Viperio, the North East of England’s leading esports club, and Luckbox, an award-winning provider of licensed, real money esports betting, sports betting and casino games, announced a new partnership for Viperio’s run in the BLAST Paris Major EU RMR A in Copenhagen this April.

The partnership will see Luckbox become an official sponsor of Viperio as they take on the best teams in Europe for a chance at competing in the last ever Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major in Paris later this year. As part of the sponsorship, Luckbox will feature as a new core sponsor on the Viperio jersey and social media accounts. The two organisations will also be collaborating on a series of new digital content, set to release in the coming weeks.

Viperio’s run in the BLAST Paris Major EU RMR A will take place live from the BLAST Studio in Copenhagen, April 6-9. Viperio’s first fixture is against global leading esports club FNATIC in a best of one series at 11:30 am BST (12:30 pm CEST).

“I’m happy to welcome Luckbox as an official sponsor ahead of our Counter-Strike team’s run in the upcoming Regional Major Raking event in Copenhagen this April. It’s great to have a market leader like Luckbox back our team as we hope to challenge some of the biggest names on the planet and try to qualify for the last ever Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major,” Christopher Sword, Founder of Viperio, said.

“Viperio’s qualification to the RMR is really exciting. I’m a big Viperio fan, and having them join forces with Luckbox to create hype around the RMR and make memories for fans around the world is a great opportunity. I looked forward to seeing their journey on the path to Paris,” Dave Souza, Head of Communications at Luckbox, said.

Putting up stellar performances, notable Tekken athlete Abhinav Tejan and eFootball pro Ibrahim Gulrez triumphed in the finals of the National Esports Championships (NESC) 2023 organized by the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) and secured their berths at the global finals of the 15^th World Esports Championships (WEC) which will take place in Iasi, Romania from August 24 – September 4, 2023.

The 15^th World Esports Championship 2023 will have a whopping prize pool of $500,000 (INR 4.12 crore) and is set to be the largest edition of the tournament to date with at least 130 countries participating in eFootball, DOTA 2, Tekken7, Mobile Legends, PUBG: Mobile and CS:GO.

Despite starting from the loser bracket, Tejan who is a well-renowned name from the Tekken7 community proved his mettle against other top athletes of the country and will be representing India at the WEC for a record 6^th time. The 29-year-old who won the South Asia regional finals of the Tekken World Tour 2022 last year defeated Loveneet in the grand finals by 3-2, 3-2.

“I have won a lot of tournaments in these past few years but winning the NESC 2023 was really important to me I had lost two times in it in the past 2 years. So, I wanted to make a comeback by winning it this year. Qualifying for the IESF finals in Romania had given me the chance to represent India for the 6th time in IESF finals which is personally a really proud moment. I am really looking forward to the finals where I will try my level best to get my country a medal this year,” said Abhinav Tejan.

Similar to Tejan, Gulrez also began his campaign from the loser bracket and displayed immense perseverance as well as high-quality gameplay to become the eFootball champion. He beat Pritesh Quinton Dsouza (bad_pritt) by winning the first round by 3-2 and the second round by 3-0 to seal his maiden qualification at the WEC.

“The feeling is really amazing. I have been trying to achieve this feat for the last couple of years and to finally get there feels amazing. My victory involved a mixture of hard work and some luck. One can only feel that happiness after trying so hard to win the competition for the last couple of seasons,” said Ibrahim Gulrez.

Alongside Tekken and eFootball, the esteemed national qualifiers were also organized for popular PC titles CS:GO and DOTA 2.

In CS:GO (Open), Team Orgless5 toppled the two-time NESC champions Team Wicked Gaming by winning the finals by 2-0. Comprising team captain Harsh Jain (f1redup), Jaspreet Singh (SpawN), Sadab Khan (SK wow^), Piyush Kalwania (clouda), Nikhil Kathe (N1kace) and substitute Omkar Thube (omkar09), the team was dominant throughout the tournament and produced scintillating performances against India’s leading CS:GO teams.

“Our motto to win the qualifiers was to trust the process, trust ourselves and trust our decisions. We worked extremely hard to defeat the country’s best CS:GO teams and become the champions. The World Esports Championships are very important for us and now we will prove ourselves in the regional qualifiers to qualify for the global finals as well,” said Harsh Jain, captain of Team Orgless5.

On the other hand, Team Top G comprising skipper Manav Kunte (mnz), Vishal Vernekar (HBK), Abhishek Yadav (Abhi-), Shahbaz Hussain (PinkMaN), Krish Gupta (Krish`) and substitute Jaikishan Malik (KaEL) prevailed in the finals of DOTA 2 by defeating Team Mob with a 2-0 score line in the finals. The squad’s notable players Vishal and Abhishek were also part of the historic DOTA 2 team that won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Esports Championships in 2022.

