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Mountain Dew to spend 40% of its marketing budget targeting gamers

Prateek Jain
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4
Mountain Dew to spend 40% of its marketing budget targeting gamers

Mountain Dew, a subsidiary brand of Pepsi Co., is all set to increase its marketing budget to target the gaming market. Mountain Dew has set its sight on gamers. The company will spend 40% (a majority) of its marketing budget to reach gamers.

The gaming market being relatively new and growing at exponential growth makes a perfect setting for brands to advertise themselves. The industry is relatively new and have little too no competition from other brands, with Mountain Dew focusing a significant chunk of its marketing budget on gaming the company will be enjoying a first-mover advantage and can cement its position in the market.

โ€œThe company will spend 40% of its marketing dollars this year to reach gamers. The gaming space is one of the fastest-growing areas of the consumer world. We feel like we have a real opportunity there as a first mover.โ€ said Nicole Portwood, VP of marketing.

Image Credits: MLG

Mountain Dew also have plans to ramp up sponsorships with esports leagues, including Optic Gaming, Counter Logic Gaming, Immortals, Team Dignitas and SK Gaming. There will be co-branded partnerships with Twitch, sports TV channel Cheddar ( which also focuses on Esports)  and Facebook ads targeting gamers and fans.

Mountain Dew hasnโ€™t been shy of gamers before, in January the company introduced a new beverage โ€œMountain Dew Amp Game Fuelโ€- a drink specifically made for gamers. The drink comes in a special packaging which is designed for gamers with special features like tactile grip and resealable lip can.

With the launch of Amp Game Fuel, the company also ran a promotion event with publisher Ubisoft, where anyone purchasing the drink would get access to special assets within the game โ€œTom Clancyโ€™s The Division 2.โ€

Mountain Dew Amp Game Fuel had such a positive response after its January launch that parent company, PepsiCo has started working on another beverage for gamers.

With more brands making their way towards the Gaming market, the ecosystem of Gaming industry is set to see rise in investments and promotions which will help industry to grow further.

Fnatic raises $19 million in Series A funding

Parth Gada
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0
Fnatic raises $19 million in Series A funding

Popular Swedish Esports org Fnatic has secured a Series A funding amounting to $19 million, which was announced today on their website.

Tech Entrepreneur and owner of LVL1 group Lev Leviv was the major backer in this round along with Raptor Group, Unbound, BlackPine, Joi Ito and Beringea.

In the statement they also announced a change of leadership, with founder Sam Mathews returning as the CEO, replacing Wouter Sleijffers after 4 years. Mercedes AMG F1 CEO Nick Fry has been named Chairman in a massive shakeup of the composition of the management.

โ€œThis is a pivotal moment in the evolution of Fnaticโ€ said Mathews.

โ€œI am incredibly proud of what weโ€™ve achieved over the past 15 years and now is the time to build on this strong foundation to realise our vision of being the leading global esports brand. To have such high calibre investors is telling of the potential they see in Fnatic and our future. We would not be at this point without the invaluable contribution of Wouter over the last four years, we are extremely grateful and sincerely wish him all the best.โ€

Departing CEO Wouter Sleijffers said in a statement on Fnaticโ€™s website:

โ€œWhen starting over 4 years ago in Fnatic, I could not have envisioned in my wildest dreams the journey and the transformation weโ€™ve gone through. Fnatic, already the worldโ€™s most recognisable and successful competitive organisation in esports, transformed itself into a groundbreaking global brand representing the passion of billions like no one else does. Or simply said, to make every esports fan feel super proud and show the world what esports really is about.

Iโ€™m grateful for having been among an amazing team of people, amazing players and staff, amazing fans, amazing partners and having made a lot of amazing friends along the way. To be part of Fnatic, is truly unique. We all wrote a part in the esports history books and Fnatic will continue to do so. Thank you for making Fnatic awesome!

I wish everyone much esports excitement and fortune ahead. No doubt our paths will cross again and I look forward to stay in touch.โ€

About Fnatic

Fnatic is a leading, global esports organisation with professional teams and unrivalled legacy in the most popular competitive games, including League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Fortnite, and more.

Founded in 2004 by Sam Mathews, Fnatic teams have claimed multiple international championships since its inception, including the inaugural League of Legends World Championship, seven EU LCS Championships and three separate CS:GO Majors, a record unparalleled by any other team.

Dedicated to being the first globally recognised esports lifestyle brand, Fnatic develops a line of award-winning gaming peripherals in-house, Fnatic GEAR, designs and produces a number of apparel lines as well as partners with the most forward-thinking global brands.

