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G2 Reportedly In Talks To Acquire NiKo

Sonu Banerjee
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G2 Reportedly In Talks To Acquire NiKo

Bosnian CSGO star Nikola “NiKo” Kovač may soon be a part of the G2 roster. The organisation is already in talks to acquire the 23-year-old from FaZe Clan in what is expected to be one of the biggest transfers in Counter-Strike history, according to a report from HLTV.

Following the footsteps of his cousin, NiKo entered the world of Counter-Strike through a local net café. He later reached the top levels of the professional CS 1.6 scene and was picked up by team Refuse. His major breakthrough occurred in 2015 when he was picked up by Mousesports, where he started showing to the world his exceptional skills in the game before eventually being picked up by FaZe in March 2017.

It’s still unclear on who will NiKo replace in the G2 roster in case the transfer takes place. The report states that François “⁠AmaNEk⁠” Delaunay is the likely candidate to be dropped in the scenario.

The FaZe Clan has failed to produce any significant results over the past several months, which may have led to this potential transfer. The current roster for FaZe consists of Håvard “rain” Nygaard, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, Marcelo “Coldzera” David, Helvijs “broky” Saukants, and Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye.

Interestingly, NiKo’s cousin, Nemanja “⁠huNter-⁠” Kovač currently plays for G2 as a rifler. This transfer would enable NiKo to play alongside his cousin, who he regards as “one of the best players in the world.”

Trump takes aim at Epic, Riot Games over ties to Tencent: report

Sonu Banerjee
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Trump takes aim at Epic, Riot Games over ties to Tencent: report

Tensions between the Trump government and China have been on a steady uphill climb over the past few months. The former has repeatedly accused the latter as the reason behind the COVID-19 pandemic which led to a series of controversial statements from both sides.

Following the controversies, the U.S. government has heightened their security on Americans’ personal data and scrutinized companies with ties to China.

This time, the U.S. Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) has inquired gaming companies with ties to Tencent for the security of their users’ data, according to a Bloomberg report. For the unaware, Tencent Holdings Ltd, also known as Tencent, is a China-based multinational technology conglomerate holding company which was founded in 1998.

According to the report, the CFIUS has sent letters to Valorant and League of Legends creators Riot Games, Fortnite creator Epic Games, and some others for information on their safety protocols involving the personal data of Americans.

This decision might be a result of the fact Tencent holds a 40% stake in Epic Games, and fully owns Riot. The representatives of the companies and the Treasury Department have declined to comment on the scenario.

It wasn’t long ago that the Trump government issued an executive order banning popular Chinese apps WeChat and Tik Tok, claiming that the apps were leaking personal data of Americans, consequently compromising national security.

League of Legends: Wild Rift closed Beta tests begin in SEA

Divyesh Moghe
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League of Legends: Wild Rift closed Beta tests begin in SEA

League of Legends: Wild Rift moves into its closed beta regional testing on 16th September. The mobile version of world famous game League of Legends starts its first ever closed beta testing for the SEA region.

Wild Rift was hyped up last year to be fully released before the end of 2020 but the prevailing pandemic slowed down this process. The game entered its alpha testing phase with access to very limited people and it turned out to be a great success.

Wild Rift
Yasuo starring in League of Legends: Wild Rift

The game’s alpha testing in Phillipines was successfully concluded and the awaiting League fanbase witnessed some of the iconic champions like Yasuo, Master Yi, Blitzcrank and more, blending in perfectly in the portable mobile version. The official channel released a video explaining the success of their early tests and explained the future of Wild Rift for upcoming month.

The closed beta region will be primarily based in SEA region and limited to Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. The official team states the reason as “Most of the regions in this test are geographically fairly close to one another, so we can focus on scale testing a smaller group of servers.”

Wild Rift will enter the closed beta testing with a better and improved client. The game will have huge improvements in terms of gameplay as well as in-game cosmetics and customised layouts. The following changes will be implemented in the closed beta version:

  • Tower damage and hitpoints are adjusted.
  • Eight new champions are added, with more promised to come.
  • Adjustments to skill-shot targetting for mid to long range skills.
  • Added game skins and in-game currency.
  • Movable layouts for scoreboards, player HUD and customisation options for skill buttons and other settings.
  • Added balanced ranked system.

Detailed patch notes for each champion and other things are given here. The beta testing will pause during Early October for a few days and accounts will get fully reset after this phase. Regional beta testing for other regions are promised to come after this phase. The possibility of Wild Rift entering open beta testing is high during the ending stages of LOL WORLDS 2020.

FAU-G creators get Bombay Court nod to prosecute fake news peddlers

Md. Naseer Fuad Khan
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FAU-G creators get Bombay Court nod to prosecute fake news peddlers

Vishal Gondal, one of the promoters of nCore Games, which is publishing an upcoming tactical shooter game FAU-G has announced a new development about the on going controversy. According to their official statement, the involved parties with the game are now legally equipped to prosecute fake news and any one who promotes conspiracy theories.