“We are beyond ecstatic to win the DOTA 2 India Qualifiers and it is an honour for us to represent India on the international stage. We have put in countless hours of practice, analyzing every move, and strategizing every play to reach this point, and it’s an incredible feeling to see our hard work pay off. The team has an unbreakable bond and we know that we can achieve anything if we keep this synergy together. We would also like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to ESFI for providing us with this amazing opportunity to showcase our skills on a national platform and we promise to give our best shot to bring home the championship,” said Manav Kunte, captain of Team Top G.

Team Orgless5 and Top G will now be participating in the upcoming Asia regional qualifiers to qualify for the global finals of WEC 2023. The teams will first be competing in the South Asian qualifiers in online mode and upon qualifying will play the regional finals offline. The dates of the regional qualifiers will be announced by the International Federation soon.

One of the country’s top sports & Esports communication agencies, Artsmith-Concepts & Visions, will continue its support to the Esports Federation of India as their official communication partner. NESC23 was also supported by Upthrust (Event Partner), Inox (Multiplex Partner) & Hama (Training Partner)

The NESC’23 concluded on Monday, March 27 and witnessed a total participation of 275 athletes from all over the country.

Esports Players League (ESPL) and Warner Music Thailand are pleased to share that the inaugural Music Gaming (MuGa) Arena Online Valorant Tournament, jointly hosted with Thai R&B singer & songwriter D Gerrard, has ended on a high note. The tournament concluded with an exclusive meet-and-greet event that has enabled players from the top 8 teams to meet with the artist.

MuGa Arena is a partnership between ESPL and Warner Music Thailand to produce engagement between music artists and music fans. The MuGa Arena Online Valorant Tournament with D Gerrard marks the first step of what would hopefully be the start of a new fan engagement experience where gaming meets music. MuGa Arena tournaments largely take place online, and will allow fans to go from consuming their favourite artists’ music and gaming content, to being a part of their gaming experience.

MuGa Arena Online Valorant Tournament

The MuGa Arena Online Valorant Tournament was launched in October 2022 to bring D Gerrard closer to his fans, creating authentic engagement combined with the power of esports. It featured a thrilling online Valorant tournament with 16 teams of 5, all battling to win exclusive merchandise, D Gerrard autographed memorabilia, and the opportunity to meet with the artist.

The tournament began its elimination rounds on the 7th and 8th of January 2023, before concluding on 25th February 2023 during the final showdown. Team Old Bois Club came out victorious against Team No Need Lineup and won the chance to play the ultimate showmatch with D Gerrard and his all-star team virtually on the same day.

D Gerrard Meet-and-Greet

D Gerrard, whose videos have gained over 500 million views on YouTube, made a live appearance at Warner Music Thailand headquarters to celebrate the conclusion of MuGa Arena’s first-ever tournament and to meet players from the top 8 teams. D Gerrard staged a live acoustic performance of hit songs – “Galaxy”, “Luxury”, and “Isekai”. His new song, currently untitled, was given an exclusive preview to fans during the meet-and-greet, as the unreleased track charted the artist’s history and passion for video games.

During a fan Q&A session, D Gerrard was asked on the similarities between music and gaming and what drew him to be the first MuGa Arena featured artist, to which he answered, “Cause they both are everywhere and both have a huge influence on my life!”

“Working with ESPL to bring MUGA to life has been a rewarding and educational experience. Being in the music business it’s refreshing to see what experts in other related fields are doing, and ESPL’s knowledge and experience in gaming and running tournaments brought MUGA to another level. It was a great joy to see D Gerrard enjoy his passion for music and gaming in the same event,” says Rafiq Ridzwan, Head of Domestic Marketing at Warner Music Thailand.

D Gerrard was joined by Ivy Fung, General Manager at ESPL in the prize giving ceremony to officially present tournament players with prizes consisting of D Gerrard-autographed baseball caps, ESPL merchandise and gaming peripherals.

Synergistic Opportunities

Earlier last year, Deloitte shared that an increasing number of younger gamers are finding music to be a big part of their gaming experience.¹ Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends fall pulse survey pointed out 42% of Gen Z gamers reported that they “listen to other music while gaming”, and 34% “hear music in a game and then look it up online to stream or buy”. Further data revealed a strong relationship between Gen Z gamers and the music that they experience while gaming. This suggests opportunities for enhanced engagement through stronger partnerships between music and gaming companies, and for more seamless integration between their products.

“ESPL is very excited and pleased to be able to work with Warner Music Thailand and D Gerrard to bring music and gaming together for the communities involved. We are looking forward to more future collaborations to deliver this immersive experience to artists, fans, gamers and the masses alike,” said Fung.