Fnatic is headquartered in London, United Kingdom with additional operational locations in Berlin, Belgrade, Los Angeles, Taipei, Shenzhen and Kuala Lumpur.

IEM Sydney day two recap

Malav Popat
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0
IEM Sydney day two recap

The second day of the tournament saw 4 more teams being eliminated from the tournament and other teams being demoted to the lower bracket to still have a shot at the 250,000$ prize pool and being crowned champions at the event in Australia.

Second Round:

Group A:

Lower Bracket:

In the lower bracket, Renegades were eliminated from the tournament after losing 2-0 to mousesports following scorelines of 16-12 on Train and 16-7 on Inferno.

In the last game of the lower bracket, BIG knocked out MVP PK in an affair that went to all three maps. BIG took the first map, Inferno, with a scoreline of 16-7. The Germans conceded the second map with a scoreline of 8-16. The Germans denied a reverse sweep and took the last map with a scoreline of 16-5. Therefore ending MVP PKโ€™s tournament run.

Group B:

Upper Bracket:

NRG kicked off the series against FaZe Clan who were still playing with their coach, YNK. NRG clean swept FaZe off their feet with a 2-0 series victory. The North American Side took Train with a scoreline of 16-11 and Mirage with a scoreline of 16-12. FaZe will play Grayhound to decide their fate in the tournament

In the last game of the lower bracket, MIBR locked horns with Fnatic. MIBR thrashed the Swedish heavyweights with a scoreline of 16-4 after a perfect half of 15 rounds in a row. The Brazilian domination continued on Overpass. The Brazilians took Overpass with ease, the score being 16-9. This demoted the Swedes to the lower bracket

Lower Bracket:

The first game saw Chiefs take on ViCi in a BO3 elimination series. The first map played was Dust 2 where Chiefs managed to edge out ViCi with a scoreline of 16-14. The second map was Inferno where ViCi struck back and dominated Chiefs, taking the map in their favour with a scoreline of 16-5. The series was taken to Nuke to decide which team would be eliminated from the tournament. Chiefs came out on top with a 16-10 win and eliminated ViCi from the tournament.

The second game was played between Grayhound and Heroic. Grayhound were able to take Inferno in their favor after dominating Heroic in overtime, which a scoreline of 19-15. However, Heroic were still fighting tooth and nail to continue their journey in this tournament and thrashed Grayhound on Mirage with a scoreline of 16-5. The last map played was Overpass where Grayhound were able to pull a comeback from a 10-5 half to end the game at 16-11, eliminating Heroic from the tournament.  

Upcoming Matches:

Via: HLTV

The Championship:

The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Sydney 2019, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) tournament, kicked off on April 29 and will take place until May 5 in Sydney, Australia. There are 16 teams in the dispute and a total prize pool of $250,000.

Photo: HLTV

Crazyguy to stand-in for Entity Gaming at ESL India Premiership

Malav Popat
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0
Crazyguy to stand-in for Entity Gaming at ESL India Premiership

In Entityโ€™s todayโ€™s ESL India Premiership: Summer Phase match against w1ngs, the Indian Organisation were spotted playing without ฤorฤ‘e โ€œDJOXiCโ€ Niciforoviฤ‡ and Ngรด “crazyguy” Anh Cรดng was used as a replacement.

This incident comes shortly after Entity came back to India to play ESL India Premiership: Summer Phase after a month-long boot camp in Serbia.

When we reached out Sid Joshi, Manager of Entity Gaming, he confirmed the news and said that โ€œCrazyguy will be standing in for us till we sort out the situation regarding the vias for DJOXiC and Dav. We have applied for visas and expect to get them in the next two days. The Serbs are on an Easter break right now.โ€

With this incident, Entityโ€™s roster till the visa is received will be:

  • Karan โ€œExcaliโ€ Mhaswadkar
  • Anuj โ€œAmaterasuโ€ Sharma
  • David โ€œDavโ€ Miljaniฤ‡ (IGL)
  • Simar โ€œPsyโ€ Sethi
  • Ngรด “crazyguy” Anh Cรดng

New CSGO update introduces changes to DangerZone

Malav Popat
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1
New CSGO update introduces changes to DangerZone

Earlier today, a CSGO update sized at around 625 MB was shipped to the game which introduced many changes to Danger Zone and added few gadgets to change gameplay metas.

The complete patch notes can be found here.

The first part of the update look at the recently added Battle Royale mode in CSGO. Firstly, a whole new map called Sirocco brings out a Dust 2 vibe and sees the addition of multiple new features and gadgets and perks which will heavily impact gameplay.

Players can now choose one item to spawn in the map with. For example, you may choose to spawn with an ExoJump Boost or a Health Shot.

