COBX has announced Yes Bank as their title sponsor for COBX Masters 2019 which takes place from April 5-7 at NESCO, Mumbai.
This announcement puts the tournament right up there with one of the biggest seen in India, with a prize pool of $200,000 for the CSGO and DOTA events. The financial details of the partnership have not been revealed.
HellRaisers will be trialing out Christian “loWel” Garcia Antoran, who currently plays for Movistar Riders, according to HLTV.
HLTV has information that Christian “loWel” Garcia has been practising with the team, who are looking to complete the team following the departure o รzgรผr “woxic” Eker to mousesports, and benching Bence “DeadFox” Bรถrรถcz.
Earlier, HellRaisers used Vega Squadron’s Igor “crush” Shevchenko for the European closed qualifier of DreamHack Masters Dallas, holding a 0.82 rating.
loWel has been with Movistar Riders since July 2018. He has attended just two international events with the squad, the most recent of which was the WESG Finals, where the Spaniards were eliminated after tying one Best of 2 series with fnatic and suffering defeat by the hands Windigo, who emerged triumphant in the grand-finals.
In this lineup, loWel gets back with former mousesports teammate Tomรกลก “oskar” ล ลฅastnรฝ and ex-coach Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanov.
The current HellRaisers roster is:
Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow
[flag=kz] Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov
Issa “ISSAA” Murad
Tomรกลก “oskar” ล ลฅastnรฝ
[flag=es] Christian “loWel” Garcia Antoran (trial)
OpTic have revealed that they will no longer be using the services of Renรฉ “cajunb” Borg from now on. Today we wish @CajunBCS well as he makes his departure from our CSGO roster. We look forward to seeing his continued success in Counter-Strike. pic.twitter.com/jZKgFpf42Xโ OpTic Gamingโข (@OpTicGaming) March 28, 2019.
Today we wish @CajunBCS well as he makes his departure from our CSGO roster. We look forward to seeing his continued success in Counter-Strike. pic.twitter.com/jZKgFpf42X
Cajunb was a part of the OpTic project back in 2018 February when a revamped team was announced with the likes of Nicklas “gade” Gade, Kristian, “k0nfig” Wienecke, and North American duo of Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan.
Due to certain issues, the team went back to the roots, the team went back to an All-Danish Roster by signing Jakob “JUGi” Hansen and Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer to replace the two americans, Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan.
The team never settled down and made another bout of roster changes, replacing gade with Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen and in turn replacing him with Ismail “refrezh” Ali at the end of last year.
With cajunb on the team, the team came second at DreamHack Summer 2018, the FACEIT Major‘s Europe Minor, and cs_summit 3, but failed to convert them to gold.
With cajunb no longer a part of the roster moving on, OpTic now stand as
BenQ ZOWIE announced today the launch of ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red Special Edition mousepad, which is G-SR-SE Red. G-SR-SE Red mousepad is an update to the previously launched G-SR-SE Blue mouse pad, providing gamers with a new colour option, and refreshed design to choose from, depending on their preferences.
Mousepads are essential for gameplay. It provides smooth mouse movement, better tractionto your mouse sensor, and a soft surface for your hands and wrist. ZOWIE G-SR is designed for gamers that enjoy the comfort of a rubber base in a cloth mousepad.The rubber base in ZOWIE Mousepadsis 100% flat, which ensures the same performance across the mousepad and on any kind of surface.The Special Edition provides a slightly different glide feeling from the standard black G-SR mousepad.
Key features:
The Smooth and even texture offers a consistent glide throughout /
100% flat rubber base offers increased stability on any surface.
Compatible with all types of mice.
Dimension: 470 x 390 mm ยฑ 10 mm/ 18.5 x 15.3 inches ยฑ 0.4 inche .
With the price of โน2,800 ZOWIE G-SR-SE (Red) mousepad will be available at Amazon and select retailers.
Tencent has announced Mobile Giant Vivo as their title sponsor for the upcoming PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019.
The tournament, consisting of players from 10 different regions, will feature 2 phases, the spring and fall split with a prize pool that is the highest ever in the gameโs small history.
