Your Gaming and Esports Update

Deals

Artis Capital Management Launches $100M Esports Fund

Artist Capital Management has closed a $100 million fund for investing in esports. The fund is called the Artist Esports Edge Fund, and it is aimed at getting institutional investors a chance to reap some of the potential rewards of esports investments. Artist Capital Management isn’t new to the space and has previously invested in 100 Thieves and Washington Esports Ventures (owner of the Washington Justice team in the Overwatch League). With a 10-year duration of capital, the Edge Fund said it plans to partner with esports companies for the long term. The fund also has a flexible mandate and can invest across stages and in both primary and secondary securities.

Hitmarker Crushed Crowd Funding Goal

UK-based esports job platform Hitmarker raised 250% of its equity crowdfunding target in just six days. The target of the campaign was £80,000 for 4 percent equity, though the company set a cap of £200,000 for 9.43 percent equity and successfully met it. The company now plans to double the number of full-time employees it has from five to 10 as it expands further into the gaming industry. According to EsportsInsider, “405 investors from 37 countries got involved in the crowdfunding, with the average value of investment coming to £500. Over the period of six days that the campaign ran for, Hitmarker received an average of one investment every 20 minutes.”

Epic Games Acquires Quixel

Epic Games has acquired Quixel, the firm behind the photogrammetry asset library Megascans, for an undisclosed amount. Following the acquisition, Quixel is making Megascans free to use on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4, with the asset library’s companion applications Bridge 2020 and Mixer 2020 also becoming available at no charge. Quixel was established in 2011 and is based in Stockholm, with over 100 staff members spread across the company’s six offices. Aside from video gaming, the Quixel library of over 10,000 assets has also been used in film production, with notable examples including The Lion King, Black Panther, and Pacific Rim: Uprising.

Flavourworks Closes €3.5M Round

Flavourworks — the studio bringing movies and games together — has secured £3 million (€3.5 million approx.) in funding to further deepen its patent-pending cross-platform Touch Video technology and to expand the studio to work on an exciting pipeline of new games. The Series A funding round has been led by Hiro Capital. Jack Attridge and Pavle Mihajlovic founded Flavourworks on London’s Silicon Roundabout in 2015 with a vision of bringing interactive stories to filmed content for a global audience. Flavourworks’ first title, Erica, has recently been published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and is available on the PlayStation 4 now, with mobile launches following soon. Check out the trailer video here below.

Updates

Ewok Leaves Twitch For Mixer

The battle for viewers continues as Mixer signs another streamer away from Twitch. Popular Fortnite streamer and FaZe Clan competitive player Soleil “Ewok” Wheeler has left Twitch to exclusively stream on Mixer. The exact date for her first Mixer stream hasn’t been revealed, but it’ll take place sometime in November. The 14-year-old is known to be a highly-skilled Fortnite player. Although she’s deaf, Ewok has continued to impress fans with her skills and has proven herself to be one of the best female Fortnite pros. This marks the fourth time a popular streamer has signed with Mixer, but don’t expect it to be the last.

Craig Fletcher, Parliament Hopeful, Supports Esports

Craig Fletcher has launched a plan that details how he’d support the games and esports industries if he was to make it into Parliament. The Liberal Democrats’ Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Romsey & Southampton North worked in gaming and esports prior to his candidacy. Fletcher has announced that he would expand the UK Games Fund from its current cap of £1 million per year, improve the broadband infrastructure for the nation, defend video games tax relief, implement visa clarity for esports, and educate politicians about the benefits of both industries. He founded games and esports event management company Multiplay in 1997, serving as its CEO until 2016. When the company was acquired by GAME Digital late in the year, he held the position of SVP Esports and Competitive Gaming Strategy until December 2017.

Kraft Group To Open Esports Arena at Patriot Place

Overwatch League team Boston Uprising and Helix esports will open an 18,000-square-foot esports complex at Patriot Place in Foxborough this January, marking the first gaming center adjacent to a major professional sporting venue, the Kraft Group said Wednesday. The Boston Uprising practice facility and Helix esports gaming center will feature 100 gaming stations with personal computers, gaming and network infrastructure, and 30 public gaming consoles open to the public. Kraft Group owns and operates Boston Uprising, which is one of 20 esports franchises competing in the Overwatch League.

New Game Releases (Credit: GameSpot)

1. Romancing SaGa 3 — November 11(PS4, Xbox One, PC, Vita): Romancing SaGa 3 is releasing outside of Japan for the first time since its 1995 debut. This RPG has been gussied up with better graphics, an extra dungeon, more story content, and a New Game Plus mode. You can choose from one of eight protagonists and start saving the world on the original game’s 24th birthday.
2. Doctor Who: The Edge of Time — November 12 (PS4, PC): While it is based on the super-popular BBC series, this VR game doesn’t actually have you play as the Doctor herself. She’s been kidnapped, so it’s up to you, her companion, to rescue her. To do that, you’ll have to pilot the TARDIS and confront classic Doctor Who bad guys like Daleks and Weeping Angels.
3. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition— November 14(PC): The PC strategy staple is back, sporting a lovely coat of 4K paint. This remaster also includes new content called “The Last Khans,” which adds four new civilizations, bringing the total to a whopping 35. Couple that with three new campaigns, and you’ve got tons of possible war strategies to devise.
4. Pokemon Sword & Shield — November 15 (Switch): By this point, you probably know what you’re getting with a Pokemon game, but Sword & Shield are mixing things up. The new Galar Region has its own variants of classic Pokemon like Weezing and Ponyta, plus region-specific evolutions for Farfetch’d and Linoone. Sword & Shield also introduce new giant, kaiju-like monsters called Dynamax Pokemon, some of which can even change form, known as Gigantamax Pokemon.
5. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order — November 15 (PS4, Xbox One, PC): It might sound cliche, but Fallen Order’s combat really does feel like the Dark Souls games. In fact, if you die, you’ll have to defeat the last enemy you fought to regain your lost XP, a la Bloodborne. It’s pretty fitting that this original Star Wars story is challenging, since protagonist Cal Kestis is one of the few surviving Jedi Padawans after Order 66.

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