MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Gfinity says it has been ‘a brilliant first year’ sinceopening its eSports arenain London. The company transformed theVue Cinema Fulham Broadway multiplex into a dedicated 600-person capacity competitive gaming venue called the Gfinity Arena in March 2015. Speaking to PCR at theVainglory European Winter Championshipsthis weekend (which saw gaming pros …
Read More »SK Gaming team with Amazon to take on Vainglory
Android and iPhone MOBAVaingloryhas already cemented its position as the most promising mobile eSport, but today the scene takes another big step towards professionalisation, with one of the game’s top teams announcing a partnership with Amazon. Ahead of the hotly anticipated Vainglory Winter Championship,SK Gamingare teaming up with Amazon AppStore. …
Read More »Ember’s investors back out, team will release all players except Contractz
North AmericanChallengersideEmberplans to release all of its players except one in the coming weeks, sources close to the team tell the Daily Dot. Emberis one of many teams in North America to benefit from a recent influx of investment money intoLeague of Legendsandesportsin general. But following a series of investor …
Read More »Sacramento Kings Owner Says New NBA Arena Was Designed For ESports
When the Sacramento Kings’ Golden 1 Center opens in October for the tipoff of the 2016-2017 NBA Season, the $507 million arena will have 1,000 Wi-Fi access points for 17,500 seats and an 84-foot-long 4K video board. While these features are great for NBA fans, Kings co-owner Andy Miller believes …
Read More »GAME’s latest acquisition SocialNAT rests on unsound footing
Last month, UK game retailer GAMEannounced its latest expansioninto esports—the acquisition of SocialNAT, a Spanish esports organization dedicated to hosting online competitions and offline events. GAME’s expansion isn’t surprising, but the partnership with SocialNAT is, primarily because of a SocialNAT’s director’s criminal history, along with the company’s shady media penetration. …
Read More »How best to make an eSport – "don’t," say the ex-pros
According to eSports professionals at GDC, the best way to make an eSports game is to not make an eSports game – it’s actually more about building strong communities and reacting to the feedback they supply. While ‘don’t build an eSports game’ might not seem like particularly helpful advice, you …
Read More »Lawyer’s perspective: A legal evaluation of Riot’s new competitive penalty policy
European esports lawyersPete LewinandJas PurewalfromPurewal & Partnersbreak down Riot’s new standardised penalties in competitive League of Legends. Last November Riot became the first esports league operator to implementminimum contractual requirementsfor their top teams and players. This week, Riot made another huge play with theannouncementthat it is standardising the penalties for …
Read More »Esports pros on why women’s tournaments are needed, but not forever
"My goal is to get rid of these female tournaments altogether," says Stephanie Harvey, a five-time world champion in Counter-Strike. "The goal is to compete against each other and be one of the first competitive environments that doesn’t care about gender." During a talk at GDC, Harvey and Morgan Romine, …
Read More »Will humans lose out to AI in eSports too?
Robots are taking our jobs. It’s a simple fact about our unstoppable march towards the future that we don’t want to acknowledge, but at some point we’ll all have to accept. First agriculture, then manufacturing, and now games have fallen to our silicon-brained superiors. The latest victim of this assault …
Read More »Meet the 15-year-old Hearthstone pro who’s teaching veterans a thing or two
Andrew "TidesofTime" Biessener, aHearthstone veteran with more than $50,000 in prize money winnings in Hearthstone, is gliding through an early qualification tournament for Blizzard’s $1.6 million Hearthstone Championship Tour. In the semifinals he needs to only beat William "Amnesiac" Barton, a sandy-haired 15-year-old playing in only his fourth tournament. But …
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