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Dota Summit 11 revealed as first Minor of the 2019-2020 DPC Season

Prateek Sahoo
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Dota Summit 11 revealed as first Minor of the 2019-2020 DPC Season

Beyond The Summit announced on twitter today that they will host the first event of the 2019-20 Dota Pro Circuit from November 7th-10th 2019.

The event, Dota Summit 11, will be a continuation of the Dota Summit series of events, conducted by Beyond The Summit at the BTS house in LA, California, USA.

But this event will mark the first time that the Dota Summit event will have a live studio audience. Generally, Dota Summit events are held behind closed door at the BTS house, wit no access for the general public. These events have known to be relaxing and have a pretty “chill” environment. Casters and analysts on sofas and players roaming around freely in the background are common. Players coming in to cast and analyse games throughout the event are a main feature of this event.

It will be exciting to see if Beyond The Summit are able to replicate a similar environment in a studio for a Valve sanctioned Minor.

The minor will consist of 8 team and will have a prize pool of 3,00,000$.

The talent line-up and ticketing info will be released soon.

FaZe invited to IEM Beijing

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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FaZe invited to IEM Beijing

FaZe Clan has been confirmed as the latest addition to the teams attending IEM Beijing by ESL on Twitter. The European powerhouse is set to compete for the $250000 prize pool in early November, beside top-tier teams like Liquid, Astralis, NRG, and Vitality.

Although their presence in China is confirmed, FaZe are yet to solve their roster issues, with Filip “NEO” Kubski leaving the squad with the shoes for IGL still empty, while Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács is rumored to be on the edge of a return to Natus Vincere to fill the spot left by Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko.

The full team list for IEM Beijing 2019 is as follows:

  • Liquid
  • Vitality
  • FaZe
  • Astralis
  • NRG
  • Asian Qualifier
  • GG.BET Beijing Invitational
  • Chinese Qualifier

IEM Beijing will take place from November 7-10, the playoffs will be held at the Beijing University Students’ Gymnasium on the last two days of the event, which will count towards the third season of the Intel Grand Slam.

The final three spots in Beijing will be taken by the winners of the GG.BET Beijing Invitational – which is currently underway – and of two Asian qualifiers, one of which just for teams from China.

Dignitas plans to return to competitive CSGO

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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Dignitas plans to return to competitive CSGO

Dignitas have announced that after one year away from men’s CSGO, they are planning to make a return. Dignitas CEO Michael “Prindi” Prindiville was seen asking “Hungry Players” to get in touch with him as he is looking forward to build a team that can ‘Change The Game’ and ‘Build a Dynasty’ in a youtube video.

Dignitas have been without a men’s CS:GO squad since August 2018, when they parted ways with the ex SoaR line-up following relegation from the ESL Pro League. They want to recreate the success they enjoyed under League Of Legends once they acquired the Clutch Gaming Line-Up, under the evergrowing circuit of Counter-Strike.

Dignitas are no strangers to CS as they go back in 2006 when they attended 5 majors, the last one being ESL One Cologne when they fielded a Danish line-up. Player who competed in Dignitas colors Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen, Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke and René “cajunb” Borg are currently looking for a new home as OpTic Gaming are open to offers for their team after being acquired by the Immortals Gaming Club (IGC).

Like Dignitas, 100 Thieves founder and owner Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag recently announced that he is looking to sign a “championship-caliber team”, while Complexity CEO and founder Jason Lake wrote on Twitter that he wants to “build a juggernaut” after the team’s disappointing campaign at the StarLadder Major.

J Storm releases 1437, signs MoOz from beastcoast

Prateek Sahoo
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J Storm releases 1437, signs MoOz from beastcoast

NBA athlete Jeremy Lin’s esports organization J.Storm announced their roster for the 2019-20 DPC season.

They have carried over most of the players from their roster before TI9.

Sivatheeban “1437” Sivanathapillai, due to getting married this fall, departs the active roster of the team.

He is replaced by former Infamous player and a Peruvian citizen, Joel Mori “MoOz” Ozambela, who will play the position four, soft support role for J.Storm.

This is a great opportunity for MoOz to showcase his talent in a new region and a bigger platform.

The rest of the roster is the same.

We have Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok, who continues in his role of HARD CARRY (position one), while Leon “Nine” Kirilin continues in role as mid laner (position two).

With 1437’s departure, Clinton “Fear” Loomis moves back into the role of hard support (position five) and assumes the role of TEAM CAPTAIN.

David “Moo” Hull continues in his role as offlaner (position 3) for the team.

This new roster will look to conquer the North American scene and represent NA at Minors/Majors and eventually TI.

J.Storm Roster:

  • Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok
  • Leon “Nine” Kirilin
  • David “Moo” Hull
  • Joel Mori “MoOz” Ozambela
  • Clinton “Fear” Loomis

Entity Gaming announces Omtex as Apparel Sponsor

Prateek Sahoo
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Entity Gaming announces Omtex as Apparel Sponsor

A while ago, Entity Gaming, one of India’s top esports organizations, announced Omtex Sports as its Official Apparel Sponsor.

