The IOC today began its first-ever Olympic Esports Week, including an Opening Ceremony that saw IOC President Thomas Bach -- appearing as a hologram -- welcoming players. Over 20,000 tickets have been sold for the event in Singapore, which will see top gamers compete in 10 events (cycling, archery, sailing, dance, baseball, chess, tennis, shooting, motorsports and taekwondo). Some of the games being used are familiar to casual gamers, such as Just Dance, Tennis Clash, Fortnite and Gran Turismo. While there are no plans yet to include video games in the actual Olympics, it's a step in the right direction for the IOC, which, like a number of sports properties, has struggled to keep younger viewers interested in the biennial Games. -- Austin Karp
Misfits not exiting franchised esports, but rebrand reflects deeper dive into creator economy
Misfits this week unveiled a rebrand for the esports organization, a move that new Chief Media Officer Sam Toles tells SBJ is among the final elements of a business pivot started last year toward the creator economy.
Misfits’ 2022 sale of its League of Legends European Championship franchise slot freed up capital for the company to pivot into a more “playful” brand -- one that isn’t explicitly focused on competition and leans into the community aspects of gaming. Creative agency Paper Crowns assisted with the brand refresh.
Sportfive also will continue to assist Misfits on sponsor development and integration across all divisions of the organization (on a non-exclusive basis).
“This has ultimately been the seed that we’ve been watering,” Toles says. He added that there have been conversations with the internal revenue team to define the way they’re selling inventory -- meaning through "community" efforts, not competition. Toles is tapping into his experience as the former chief content officer at Bleacher Report for this sort of pivot. Toles calls Misfits' new logo a “living emoji,” built to reflect the new direction of the company.
While Toles says there are "no plans" to exit franchise slots in the Overwatch League, Call of Duty League and Valorant (women’s roster), the competition element of Misfits' business isn’t at the forefront any longer. Instead, it’s Misfits' $20 million " Creator Fund ," part of which was funded by the sale of their League of Legends Europe slot, according to Toles. “The selling of the LEC slot ultimately gave us the capital to go invest in a part of the business that we felt was white space.”
The company is now split up into three divisions:
- Media and entertainment (run by Toles)
- Roblox and Minecraft (focused on bespoke “TubNet” Minecraft server and Roblox-focused content production studio “Pixel Playground")
- Competitive teams (OWL, CDL, Valorant)
Misfits' goal is to continue growing its already substantial audience. Creators on the Misfits roster include Karl Jacobs (over 33 million combined followers), AustinShow (over 3 million) and QTCinderella (over 2 million). -- Hunter Cooke
Attendance, viewership, brand activation strong for Call of Duty League in Vegas
The Call of Duty League broke viewership and attendance records for its 2023 League Championship in Las Vegas last weekend, which streamed on Twitch and was held at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. Exact four-day attendance numbers were still being crunched by event organizers at presstime, but CDL leading into the event had doubled the tickets sold compared to last year in L.A. at Galen Center.
Data from Esports Charts shows that the CDL Championship averaged 175,828 viewers (peaking at 294,178). That's up from 104,621 viewers last year.
There also was healthy brand activation on-site in Vegas. Scuf Gaming told SBJ that the gaming controller and peripheral manufacturer sold out of popular team controllers on Day 2 (themed controllers for OpTic Gaming, FaZe, and L.A. Thieves were the first to go). Upper Deck’s lines were long at the event, as those in attendance looked to purchase physical trading cards with a digital NFT counterpart. Attendees could also make their own trading card using Upper Deck’s card creation booth, free of charge. Monster Energy was giving away product at a makeshift gaming and performance area where fans could play a basketball shooting game and then watch a breakdancing crew take center stage.
Other buzz surrounding the event was that both participants and fans appeared to have favorable opinions about the championship being held in Vegas. -- Kevin Hitt
Speed reads
- Mastercard will expand its long-standing esports sponsorship with Riot Games to now include global events on the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT), reports SBJ's Kevin Hitt.
- In this week’s Athlete’s Voice, F1 driver Lando Norris, who created his own esports outfit dubbed Quadrant, talked to SBJ's Joe Lemire about the role tech has played in his racing career, from video games and simulators to his attempts to help the team innovate with the car.
- The long runway for first CS2 Major is giving PGL and IMG ample time to creatively commercialize media rights, notes SBJ's Hunter Cooke.
- After half a season's absence from active play in the Overwatch League, the Chinese franchise Chengdu Hunters "have decided to leave the League completely," reports GGRecon.