The update allows players the freedom to respawn at any point of the map, given that all players from the squad are alive.

The first new gadget introduced in the game is a bump mine. This gadget can be deployed on the ground and can be used to throw enemies over large distances.

Next up, we have ExoJump Boosts which can help us to access areas which cannot be reached by normal jump and move around the map very quickly.

Lastly, a Ballistic Shield has been added to the game. These shields were a part of 1.6 and have been added to CSGO. However, while using the ballistic shield, one cannot fire back at opponents.

The game sees new features such as Exploration Money Bonus, which gives players extra money for each hexagon covered on the map. It has added Bomb Wave money Bonus where players are granted more money for each ballistic strike that takes place on the map.

Lastly, players can now command their own drones and use it to search for information or steal supplies from the enemies.

The features mentioned above will be added to the game in a future update.

The game has also added a โ€˜pingโ€™ feature by which teammates can mark spots on the map for the team to see.

However, this update has also made few changes to CSGO gameplay. The crouching speed of players has been increased from 85.00 HU/s to 87.72 HU/s while using the knife. This has led to lowered accuracy while AWPing.

The game also sees the addition of new commands such as โ€œGo A/B, Need Drop, Sorryโ€ ย ย 

Lastly, the developers have said that the โ€œlobbyโ€ feature in the game will be down till they are able to fix an issue.

NOW FIXED: Exploit in CSGO Lets Users Inject Cheat Commands to Other Players

Bhavya Shah
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1
NOW FIXED: Exploit in CSGO Lets Users Inject Cheat Commands to Other Players

Recently an exploit is witnessed wherein users who join your lobby could possibly enable several console commands leading to visibility through the walls, i.e. wallhacks. Eventually, Valve has taken down CS:GO lobbies while they investigate and solve the exploit. They further advised players to stay calm. Here is a list of console commands which can be accessed by the exploiters to malfunction the game:

โ€ข sv_cheats
โ€ข enable_skeleton_draw
โ€ข r_drawothermodels

This exploit was initially pointed out by users on r/GlobalOffensive. Several exploiters are targeting well known streamers to accuse them of using cheats and further get them banned. Jason ‘jasonR’ Ruchelski, Sรฉbastien ‘krL’ Pรฉrez, Joseph ‘mang0’ Marquez are various other streamers were plagued by the exploit.

The exploit is expected to be resolved sooner and till then, the lobby remains to stay down.

Note: An update was shipped by Valve earlier this morning to fix the exploit.

ESL One New York 2019 Announced

Bhavya Shah
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0
ESL One New York 2019 Announced

ESL: One New York returns to Barclays Center for its 2019 edition with $200,000 USD prize pool. The fourth edition will be held from September 26-29 with a best of three GSL format while the grand finale being a best of five encounter.

Eight teams will be attending the event in Brooklyn and they will be divided into two groups. Top two teams from each group will advance to playoffs. Six teams will be invited while a couple of teams will qualify through Europe and North-American closed qualifier.

Via: ESL

Closed qualifier for the respective region will have four invited teams and the other four will qualify through open qualifier. One team amongst the eight will qualify for the premier LAN event.

Further information about talent crew & invited teams is awaited.

Photo: ESL

IEM Sydney Day 1 Recap

Malav Popat
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0
IEM Sydney Day 1 Recap

As IEM returned to Sydney, ESL, 16 teams from across the globe fought for the title and ย $250,000 USD on the table from April 30 โ€“ May 05. The tournament features a double elimination bracket.

Group A and Group B locked horns to decide the teams that would make their move ahead in the tournament.

Initial Matches:

Group A:

The first game was played between Liquid and BOOT on Nuke, where the North-Americans beat the SEA team with a scoreline of 16-9. The second clash was between mousesports and BIG. BIG shocked the newly revamped mouz roster on Inferno with a close win, with the score being 16-14.

Next up, was the game between NiP and eUnited, which was played on Nuke and the Swedes emerged victorious with a scoreline of 16-13 and the same scoreline was seen on the match between Renegades and MVP PK where the home team emerged victorious on Inferno.

Upper Bracket:

  • Liquid
  • BIG
  • Renegades
  • NiP

Lower Bracket:

  • BOOT
  • Mousesports
  • eUnited
  • MVP PK

Group B:

In Group B, FaZe were able to get past Chiefs without breaking a sweat thanks to lights out performance by Ustilo on Dust 2. Next, ViCi were dominated by NRG on Mirage where the North-American heavyweights thrashed ViCi with a scoreline of 16-5.

