Tom Rogers, executive chairman of Engine Media which focuses on Live TV, Gaming, Esports & News said in an interview with CNBC that, “The ENG in Engine means something. The E stands for “eSports”, N for “News streaming” and G for “Gaming” and that Engine Media is a company that is about creating new sources of revenue for sports and news programming.”
Talking about their UMGTV app on Apple Tom said, “Our eSports interests are very wide and one of them is the competitive gaming platform where eSports competitors play against each other for money and UMGTV was launched as a linear streaming channel to bring in the news component of this and all the coverage related to that industry via streaming.” He even mentioned that their main expertise in eSports is actually car racing, & virtual car racing has been all over ESPN since the pandemic began which came out as a great substitute for their lack of sports programming.
Indy 500 being one of the most popular car racing gaming in eSports, Tom is planning on having a virtual Indy Speedway race, a virtual version of the actual Indianpolis Speedway with six former Indy 500 champions & some formula 1 champions as well to have a great Memorial Day car race.
Due to whats going on around the world, the esports streaming services & platforms have brought some of the sports audience to eSports which will have lasting effects.
Tom Rogers
Tom also talked about competitions around Overwatch, Rocket League and other well known games that eSports fan follow and keep an eye on and that they will have eSports gaming conferences for hundreds of colleges that will be interested.
When the interviewer, Andrew talked about the absence of sports around the globe and its impact on a media company as one owned by Tom due to lack of media & the advertisements that run on them, Tom replied by saying that, “The advertising will come back, sports is game viewing share relative to other broadcasting cable programming.” “NFL on its renewal will get a 75% increase on their rights & with increasing rights & diminishing revenue from court cutting, traditional media company will have to find new sources of revenue to support what they do”, he further added.
According to a report by Sensor Tower, the mobile version of Epic’s most popular battle royale game, Fortnite has made more than $1 Billion from in-game player spendings since its launch 2 years ago.
The in-game spendings surged during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown which helped the game to get past $1 billion revenue mark. In April, the game officially launched on Google Play Store (now available on Epic Store) for the first time which helped in bringing new players to the game, and the latest in-game virtual concert by Travis Scott also helped the game in retaining these new players. According to analysis, Fortnite mobile earned $44.4 million in April, up 90% from March. Also, the YoY earnings increased by more than 25% during this time period, the best performance of the game since February 2019.
Do note that these figures do not take into account how well the game has done on PC or consoles, so the game’s total revenue would be much higher.
Further, the report states that the United States accounted for more than 62% of total spending or for $632.2 million in in-game revenue. Second in rank is Great Britain with $38.2 million, or 3.8 percent, while Switzerland ranked No. 3 with $36.3 million, or 3.6 percent.
The Apple App Store alone accounted for the majority of revenue, with more than $1 billion worth transactions made on Apple’s marketplace. However, it should be noted that Fortnite Mobile on Android was only available through 3rd party sites and only launched on Google Play in mid-April. The Google Play version of the title has so far generated only $937,000 just shy of a million mark.
Furthermore, the App Store alone has generated more than 125 million, or 96.7% of total installs. So far Play Store only accumulated to 4.2 million downloads, putting the total number of downloads across mobile platforms to 129 million.
Phoenix, a duelist, is rightly a go-to option for the starters. His abilities are neither complicated nor something out of ordinary. He can throw an incendiary to clear corners, create a blazing barrier or pop flashes around the corner. The former two can also, just in case, heal himself.
He is a self-reliant agent that can make plays and even heal itself, at times. In contrast to other duelist agents (Raze & Jett), Phoenix is, indeed, a team player. His ultimate respawns him if he dies within 10 seconds of using the ultimate. He can primarily use his ultimate to make plays to clear a site, pick up a dropped spike from the clutches of enemies or clutch a round.
Basic Ability – Blaze
Photo: Riot Games via Metabomb
Blaze is a flaming wall that lasts for about 6 seconds. It can eventually help to slow down rushes while defending a site. On the contrary, Blaze can block vision or disengage enemies at usual spots. However, the enemies can pass through Blaze losing minimal health.
Blaze is worth 200 credits and can be used only once in a round. Like Hot Hands, Blaze can also heal Phoenix for about 70 health. Bear in mind that the blazing wall will be built forward and it can also be bent in the direction of the crosshair.
Basic Ability – Curveball
Photo: Riot Games via Metabomb
Worth 200 credits each, Phoenix can purchase a couple of Curveballs each round. Curveball is a flashbang grenade that can blind enemies (and even your teammates) when popped through the edge of a corner. The range of Curveball is quite narrow and should only be popped when you are around the corner.
