eSports

British Esports Announces Further Investment in Sunderland

Published

1 year ago

March 21, 2023

Reading Time: 2 minutes

British Esports has announced its plans to increase investment in the state-of-the-art National Esports Performance Campus (NEPC), the UK’s most advanced esports and education performance and training centre.

To complement the globally-recognised esports facilities, capable of attracting and developing the UK’s very best esports and creative talent, British Esports has announced it has now acquired a multi-purpose entertainment venue, as well as brand new esports and gaming accommodation.

Combined with the multi-functional sporting, creative and educational facility, the National Esports Performance Campus, now a multi-site venue, represents a multi-million-pound investment in the city of Sunderland and takes the total footprint to over 30,000 sq.ft.

Located within easy reach of the NEPC, the hub and the Grade II listed townhouses are situated in a conservation area, first established in the 17th century. Split over four floors and currently undergoing extensive renovation and internal refurbishment to restore them to separate residential dwellings, the esports and gaming houses are scheduled to open in late Spring 2023.

Providing accommodation for up to 25 people, the fully self-contained properties will feature separate living and leisure areas, plus a cutting edge digital performance and gaming room, kitted out with the very latest in gaming and creative technology.

Designed to stimulate team and player performance as well as a healthy, balanced lifestyle, the fully managed accommodation alongside the National Esports Performance Campus will seek to deliver greater success on the international esports stage.

The National Esports Performance Campus, scheduled to open in late 2023, is an 11,000 sq.ft esports training and educational complex, split across two floors, featuring state-of-the art creative, educational, coaching and training facilities, with provision for over 150 students.

The venue will feature the very latest in digital and computing technology, a 100 seater esports arena, dedicated esports stage, classrooms, performance and training rooms, broadcast and content production facilities, sim racing and much more.

As a founding member of the Global Esports Federation, British Esports will be the first amongst its 120 members to have its own dedicated esports campus, ensuring that the UK is continuing to lead the development of esports education, infrastructure and opportunity.

“We are proud to be making a significant investment in Sunderland and the North East with a new multi-site venue capable of attracting and developing the digital forward society of tomorrow. We are excited to be developing infrastructure for the UK esports ecosystem, but, as part of the UK’s national levelling up campaign, we are equally thrilled that the people of the North East will have an incredible facility on their doorstep,” said Andy Payne OBE, Chair, British Esports.

“Sunderland is a hugely ambitious city, and one that fully embraces the transformative power of digital to bring communities together, so it is fitting that a sport that is built on digital and technology is investing so significantly here. British Esports’ investment in Riverside Sunderland with its Performance Campus and in Sunniside with the gaming accommodation, fits perfectly with our regeneration programme, which is transforming both of these parts of the city centre, and we’re delighted to be working closely with them to support them with their plans,” said Councillor Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council.

eSports

Everything you need to know ahead of ESL Pro League Season 19

Published

5 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Peter Tolan

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Reading Time: 3 minutes

The ESL Pro League (EPL) returns to St. Julian’s, Malta, for Season 19 on April 23 – May 12, 2024. The world’s biggest Counter-Strike league will see teams from around the world arrive on-site for three weeks of non-stop action, and only one team will emerge victorious as Champions.

Here is all you need to know about ESL Pro League Season 19

The 19th Season of the ESL Pro League will see the 32 best Counter-Strike teams compete for a total prize pool of $750,000, a win in the race to secure Intel® Grand Slam V, and a spot at IEM Cologne 2024. Commencing on April 23, contenders from around the globe will face off in Malta for a spot in the Playoffs. There, the six best teams will compete live in front of an intimate live audience at the InterContinental Malta on May 10 – 12, 2024.

Starting with the upcoming season, EPL will see some improvements to its schedule. While the number of teams and the tournament structure remain the same compared to recent seasons, the duration of the tournament has been adjusted to three weeks instead of five. To accommodate this change, two groups will be played simultaneously during the Group Stage, resulting in a more intense story for fans to follow.

