Movies/TV

North American esports organisation Immortals has extended its partnership with the Southern California and San Diego Toyota Dealers Association.  Toyota’s brand will continue to receive logo placement on Immortals’ LCS jerseys. Moreover, additional Toyota branding will be featured on the organisation’s Wild Rift jerseys. Image credit: Immortals / Toyota RELATED: Immortals renews SoCal Toyota deal,

Israeli esports organisation Finest has announced the acquisition of Monaco Esports Fédération-owned team Monaco Esports for $10m (~£7.6m). As part of the merger, Monaco Esports operations and branding will cease to exist and will be absorbed into Finest. This won’t include the club’s upcoming Sim Racing event, which will carry on with Monaco Esports branding.  ESI

Aggero, a UK-based company that uses machine learning and analytics to help streamers monetise content better, has secured $2m (£1.5m) in seed funding. The round was led by LAUNCHub Ventures, with GapMinder, SCM Advisors, Klaas Kersting and Phil Mohr also investing in the company.  (ESI Illustration) Image credit: Aggero RELATED: Misfits Gaming Group partners with

New York-based esports organisation Andbox has officially rebranded to NYXL as the company looks to develop New York City (NYC) into ‘the world capital of esports and gaming culture’ with a slew of new announcements. NYXL intends to invest a ‘high-seven figure’ amount into NYC’s gaming community over the next 12 months. It also unveiled

London-based esports organisation Tundra has appointed former Fnatic Creative Director Danny Lopez as its new Director of Marketing and Content. According to a release, Lopez will focus on building the organisation’s brand visibility in addition to increasing fan engagement. (ESI Illustration) Image credit: Tundra Esports RELATED: Tundra appoints Evgeniy Roshchupkin as new CEO Prior to Tundra, Lopez joined Guild

Danish esports organisation Astralis has announced a two-year extension of its partnerships with sportswear brand hummel. According to Kasper Sindt, Astralis’ Commercial Director, the new deal includes expanding into general merchandise collections. Moreover, hummel will now operate Astralis’ webshop and retail for B2B and B2C markets. Image credit: Astralis RELATED: Astralis reports revenue growth in

NFT gaming guild BAYZ has announced a partnership with Ignite Tournaments, a play-to-earn tournament infrastructure company. The partnership, which will initially focus on Brazil, sees both parties work together on creating competitive strategies and tournaments going forward.  Image credit: Ignite Tournaments / BAYZ RELATED: Ignite Tournaments raises $10m for mobile play-to-earn esports platform According to

North American esports organisation FaZe Clan has revealed its new public Board of Directors.  In total, ten directors have been named. This includes the likes of Lee Trink, CEO and Co-Founder of FaZe Clan, Stephanie McMahon, Chief Brand Officer at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and rapper Snoop Dogg.  Image credit: FaZe Clan RELATED: Snoop Dogg

European esports organisation G2 Esports reportedly filed a lawsuit on March 16th claiming that NFT solutions provider Bondly misled its leadership and missed deliverable deadlines.  The lawsuit, which was first reported by the Washington Post, was filed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. G2 is claiming damages of over $5.25m (~£3.96m).  G2 Esports and

Esports around the World is a series of profiles outlining the esports ecosystem in various nations globally. This edition looks at the United States of America (USA). The Esports Around The World series will profile major & minor esports nations across the globe. Introduction The esports commercial market in the US is the second largest

Supermarket chain ALDI France has announced the launch of Continuity, the company’s own amateur esports team. The news, which was was announced today via ALDI’s French website, will initially look to enter into the Rocket League scene.  Image credit: ALDI France RELATED: 7-Eleven partners with Psyonix and sponsors NA RLCS To pick the roster for

Razer’s iconic green snake is probably one of the most synonymous logos with esports and gaming. The company started sponsoring esports teams and events more than two decades ago, and has been doing it ever since. Three weeks on from Razer’s latest partnership with Team Envy, Esports Insider spoke to Flo Gutierrez, Razer’s Global Esports

European esports organisation Fnatic has looked to strengthen its leadership team by appointing four new personnel.  The organisation announced that Craig Edmondson (ex-Premier League) and Nicola Packer (formerly of Dyson) will take over as CCO and General Counsel, respectively. Moreover, Joshua Brill has been named Head of Marketing, with Laura Ashworth-Cape joining the organisation as its new

UK-based entertainment talent agency InterTalent has announced a new business venture, esports talent agency XU Esports. The new agency is a full-service agency that will look to provide representation for esports and gaming talent.  Image credit: InterTalent / XU Esports RELATED: SPORTFIVE teams up with Bad Moon Talent According to a release, the newly-founded agency

Picture this: you own and operate a brand that is not remotely connected to esports or gaming, like a jeans brand, a bank, or a brand that produces beef jerky. You understand the appeal of esports and would like to connect to gamers in a way that is meaningful to them, but you simply do