Rookies are, rather, advised to look in the opposite direction right after throwing it to reduce the impact of flashing themselves in case the flash pops off prior to the corner of the surface. Right clicking the mouse while throwing Curveball will pop the flash in the right direction and vice-versa.
The Curveball can also be thrown from above the surfaces while aiming upwards. They are highly effective while entering a site or clearing usual suspected positions. This ability is what makes Phoenix independent and helps him clear sites single-handedly.
Signature Ability – Hot Hands
Photo: Riot Games via Metabomb
Brit’s signature ability is Hot Hands. Being the signature ability, it obviously requires no credits. On killing two enemies, the ability is refilled for one additional charge. It is essentially an incendiary that sets up fire in a small ring and causes heavy damage. It can help in flushing out enemies from sneaky corners or stop rushes on sites.
Even though friendly-fire is disabled in Valorant competitive, Hot Hands can even set your teammates on fire. So, use it carefully. Although this ability damages both your enemies and your teammates, Hot Hands can heal your health upto some 45 odd points. It cannot be thrown over at long distances and perhaps is the only drawback.
Ultimate – Run It Back
Photo: Riot Games via Metabomb
Confidence is the key to winning aim-duels. The Phoenix is high on confidence when he uses his ultimate. Run It Back puts a marker on the map on his initial location and provides a 10-seconds window to run around like a savage and pick up aim duels against enemies and if not, gather crucial information. If he dies within the timeframe, he will be respawned at the initially marked location on the map.
The ultimate ability for Phoenix is unlocked when he has grabbed 6 ORBS. Equip Run It Back when having a safe cover, or else, your enemy is likely to kill you after the 10-seconds window. Phoenix’s ultimate has several perks while planting spike in a 1vX situation or recovering spike from enemies’ cover.
With the release of Season 5 for Apex Legends, Respawn is also releasing a unique skin for the new female character, Loba, available for free to active Twitch Prime subscribers from May 15th through June 18.
Dress to kill with the the Game Master Loba skin, available through June 18 when you link your #TwitchPrime account.
Similarly, in April Respawn offered Twitch Prime subscribers a unique in-game outfit for Wraith called the Forgotten in the Void skin, for free. The Wraith skin was not very well-liked by the community and now with the hype of the newest character Loba, Respawn is looking to correct that mistake by offering Game Master skin for Loba to all Twitch Prime subscribers.
Unlike the Wraith’s skin that made her look like a child’s canvas, Loba’s Game Master skin adds to her dark aura with a leather finish outfit and use of colors like blue, gold, brown, and white.
For anyone looking to claim the free skin follow the steps below:
Log-in to a Twitch account with active Twitch Prime subscription
Ensure that your EA account is linked to your Twitch account
Now head over to Twitch Prime’s Apex Legends page. (https://twitch.amazon.com/prime/loot/apexlegends)
Click “Claim Now” on the Game Master Loba skin page.
Now start the game and the skin will be available in your in-game inventory.
CSGO or Fortnite? In the run among the brilliant modern-day esports titles, this question continues to spark debates worldwide to this day. While we can’t provide you with a conclusive answer to this age-long question, what we can do is take a glance towards the numbers behind their game studios and their CEOs.
Valve and Epic Games – two of the super-giants in the world of modern gaming & esports. Among the top 10 esports tournaments of the world in terms of prize pool, these two companies hold 8 out of 10 places. As amazing as that fact is in itself, it isn’t surprising at all. DotA 2, a game by Valve breaks its own records every year in terms of prize pool with its yearly The International. What’s even more astonishing is that, in only three years since its release, Fortnite has gained itself a prize pool which most other esports titles can only hope to achieve.
Gabe ‘Logan’ Newell
Photo: Valve
Gabe Newell aka GabeN is the co-founder of Valve Corporation, which was created back in 1998. The video game company has revolutionized the gaming realm through titles like the Half-Life series and the Portal series. Half-Life had also sown the seeds for Counter-Strike, which would itself become a standalone esport title in the future. Two of the biggest names in the present multiplayer gaming scene – CS:GO and DotA 2 are both developed by Valve, the latter being a sequel to Defense of the Ancients – a mod from Warcraft 3.
A self-made millionaire, GabeN had dropped out from Harvard University in 1983 and success was soon to follow. He was picked up by Microsoft at first before eventually quitting in 1996, when he found Valve.
Steam, the digital video game distribution service was also developed by Valve and was released in 2003. Throughout the years, Steam has expanded itself to become the largest digital distribution platform for PC gaming. In 2017, users purchasing games through Steam totaled about $4.3 billion, which is at least 18% of global PC games’ sales. Needless to say, this huge success of Steam as a digital distribution service, along with other aspects like the community market have provided GabeN with a significant amount of wealth. Forbes estimates the current net worth of Gabe Newell being $3.5 billion. Gabe had entered the top 100 wealthiest people of the US in 2017.