Schedule and Format

Group Stage (April 23 – May 5):

Four groups of eight teams will compete in separate triple-elimination brackets
- All matches are best-of-three
The top four teams from each group will advance to the Playoffs
- Group Stage winners advance to the Quarterfinals
- The Group Stage runner-ups advance to the Round of 12
- The Group Stage third and fourth-place teams advance to the Round of 16

Playoffs (May 7 – 12):

The top sixteen teams will compete in a single-elimination bracket
- All matches will be best-of-three, excluding the Grand Final which will be best-of-five
- The third and fourth Quarterfinals, as well as both Semifinals and the Grand Final will be played out live on stage in front of an audience

Teams Attending

Astralis (Partner Team)
BIG (Partner Team)
Complexity (Partner Team)
ENCE (Partner Team)
FaZe Clan (Partner Team)
Fnatic (Partner Team)
FURIA (Partner Team)
G2 Esports (Partner Team)
HEROIC (Partner Team)
MOUZ (Partner Team)
Natus Vincere (Partner Team)
Ninjas in Pyjamas (Partner Team)
Team Liquid (Partner Team)
Team Vitality (Partner Team)
Monte (ESL Challenger Jönköping winner)
Virtus.pro (ESL Challenger Atlanta winner)
SAW (ESL World Ranking)
Team Falcons (ESL World Ranking)
GamerLegion (ESL World Ranking)
BetBoom Team (ESL World Ranking)
Eternal Fire (ESL World Ranking)
3DMAX (ECL S46 Europe winner)
FORZE (ECL S46 Europe runner-up)
M80 (ECL S46 North America winner)
BOSS (ECL S46 North America runner-up)
The MongolZ (ECL S46 Asia-Pacific winner)
TYLOO (ECL S46 Asia-Pacific runner-up)
Imperial Esports (South American Qualifier winners)
Sharks Esports (South American Qualifier winners)
Pera Esports (European Conference winner)
Bad News Kangaroos (Oceanic Qualifier winner)
FlyQuest (ANZ Champs winner)

Prize Money (USD)

TOTAL	$750,000
1st	$170,000
2nd	$80,000
3rd-4th	$45,000
5th-8th	$32,000
9th-12th	$23,500
13th-16th	$17,500
17th-20th	$12,000
21st-28th	$7,000
29th-32nd	$3,500

Broadcast Talent

Hosts
- “Tres “stunna” Saranthus
- Freya “Freya” Spiers
A Stream
- Jason “moses” O’Toole
- Janko “YNk” Paunović
- Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez
- Harry “Harry” Russell
- Hugo “Hugo” Byron
- Henry “Henry” Greer
- Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill
- Alex “Machine” Richardson
B Stream
- Neo “Ne0kai” Caine
- Harvey “Skriv” Rodgers
- Lucy “LucyLuce” Eastwood
- Brandon “BDog” Rawlings
- Travis “Trav” Landaw Mott

Where to Watch

The live broadcast will be available on FACEIT Watch, ESL FACEIT Group’s premier esports viewing platform created by esports fans for esports fans and open for all.

Featuring a unique multi-perspective view selector where users can watch their favorite player’s perspective directly next to the main event stream, a live chat, a kill cam, live-generated replays of key moments, a sound mixer, a rewards program, and more, FACEIT Watch revolutionises esports streaming by putting fans in control of their viewing experience.

Fans can also watch the action on the ESL Counter-Strike Twitch and YouTube channels. For those unable to tune in live, all matches will also be available to watch on-demand for free via YouTube.

For more information about ESL Pro League Season 19, and the latest updates on the event, please visit the official website, and follow ESL Counter-Strike on X, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post Everything you need to know ahead of ESL Pro League Season 19 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

eSports

HAWKS TALON GC SET FOR THE STEAL ON APRIL 19TH FOR CHANCE TO ENTER NBA 2K LEAGUE 3V3 PLAYOFF

Published

13 hours ago

April 19, 2024

GamingAmericas.com

hawks-talon-gc-set-for-the-steal-on-april-19th-for-chance-to-enter-nba-2k-league-3v3-playoff

Hawks Talon GC, the official NBA 2K League affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks, will begin play in the STEAL on Friday night against No. 14 Blazer5 Gaming at 7:30 p.m.

Talon collected 90 points over the SLAM and SWITCH, earning 60 points in the SLAM and 30 points in the SWITCH to earn the No. 3 seed heading into the STEAL.

Should Talon advance, they would play the winner of No. 6 Cavs Legion GC and No. 11 Hornets Venom GT on Saturday at 3:45 p.m., followed by the semifinals at 5:15 p.m., and the finals at 5:45 p.m. All games can be followed on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

“The STEAL is probably the toughest tournament in the 2K League, but the guys are locked in and ready to fight for their season,” said Hawks Talon head coach Ismael ‘MAELO’ Diaz Tolentino. “We are looking forward to going out there and proving that we belong amongst the best teams in the league. We were only a game away from clinching a playoff berth and we honestly think we are one of the teams to beat in this tournament.”

