Tag: eSports

Heading into their fifth year of cooperation, OMEN and Berlin International Gaming will set their focus in the upcoming year on promoting diversity and talent development in esports. An important part of the agreement is the further expansion of the BIG OMEN Academy project.

“For more than four years, OMEN has been an incredibly important pillar as a partner for BIG, and have contributed significantly to our development,” says Daniel Finkler, CEO of BIG. “I am delighted that we have been able to extend and even expand our joint cooperation once again.”

As part of the partnership, OMEN sponsors the professional teams of BIG, including CS:GO, League of Legends, Trackmania and Valorant, as well as the jointly founded BIG OMEN Academy Team. The academy project is considered one of the best talent teams worldwide as well and a springboard for young talents into the professional scene. To date, more than eight former BIG OMEN Academy players have made the step up to full-time professional status.

For more diversity in gaming

In addition to the BIG OMEN Academy team, OMEN and BIG also set their focus on promoting female esports athletes. With the signing of BIG EQUIPA, BIG has added an incredibly talented women’s CS:GO team to their portfolio, featuring talents from Portugal and Spain competing in the ESL Impact circuit. With OMEN, BIG will focus on assisting BIG EQUIPA in reaching their professional aspirations, and help them climb higher and higher on the leaderboards.

“We were already looking for an internationally successful women’s team in the past years,” says Finkler. “With the BIG EQUIPA team, we were finally able to successfully conclude our search. In the future, we will increasingly support talented, female gamers to enable them to realise their dream of a professional career in esports – OMEN will act as a partner and sponsor as an important driver of this new chapter.”

“Diversity is part of the corporate DNA at HP – both internationally and nationally there are numerous initiatives for equal opportunities and diversity. I am all the more pleased that we now have the opportunity to combine our pioneering role in both diversity and esports sponsorship and to promote female talent together with BIG,” says Jochen Ziegler, Director Personal Systems Marketing DACH at HP Inc. “We are confident and excited and keep our fingers crossed for BIG EQUIPA on their way to a professional career.”

Alpine Esports is proud to announce its roster for the 2022 F1 Esports Series. After finishing at 5th place last year, Alpine Esports is hoping that the new line-up will bring a big success, both on track and off. Two new names will drive alongside last year’s rookie Patrik Sipos.

An intense selection process saw the 3 drivers put through the paces to test their ability. Not just by breaking down their performance on the track, but the drivers also went through strict cognitive and physiological tests to assess their talents and find their optimal performance.

The 3 drivers will compete for Alpine Esports in the F1 Esports Series, starting later this year, on the new F1 2022 Game from Codemasters. The drivers will also represent the team through appearances and content including in the 2022 season of “The Conquest”: a mini-documentary series that will follow the challenges faced by the drivers, as they tackle the biggest competition in sim racing.

Re-Introducing Patrik Sipos for 2022

Patrik is an 18-year-old young Hungarian and 2022 will be his second season under the Alpine Esports colours. His first season was convincing for the team, collecting his first points, and making it through to Q3 in multiple races. Patrik is one of the rising stars of F1 Esports and 2022 will be a key year that he cannot wait to get started with! Patrik’s talents are not just limited to the popular F1 games, as he participated in the Le Mans Virtual race with the Alpine Esports n°36 team, managed by Fernando Alonso. He has a clear aim this season: compete at the front of the grid and win his first victory in the F1 Esports Series.

Fresh for 2022: Samuel Bean & Filip Prešnajder

Samuel is an 18-year-old young Spanish driver, whose motorsport career started in karting and soon propelled him to the world of virtual racing. Samuel successfully qualified for the F1 Esports Challenger Series in 2021, and has already gained himself a reputation in the grassroots competition. Samuel finished in 6th place in his first series and fought his way to victory during the season. Alpine Esports believes that this young Spaniard is one of the talents to follow during the 2022 season.

Filip is 19-year-old and from Slovakia. His Sim Racing career started with his victory in the Challenger Series on PlayStation in 2019. He quickly transitioned to PC Sim Racing, where he joined the Scuderia Ferrari in 2020. His first qualifying with the team impressed everyone, by finishing in Q3, and in the top 6 of the race. In 2021, he moved to Alfa Romeo, where he faced a challenging season. Filip is keen to display his true talent and potential with a new team and a new attitude at Alpine.

