Mark Cai’s Post

ESL FACEIT Group - EFG has announced a $22 million commitment to Counter-Strike (CS) esports over the course of 2025 and 2026, in alignment with Valve corporation’s updated operational guidelines for CS esports. The $22 million allocation will be in addition to the hospitality allocation for each event, which already includes accommodation, flights, practice setups, and on-site hospitality. EFG’s 2025 calendar will see a variety of events including IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League, Season 21 + 22, IEM Spring, IEM Dallas, IEM Cologne, and IEM Chengdu, some of which are deemed ESL Pro Tour (EPT) Masters competitions. Tickets sales for IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne will also go live later in October of this year. Additional details around events and the overall 2025/2026 calendar will be released at a different time. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

Hitting 1 billion in anything is pretty remarkable - a person on average doesn’t even take 1 billion breaths in their lifetime. So MOONTON’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League hitting over 1 billion hours watched in the history of its esports series is definitely something to note. According to Iarfhlaith Dempsey of Esports Charts & Streams Charts, this league has surpassed the League of Legends World Championship and many other esports series in terms of total hours watched (albeit Worlds is only 1 million hours watched away from the coveted 1 billion too). Indonesia and the Philippines have emerged as key markets for viewership in ML:BB esports, which has significantly boosted viewership to the series. Esports Charts contextualizes ML:BB’s achievement in the mobile gaming industry to quadruple the viewership of the PUBG Mobile Pro League, which had about the same air time. Congrats to the MOONTON GAMES’ team and all the ML:BB esports fans out there for contributing to this milestone. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

Guild Gaming has officially been acquired by DCB Sports for £100,000 after its August announcement earlier this year. DCB Sports has acquired 100% of Guild Esports assets in exchange for assuming all disclosed liabilities of the company which stand in excess of £2 million, according to the investor note. According to the release “DCB Sports will assume and run the Guild brand through a new entity, Guild Esports and Gaming Ltd., and will be responsible for providing the necessary future working capital to allow the business to operate from a stable financial platform, and further develop its existing partnerships with studios and creatives domestically and abroad”. The company’s name will also change to Cassel Capital PLC to avoid confusion with Guild Esports and Gaming Ltd. With this, CEO Jasmine Skee will resign from the company and step down from the board to pursue new opportunities. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

Bungie and NetEase have revealed Destiny: Rising, the newest free-to-play mobile shooter that goes into a closed alpha test in the near future. Scheduled to begin closed alpha testing on November 1st, 2024, the game will be launched in USA and Canada only with randomly selected pre-registrants getting access. The game will be released on both Android and iOS, with publishing/development being done by NetEase while Bungie will provide the license to the sci-fi IP. Set in an alternate timeline, the game will “explore a narrative in the post-Dark Age era” with both PvE co-op and pvP competitive modes being integrated. The trailer on both the IGN and Destiny Rising YouTube channels have garnered 300K+ views thus far and have mixed feedback in the comments, mostly commenting on how the gameplay looks too good to be true for mobile. Will be interesting to see how the alpha, beta, and launch of the game goes for mobile. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

Riot Games’ League of Legends World Championship 2024 will soon enter the Knockout (playoff) Stage, though lots of exciting action has already occurred according to analysis from Dmytro Murko of Esports Charts & Streams Charts. Specifically in the Swiss Stage this past week, the matchup between G2 Esports and T1 Entertainment & Sports hit a peak of over 3 million concurrent viewers. This is a new record for group stage viewership at Worlds, resulting from a spike in interest from Korean fans during the Swiss Stage. While Brazilian and Spanish viewership dropped off after paiN Gaming and MAD Lions KOI were knocked out of the tournament, other matches with an English & Korean presence saw an uptick. This T1 vs. G2 match is the second most watched match between these two teams, only behind the Worlds 2019 semifinals when they faced off against each other. The all time viewership record for LoL esports stands with Worlds 2023 during the T1 vs. Weibo Gaming grand final, peaking at over 6.4 million viewers. Will that record be broken again this year? It remains to be seen. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

