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The Call of Duty franchised league will go straight into home games next year, Blizzard Entertainment’s co-founder departs, and The International prize pool exceeds $30M.
Missed any of the biggest esports business news last week? The TEO Monday Morning Briefing recaps the top headlines from the last seven days!
Activision Blizzard Esports has revealed that next year’s inaugural season of the new Call of Duty league will immediately start with a home/away format for events. Activision, which is doubling down on the city-based method for esports with the new league, chose to wait till 2020 to start playing regular home/away matches for its Overwatch League to give new teams time to build up their operations and local fanbases.
The league has so far announced seven teams in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, Paris, and Toronto — but SportsBusiness Journal reports to a source familiar with the league’s plans said to expect at least 12. Activision has been reported as asking $25M USD per expansion fee for the Call of Duty league. Some of the team owners for the new Call of Duty league are also owners in the OWL, including Atlanta Esports Ventures (Atlanta), Envy Gaming (Dallas), and OverActive Media (Toronto).
In a related story, North American team organization Evil Geniuses (EG) announced it will depart Call of Duty esports after a five-year tenure in the game. EG specifically said it would bow out of the CWL 2020 season, and would not take part in Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty franchise league. While the organization did not respond to requests for comment, the fact that it would not have been able to compete under the Evil Geniuses brand may have factored into the decision.
Blizzard Entertainment co-founder Frank Pearce has left the company after 28 years, marking the latest high-profile departure from the studio. Pearce announced the move via a blog post, writing that “the time has come for me to step away from Blizzard and pass the torch to the next generation of leaders.” He did not note any further work plans, but wrote that it was “time for me to reflect and be thoughtful about what comes next.”
Blizzard Entertainment was founded in 1991 by Pearce, Michael Morhaime, and Allen Adham. Morhaime departed in 2018, while Adham remains with the company as a senior vice president. Adham had previously departed for more than a decade before returning in 2016.
The prize pool for The International 2019—the de facto Dota 2 world championship—has topped $30M USD to date, beating the prize pool for the Fortnite World Cup finals, which took place last weekend in New York. As of this writing, The International’s prize pool sits at $30.9M, which beats the 2018 record of $25.5M. The prize pool can continue to grow for another month, as well, until the end of the actual tournament on August 25.
The International’s prize pool primarily comes via crowdfunding. Dota 2 publisher Valve contributes the first $1.6M, with the remainder provided by a percentage of sales from the game’s Battle Pass.
Sponsorships and Partnerships Round-Up
The NBA 2K League today announced a partnership with Tencent Holdings which will see the Chinese multinational investment holding conglomerate stream shortened versions of this season’s Playoffs and Finals games via its online platforms; Tencent Sports, Tencent Video, and Tencent News. The portals collectively have hundreds of millions of daily users, according to a release.
The Pittsburgh Knights have announced a strategic partnership with Grammy-nominated rapper Cameron “Wiz Khalifa” Thomaz. Thomaz will share his experience on such subjects as live events, marketing, entertainment, and creative direction. The team is also selling a jersey-style t-shirt featuring Khalifa’s name and branding.
In addition Carvana, Red Bull, the U.S. Army, Kraken Rum, and MSI have signed on with the Pittsburgh Knights as event sponsors. The five brands will debut with activations during the Replay FX expo on August 1-4, to be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.
German organization mousesports has announced a new partnership with gaming peripherals maker Razer, which will see the team’s players use the company’s products during competition. This is actually the second partnership for the companies, as Razer and mousesports were previously aligned with a partnership that began in 2009.