In the last two games, Fnatic defused any threat from Heroic by taking Train in their favor with a scoreline of 16-7. In the last game, Grayhound were unable to beat MIBR and moved to the lower bracket thanks to a 16-11 loos against the Brazilian legends on Overpass.

Upper Bracket:

  • FaZe
  • NRG
  • Fnatic
  • MIBR

Lower Bracket:

  • Chiefs
  • ViCi
  • Heroic
  • Grayhound

Round 2:

The second round of the tournament was used to determine which 4 teams would be eliminated from the tournament and which teams would live on to see another day at the Australian tournament in the lower bracket

In the upper bracket, the teams that would lose would be demoted to the lower bracket. The winning teams would continue their unbeaten run at the tournament.

Upper Bracket of Group A:

The first game of this bracket was played between Liquid and BIG. The North American team continued marching on in the tournament without breaking a sweat, taking the series with a scoreline of 2-0 in the BO3 series (16-7 on Dust 2 and 16-3 on Overpass).

The second game was played between NiP and Renegades. The Swedish legendary team took the first map, Nuke, with a scoreline of 16-4. The second map was Mirage where NiP denied a comeback and ended the game with a scoreline of 16-12, thus taking the series in their favor. This victory has pushed NiP to the upper bracket final of Group A.

Lower Bracket of Group A:

In the lower bracket of Group A,mousesports faced off against BOOT. In the BO3 series, mousesports comfortably won the series by dropping 8 rounds over 2 maps. The European side emerged victorious on Mirage in convincing fashion with a scoreline of 16-2 and followed up by taking Train with a scoreline of 16-6. Thus, eliminating BOOT from the tournament.

In the second game of the lower bracket, MVP PK were pitted against eUnited. MVP PK bagged Train with a scoreline of 16-9. The second map was Overpass where the North Americans pushed the map to overtime. In overtime, MVP PK edged past eUnited with a scoreline of 19-17. This loss ended eUnitedโ€™s journey in IEM Sydney 2019.



Denmark Prime Minister visits Astralis HQ, plays Counter Strike with Astralis Players

Malav Popat
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1
Denmark Prime Minister visits Astralis HQ, plays Counter Strike with Astralis Players

Lars Lรธkke Rasmussen, the Prime Minister of Denmark has been very local about his love for esports and his support for Astralis. From congratulating Astralis for their victories to giving a speech at Blast Pro Series Copenhagen 2018,  Mr Rasmussen has a constant source of motivation for the Danish legends.

In a Linkedin post by Steen L. Laursen, VP Communication & Brand, RFRSH Entertainment BLAST Pro Series, Astralis and Origen, Mr Rasmussen visited the RFRSH headquarters and interacted with the the Astralis players and addressed topics such as โ€œesports strategy, role models, sharing of knowledge with all stakeholders from grassroots to institutions etc.โ€ After his conversation, Mr Rasmussen played Counter Strike with the Astralis players.

The complete Linkedin post is and can be found here.

Steen L. Laursen on LinkedIn: “Danish Prime Minister visiting the office. Talking esports strategy, role models, sharing of knowledge with all stakeholders from grass roots to institutions etc. … and playing a bit of CS with the Astralis players. “Esports is sports. It is sports.” Those were his words. I would like to add: it is culture, it is entertainment, it is business and it is future. Thanks for visiting Lars Lรธkke Rasmussen!”

April 30, 2019: Steen L. Laursen posted images on LinkedIn

However, this is not the first time Mr Rasmussen has done something about esports.During  BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018, He inaugurated the event on the final day. In his speech, he welcomed the audience to the Royal Arena, the PM assured the eventโ€™s going to be a BLAST. The Honorable Prime Minister referred to the crowd and the online viewers as fantastic and welcomed teams and contestants from across the globe. He signed off his speech by using the Astralis motto of โ€œToTheStarsโ€

Photo: Astralis

NiKo to be unavailable for IEM Sydney Day 2 due to Visa Issues

Parth Gada
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1
NiKo to be unavailable for IEM Sydney Day 2 due to Visa Issues

Nikola โ€œNiKoโ€ Kovac will not take part in Day 2 of IEM Sydney, after being unsuccessful in securing a visa to Australia.

After having missed Day 1 along with Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev, cosch Janko “YNk” Paunoviฤ‡ and Karlo “USTILO” Pivac, most known for his time at Renegades will stand in for the duo.

While AdreN secured a visa yesterday and will be available on Day 2, NiKo will possibly miss the entire tournament if his visa issues are not sorted out quickly.

The absence of 2 of their star players did not dampen the spirits of FaZe who routed through a 16-5 win over Locals Chiefs and secured an upper brackets Semi Finals against NRG, who they will face tomorrow.

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