Business has picked up in a big way in the eSports world. Massive tournaments, huge news, huge releases...so much to talk about!
So let's do so! Here is your weekly rushdown of the biggest stories this week in eSports:
ELEAGUE Season 1 Wraps Up
ELEAGUE season 1 is over and done with, but boy what a ride it was.
TBS' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament wowed new fans, kept the diehards happy and delivered steady excitement throughout. The ratings were solid. The reception was great. The production was excellent.
And, of course, on top of the fact that it was a compelling television program, it was also a top-notch tournament featuring almost all the world's best teams.
After 11 weeks of action, Polish powerhouses Virtus.pro took home the top prize by dominating Sweden's Fnatic, winning the best of three 2-0 with an overall record of 32-18. It was an impressive ending to an amazing rally, which saw VP break off five consecutive 2-0 series after getting sent to the tournament's "Last Chance" bracket by Team EnVyUs.
With the champions crowned and the season over, I wonder what comes next.
ELEAGUE Season 2 Announced
Wonder no longer!
In a conference call ahead of the ELEAGUE finals (via DailyDot.com's Callum Leslie), Turner Vice President of eSports Christina Alejandre said there will, in fact, be an ELEAGUE season 2. And it's coming sooner than later—in the fall, to be specific. Unfortunately, there aren't any details beyond that, outside of that it will be a "shorter" season, which most likely means fewer teams.
For anyone craving ELEAGUE in the meantime, however, it's worth noting that the Overwatch Open is in progress. The new first-person shooter is getting big-time treatment with a $300,000 tournament that will feature a live broadcast of the finals on TBS. Qualifiers are underway, so it's worth checking out Twitch.tv to keep tabs on all the action.
The International 2016 Has Begun
There are big eSports events, and then there's The International (TI). The annual Valve-run, community-focused Dota 2 tournament officially began Tuesday. As expected, the action is hot and heavy, and the stakes are higher than ever. The crowdfunded prize pool stands at over $19 million, with the winning team taking home $8.5 million.
I'm sure you want to learn more about Dota 2 and TI6 now. Don't worry, Bleacher Report has you covered. Check out our guide to the event and our breakdown of the biggest stories entering the tournament.
Skin Betting is Going Straight
Less than three weeks removed from the news that Valve was going to "start sending notices" to sites built around CS:GO skin betting, major changes are already on the horizon.
According to DailyDot.com, the biggest skin betting site, CSGOLounge.com, is making moves to go legit. What does that entail? For the time being, a wide-ranging lockdown on betting on the site in a number of territories. In the future? The possible acquisition of gambling licenses in order to become a legitimate betting outlet, which could, potentially, include the ability to field bets using cash.
CSGOLounge.com was part of a group of 23 sites that received cease-and-desist notices from Valve over recent weeks in a crackdown on the highly controversial, but hugely popular, skin-betting industry, which allows players to wager in-game items on the results of pro CS:GO games. It's a practice that has both directly contributed to a massive surge in the popularity of competitive CS:GO, and provided a steady stream of controversy.
While skin betting may or may not be dying as a whole, this is most certainly the end of an era. Whether it marks the end of the class-action lawsuit leveled against Valve, however, remains to be seen.
Could Heroes of the Storm Make a Comeback?
Heroes of the Storm is a good, well-made game that could easily be one of eSports' premier titles. Unfortunately, it sits in a distant third place in the MOBA genre behind Dota 2 and League of Legends at this time and, as a result, has struggled to gain traction as a premier attraction. With major franchises disbanding HotS squads left and right and viewership almost completely dried up, it's easy to view the game as a dying IP.
One organization isn't too keen on that, though.
Last week, Panda Global unveiled the Panda Pro Ladder, an in-house league designed to reinvigorate the dwindling North American HotS scene. "We've been planning this project for a while and it’s finally shaping up," said Panda's David Wu, via Dylan Walker of Yahoo Sports. "We hope this will bridge the gap between amateur players and the professional scene, helping new teams and players find a place, and pushing the NA meta further."
It's a much-needed shot in the arm for the fading title, but it's tough to imagine the game making any kind of serious comeback. Nearly two years on in its life cycle, HotS' trajectory seems to be set, and the continued growth of its chief competitors (alongside the steady stream of new games in the genre) isn't helping matters. Ultimately, only time will tell if HotS can survive.
Bleacher Report Has a New eSports Podcast!
Wow, how about that Dota 2 VR? Oh, and the new Hearthstone expansion? Well, we didn't have room to tackle all that in this week's rushdown, but you know who did discuss it at length? My compatriots in the all-new Rally Point podcast.
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