Workforce Shifts 🔥 This Week in Esports/Gaming 🔥 10.7-10.13, 2024 🏆Top Three🏆 - Konami Digital Entertainment x FIFA - Adam Apicella (SVP, Esports North America) → ESL FACEIT Group - EFG - Judge ordered Google Play Store to allow to third-party app stores 🤝 Partnerships 🤝 - Complexity Gaming x Glorious - Trovo x SideQuest Meta LTD - WPP x Roblox - Porsche Cars North America x Feature  - Twisted Minds x Riyadh Season | موسم الرياض 💸Finance + M&A💸 - KRAFTON Inc. secured rights for Palworld mobile game - Windwalk raised a $4.5M round 🏢Workforce🏢 - Danny Tang (CEO), Luying Wang, CPA (CFO) take on new roles at VSPO - Anna Baumann (Strategic Advisor) → Get In - Teemu Koski appointed Chief Growth Officer at YaLLa Esports - Dan Pantumsinchai (MD of Gaming, APAC) → dentsu - Juan Diego Garcia Squetino appointed CEO at GGTech Entertainment America - Jakob Hansen appointed new Interim CEO at Astralis - Adam Mundie (Director, Gaming & Esports) → Wasserman - Nicola Piggott (Sr. Director, Comms) → Electronic Arts (EA) 🆕New Stuff 🆕 - Epic Games’ plans for mobile game store - SIDO launched new LoL Path2pro program - Parma Calcio 1913 entered VALORANT esports Follow #MoreMark for more #Business recaps in #Gaming and #Esports!

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration is working with content creators to cover the launch of the Europa Clipper spacecraft! The spacecraft will collect data on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to determine if it could support life. NASA is collaborating with SpaceX for this launch, and are targeting a launch around mid October from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. So where do creators come into this? NASA put out a blog post that will allow a maximum of 50 creators to attend the two day event and be “given access similar to news media”. Creators will be able to view the launch, tour NASA facilities, meet and interact with Europa Clipper subject matter experts, and meet fellow space enthusiast content creators. NASA aims to educate and excite viewers about space and push their audience to a younger crowd beyond traditional publications. With NASA being a U.S. government organization, public support is essential for funding - this seems to be a tactic to drive that support further. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

FIFA has partnered with Konami Digital Entertainment to continue its FIFAe World Cup esports event. FIFA previously ran this esports competition with Electronic Arts (EA) but the partnership came to an end in 2022 after 29 years together. This new Konami x FIFA deal will see two FIFAe World Cup tournaments within the eFootball game series take place this year, with one on mobile and the other on console. 18 countries have been invited to take part in the final events including Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, England, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand, and Turkey. With eFootball reaching over 700M downloads worldwide since 2019, there seems to be a large audience here to drive this competition and to continue the esports series. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

Notable advertising firm WPP has announced a new partnership with Roblox. This global collaboration will see a joint advisory council develop 3D measurement standards, along with Roblox sprint days and certification program for WPP clients. WPP aims to guide brands through the evolving media landscape of immersive media and gaming to reach the Gen Z demographic. As a result, WPP and GroupM will join the official Roblox Partner Program as an agency partner to establish a long-term measurement advisory relationship. The two groups will also work together to develop innovative ways for WPP’s creative agencies to utilize Roblox’s platform. Congrats to Rob Reilly, Stephanie Latham, Andrew Meaden, and many others across the two companies. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

The University at Albany recently announced its new 4,000 square foot esports arena to support its UAlbany Esports initiative. The arena includes 36 Lenovo Legion gaming PCs as well as console stations with PlayStation 5’s and Nintendo Switches. There are also two casual gaming areas, as well as a broadcast and media content creation room for students covering live esports events. Both competitive players and general students can use the arena, with general student use being open between 5-10pm daily. For reference, the University of Albany announced its plans to build the gaming facility in 2022 alongside its $1,000 merit scholarship. John Macone took over as UAlbany’s new esports director this year, where he will lead 90+ students and around 12 esports teams. Great to see more collegiate initiatives in the gaming & esports space! Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!