Tim ‘Dean’ Sweeney
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 12: Tim Sweeny speaks during BAFTA Presents Special Award to Epic Games at The London on June 12, 2019 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Rachel Luna/Getty Images)
Timothy Dean Sweeney, aka Tim Sweeney, is the founder and CEO of Epic Games and also a billionaire like GabeN. Tim also created the Unreal Engine, a widely popular game development platform used in many modern day video game titles.
Tim, a student of mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland created the Potomac Computer Systems, which was later renamed to Epic MegaGames before finally being renamed to Epic Games in 1999. This week Epic Games revealed the first look at Unreal Engine 5, the next-generation game engine designed with features meant to make more detailed game worlds while dynamical running in real-time on modern gaming hardware.
The Unreal Engine 5 focuses on two key elements — geometric precision and dynamic lighting, therefore being well suited to the ray tracing and graphical processing power that new generation consoles and graphics cards are set to bring to upcoming games. Following the groundbreaking success of the Unreal Engine and their first-person shooter Unreal.
The Unreal Engine is one of the world’s most popular game engine developed in 1998 by Tim Sweeney. The Unreal Engine currently powers many modern games like Gears of War, Fortnite, PUBG, Tekken, Final Fantasy 7 remake, and many more. Since its development, the UE has been a popular choice among many video game developers. UE has been the backbone of many well-established titles such as Deus Ex, Unreal, Star Trek game series, several Tom Clancy’s games, Bioshock series, Infinity Blade, etc.
Besides insanely popular games like Gears of War, Unreal and the Infinity Blade series, Epic Games has developed one of the modern-day esports giants – Fortnite. Fortnite is a game that gamers across all the age groups are familiar with. Recently, it was seen breaking a concurrent player count. Travis Scott’s virtual concert garnered over of 12 million viewers which was organized within the battle royale.
Who wins today?
Now, for the moment of truth – Who’s richer? Let’s find out. According to Forbes, Tim Sweeney’s current net worth is a whopping $4.5 billion. Yes, you read that right. At present, Tim is richer than Gabe Newell.
While it’s true that the numbers currently put Tim ahead of Gabe Newell, it can’t be conclusively predicted about what’s to happen in the future. With Epic throwing a direct challenge at Steam by making GTA V completely free-to-keep for a limited time, Steam is expected to retaliate. Regardless, fans should always be prepared to see a swing in those numbers. The fight among the top two brands in the video game industry is set to continue for years to come.
Dignitas Female roster, who are also two-times world champions are all set to compete in Valorant, suggested a news release few hours ago. The team is led by captain Emmalee “EMUHLEET” Garrido, Amanda “rain” Smith, Kiara “milk” Makua, Melisa “Theia” Mundorff and Julie “Bouchard” Bouchard, which will become the first major all-female team to compete in the Riot Games FPS title. The team will also continue to compete in CSGO simultaneously.
“As both a competitive team and female pioneers in the esports space, we’re constantly on the lookout for new opportunities to better connect with our fanbase while also feeding our competitive edge,” said EMUHLEET.
“Dignitas is a longstanding champion of women in esports,” said NME and Dignitas CEO Michael Prindiville. “Since their recruitment in 2017, DIG FEhas raised four international trophies under the Dignitas banner; their expansion into Valorant is the first step in a larger women’s empowerment initiative the organization has planned for the coming months. Our goal is to become esports most empowering and educational organization for professional and aspiring female gamers, content creators and fans.”
Dignitas first established its all-female CS:GO squad back in February 2017. The team garnered attention with two back-to-back wins at the Intel Challenge Katowice in 2018 and 2019.
Dignitas is the competitive team vertical within New Meta Entertainment, which is backed by an investor group that includes Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (which owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils), Fertitta Entertainment, Susquehanna International Group and Delaware North.
“As reigning CS:GO Women’s World Champions, DIG Fe has always been a gem in the DIG crown. Constantly looking for ways to challenge themselves, becoming the first women’s dual-game team is just the beginning of the next chapter in their story,” said DIG General Manager James “Bakery” Baker. “Team Captain EMUHLEET’s work ethic and commitment to the female gaming community is mirrored by this dedicated team, who I am confident will find continued success and a new audience to captivate in Valorant.”
Virtus.pro signs the Rainbow Six Siege roster from forZe eSports. The current players, coach and team analyst joined the club. Rainbow Six Siege becomes the fifth discipline to feature lineups Virtus.pro.
