|
THIS WEEK
- Book review: This is esports (and How to Spell It)
- New sponsors initiative by Riot Games.
- NA League of Legends pro-players' average salary.
- The success of online racing: F1 Esports stats.
- CDL / OWL / Fortnite highlights.
|
|
|
MAY 28 | WEEKLY #53
SOME OF OUR NEW READERS
Mads from MTG & Mark from BuzzFeed
|
|
|
This is esports (and How to Spell It)
Like any industry, the beginnings are always blurry. It's hard to find somebody who can tell you the story as it is, without filters, without pleasing anybody. The birth and development of esports comes with both glory and f^cked up situations, and just a few people are up to the capabilities of sharing it with the world.
Well... it's a good thing we have Paul Chaloner with us.
Paul, also known as Redeye, just released his book "This is esports (and How to Spell it)". Weekly received a copy from him and spoiler alert... you need this. Trust me, buy it now.
|
|
🤯 First Impression
Paul is one of the most recognizable broadcasters in all of competitive gaming. He hosted or commented at esports tournaments for 83 different video games in two decades. Very much considered the voice of esports.
Why should you buy it?
- Both OGs and newcomers to the scene will learn a lot from the book. It's the process of esports from a couple of rekt PCs on a table to filling up stadiums with award-winning productions, full of untold raw stories.
- I think the major contribution here relates to the voice of it. Paul's broadcasting personality is fully reflected in every page. Is hard to maintain that when covering different aspects of the industry through the chapters like business, investments, most memorable competitive moments, scandals, and much more. Props to him and co-writer Ben Sillis.
- This is esports covers the "hows" of successful projects + every issue the industry is facing today. In reality, you would have to get your wallet wide open for this consulting experience, but you're getting it all under one book.
|
|
|
"... it literally says ‘Shoutcaster’ as my profession, and until someone shows me otherwise, is the first O1 visa to the US for esports ever granted, anywhere in the world."
|
|
|
|
"KeSPA boosted awareness of esports and helped it become acceptable to the country’s older generations. When the South Korean football team went on a run at the 2002 World Cup, their coaches had the squad meet top StarCraft players to help motivate them."
|
|
|
|
"The League of Legends World Championship tournament in 2018 brought in 76 million unique viewers across the globe. There were 3,446 paying esports tournaments held in 2018 alone, and $694 million was spent by brands looking to cash in on esports’ exposure, including Amazon, Audi, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, DHL, McDonald’s and Gillette. (I call this the dad factor: Has my dad heard of these names? Then it must be big news)"
|
|
|
- There's honesty. Every failure from both his personal career and esports as an industry are described with no sugarcoat bullshit in between.
- If you're concerned that your non-gaming-coworkers-who-want-to-learn-about-esports still won't get it, don't worry, it also comes with a simple and cool glossary 😀
- We're talking about the first major piece of history for esports to date. The good thing: it's accessible material for everyone. The even better thing: authors discover their great potential after their first edition. We'll probably have a lot more crazy stories coming from Paul in the near future.
✔️ Other Highlights
The launch of the book came with an amazing Reddit AMA post.
Position Six Ep. 70: latest podcast on Paul and his book.
|
|
LoL adds in-game sponsor banners
To have in mind:
- Mastercard and Alienware were the first ones to sign up.
- Riot Games worked with Nielsen to calculate their value.
- The banners will be shown only to people watching esports competitions.
Like any sports stadium with sponsors panels around the field (event in the middle of it, like in Rugby matches), esports gets a fresh way of including them too.
There's a great story of a (now retired) football player from Argentina, Martin Palermo, who said he was getting paid by different sponsors to celebrate his goals next to specific panels so people can relate a sponsor to the best moments.
I wonder if Mastercard would send some green paper behind the table for teams to arrange all team-fights or great plays around banners. Or sponsor's competitors to make players show trolling emotes next to them too.
|
|
Add them to the naughty list
Pro gamers have been getting out of hand lately. Please, send help.
|
|
🥡 The Box. Hungrybox in collaboration with Team Liquid, updated his Smash. Ultimate tournament with two new categories: The Juice Box and The Lunch Box.
🔦 Spotlight Game. Minecraft Dungeons.
🟣 Twitch Updates. They keep moving.
😯 That's just mean. Japan is selling the Nintendo Wii and DS for under a dollar. I think I will buy a bunch of them, make a hipster furniture piece and sell it on Amazon for a stupid price.
💵 Bank. Average salary in NA League of Legends is now over $400.000. "This past year, was the first year we had a relatively complete salary database" said Hal Biagas in Essential Esports.
🛡 Fill the pot. Dota 2 The International 10 Battle Pass has a current $10.8M prize pool already.
👍 New milestone. The Witcher gets over 50M copies sold.
|
|
💰 Investments & Partnerships
|
|
|
MORE
- We Are Nations launches esports investment fund: Nation Ventures.
- EA renews Madden exclusivity deal with NFL, NFLPA.
- Call of Duty League partners with TeamSpeak.
- Fnatic partners with Just Eat UK.
- Dreamhack enters partnership with DTS.
- Statespace raises $15M in Series A.
- Scuf Gaming partners with Caps gaming and Wizard DG.
- NACE announces partnership with NA LCS Players Association.
- Nerd Street Gamers join forces with Comcast.
- T1 LoL partners with Samsung.
- Astralis' new partnership with Lunar App.
- Chillblast expands partnership with Excel Esports.
|
|
Is hard to think about anything other than what happened in Minneapolis this week. Fuck man. Imagine having to explain to your kids that there's a good chance they will get discriminated at any time. With strangers. With classmates. With managers. With teachers. With the police. With the law... because of the color of their skin. It can't get any more ignorant than treating people different because of a fucking skin tone.
We see racism every day man, but now that is easier to tape and make it viral, we see how it truly looks like. It breaks my heart to think about the thousand daily situations like this that nobody knows about.
A quick way to help: sign this petition.
The soft racism created by society to feel awkward when saying "black people" and thinking that saying "that African American person" exempts you from being a racist... mother fucker have a little empathy, act like a human being. Seeing a different color isn't a problem, how you put color on the values scale is the problem.
|
|
How am I just finding out about this? Take my money right now.
|
|
Call of Duty League
Chicago Huntsmen 🥇 / Seattle Surge Home Series / 📼 Finals HL
CDL Power Rankings
Overwatch League
Shanghai Dragons 🥇 / May Melee Tournament / 📼 Finals HL
Fortnite
FNCS Invitational / 📼 All Regions Finals HLs
|
|
Mid-Season Cup: LCK vs LPL / Kickoff May 28
Ninja Battles Ft. Fortnite / May 28 - June 2
G Challenge 20 by Logitech & McLaren / Starts June 1
Twitch Rivals + Summer game Fest: Valorant / June 2
❌ BlizCon 2020 cancelled.
❌ LEC Summer Finals Malmö cancelled. Exploring other options.
These are all online events.
|
|
The best way to support is to share the newsletter with your people.
Let's hear from you. I (often) don't bite.
👇 Any feedback, questions or quick introduction.
|
|
|
|