The controversy stirred up after several Twitter accounts (not linked due to graphic) peddled conspiracy theories which suggested baseless allegations against the founders and the promoters of both GOQii and Ncore Games.

Vishal Gondal & Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, both are associated with NCore Games and GOQii, respectively. Therefore, in the press statement, the companies made it clear of their intent to file litigation in the court of law in case of fake news.

The press statement read “We will be prosecuting miscreants (which spread fake news) in furtherance of the criminal complaint already filed before the law enforcement authorities.

The complaints read that some of the people on social media platforms suggested that FAU-G and some parts of GOQii was conceptualized by another Bollywood actor Late. Sushant Singh Rajput, who was found dead in Mumbai on June 14th, 2020. Ncore Games & GOQii were falsely misrepresented to be related to the death of the star.

It now appears that anyone who are involved in peddling fake rumors and lies or conspiracy theories against “Vishal Gondal, Akshay Kumar or the directors, investors, employees or representatives” will be held liable in the court of law.

PGL APEX LEGENDS SHOWDOWN to take place between October 20-25

Maël Valentin
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PGL APEX LEGENDS SHOWDOWN to take place between October 20-25

Bucharest, September 16, 2020 – We are elated to announce that the best Apex Legends teams in the world will have the opportunity to fight for a $100,000 combined prize pool.

The qualifiers are held between October 20-21 and the best 20 teams of each region will play in the finals on October 24/25. The maximum slots for every regional qualifier will be 320 (NA and EU) and 160 (SA, APAC North, APAC South, MEA).

PGL will broadcast live the finals of Europe (EU) – October 24, 12:00 PM, CET – and North America (NA) – October 25, 12:00 PM, PDT.

The PGL APEX LEGENDS SHOWDOWN is a global event sponsored by PGL where teams from North America, Europe, South America, APAC North, APAC South, and the Middle East & Africa will have the chance to battle for $100,000 cash and ALGS points.

We are very happy to be able to deliver a top-class Apex tournament to this incredible community in these uncertain times. We love Apex Legends and we are ready to set up an unforgettable show.

Silviu Stroie, CEO PGL

Prize money breakdown for every region

  • North America $30,000
  • Europe $30,000
  • South America $10,000
  • APAC North $10,000
  • APAC South $10,000
  • Middle East & Africa $10,000

More information regarding the PGL Showdown will be available on the Tournament Page at Battlefy.com/algs.

Esports betting platform Unikrn fined by SEC for $6.1 million over unregistered crypto

Pranav Nalawade
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Esports betting platform Unikrn fined by SEC for $6.1 million over unregistered crypto

Through a press release dated 15th September, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that esports betting company Unikrn has been fined for over $6 million over unregistered Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).

Despite not agreeing or denying the wrongdoing, the Seattle-based startup has agreed to pay the fine of $6.1 million to settle the complaint by the SEC.

Unikrn was founded in 2014 and is a platform to bet real money or tokens over competitive video game matches.

In 2017, the company came up with the allegedly unregistered ICO UnikoinGold (UKG), and raised over $31 million in sales, promising investors that the coin would increase in value in the course of time.

“The securities registration and exemption framework is designed to ensure investor protection and access to material information, while also facilitating capital formation. Failure to follow this framework harms investors and our markets,” Kristina Littman, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit, said. “This resolution allows us to return substantially all of Unikrn’s assets to already-harmed investors and includes measures to prevent future sales to retail investors, including the disabling of the tokens.”

Unikrn is required to set up a Fair Fund to return money to the investors. The company also has to shut down UKG, and request the removal of UKG from platforms involving trading of digital assets.

GeT_Right, Xizt benched from Dignitas roster

Sonu Banerjee
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GeT_Right, Xizt benched from Dignitas roster

Through a Tweet dated September 16th, American esports organisation Dignitas have revealed their decision to bench two of their players – Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and Richard “Xizt” Landström from their active Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster.

“Our recent results have not lived up to our fans’ expectations and after discussing with all our players, we believe that this is the correct step moving forward,” the org said in a statement. “We will continue to support both GeT_RiGhT and Xizt while working through their transition as they take the next steps in their iconic careers.”

This leaves the active Dignitas squad two players short with Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, Adam “friberg” Friberg and Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli.

Dignitas will be updating fans on the future of their team “early next week”, while they continue their search for the two missing pieces to complete their roster.

GeT_RiGhT seems to be supportive of this decision made by Dignitas. “After a lot of back and forth between the @dignitas and I, we believe it is the correct decision for the team to look into other options for its starting roster,” the 30-year-old said. “I have long been thinking about my path and along with my current health condition, it was clear that now was the time to make a change. “

Valorant India Servers in the next update? Here’s what we know

Sonu Banerjee
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Valorant India Servers in the next update? Here’s what we know

Till date, Valorant players of the South and Southwest Asian regions have to face quite high latencies while playing the game due to the matchmaking servers being located in Southeast Asia. These high latencies discouraged many players of the said regions to play the game. However, it seems like Riot has taken note of the issue, as recent leaks have revealed that Indian Valorant servers may not be very distant anymore.