Sergey Glamazda, Virtus.pro General Manager:
“We have watched the discipline development for a long time and looked at existing rosters from different regions. Finally, we settled on forZe eSports players: we had a mutual interest with the players, and the organization was ready to conclude a transfer deal. We have signed long-term contracts and intend to play with the good perspectives in this field. Virtus.pro we are happy to welcome the fans of Rainbow Six Siege and will do our best to please you with victories and great content in the coming seasons.”
Sergey Ignatko, CEO of forZe eSports:
“We had been collecting this line-up since November 2018. There were reshuffles, there were changes, but in the end, months of hard training helped the team go from the 4th place of RML to the tier-1 level. When the decision was made to sell the roster, the priority was to find an organization that respected discipline as much as we did. I want to wish the players further growth and good luck in the squad Virtus.pro”.
Welcome our new Rainbow Six Siege team:
Artem “Shokwave” Simakov
Artem “wTg” Morozov
Alan “Rask” Ali
Pavel “p4sh4” Kosenko
Pavel ” Amision” Chebatkov
Kerim “Toda” Musaev (coach)
Andrey “Andreezy” Bavian (analyst)
The first tournament for the Virtus.pro new team will be Russian Major League Season 4, which will be held on May 23 — 24.
The professional scene of CSGO can’t be explained without mentioning the name of Astralis. The Danish giants have single-handedly defined an era in professional CSGO and continue to do so. After entering into the list of top 4 teams with a first-place finish in DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, they have managed to stay there for two whole years and counting.
Photo: ESL
Following several roster changes and semi-final exits, Astralis finally rose to fame towards the end of 2016, with back to back first place finishes in ECS Season 2 Finals and ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017. They had also managed to attain victory at IEM Katowice 2017, but from then it was a downhill slope. The team was constantly underperforming and made several uncharacteristic finishes ranging from 5th place to 13th place exits from big tournaments.
Photo: u/R3N3007
However, they bounced back, and when they did, they bounced back hard. Following their first place victory at DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, the team seemed to have regained its pace. After an exit from the finals of IEM Sydney 2018, they stole the show in ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals and ECS Season 5 Finals.
Their next major victory came in FACEIT Major: London 2018, where they took home a whopping $500,000 as prize money. They also won the consecutive BLAST Pro Series which was held in Istanbul. From then, it was all Astralis as they took home the titles of IEM Chicago 2018, ECS Season 6 Finals, ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, BLAST Pro Series: Lisbon 2018 and finally, the IEM Katowice 2019.
From then onwards, the team weren’t at the apex of the pro scene but still performed consistently throughout the tournaments, making sure to not give up a place among the top 4 CSGO teams. After the conclusion of ESL One: Road to Rio, they are once again at the #1 spot following them destroying FaZe 2:0 in the grand finals.
This week Epic Games Store saw a huge surge in the number of users due to free GTA V promotion. This surge caused the servers of the service to overload and go down with an error 502.
What many people didn’t realize is that the Epic Games Store is also hosting a Mega Sale with upto 75% off on various games and a 10$ off coupon code valid on every purchase of $14.99 or above. As part of the sale event, Epic is also giving a free Blockbuster game every week starting from 14th May and ending on 11th June.
Below is the list of games that will be available from the “Epic Vault” every week for everyone to claim for free:-
The Epic Vault will offer a new game every Thursday at 11 AM Eastern during MEGA Sale 2020. Each new FREE game is only available for 1 week only. Also, users can claim these games on the EGS website using their phone browser or PCs.
After his boxing matches with Logan Paul and his rap music career, KSI’s fame increased significantly, however it was 10 years ago when he blew on YouTube with his gaming videos which mostly featured FIFA.
Fast forward to present, it seems like KSI doesn’t have any interest left in FIFA and it’s certain that he won’t be playing FIFA anytime soon. On Joe Weller’s Wafflin’ podcast KSI said, “I don’t like FIFA, the idea of me playing FIFA disgusts me. I hate it.” In the podcast, he even talked about his relationship with Deji & his plans to fight Logan Paul again in a boxing match.
On thinking about playing FIFA he said, “The idea of me picking up a controller, opening packs and s**t I f**king hate it.”
KSI’s channel is mostly a mix of reaction videos and music with a total of 30 million followers across his two main YouTube channels. He said he puts the content he wants to and “I can’t force myself to do it. So I moved on to music, reaction videos.” KSI also gave an advice to all the budding YouTubers out there by saying “Ultimately people subscribed to watch you, and if you are not enjoying what you’re doing, they can tell and it’s long for them, and long for you. You might as well just do what you enjoy doing.”
KSI won’t be seen playing FIFA or putting any content on the same anytime soon.