Heading up the training and development of driver talent at Alpine Esports; Richard Arnaud – Team Principal Alpine Esports

“2022 is a new step in the development of Alpine Esports. Our team has been reshaped this season. We probably have the youngest team on the grid, but we have our ambitions. 2021 was a learning year for everyone with ups and downs, but I believe that we have a very solid base and the chemistry in the team is already extremely positive. We do not expect to be the favourites on paper, our target will be to do as well as last year when we finished 5th and to fight for podiums. The entire team is super motivated to bring Alpine Esports as high as possible!”

Drivers thoughts about their upcoming 2022 season:

Patrik Sipos – Alpine Esports F1 Esports Driver

“I am happy to continue with Alpine Esports, last year was a strong learning year where I was able to score my first points and proved that I am capable to compete at the top. I am hungry and cannot wait to start the 2022 season and put Alpine Esports at the front of the grid!”

Samuel Bean – Alpine Esports F1 Esports Driver

“This year will be my first one. I have a lot of ambitions; one of them is to learn of course, but for sure I aim to score my first points for the team as soon as I get an opportunity. Like Fernando during the Grand Prix, I hope to shine in the virtual world. I will give my maximum to the team!”

Filip Prešnajder – Alpine Esports F1 Esports Driver

“After 2 years in F1 Esports, I wanted to start a new and ambitious project, able to give me a chance to prove my value. Last season was difficult, as I was combining Esports with my studies, but now that I have completed my degree, I am 100% focused on esports. Alpine Esports has already proven to be a place where drivers are given great opportunities to succeed, so I cannot wait to start and be one of the positive surprises this year!”

This new line up for the F1 Esports Series highlights a continued commitment by Alpine to grow and develop itself in the esports space.

Mashreq, the oldest privately owned bank in the United Arab Emirates, and Galaxy Racer (GXR), a transmedia powerhouse focused on esports, content creators, music and sports, headquartered in Dubai, are proud to announce their new partnership. The one-year collaboration will see Mashreq and Galaxy Racer create an engaging content series and launch gaming tournaments. Mashreq will also feature across all of Galaxy Racer’s team jerseys.

As the first official partnership of its kind in the region, the collaboration will help to realize Mashreq’s overarching goal to create new and exciting ways to speak to the next generation through digital-focused initiatives within the gaming and esports sector.

The partnership will focus on inclusivity and equitability, empowering gamers as well as content creators from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds who are hoping to break into the competitive gaming scene. For the first time in the Middle East, the Galaxy Racer and Mashreq collaboration will see the launch of a content creator series, which will support 10 of the region’s top content creators.

Galaxy Racer and Mashreq will also host community tournaments for all gamers, as well as the First Neo NXT Featuring Rocket League Championship, an online competition with the potential to reach 91 million active players throughout the region. Registration for the championship opened on June 30 and will last until July 14. Qualifications will start on July 22, with the finals scheduled for the same day. The winner will be announced by the end of July.

Mashreq, one of the leading financial institutions in the UAE, is shaping the future of financial services through convenience, innovation and trust, while delivering a seamless experience to customers. Founded in 1967, Mashreq has differentiated itself by pioneering new-to-market concepts and launching unique products and services, making it one of the region’s best performing banks, voted by its customers for the last five decades. The bank enjoys an expanding footprint across the Middle East including dominance in markets such as UAE, Egypt, with international offices in the financial capitals of the world.

Founded in 2019, Galaxy Racer has an existing global footprint of over 500 million followers, more than 100 content creators – including YouTube content creator Noor Stars – and over 2.5 billion monthly views. Having cemented its position as one of the biggest names in Esports, gaming and lifestyle across the Middle East and North Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Europe, the organization recently expanded into North America with new headquarters in Los Angeles.

Founder and CEO of Galaxy Racer, Paul Roy, said: “I am thrilled to announce our partnership with Mashreq Bank, especially as this is a first of its kind within the country. By combining our shared values and beliefs to nurture the next generation of gaming talent and content creators, we believe we can create some fun and engaging content and activations for our always-growing community.”

Ahmed Abdelaal, Group CEO at Mashreq, said: “Esports is witnessing incredible growth across the Middle East, which is helping to drive the region’s gaming industry to the multi-billion dollar sector it has become today. Our innovative, digital-focused Neo NXT proposition targeting the SMART teens (12-18) resonates with the gaming community, positioned for internet savvy connected generation, to suit their lifestyle on the go. We are delighted to partner with Galaxy Racer to grow the region’s esports industry further.”