North American esports organisation FaZe Clan has announced it will host a pop-up event alongside English football club Manchester City. The latest collaboration will see both parties open a pop-up merchandise store ahead of the club’s upcoming match against Liverpool FC, which is scheduled to take place the day after on April 10th.  Image credit: FaZe Clan,

Smart, a subsidiary of telecommunications company PLDT, has signed an agreement with South Korean esports organisation T1. The agreement will see Smart provide T1’s Dota 2 team with facilities in the Philippines, which will be used during its boot camp and tournaments. Image credit: T1, Smart RELATED: T1 launches new esports academy According to the

Ukrainian tournament platform WePlay Compete, part of WePlay Esports, has launched a series of online esports tournaments to support the Ukrainian army. Play for Ukraine will include online Dota 2 and League of Legends tournaments, with all prize money earned by players during the events being donated to organisations supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Image

Image credit: JBL Gaming lifestyle and esports brand 100 Thieves and audio technology company JBL have realised their partnership in an unveiling of the limited edition JBL x 100 Thieves Headset. Using the flagship JBL Quantum ONE headset as a canvas, the exclusive product touts the 100 Thieves’ signature geo-print design and branding, dropping exclusively

Esports bookmaker Pinnacle, data platform GRID Esports and the City of Lund have revealed that the Pinnacle Cup Championship will commence in Sweden from June 8th – 11th.   The Pinnacle Cup Championship is the culmination of the bookmaker’s tournament series. The CS:GO event will take place live, in front of spectators at Sparbanken Skåne Arena,

UK-based esports organisation Semper Fortis Esports (SMPR) has entered the world of play-to-earn after establishing a new division called SMPR Guild. SMPR Guild, which focuses on blockchain-based play-to-earn gaming, will purchase in-game NFT items and provide them to its players on a revenue-sharing basis. Image credit: SMPR Guild RELATED: SMPR Esports secures first-ever commercial deal

Daniel Schnapp and Samuel Cohen, from law firm Sheppard Mullin‘s Esports & Games Industry Team, write for Esports Insider to discuss how intellectual property rights work in esports. (ESI Illustration) Pictured: Samuel Cohen (top), Daniel Schnapp (bottom) Global esports revenue surpassed $1 billion and the worldwide esports live streaming audience grew 12.7% year on year

North American esports organisation Tribe Gaming has partnered with Heroes of Mavia, an upcoming play-to-earn MMO strategy crypto game developed by Skrice Studios. As a result of the collaboration, Tribe Gaming has acquired multiple land-based NFTs in Mavia. Moreover, the organisation’s branding will be featured in the game. Image credit: Tribe Gaming RELATED: Jordan Bellar

American energy drink brand Monster Energy has expanded and extended its partnership with tournament organiser ESL Gaming. According to the release, the new partnership is a multi-year deal and will include support for mobile esports and gaming, a first for Monster Energy. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed. Moreover, Monster Energy will continue to

Paris Saint-Germain Esports has announced a new partnership with audio equipment company EPOS. As part of the deal, EPOS will be the official audio equipment provider for PSG Esports’ DOTA 2 team, PSG.LGD. Image Credit: PSG Media RELATED: PSG.LGD secures six-figure Betway sponsorship PSG’s Brand Director, Fabien Allègre commented about the partnership: “Paris Saint-Germain Esports is

Red Bull Solo Q, a League of Legends solo tournament organised by Red Bull, is set to return in 2022 with national tournaments and a world finals. The tournaments will start in March and will feature national and international qualifiers that feed into the grand finals later in the year. AGON by AOC will remain

British esports organisation EXCEL Esports has named UK-based computer manufacturer YOYOTECH as its official PC hardware partner.  As part of the agreement, both parties will work together on creating an EXCEL-branded PC. Moreover, the YOYOTECH logo will also be featured on the organisation’s team jerseys when attending esports tournaments in Europe. Image credit: EXCEL Esports

Heat Map is a monthly Esports Insider Newsletter discussing emerging trends in the esports industry. In this special edition article, ESI Journalist Kerry Waananen looks at esports and anime’s growing convergence. Subscribe to Heat Map and other ESI newsletters here. Last week, gaming and esports audiences were treated to the latest artefact in what I’m

Esports tournament organiser PGL has announced that it will host the last major of the Dota 2 Pro Circuit 2021-2022 in Arlington, Texas. The in-person event, which will be the first Dota 2 major in North America since 2016, is set to take place from August 4th-14th.  Image credit: PGL RELATED: Envy Gaming acquires operating

Publisher Electronic Arts (EA) has announced its decision to remove Russia and Belarus as eligible countries in its esports programs.  EA has detailed that Russian and Belarussian players and teams will be ineligible to participate in the Apex Legends Global Series and the EA SPORTS FIFA 22 Global Series. The announcement, released yesterday, states that