Newzoo, the world’s leading provider of games and esports analytics, announced today its partnership with EVOS Esports, Southeast Asia’s leading esports organization housing over 15 professional teams across five different countries.

By adding EVOS Esports to its partnerships program, Newzoo will get improved insights from the Southeast Asian market, a region expected to further boost the growth of the esports business. Furthermore, EVOS Esports’ mobile focus within the market represents an additional layer of insights that Newzoo will use to further solidify its esports estimates, which are featured in its landmark Global Esports Market Report and the Newzoo Platform.

In exchange, Newzoo will advise EVOS Esports with market insights, helping the organization to benchmark, spot opportunities, and provide strategic insights for its further expansion.

“Southeast Asia is currently the most exciting region for the overall future growth of esports and gaming, both from a business and consumer engagement perspective. EVOS Esports is right at the center of this.”, said Peter Warman, Newzoo’s Co-Founder and CEO. “Partnering with an ambitious and forward-thinking esports organization like EVOS Esports supports us in keeping up with this huge esports region to further strengthen our view on the global and local esports ecosystems.”

“We are excited to be the first esports organisation in Southeast Asia to form this partnership with Newzoo. With Newzoo’s market intelligence and expertise, it will assist us in making actionable data-driven decisions as we scale our business verticals across the region. With access to the tools and insights provided by Newzoo, we look forward to achieving continued success, especially when discussing with commercial partners.”, said Ivan Yeo, EVOS Esports’ Co-Founder and CEO.

Today, ​FirstBlood Technologies​, the ​online competitive ​gaming ​platform and maker of Gaming Blockchain Dawn Protocol that lets ​esports​players challenge the field and win real rewards for excelling at their favorite games,​is integrating with ​MakerDAO​ to bring decentralized stablecoin integration to the ​FirstBlood Platform​. MakerDAO, the protocol behind the popular ​DeFi stablecoin Dai​, will enhance accessibility for enthusiasts and professional gamers alike by offering rewards in DAI to competitive gamers playing on FirstBlood. This signals an immense victory for gamers, and allows for permissionless cross-border payments to be made in what is arguably the most popular DeFi crypto-token available today. While the FirstBlood Platform supports it’s own native token $Dawn the addition of an algorithmic stablecoin sweetens the prize pot for gamers all around the world.

Joe Zhou, the Co-Founder and CEO of FirstBlood, says “we aim to leverage the massive DAI community and facilitate blockchain adoption into the world of competitive gaming. With players competing from every continent, payments in cryptocurrencies will simplify barriers to entry for users, and provide a stable and secure environment for players to earn rewards for rising to the challenge.” Of the partnership, Rune Christensen, CEO of the Maker Foundation and co-founder of MakerDAO, had this to say, “the borderless, decentralized nature of Dai makes it the perfect stablecoin to use as in-game rewards for FirstBlood players. The stability, transparency and ease of use of Dai will let players spend more time focused on competing and less time sorting out how to manage their rewards.”

To celebrate the partnership, MakerDAO is offering 10,000 DAI in prizes to sign up and compete on FirstBlood. All prizes will be paid in Dai. The details are as follows:

• Beginning the 3rd week of November 2020, FirstBlood players will have an opportunity to compete against each other in the newest game-integrated on the FirstBlood Platform, Call of Duty: Warzone.
• On the third Monday for the months of November, and December of 2020 and January 2021, FirstBlood will host the Maker Monthly tournament, which will have a $1,500 prize pool, payable in Dai.
• Starting November, 4th, 2020, FirstBlood will host the Daily Dai with a prize pool of $100 each day for 40 days.
• Events are available for players on PC, Playstation, and Xbox.
• To sign up and get started, simply visit the FirstBlood platform and create an account at https://app.firstblood.io​.

Rix.GG, a new esports organisation, announces the signing of Finnish superstar Joonas “Mognus” Salo to its Rocket League roster.

Rix.GG’s Rocket League roster ahead of RLCS X Winter Split will be:

1. Dan “Polar” Rees
2. Lorenzo “Dead-Monster” Tongiorgi
3. Joonas “Mognus” Salo

By signing Joonas “Mognus” Salo, Rix.GG is taking a hybrid approach to both nurture home-grown talent and bolster it with unrivaled expertise in Rocket League. Joonas “Mognus” Salo brings with him a wealth of experience, competing and winning at the highest levels of the esport. Rix.GG hopes the move will lead to the development of a winning team strategy to become one of the top Rocket League teams in the EU.

Jamie Lewis, founder, said: “We [Rix.GG] are doubling down on our efforts to build a top tier team and are delighted to have a world-class talent like Mongnus on board. We feel he is the perfect addition to our budding team.”

Ibrahim Taylor, team manager, said: “Mognus is widely regarded as one of the most capable Rocket League players, someone that has seen great success for many years at the very pinnacle of competitive Rocket League. He also gels very well with the team and the great atmosphere is clear to see. Polar and Dead-Monster are both keen to continue to improve, with the experience and history Mognus brings he is the perfect person for them to combine with to take them to new heights.”

Joonas “Mognus” Salo, said: “I’m happy to be joining Rix.GG as a new third player for its Rocket League team. They take good care of their players, so I know I’m in good hands. Immediately from the first scrim I noticed the potential that Polar and Dead-monster have. With my experience, I hope to bring more consistency to the table

and bring out the best of my teammates. It will definitely take some time, but I hope you can support me and my new team on this journey.”