A Valorant dataminer seems to have found a hidden set of strings in the game files, which hint to Valorant servers arriving in some new regions including the Middle East (Bahrain) and South Asia (Mumbai).

The set of strings and URLs the dataminer found were “Frankfurt, Mexico City, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, US East (N. Virginia), US West (N. California), Bahrain, Mumbai.”

These new servers in the Middle East and South Asia will enable players from countries like Dubai and India to play the competitive shooter in extremely low latencies as Riot had promised at the time of launch of Valorant.

For the unaware, even before the start of Valorant’s closed beta phase, Riot Games had promised fans that most players across the globe would be able to enjoy the shooter in latencies as low as 35 ms.

Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship regional Playoffs announced

Divyesh Moghe
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Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship regional Playoffs announced

Call of Duty: Mobile hoisted its first ever international esports tournament with the announcement of COD: Mobile World Championship. This open-for-all tournament has finally reached its fourth stage by crossing the in-game qualifiers stages to commence the start of regional playoff stages. The regional stages for various stages has been announced alongside the streaming schedule and map rules.

COD: Mobile World Championship Regional Playoffs Schedule and Structure:

The regional playoffs for all the regions are set to start at the end of September and the tournament for the major regions will be streamed on their respective YouTube channels.The tournament will start with Japan region on 26th September 2020 and end with the North America regional qualifiers on 25th October 2020. India will take part in the Rest of the World(Other) region and nation’s three teams named Team IND, Team mayhem and Galaxy Racers have qualified for this stage.

The Regional Playoffs will be conducted by double elimination structure and is broken into two sets of brackets: the winner’s bracket and the elimination bracket. Each team will begin in the winner’s bracket, but once they lose, they will enter the elimination bracket, where they still have an opportunity to make it to the finals. If a team loses in the elimination bracket, they are eliminated from the Regional Playoffs. If the team with one loss wins in the finals, both teams will each have one loss and another game will be played to determine the champion.

Detailed schedule for each region:

  • Japan Region – Sept 26 and 27th
  • Latin America – Sept 26 and 27th
  • Western Europe – Oct 17 and 18th
  • North America – Oct 24 and 25th
  • Rest of the World(Includes India) – Sept 26th and 27th

Broadcast Information for COD: Mobile World Championship:

COD: Mobile World Championship Regional Playoffs Prize Pool Distribution:

The tournament was announced with a grand prize pool of $1 million and a small piece of that money will be awarded as a prize pool for each region. The structure of prize pool is given as follows:

  • 1st Place: $15,000
  • 2nd Place: $10,000
  • 3rd Place: $8,000
  • 4th Place: $5,000
  • 5th – 6th Place: $3,500
  • 7th – 8th Place: $2,500

Regional Qualifiers Game Settings:

Custom Lobbies will be created for every stage above region playoffs. Teams will compete to win in three modes namely Hardpoint, Search and Destroy and Domination. Each of this mode has its own unique settings and set of maps that will be followed for the rest of this tournament. Total five games will be played within three modes having three rounds each. The detailed structure of every round is given on Call of Duty: Mobile Official Website.

‘Among Us’ Surpasses ‘Fall Guys’ in Player Count

Sonu Banerjee
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‘Among Us’ Surpasses ‘Fall Guys’ in Player Count

Over the past few weeks, the hype surrounding Mediatonic’s Fall Guys seems to have shifted towards Among Us, the online party game of stealth and deception. The cross-platform multiplayer game which was released in 15th June, 2018 didn’t gain much traction since recently, when it was picked up by multiple popular streamers and rapidly increased in popularity as its player base kept ascending.

Both Among Us and Fall Guys are online multiplayer party games, with the former supporting local gameplay over WiFi with upto 10 players.

The gameplay of Among Us is unique, yet enjoyable. Players are assigned with either of two roles – imposters or crewmates. Imposters have to secretly kill all the crewmates while the latter try to complete tasks throughout the map. Crewmates can win by either accomplishing all the tasks or by eliminating the imposters.

Fall Guys, on the other hand, is a nonviolent battle royale where 60 players are part of a game show and have to play through several rounds consisting of various minigames, with a number of players being eliminated each round, till a single player remains.

According to the Steam charts, the daily player averages of Fall Guys has decreased dramatically in the last couple of weeks while that of Among Us has received a huge boost.

Among Us currently is the third-most played game on Steam, with a peak concurrent player count of over 300,000 players. Fall Guys stands at #8, with a concurrent player peak of just over 170k.

The difference was also reflected on Twitch. Among Us constantly maintained its place towards the top of the Twitch charts with an average viewer count much more than that of Fall Guys on the streaming platform.

However, it might just be a matter of time before Fall Guys returns to the top of the charts, with season 2 of the game being just around the corner. The season 2 of Fall Guys is set to bring new minigames, new outfits and new maps to the battle royale, and is expected to arrive at early October this year.

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