Initially set at $2 million, the addition of Vivo has brought in another $500,000, with the Chinese company also providing phones to play during the tournament.
The Spring split Qualifiers are currently underway, which will go on till the end of the month. From there, regional finals will converge to the Global Finale in July.
The four teams advancing to ESL Pro League S9 Asia have been decided following the conclusion of the qualifiers for the tournament.
In the Chinese qualifier, MVP PK and 5POWER made their way to the main qualifier. In the SEA closed qualifier, BOOT-d[S], Alpha Red and Lucid Dream emerged victorious and made their way to the qualifier.
From India, Entity were victorious in the Indian Premiership and will be seen in action at the tournament.
The top two teams from each qualifier will make it to the playoffs. The number 1 team from Group A will play against the winner of Group B. The winner of the tournament will secure a berth for themselves at ESL Pro League Finals in Montpellier, France, from June 18-23.
Recent years have seen an explosion in the popularity of esports, fuelled by an insatiable appetite in Asia. Itโs not just a case of playing your favorite games hoping to get a better score than your friends; players compete for mega bucks and have become rich and famous.
Massive Growth in Asia
There
are billions of dollars to be made in
the esports business. Forecasters believe that the global market will expand by
75% to $1.6bn by the end of 2021. The arrival of smartphones has made esports
even easier to play.
A major area of
growth is in the number of live tournaments. Mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter
ONE Championship has already made a $50m investment and wants to hold esports
events alongside MMA matches.
China
listed esports as an official sport in 2003 and 13 years later, it was declared
a national industry. Another major boost
came in 2018 when esports became a demonstration sport at the Asian Games. The
next event takes place in 2022 and esports will be an official medal sport.
More partnerships
are being forged as companies realize just how much money could be made in the
future. The number of competitive players in China doubled last year leading to
online companies such as Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings to set up
venues in the country. Rural areas, as well as the major cities, are being
targeted, and events take place on a
weekly basis.
Itโs big news for
game developers as the tournaments create more awareness of their products. The
hope is that games such as League of Legends and Dota 2 will see their already
impressive sales boosted.
Academies are opening
up in countries such as China, Malaysia,
Singapore and Japan. Itโs becoming big
business with students paying up to $975 for a monthโs tuition, all dreaming of
becoming professional players. Achieving that dream could see them earning up
to $700,000 a year.
Japan has also
seen incredible growth in the popularity of esports. Thatโs led to increased
sales of high-performance gaming computers that eliminate the possibility of
even the shortest lag. Be sure to check out our own reviews for the best gaming gear.
The Tokyo Game
Show held in October 2018 saw plenty of talk about esports. The second-hand
market for these computers also sees
increased business. Others just go to many
internet cafes and use their superior equipment.
Perhaps the best-known Asian market of all is South Korea, which is regarded as the country that started the esport revolution. Gamers like Faker, Bang and Wolf are more or less household names.
South Korea hosts
probably the biggest live esports event in the world โ the League of Legends World Championship.
The Middle East is catching up
Dubai is a
place of extravagance, and the Middle Eastern kingdom has already made it known
it would like to be a global gaming destination for esports. The United Arab Emirates is already
constructing the regionโs first dedicated esports venue, catering for players who canโt get enough of games like Counter-Strike.
Pro teams play each other with over $54,000 won in prize money. Overwatch is
also popular, and teams in the UAE include Risky Gaming, Inferno Game Zone and
Dubai Mirage.
However, esports is still some way behind other social online entertainment there, such as online casinos. Despite land casinos and sports betting being prohibited, locals are able to find plenty of legal opportunities to play online.
Saudi Arabia is
another part of the Middle East enjoying rising esports popularity; thereโs
even official government representation and support for competitive gaming.