From their press release:

Entity Gaming prides itself on being a lifestyle brand. As we have emerged from the community, we understand the prerequisites for being an engaging brand. Our fruits in the business sector have only begun to ripen, one great example being our sponsorship with HyperX. Our fanbase is treated with amazing plays by our athletes to cheer for.

Omtex sports, an Indian sportswear giant, is the most preferred brand when it comes to apparels and fitness. Since its inception in 1969, Omtex sports has been a great patronizer for all sports.

Today, we are ecstatic to announce that Omtex will be our official apparels partner. We also are going to present a bevy of merchandise for our fans to indulge in and represent their favorite team.

Omtex is also a partner for various Cricket Associations in India and also promotes the growth of all sports by conducting training camps and helping players grow.

Director and CGO of Entity Gaming, Varun Bhavnani, says:

“It is time for us to pack away the mediocre and put on something that portrays our vibe and stays classy. We are proud of entering an exclusive apparel sponsorship with Omtex, who’ve not only survived but thrived in their innings since 1969. This deal could be a first of its kind for a non-endemic and a traditional sports brand entering esports with us. Together, I am sure we’ll be able to form the very core of the Entity brand in terms of professional gaming attire as well as more casual apparel and merchandise for our fans and all gamers out there. We will be announcing the premium line of our apparel and merchandise soon.”

Director of Omtex Sports, Kunal Patel, says:

“Omtex Sports has been the fitness and sports industry’s go-to brand for quality products and it has always believed in supplying quality, and at the same time supporting the efforts of the players. We had gauged the demand of esports for apparels and its unhappiness over mediocre apparels offered to them. We felt the need to step in and provide quality and comfort to these players while they play. Entity Gaming has been steadfast, and they have been only moving up, creating a different elevated place for themselves in the esports industry. We believe this collaboration with Entity will only bridge the gap between players and the need of right apparels for them, which will surely reflect in their performances too.”

We wish the best of luck to both Entity Gaming and Omtex sports for the future.

Geekfam announce new Dota 2 roster

Prateek Sahoo
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Geekfam announce new Dota 2 roster

GEEKFAM announced their new DOTA 2 roster for the 2019-20 DPC season today.

The team consists of a lot of well-known players and a few not-so-known ones.

The most prominent face in the lineup is that of Carlo “Kuku” Palad, who was released from TNC.Predator a while ago, ending his 3-year stint.

Next up we have Marc Polo “Raven” Luis Fausto, who was once a TNC.Predator player as well but has played on smaller teams off late.

Joining them will be Kim “Dubu” Doo-young, who has played on teams like MVP.Phoenix, Immortals, Fnatic etc. Dubu was the Coach of fnatic for the 2018-19 season, before replacing MP in the active lineup for The International 2019.

Now onto the lesser known names , we have Kenny “Xepher” Deo who has played on SEA teams like Tigers and Rex Regum.

Rounding up the lineup is Eric “Ryoya” Dong who has played for Beastcoast, teamteam and VGJ.Storm in the past.This will be the first time Ryoya will be moving out of the NA region.

The lineup looks promising on paper and we are excited to see what they can achieve in the SEA region.

Blizzard, Twitch, Riot Games and others invest $17 Million in upcoming Video Game Network

Prateek Jain
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Blizzard, Twitch, Riot Games and others invest $17 Million in upcoming Video Game Network

With the gaming industry having a rise in its popularity, many opportunities have opened up in media landscape to tap into and expand in this budding market. And as such two veterans from the esports and video games industry will be launching VENN ( Video Game Entertainment and News Network) which will be a round-the-clock post-cable network dedicated at content creation around gaming and esports entertainment aspect.

The duo of Ben Kusin, (son of Gamestop co-founder Gary Kusin) and Ariel Horn (former LCS executive producer) serving as co-CEOs of the VENN, will launch the service sometime in 2020 with live studios based in Los Angeles and New York.

VENN was able to secure an investment of $17 million which includes names of many major backers such as Twitch, Riot Games, Blizzard Entertainment, and Vivendi. VENN will be broadcasting its content on streaming platforms including Twitch and YouTube, as well as on social media platforms. VENN will also partner with Pluto TV, YouTube TV and Sling to stream its content over.

To fill the weekly programming, VENN will be running streams of esports events, talk shows and documentaries which all will be coupled with their in-house content.

With the expertise of 4 time Grammy winner and pioneer of televised esports, Ariel Horn and marketing expertise of Ben Kusin, VENN will prove to be a pivotal point for gaming and gaming entertainment.

In a press release, the company said:

VENN was created as a singular media brand to unite a fragmented media marketplace. Its content will span multiple categories of entertainment, with original programming produced both in-house and with some of the biggest names and creators in gaming, entertainment, streaming, and esports.

Kusin in the release said:

Video games continue to define the culture of today’s youth. Streamers, casters, content creators, esports athletes – these are our new celebrities. VENN is giving this generation an overdue home and a heartbeat, with bi-coastal broadcast studios incorporating live audiences, premium production values, a 24/7 linear offering, and engaging and innovative formats that elevate and promote a culture traditionally overlooked by broadcast media.

