Fantic welcome two new League of Legends players for 2016 following some of the key 2015 team members departing at the end of the season. Roster changes aside the season was concluded by the eSports team of the year award and we have a great clip of Shanquille O’neal presenting the winners below.
Also happening this week, Facebook held a secret eSports Summit. Does this mean the social media giant is about to make big moves in the industry?
Read these tops stories and more below.
1. FACEIT Partners with Turner Sports & WME l IMG for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Championship
Earlier this week Turner and IMG finally gave us a sneak peak of the much anticipated ELeague set to launch next Summer and be broadcast on Television aswell as online streaming platforms.
Yesterday Faceit announced that they have joined this partnership and will be holding entry qualifiers this weekend for those with hopes of playing in the ‘big leagues’
Read the full story here
2. The Game Awards 2015 – Shaquille O’neal presents eSports Team of the Year Winner
Find the complete list of winners here
3. Spirit and Gamsu set to join Fnatic
“This year’s European League Championship Series winners Fnatic have signed former Team Dignitas top laner Noh “Gamsu” Yeong-jin and ex-World Elite jungler Lee “Spirit” Da-yoon.
The two players join Fnatic following the departure of Korean duo Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon and Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin—who signed with the team in January while Fnatic were undergoing a four-player roster shuffle leading into the fifth competitive League of Legends season.”
Read the full story here
4. ESL One Manila – South-East Asia’s first premium Dota 2 Tournament
“ESL One Manila brings esports to one of the largest Dota 2 playerbases in the world on April 23rd and 24th. Featuring 8 international teams, a $250,000 prize pool, and an arena full of dedicated fans, the atmosphere in the Mall of Asia Arena for this two day esports event is sure to be electric. You won’t want to miss out on the region’s largest esports event to date!”
Find out more about the event here
5. Looking ahead: NA and EU LCS format changes for Summer Split 2016
“We’ve weighed up a lot of factors closely over the last split and thought about what makes a good broadcast, tests the skills of players and teams and creates an entertaining experience for fans. As a result, we’ll be taking a big step in the summer split with NA LCS shifting to a double Best-of-3 format while EU LCS will transition to a double Best-of-2 format.
The 2016 Spring Split will remain Best-of-1 as we staff up for the increased hours of the Summer Split. Read on for more details about how we reached this decision and how it’ll work.”
Read the full story here
6. 2015 All-Star Event Survival Guide
“We’re super excited to host the 2015 All-Star Event starting this Thursday, December 10 until Sunday, December 13 at the NA LCS studio. Below is a quick FAQ to help those of watching League of Legends live for the first time or visiting our revamped NA LCS studio. ”
Read the full story here
7. CS:GO update adds Revolver
“A new update for CS:GO, shipped as version number 1.35.1.2, has released and has added a new pistol to the game, the R8 Revolver.
A new update for CS:GO was just spotted and while patch notes are forthcoming, the most obvious change is going to be the introduction of a new in-game weapon, the R8 Revolver.”
Learn more about the latest update here
8. 2015 Top 5 Esports Brand Values in Western Esports
“As 2015 comes to a close, we wanted to look back on which esports organizations stood out the most, made significant strides, and look at their overall representation in the market. 2015 was a huge year for esports, over $150 million in investments, over 747 Million in revenue came into the industry, and record-breaking viewership and prize pools for multiple esports titles.”
- Fnatic – $42,570,583
- Cloud 9 – $30,149,755
- Team Solomid – $27,487,306
- Evil Genius – $27,315,498
- Optic Gaming – $24,583,758
Original post can be found here
9. TSM have dropped their CS:GO team and are looking for new CS:GO and COD teams in the US
“We are announcing that we are accepting applications for teams and players to represent TSM in both Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 in the 2016 year. We are seeking to create teams to excel at the highest level of competition within their respective games. In addition, we are looking for players who are dedicated, hardworking, have the drive to be the best, and have good sportsmanship. TSM has constantly maintained a high standard of quality that we expect all our players to live up to.”
If you think you’ve got what it takes sign up here
10. Facebook Just Held A Business Focused eSports Summit
“In another sign of how the big world of business is becoming more intertwined with eSports, Facebook is holding a day-long summit at their offices today with executives, team owners and developers to talk shop.
The agenda for the “Facebook eSports Summit” was posted on Twitter by long-time eSports reporter Rod Breslau, with the event running from 8:00 AM to 6:15 PM.”
Read the full story here