The United States and esports
You can be sure that when a new trend starts, the USA wonโt be far away from the action. The country has taken esports to its heart and produced big names, like the celebrity gamer Ninja, otherwise known as Tyler Blevins from Michigan.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuKHHJzgNOb
The best of the rest
With the
popularity of esports spreading like wildfire, there are still some countries
where itโs more popular than others, including:
Germany
Sweden
Russia
Brazil
Australia
Even if there are
no huge live events to go and watch in your own home country (see the latest esport event schedule here), thereโs always plenty of places
streaming the action, including Twitch and Youtube.
Gamers in Philadelphia can soon look forward to enjoying the first purpose-built esports stadium in the whole of the USA. The $50 million project is being organised by Comcast Spectator who are a sports and entertainment company who own the Philadelphia Flyers ice hockey team and also run the Philadelphia Fusion Overwatch esports team.
From summer 2019, there will be extensive work in constructing the 47-acre stadium in South Philadelphia. This will create a purpose-built 3,500 seat arena that will host some of the biggest esports tournaments in the world. The main focus of the entertainment at the new esports arena will be the exploits of the Philadelphia Fusion esports team, but itโs also hoped that the stadium will also be a hotspot for competitive gaming on the East coast too.
Comcast Spectator have already unveiled plenty of exciting new projects in the area that include a 10-storey office tower, as well as the Xfinity Live entertainment and dining hub. Itโs all part of the companyโs plan to make the city of Philadelphia an important part of the rapidly growing competitive gaming scene. It has been estimated that over 400,000 people in the cityโs television market play Overwatch, and itโs hoped that the new esports stadium could help to cater to the demand.
Philadelphia Fusion have already cemented their reputation as one of the worldโs top Overwatch teams. With well over 100,000 Twitter followers and star players like Gael Gouzerch helping to raise the profile of the esport, it seems as though the planning of the new stadium couldnโt be better timed.
Whilst the home of Overwatch has traditionally been in Los Angeles over on the West coast, by creating a dedicated gaming hub on the East coast, Comcast Spectator will be hoping to boost the overall entertainment infrastructure of Philadelphia.
As well as the expected 120 gaming events per year at the new stadium, people in Philadelphia can also look forward to a range of other events from pop concerts to dance music extravaganzas. In order to boost funds for this $50 million project, Comcast Spectator have stated that they will be hoping to sell naming rights for the esports arena.
So what will the new esports stadium look like? The arena will be built by the Populous architecture firm who found success in designing the Yankees stadium, as well as the main arena for the London Olympics in 2012. In addition to this, Populous have also gained experience in gaming event building through their development of an esports arena in Arlington, Texas.
Above all, itโs hoped that the new stadium will optimise the viewer experience for action-packed esports like Overwatch. Whilst Philadelphia Fusion have historically been playing at the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles, the new arena in their home city should hopefully give them all they need to become one of the best teams in the Overwatch League.
The article courtesy of generated feed through several feeds including Esports.Net.
Winstrike have acquired former HellRaisers and Gambit player, Vladyslav “bondik” Nechyporchuk, the organisation has announced on their Twitter
Bondik will be replacing Jan “wayLander” Rahkonen,who has been removed from the active lineup, following a very short period of 5 months with the team.
bondik was a free agent after being released by Gambit earlier in the month coach Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy. In his 3 months with Gambit, bondik attended the SuperNova CS:GO Malta and the CIS Minor.
In a statement on the Winstrike website, bondik said,โ “I am glad to be a part of Winstrike.I believe it has good players and, if we work hard, we will be able to go far. Now we are trying to get used to each other. Soon we will try to bring joy to our fans. Thanks for your support.”
During his short stint with Winstrike, wayLander averaged a 0.86 rating on LAN. He was essential in helping the team to qualify for IEM Katowice via the Minor Play-In. At the Major, Winstrike went out in the New Challengers Stage after losing to NRG, ENCE and Cloud9 with a 2-3 record.
Bondik will step onto the server with Winstrike on Tuesday, in the the opening round of the GG.BET Sydney Invitational.
Since his demise, multiple fundraisers have been setup to help the family.
We spent six or seven hours a night playing. We eventually toppled all of Australia’s top teams. We were fairly unstoppable, winning LAN after LAN and nearly every online competition we entered.