Talon owns a 4-4 record in bracket play thus far during the 2024 season over the SLAM and SWITCH opens, going 3-2 over the SLAM and 1-2 over the SWITCH.

The single elimination 3v3 tournament includes all 15 NBA 2K League teams that have not clinched a spot in the 3v3 playoffs, plus one community team from an open qualifier. The final two teams in the STEAL will earn a spot in the 3v3 playoffs beginning next week, with the winner receiving a winner-take-all cash prize.

Asia

Team ATK Oshun excels at 2024 Online Championships held on 13 April 2024

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

Mind Sports South Africa’s (MSSA) 2024 Online Championships held on 13 April 2024 showed sterling results.
The championship was yet another chance for many esports athletes to qualify for MSSA’s National Team Trials to be held on 25 May 2024 at which the team will be selected to officially represent South Africa at the African Qualifiers which lead up to IESF’s 16th World Esports Championships to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October and November 2024..

All Registered Players who have finished in the top three places, or the top 20% – whichever is greater, are entitled to enter trials.

However, it must be remembered that all players must have a valid passport to participate in the National Team Trials.

It was indeed exciting to watch just how much all the female teams have improved.

Team ATK Oshun (ATK Club Sport) being a female team astounded all with their skill and sportsmanship. The team demolished all ATK Club Sport opposition to ultimately won the premier event overall and qualify for the National Team trials to be held on 25 May 2025.

IESF’s 15th World Championships will be played to the following titles:

Counter-Strike 2
Counter-Strike 2 – Female division
DotA 2
eFootball
Mobile Legends, Bang Bang
Mobile Legends, Bang Bang – Female division
PUBGM

The high standard of play saw 37 Registered Players from six provinces being awarded Provincial Colours. Only Limpopo, Free State, and Northern Cape did not have Registered Players who did not earn provincial colours.

Title	Name of player/team	Club	Provincial Colours awarded
Clash Royale – Premier	Johan Coetzee	Middies	Mpumalanga
Clash Royale – High School	Aryan Maharaj	PR0NHS
Counter Strike: 2	ATK Oshun
	Kaylee Ludick	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
	Jessica Eleez Greeff	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
	Christin Brazier	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
	Megan van der Westhuizen	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
	Kayhla Rose Calder	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
DotA – Premier	ZAG DOTA 1
	Suhail Khan	ZAG Academy	Gauteng
	Travis John Waters	ZAG Academy	Western Cape
	Mark Kilian Lehle	ZAG Academy	Gauteng
	Mohammad Dhooma	ZAG Academy	Eastern Cape
	Nicholas Dammert	ZAG Academy	Gauteng
eFootball – Premier	Aslam Parker	PES Society	Gauteng
FIFA 24 – High School	Daiyaan Hendricks	PES Society	Western Cape
Mobile Legends – Premier	Mavericks
	Matthew Tatalias	Mavericks	Gauteng
	Damian Bransby	Mavericks	Western Cape
	Preshan Pillay	Mavericks	Gauteng
	Mohammad Azhar Ansari	Mavericks	KwaZulu Natal
	Taygan Gabriel	Mavericks	KwaZulu Natal
	Luke Green	Mavericks	Western Cape
Mobile Legends – Premier – Female	AHG
	Je’nielle Cavanagh	PES Society	Western Cape
	Inez Pringle	PES Society	Western Cape
	Salma Parker	PES Society	Western Cape
	Ra’isha Prout	PES Society	Western Cape
	Fatimah Prout	PES Society	Western Cape
	Mia Anthony	PES Society	Western Cape
PUBGM	Team uEnvy
	Richard Henry	ZAG Academy	Eastern Cape
	La-eeq Arendse	ZAG Academy	Western Cape
	Kyle Dudley	ZAG Academy	Western Cape
	Clayton Leak	ZAG Academy	Western Cape
Rocket League – Premier – 1 v 1 – Premier	Nathan Strange	Hoërskool Klerksdorp
Rocket League – Premier – 1 v 1 – High School	Luther Peens	Hoërskool Klerksdorp
Street Fightter V – Premier	Marnus van der Merwe	Hoërskool Klerksdorp	North West
Tekken 8	Stasch Cloeta	Team PlayBell	Western Cape
Valorant – Premier	TuksValorant
	Tapiwanashe Keith Matema	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Kyle Halvorsen	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Jaden Connor Swarts	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Ronald James Tyler Wheeldon	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Alejandro Luca Sartini-Kruger	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Armand Pierre van der Colf	TuksEsports	Gauteng
Sportsmanship Award	Je’nielle Cavanagh	PES Society