eSports

Skillz Launches $100,000 eSports Tournament

Published

11 months ago

August 9, 2018

Zoltan Tundik

Allgood Solitaire on iPad - Source: allgoodsw.com

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Leading Mobile eSports Platform Powers World’s Largest Solitaire Competition

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 8, 2018 – Skillz, the worldwide leader in mobile eSports, announced today the largest solitaire tournament in history. The event, which kicks off on August 9 in Solitaire Cube by Tether Studios, will feature a $100,000 prize pool. The company expects over 40,000 competitors to participate, with first place taking home $10,000.

“The popularity of solitaire made it a natural fit for Skillz, a platform that makes eSports accessible to everyone,” said Tim O’Neil, CEO of Tether Studios. “When we built Solitaire Cube, we never imagined we would one day host the largest competition in the most popular game of all time.”

Solitaire, also known as ‘patience,’ is one of the most popular video games in history. Microsoft’s Windows Solitaire was a 2017 finalist for the World Video Game Hall of Fame, with over 100 million unique players. Mobile versions of solitaire have been even more popular, with over 17 million people playing solitaire games every day according to data from App Annie. That makes solitaire more than 7 times as popular as the hit game Fortnite, which has 2.4 million daily active mobile players according to App Annie.

The upcoming Skillz event will not only be solitaire’s largest tournament by total prizes, but will also be among the eSports industry’s most inclusive with the top 1,000 players earning a piece of the prize pool. The unequal distribution of eSports prizes recently garnered industry attention when the winner of EVO’s Super Smash Bros. Melee competition redistributed his earnings to lower finishers in protest of the event’s prize splits.

“In keeping with our mission, we designed this event to be accessible to everyone,” said Andrew Paradise, CEO and founder of Skillz. “Only 24 teams had the opportunity to win prizes in the League of Legends World Championship, but for a game like solitaire with billions of players, the tournament structure needs to be more inclusive.”

Solitaire Cube is available for download on both iOS and Android devices. For more information on Skillz-enabled games and implementing mobile eSports competitions, visit www.skillz.com or email launch@skillz.com.

About Skillz
Skillz, the leading mobile eSports platform, connects the world’s 2.6 billion mobile gamers through competition. In 2017, Skillz was named the #1 fastest-growing private company in America by Inc. Magazine, the first eSports company on CNBC’s Disruptor 50, and the only eSports company on the San Francisco Business Times Fast 100. Over 15 million gamers use Skillz to compete in mobile games across 8,000+ game studios. Founded in 2012, Skillz is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by leading venture capitalists as well as the owners of the New England Patriots, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Mets and Sacramento Kings. To learn more, visit www.skillz.com.

Press Contact
Roxie Bostwick
Communications Lead
Skillz Inc.
pr@skillz.com

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Zoltan Tundik

After starting out as an affiliate in 2009 and developing some recognized review portals, I have moved deeper into journalism and media. My experience has lead me to move into the B2B sector and write about compliance updates and report around the happenings of the online and land based gaming sector.

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eSports

DouYu International Holdings Ltd Raises $775 Million in U.S. IPO

Published

11 hours ago

July 19, 2019

Niji Narayan

DouYu International Holdings Ltd Raises $775 Million in U.S. IPO

Photo Source: ft.com

Reading Time: 1 minute

DouYu International Holdings Ltd, a Chinese video-streaming service which is backed by the Tencent Holdings Ltd, has raised $775 million through an initial public offering in the U.S.

DouYu sold 67.39 million American depositary shares at $11.50 apiece, at the bottom of an indicative price range of $11.50 to $14 a share. The IPO values the company at nearly $4 billion, including restricted shares issued to employees under a share-based compensation program.

In 2018, around 683 million people or roughly half the country’s population, played games on phones, computers or game consoles. The market-research firm forecasts that number will reach 878 million or nearly a third of videogamers globally in 2023.

eSports

MTG Announces Investments in 7 Gaming and Esports Startups

Published

13 hours ago

July 19, 2019

Niji Narayan

MTG Announces Investments in 7 Gaming and Esports Startups

Photo Source: xconomy.com

Reading Time: 1 minute

Modern Times Group MTG AB has announced its latest VC Fund investments ahead of its Q2 financial report. Investments in the first half of 2019 amount to a total of USD 11 million including capital commitments and span start-up and growth companies in the US and Germany.