Oddin.gg is pleased to announce that React’s Gaming wholly-owned LOOT.BET subsidiary has entered into a partnership agreement with Oddin.gg, a world-leading B2B provider of esports odds feeds, risk management services and iFrame solutions. Pursuant to the agreement, Oddin.gg will provide LOOT.BET with its renowned esports odds feed and help LOOT.BET scale its operations worldwide.

“This partnership is excellent news for LOOT.BET, as it will enhance our online betting platform capabilities and functionalities and help us achieve our goal of increasing consumer engagement and topline performance,” said Leigh Hughes, CEO of React Gaming. “Given that Oddin.gg has the highest industry uptime and best odds quality, its solutions could also have a positive impact on our operating margins, which is another benefit of using their solutions.”

“LOOT.BET focuses on providing gamers with the most engaging betting solutions, hence the quality of the odds feed and lines availability are extremely important,” added Peter Zhalau, CEO of LOOT.BET. “Our trading team was impressed with the quality of the esports lines quoted by Oddin.gg. Their team is clearly capable of performing at the highest levels and will help us scale and grow our business worldwide so we can dedicate internal capacities to other initiatives. Oddin.gg has everything we look for in a partner, and we’re excited about working together with them in the years to come.”

“LOOT.BET is one of the most established global esports brands and one of the premier platforms in the esports betting space,” said Marek Suchar, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Oddin.gg. “This partnership confirms that Oddin.gg is moving in the right direction and that the quality of our solution is second to none. We are extremely excited to provide a solution that will certainly help improve LOOT.BET’s trading performance and uptime in the long run.”

Proving yet again, its stance in the global esports landscape, S8UL became the first Indian Esports organisation to get a nomination for the prestigious global “Esports Awards” in the ‘Content Group of the Year’ category while its co-founder Naman Mathur aka Mortal has been nominated for ‘Esports Personality of the Year’.

The esports awards are regarded as the most popular and significant annual awards in the Esports industry globally. It is the world’s top honour for the excellence and accomplishments of athletes and teams in the Esports industry worldwide.

S8UL is the brainchild of the country’s three veteran Esports players, Naman Mathur aka Mortal, Animesh Agarwal aka 8Bit Thug and Lokesh Jain aka Goldy, who created this organisation with an aim to shape the Indian gaming industry into a mix of professional gameplay and engaging content for the audiences.

“A nomination in the “Esports Awards” shows the strong position that S8UL has created in the global Esports circuit. It’s the result of the hard work that team S8UL has put in in the last two years. I am very confident that this nomination will be a motivation not just for us but for everyone in India who wants to contribute to the growth of Esports in the country. Mortal, as we call him the face of the Indian gaming and esports community, never misses any chance to make our country proud. I am very confident that both S8UL and Mortal are going to take a giant leap this year with these nominations and we are super excited to add more trophies at our S8UL Gaming House.” said Lokesh Jain aka Goldy.

In two years since its inception, S8UL has not only won major tournaments but has also emerged as a national sensation. With top creators and gamers on their roster, S8UL has been actively promoting the acceptance and appeal of gaming content in India through their online platforms like YouTube, Instagram, discord etc. S8UL is in contention for the award along with nine other top international organisations, such as 100 Thieves, FaZe Clan, One True King and Full Squad Gaming.

“It’s our sheer dedication and hard work that our creators have become brands in themselves. We are building an esports community which has put India on the global map. The vision we started with was to compete globally in terms of both gameplay and esports content, and we truly see the vision coming to fruition now. This has been made possible by the trust placed on our creators, the community and the brands alike. Hoping for continued support, to bring the trophies home. This is a big motivation for us to keep entertaining with newer content everyday.” said Animesh Agarwal aka 8Bit Thug.

Mortal has been nominated alongside other top athletes like Faker and Goldenboy. He is also the only Indian Esports athlete to be nominated in the history of the global “Esports Awards”. Earlier, he was nominated for the Streamer of the Year in 2020 and 2021 and claimed second place on both occasions.

“Getting nominated in the prestigious ‘Esports Awards’ is in itself a moment of pride. It’s like the Oscars for Esports where winners get selected from the best in the world. It’s the biggest recognition for any Esports athlete or a team. Esports industry has grown rapidly in the recent past and so has the competition level. It’s a great moment for S8UL and for me personally as it’s my third successive nomination, fingers crossed, hope this year “It’s Coming Home” said Naman Mathur aka Mortal.

Mortal has represented Soul in numerous PUBG/BGMI tournaments and has also won titles in events like PMIS and PMCO Spring Split: India. He has a massive fan following which includes more than seven million subscribers on YouTube and 5 million-plus followers on Instagram.