MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Some of the world’s top eSports teams are actively recruiting for teams to compete in Blizzard’s upcoming competitive shooter Overwatch. The Daily Dot reports that Tempo Storm made an offer to the world’s most successful Team Fortress 2 group Froyotech, about the formation of an Overwatch team. A two-year deal …
Read More »Activision announces eSports division headed by former ESPN boss
Call of Duty publisher Activision is making a big move into eSports with the opening of a brand new competitive gaming division. Furthermore, it will be headed by former ESPN CEO Steve Bornstein, who will serve as chairman, and MLG co-founder Mike Sepso, who will be senior VP. Activision’s eSports …
Read More »ArenaNet teams up with ESL for Guild Wars 2 Pro League
Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet has joined forces with eSports organizer ESL to form an official Pro League for the MMO. The first season of the league is set to start in November, and replaces the Guild Wars 2 World Tournament Series. The seven-week season will be capped with a …
Read More »FBI investigating fantasy eSports betting operators DraftKings
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Justice are conducting a probe into whether fantasy sports operators are violating federal law. Operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel have recently expanded their offerings to include eSports, with the former acquiring AlphaDraft last month. The investigation, in which the FBI …
Read More »Major Arsenal stakeholder invests $100m in Russian eSports community
Russian eSports organisation Virtus.pro has received investment that could total over $100m from a company owned by one of Arsenal’s controlling figures. Virtus is Russia’s largest eSports group, organising tournaments, running a vast network of recording studios and hosting an eSports community that has over 7.6m subscribers. Its content was …
Read More »Players banned for life as another match-fixing scandal rocks Korean StarCraft
Twelve people have been indicted by Korean authorities for match-fixing in StarCraft 2, including two pro players and head coach of PRIME, Park "Gerrard" Wae-Sik. Choi "YoDa" Byeon-Heon (pictured) and Choi "BBoongBBoong" Jong-Hyuk (AKA B4) have been handed lifetime bans by the Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA) and arrested by police. …
Read More »Can the BBC finally take eSports to the mainstream?
The BBC’s investment in eSports marks a potential turning point for the sector, leading experts say. For the first time in the UK, competitive gaming will no longer be the reserve of specialist streaming services but will instead be widely accessible thanks to the broadcast of the League of Legends …
Read More »Gfinity blows away targets with 58m viewers in 2015
British eSports organiser Gfinity has recorded 58.5m online views of their 2015 Championship Series, exceeding first year targets of 50m. The Gfinity Series, comprised of 23 weekly tournaments since March, was played across five eSports titles at the company’s dedicated eSports Arena in Fulham, London. September’s series finale, held at …
Read More »The Hearthstone World Championship’s finalist roster is complete
The 16 players who will feature in the Hearthstone World Championship finals have now been decided. Yesterday’s American regional finals in San Francisco saw Justin ‘JAB’ Black, Dylan ‘Hotform’ Mullins, Victor ‘Nias’ Shelstad and overall winner Ryan ‘Purple’ Murphy-Root (who won $10k in the process) claim the four available spots. …
Read More »G2A labels Riot ban as an ‘aggressive attack’ on eSports
Riot’s decision to block advertising from select key resellers at the 2015 League of Legends World Championships has been heavily criticised by G2A. Earlier this week it was revealed that Riot had ordered teams at the event to pull all sponsored branding for the retailer. The move concerned a disagreement …
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