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VSPO to Host its Esports Asian Champions League in China
Chinese esports operator VSPO has announced plans to host the Esports Asian Champions League (ACL) in China in 2025.
- Chinese esports operator VSPO announced it will host the Esports Asian Champions League (ACL) in China in 2025.
- The ACL will operate under a dedicated foundation, with VSPO co-founder Wang Xinyi serving as CEO and co-founder Xie Fan as president.
- The league is positioned as a partner to the Esports World Cup (EWC), with HRH Prince Faisal serving as honorary president and discussions underway regarding the ACL serving as an Asian qualifier for the EWC.
League of Legends Esports Global Power Rankings
Riot Games has introduced a new League of Legends Esports Global Power Rankings system, developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services.
- Riot Games is launching a new League of Legends Esports Global Power Rankings system in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to debut during the Worlds 2024 tournament.
- The rankings engine uses a blended Elo metric, weighting individual team performance at 80% and the strength of their respective regional leagues at 20%.
- The system updates daily and incorporates game-based resolution, meaning rankings are recalculated after every individual game played within a series.
Riot Details Tier-1, Tier-2 Format for Americas League
Riot Games has unveiled the structural framework for the new Americas League, a consolidated professional League of Legends ecosystem launching in 2025.
- Riot Games is consolidating the LCS, CBLoL, and LLA into a single 'Americas League' starting in 2025, featuring a new structure of North and South conferences.
- The North Conference will consist of eight teams, comprising six existing LCS teams, one LLA team, and one guest spot for a Tier-2 team, with matches hosted at the Riot Studios in Los Angeles.
- The Tier-1 season will feature three splits, with the first split utilizing a 'Full Fearless Draft' format and the final split determining three slots for the Worlds tournament.
Patron Reveals $100M USD Fund II
Patron, an early-stage venture capital firm, has officially launched its second investment vehicle, Fund II, totaling $100 million USD.
- Venture capital firm Patron has raised $100 million for its second fund, aimed at supporting early-stage startups in the gaming and technology sectors.
- Patron has already deployed capital from the new fund into four undisclosed startups.
- The fund is backed by institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, and family offices, alongside prominent individual investors such as Marc Andreessen and Garry Tan.
TWiG #296: THE RETURN OF LONG LOST HOST + Black Myth Wukong Goes Ape Shit and Stormgate Flops
The global gaming industry is currently navigating a period of intense volatility characterized by shifting player engagement patterns and the unsustainable escalation of AAA production costs.
- The gaming industry is facing a crisis of unsustainable AAA production costs and a stagnant hardware install base, forcing a shift away from traditional $70 premium models toward shorter, high-impact experiences or live-service ecosystems.
- Black Myth: Wukong has shattered Steam records, demonstrating the massive, untapped influence of the Chinese market on global commercial performance.
- Market performance is increasingly polarized, evidenced by the commercial failure of the RTS title Stormgate due to poor execution, contrasted with the success of EA’s College Football 25, which leveraged brand nostalgia and strategic bundling.
Riot Games Reveals Plans for Valorant Champions Tour in 2025
Riot Games has outlined its strategic roadmap for the 2025 Valorant Champions Tour (VCT), focusing on global expansion, structural adjustments to the competitive ecosystem, and a refined tournament calendar.
- The 2025 Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) will feature three major global events: Masters in Bangkok (February), Masters in Toronto (June), and the season-ending Champions tournament in Paris.
- International league rosters will expand from 11 to 12 teams in 2025, with winning teams from the tier-2 Ascension circuit required to defend their spots at the end of the season.
- The 2025 season will run from January to October and introduce a new Championship Points system to determine qualification for the year-end Champions event.
Riot Games Promotes John Needham to President of Publishing & Esports
Riot Games has initiated a strategic organizational restructuring to better integrate its gaming, esports, music, and storytelling divisions.
- Riot Games has promoted John Needham to the newly created role of President of Publishing & Esports, where he will oversee publishing, esports, international operations, platform technology, and music.
- The company is establishing dedicated internal studios for animation and live-action production to expand its intellectual property beyond the success of the animated series Arcane.
- Christian Linke has been appointed to lead the new animation studio, continuing his work on Arcane in collaboration with Fortiche Production.
G2 Esports Names Mathieu Lacrouts Head of Media House
G2 Esports has appointed Mathieu Lacrouts as the new head of its Media House division, a strategic move aimed at broadening the organization’s brand reach beyond traditional gaming and esports.
- G2 Esports has appointed Mathieu Lacrouts as the new Head of its Media House division to lead a strategic expansion beyond traditional gaming and esports.
- Lacrouts’ appointment coincides with the official closure of Hurrah, the gaming and esports marketing agency he founded in 2015.
- The Media House division operates as a work-for-hire entertainment unit, providing advertising services and content creation for blue-chip brands, rightsholders, and game publishers.
Esports in Germany: In a Global Context
The whitepaper titled "Esports in Germany – In a Global Context" serves as a comprehensive, 100-page examination of the German esports landscape.
- Berlin International Gaming (BIG) and PwC Germany have released a 100-page whitepaper titled 'Esports in Germany – In a Global Context' to analyze the current state and future of the German esports market.
- The publication provides an in-depth assessment of the industry, including market trends, expert opinions, and future scenarios for the German esports sector.
- The project was developed with contributions from industry stakeholders, including ESL FACEIT Group, Team Vitality, Riot Games, SPORTFIVE, and Shikenso Analytics.
David Meltzer Joins Global Gaming League Board
Global Gaming League has appointed David Meltzer, founder of Sports 1 Marketing and host of The Playbook podcast, to its board of directors.
- David Meltzer, founder of Sports 1 Marketing, has joined the board of directors for the Global Gaming League.
- Meltzer joins a board that includes chairman Jeff Hoffman (founder of Priceline.com) and record executive Jermaine Dupri.
- The Global Gaming League is a venture focused on the intersection of gaming, culture, and competition, led by CEO and founder Clinton Sparks.
Global Head of LoL Esports Naz Aletaha Announces Exit from Riot Games
Naz Aletaha, the Global Head of League of Legends Esports at Riot Games, has announced her departure from the company.
- Naz Aletaha, the Global Head of League of Legends Esports, has announced her departure from Riot Games after a 12.5-year tenure.
- Aletaha will remain with the company for several months to manage a leadership transition before officially exiting in the fall.
- Chris Greeley, who has been with Riot Games for nearly eight years and has overseen League of Legends Esports strategy for the past two, will take over leadership of the division.
Gamers Lounge Teams With Riot Games for MEA
Cairo-based gaming organization Gamers Lounge has entered a strategic partnership with Riot Games to serve as its official creative arm for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.
- Cairo-based agency Gamers Lounge has been appointed as the official creative arm for Riot Games in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) for the 2024 calendar year.
- The partnership, which has been active since the start of 2024, tasks Gamers Lounge with promoting Riot Games' intellectual properties, including Valorant, League of Legends, and League of Legends: Wild Rift.
- Gamers Lounge is launching a 'Creative Hub' dedicated to graphic design, illustration, video production, and broadcast services to support Riot Games' regional vision.
