Esports Weekly Update – Stories you may have missed!

After the $3.000.000 win at the Manila Major less than a week ago, Team OG does it again winning the ESL ONE Frankfurt in the grand finals against Na’Vi 3-0.

Along with capturing the attention of those outside the video game industry, electronic sports (esports) are attracting a new class of investors seeking to get in early on the rising phenomenon. Nowhere else is this more evident than in Riot Games’ League of Legends esports scene – the League Championship Series (LCS).

eSports has come a long way from basements and ballrooms and the money is flowing in. What’s just beginning to happen is the overlap with Casinos, Poker and Gambling — and the massive amount of revenue involved

 

EA Madden NFL Esports is a serious business

 

OG Wins ESL One Frankfurt

After the $3.000.000 win at the Manila Major less than a week ago, Team OG does it again winning the ESL ONE Frankfurt in the grand finals against Na’Vi 3-0, confirming themselves as the best team in the world at the moment. The team, formed in October 2015, has maintained the original lineup since then, which is quite unusual in the ever changing Dota2 professional landscape. The five players, Johan “N0tail” Sundstein, Amer “Miracle” Barqawi, David “MoonMeander” Tan, Andreas “Cr1t” Nielsen and Tal “Fly” Aizik have now officially secured a direct invite for The International and can be undoubtedly considered one of the favourite teams to win the most important tournament of the year.

When asked about the secret to their success, Tal “Fly” Aizik, OG captain, said: “We work hard and prepare seriously. I believe that if you work hard enough, everything is possible”. Na’Vi had a great run at the tournament, showing that they really are back at the top of the pro scene. Their first match against Vega Squadron is an absolute must see, the most entertaining match of the tournament for sure, with a great performance from Dendi, the Ukranian wonder boy that has been with Na’Vi since 2011.

Read the full story here

 

Xbox eSports: Arena

Consoles have taken a back seat to eSports in the past few years. Almost all of the Top 10 games at any time on Twitch are on PC with Call of Duty and another random game usually making up the console contingent. Many people don’t realize that the introduction of eSports in the US was a decade ago on TV with Xbox, Halo and MLG. (Take 1min to watch that footage to see how far the industry has come). You can even make the case that the Fighter genre with Smash Bros. and Street Fighter have an even more passionate audience. However, definitely don’t think that Microsoft is turning the Xbox into a PC with their Windows 10 initiative — not happening. The mouse and keyboard gang currently rule the eSports roost.

As the industry is now in the spotlight, the big boys aren’t going to sit on the sidelines (Nintendo will support the scene but nearly as much as Microsoft will try). Although Xbox has supported Smite’s entry into eSports and Killer Instinct, it primarily relied on Call of Duty and it’s sponsorship of the annual Championship. As Sony partnered with Activision for last year’s Black Ops 3, Xbox lost a marquee name.

At E3, Xbox made its biggest move back into eSports with the launch of Arena. Before we get to that, two other features Microsoft introduced that I believe will also play a supporting role.

The Dollars and Sense of eSports Team Ownership

Along with capturing the attention of those outside the video game industry, electronic sports (eSports) are attracting a new class of investors seeking to get in early on the rising phenomenon. Nowhere else is this more evident than in Riot Games’ League of Legends eSports scene – the League Championship Series (LCS).

Yet, despite going rates of $1million+ for an LCS spot, and increased profile for eSports in general, the business of owning a team in the LCS is far from a path to immediate profit. Specifically, the prospect of achieving substantial return-on-investment (ROI) is affected by fierce competitive rivalry within the current ecosystem.

The overall attractiveness of investing in LCS ownership is defined by the capacity of teams to generate profit. In the absence of publicly available financial reporting by teams, Michael Porter’s Five Forces Analysis is useful in gauging this capability; especially since traditional sports benefit greatly from the attractiveness of professional team ownership, not only as status symbol, but as a profitable domain.

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Thorin’s Thoughts – m0e, Diamonds and Ethics (CS:GO)

 

How “Brexit” might affect the esports industry

June 23, is the day the UK votes on whether or not to stay in the European Union. The decision will have major consequences, for the UK, for Europe, and for the rest of the world. A lot has been written and discussed in the past few weeks, with both the “Remain” as well as the “Leave” campaigners fighting with no holds barred. Tragically, the heated atmosphere even led to the murder of British Labour Party politician Jo Cox, one of the loudest advocates to remain in the European Union.

As someone who feels and thinks himself more of a European than a German citizen, it’s disheartening to see how toxic this debate has become. Personally, I think it’s a terrible idea to leave the EU. However, as a journalist who tries to classify information regardless of his personal opinion (to the extent deemed possible), I will put away my feelings and political views, and analyze the situation from a neutral place.

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