Horn also said:

We’ve been polishing our craft on global stages for years while dreaming up new ways to create memorable esports broadcast experiences. VENN will bring together the best and brightest talent to apply the same creativity and big-picture thinking to greater gaming and entertainment content, building a bridge from our industry into the world that surrounds it.

Both the veterans have received a sizeable vote of confidence from the industry and with that moment many of them have also openly invested in the idea of VENN. With a backing so strong we hope for the success of such ambiguous idea, which in future will pave way for more entertainment-filled content in the gaming industry.

ESA proposes rebranding E3 2020 as “fan, media, and influencer festival” in leaked plans

Prateek Jain
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ESA proposes rebranding E3 2020 as “fan, media, and influencer festival” in leaked plans

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3) is a premier trade-event for video game industry where various hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry come together to showcase their new or upcoming products. The event is also streamed live for gamers to view and show support for their favourite brands.

E3 takes place annually in June at its location, Los Angeles Convention Centre in the United States. The E3 is organized by Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and only recently (in E3 2017) they opened the event doors to the public with 15,000 general-admittance passes available for purchase; before it was only limited to only industry partners and media partners.

However, according to an exclusive report by Gamedaily.biz, ESA is trying to rebrand E3 2020 as a “fan, media and influencer festival” and for that, they will be including 10,000 additional consumer passes for the E3 show floor.

ESA in their pitch deck for the E3 2020 showed plans to adapt the event in response to feedback they gathered from various partners and will be overhauling the event as such. In their pitch, ESA mentioned plans to have various high profile celebrity (or influencer) attractions and paid media partnerships in an attempt to increase the reach of E3 and have more control over the content.

ESA has also mentioned about their relationship with various talent agencies such as CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and UTA (United Talent Agency) for various activities involving content creation.

With the greater focus on consumers, ESA also plans to change the layout of the Convention Centre so as they can accommodate the increased number of consumer attendees in 2020. This change in layout and strategy will also open-up for direct marketing opportunities which will be aimed directly at attendees as they stand in line for demos.

All these changes and reforms were debated for years, but the response only came after to the recent E3 2019 presentation which was missing many big names such as Sony and Activision from the show floor and the leak of personal data of thousands of attendees. The year 2019 has already proved to be most challenging year for ESA and with the recent pitch deck, they hope for redemption and a smooth transition to 2020 event.

Intel partners with the International Olympic Committee for the first Intel World Open esports tournament

Varun Parashar
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Intel partners with the International Olympic Committee for the first Intel World Open esports tournament

A $500,000 Rocket League and Street Fighter V tournament will be hosted in Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and will feature a live audience.

The event will take place from July 22nd to 24th 2020 right before the Summer Olympics. It means that Tokyo will receive both Olympic athletes and pro gamers in the same week. The tournament will be held in partnership with Psyonix and Epic games, the developers of both the games which are hosted and each tournament is designed to have a $250,000 prize pool amounting to a grand total of $500,000.

image source: CCN.com

It will be a delight for the people of Tokyo to see Street Fighter, the most popular game in their part of the world to be hosted on such a grand scale and the choice of games to be hosted also was heavily influenced to appeal to the audience.

The national qualifiers are set to begin in March 2020 as 12 countries were pre selected to form teams. There is no limit on participants but four players will be selected through the qualifiers. If you aren’t a part of the pre-selected countries, regional qualifiers will be held to select eight more teams. A total of 20 teams will proceed to the semi-finals in Katowice and the Japanese national team will wait in Tokyo to be joined by the 7 qualifying teams.

Even though is supported by the International Olympic Committee, it is not an official Olympic event. That right will belong to to the official 2019 Southeast Asian Games which will feature 5 different games will be played as medal events

stay tuned for more exciting updates!

kioShiMa to stand in for G2

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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kioShiMa to stand in for G2

G2 eSports have finally replaced French veteran IGL Richard ‘shox’ Papillon with another French veteran Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey as his temporary replacement. After another disappointing major exit by G2, they decided to bench Shox and Lucky. The 27-year-old major winner was known as one of the best riflers to ever come out of the French CSGO scene. He was recently stripped of his IGL role and the leadership duties were passed over to new signing AmaNek.

Post major shuffles are underway and more surprises are expected in the coming weeks before ESL One NY commences. Shox is reportedly being targeted as the replacement for NBK who was recently benched from Vitality due to internal issues with the squad, while kioShiMa was also a target beside him. Now as it seems Shox is closer to Vitality more than ever and an official announcement is expected. On September 17, G2 announced that kioShiMa is standing in for Shox for the IEM Beijing qualifier and ESL One New York.

neL reported that kio is a temporary signing for G2, as they immediately need a player to stand in for them in IEM Beijing Qualifiers and ESL One New York later down September. They are still primarily aiming for nexa and huNter from CR4ZY.

kioShiMa is a veteran much like Shox, having played for top teams like FaZe Clan, Cloud9 and EnVyuS. We will see him in action in G2 colors in IEM Beijing qualifiers.

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