Among the investments are Redwood City-based Dorian, Austin based game developer Tonk Tonk Games, gamer rewards platform Playfull from Los Angeles, German game studio Sviper founded by Ex-InnoGamers and San Diego-based GoMeta.

MTG owns 100% of Swedish DreamHack and over 82% of German founded ESL, the two largest brands in esports worldwide. Its largest VC investments in terms of estimated value are BITKRAFT fund LP positions, AppOnboard, Phoenix Labs, the Play Ventures fund LP position and Sviper. It also owns majority positions in San Francisco-based game studio and publisher Kongregate and German game developer and publisher InnoGames.

“Gaming and esport is the future of entertainment, and we are excited to invest in what we believe are seven of the most promising early stage startups with excellent teams, products and ideas,” Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, President and CEO of MTG said.

“We are already seeing attractive valuation upticks based on latest financing rounds in our investments, such as Phoenix Labs, AppOnboard and the BITKRAFT seed fund. Deal flow and value creation opportunities continue to improve now that we have established MTG as a leading games & esports VC in the West,” Arnd Benninghoff, EVP of esports and games at MTG said.

eSports

2019 NBA 2K League Playoffs/Finals Credential Application Advisory

Published

15 hours ago

July 19, 2019

George Miller

2019 NBA 2K League Playoffs/Finals Credential Application Advisory

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Applications are now being accepted for working media credentials for the 2019 NBA 2K League Playoffs and 2019 NBA 2K League Finals. The playoffs will tip off Wednesday, July 24, with the best-of-three quarterfinals and semifinals taking place over three days of gameplay. The playoffs will culminate with the best-of-five 2019 NBA 2K League Finals on Saturday, August 3. All playoff games take place at the NBA 2K League Studio Powered by Intel in Long Island City, New York. To view the NBA 2K League schedule, click . To view the current NBA 2K League standings, click here.

To request credentials, all of the steps set forth below must be completed. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

All NBA 2K League Playoffs credential applications must be completed by Tuesday, July 23, 2019.

All NBA 2K League Finals credential applications must be completed by Thursday, August 1, 2019.

REQUESTING CREDENTIALS:

Editors/Directors: Media credentials must be requested by the Editor/Director for the applying news organization, who must designate credentials being requested and the name(s) of the individual(s) at the applying news organization who will be using the credentials. Only requests coming from the Editor/Director will be considered.

Please be advised that media space and workspace seating at the NBA 2K League Studio Powered by Intel is extremely limited and will be assigned.

To request a credential, please email Devon Garden (DGarden@nba.com) the following information below:

Outlet Name/website:

Editor Name and email:

Journalist Name(s) and email(s):

Job function (Reporter, photographer, Videographer, etc…etc…)

Requested Dates of Coverage:

APPROVAL PROCESS: News organizations will receive an email confirming whether their credential requests have been approved. Any changes to your credential requests must be made to Devon Garden by email at DGarden@nba.com.

DISTRIBUTION PROCESS: All NBA 2K League media credentials will be issued by the NBA 2K League on your approved days of coverage at the NBA 2K League Studio Powered by Intel. Please bring photo identification to facilitate credential pick-up. Credentials will not be mailed.

PARKING: The NBA 2K League will not provide media parking. The closest subway stop is located at Court Square – 23rd Street. Valet parking is available on weekends for a fee at the Ravel Hotel located nearby.

HOTELS: Please note that the NBA 2K League does not have an allotment of hotel rooms reserved for media.

Please note that NBA 2K League, NBA, WNBA, and NBA G League event credentials are issued on an event-by-event basis. An approved credential for prior events does not guarantee credentials for future NBA events.

For NBA 2K League questions, please contact Elliot Steinbaum via email at esteinbaum@nba.com.