Your Gaming and Esports Update
Deals
LIV Closes $2.6M in Funding
Mixed reality game streaming platform LIV has secured $2.6 million in Series A funding to expand its development team and integrate more third-party studios. The funding round was led by video game and esports VC Fund, Hiro Capital, and backed up by Credo Ventures and Seedcamp. LIV was founded in 2016 by AJ Shewki, Steffan Donal, and friends — a team of ex-competitive gamers, Twitch streamers, and game developers who tried early VR HMDs and became convinced of VR’s huge potential in the future of Entertainment and Esports. Yet when they tried to broadcast their adventures in VR, they found the spectator experience was broken.
ISFE Gets Approval for €50M
The Finance Committee of the German Bundestag has decided to spend 50 million euro to promote game development in Germany. According to Fudzilla, the introduction of games funding at the federal level was already agreed upon in the coalition agreement between government parties CDU, CSU, and SPD. Last year, the German Bundestag allocated a budget of 50 million euro, located at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, for this exact purpose for the first time. 380 project proposals were submitted to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure for the pilot phase of games funding. A further 295 companies are already waiting with concrete projects for an EU notification of the final funding directive.
FanAI Closes $8M
FanAI, an analytics startup that works with esports sponsors and marketers to measure and optimize how effective their spending is, today announced it wrapped up its Series A funding round with an extra $8 million in investment that will be used to grow the business. The funding was led by Marubeni Corporation, with additional participation from Allectus Capital, CRCM Ventures, Courtside Ventures, GC Tracker Fund, M Ventures, Sterling VC, and GFR Fund. One thing to note is that some esports and gaming investors from the seed round, including BITKRAFT Esports Ventures and Everblue, did not participate. To date, FanAI has brought in more than $12.5 million in funding. Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate with wide-ranging interests in food sales, agriculture, chemicals, real estate, finance, and more, said its Next Generation Business Development group was viewing FanAI as “a strategic partner for the APAC region to bring leading platform analytics to that market.”
BetProtocol Raises $3M
BetProtocol, a blockchain startup that looks to be the “Ethereum of Gaming” has brought in around 3 million in token sales from a private offering, reports The Block. They’re trying to pitch the fact that developers can create decentralized apps (dApps), or in this case, decentralized games, without any coding experience. Lead Investor, Neo Global Capital (NCG) Ventures, said “Our vision is that gaming is one of the top use cases for blockchain technology adoption. By providing an easy way to set up and launch new gaming applications, BetProtocol is well-positioned to become one of the top players of the space.”
Updates
Esports Awards 2019 Results
Here are some of the winners of the Esports Awards 2019 (Source: Dexerto)
Cosplayer of the Year: LittleJem
Esports Publisher of the Year: Riot Games
Esports Videographer of the Year: Logan Dodson
Esports Supporting Agency of the Year: Loaded
Esports Play of the Year: S3xycake
Esports Caster of the Year: Henry “HenryG” Greer
Esports Journalist of the Year: Richard Lewis
Esports Game of the Year: League of Legends
NBA Star, Tony Parker, To Be Ambassador for Game Shakers Awards
Former basketball star and entrepreneur Tony Parker will be the ambassador for the third edition of the Game Shakers Awards during Esports BAR Cannes, the three-day conference hosted by Reed Midem, the organizer of MipTV, Mipcom, and Midem. Parker, who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA, will succeed former Formula One star Jean Alesi as the ambassador of the Game Shakers Awards. Parker will “emphasize the importance of the development of education and esports” during the ceremony in Cannes, Reed Midem said. Earlier this year, Parker also launched the Tony Parker Adéquat Academy in Lyon, France, to help give young people educational and employment opportunities.
Atlanta Esports Ventures Secures Atlanta Reign Headquarters
Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp has announced that Atlanta Esports Ventures will locate the headquarters of Atlanta Reign in Midtown Atlanta. The facility is said to aid “in the creation of forty-five new jobs and an investment of $100,000,000” to help develop esports’ growing ecosystem in Atlanta. While the official release did not detail the exact location of the new facility, an October 22 report by Bisnow documents the purchase of a 13,200 sq foot commercial property in West Midtown Atlanta under the name Atlanta Reign. Officials with Cox Enterprises and Province, Inc. declined to comment at the time of the purchase, which rang in at $2.27M according to CoStar records.
High School Esports League Partners with GameWorks
High School Esports League has entered a partnership with entertainment company GameWorks to bolster its collegiate esports efforts. The deal will see GameWorks offer its seven venues to High School Esports League, letting its members to practice and compete. This deal was put together with the aim of helping students improve their gaming abilities, providing them with organized and scheduled practices at GameWorks’ locations. In January of this year, the company announced it would be opening lounges in Norfolk, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Cincinnati, joining its existing venues in Denver, Las Vegas, and Seattle.
New Game Releases (Credit: GameSpot)
- Shenmue 3— November 19 (PS4, PC): Shenmue 3 isn’t the end of Ryo Hazuki’s story, but fans of the Sega Dreamcast classic have been waiting a long time for the next chapter nonetheless. The third game picks up in a small fishing village in China, where Ryo continues to track down his father’s killer. Expect the usual dose of mini-games and intriguing characters as you explore the open world.
- Munchkin: Quacked Quest — November 19 (PC, Switch): Quacked Quest is based on the Munchkin card game, which is not just about fighting monsters and scoring loot — backstabbing your friends is just as important. This procedurally-generated dungeon-crawler operates the same way. You can fight your way through castles and caverns in co-op, but there are lots of opportunities to turn on the party and steal all the gold for yourself.
- Black Future ‘88— November 21 (PC, Switch): Munchkin isn’t the only procedurally generated adventure dropping this week. Black Future ’88 is set in a tower, and the layout changes each time you take another run to the top. Along the way, you’ll dodge lasers and fight bosses until you reach the architect on the highest floor. You can make a vertical run in local co-op too.
- Sniper: host Warrior Contracts— November 22 (PS4, Xbox One, PC): The latest in the Sniper: Ghost Warrior series drops you in Siberia, where you’ll have to take out targets in the concrete cities, snowy mountains, and deep forests. You can carry out your missions in a variety of ways, and the new AR mask opens up even more possibilities. You can use it to scan the environment, identifying weak points and objects of interest.
- Civilization 6— November 22 (PS4, Xbox One): Civ 6 has already made its way to mobile and Nintendo Switch, but now PS4 and Xbox One players are getting a chance to lead their nation to military, technological, and cultural victories. PS4 players even get three Scenario Packs thrown in for free. That’s on top of the 18 nations you can choose in the base game.
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