This week saw the opening of Esports Olympic Week and a handful of competitions in Chess, Dance Dance Revolution, and a skills challenge built inside Fortnite Creative. While it would be easy to rundown what the International Olympic Committee has done with esports—and I have in several articles and public posts—I want to give credit to all of the people who competed with whole hearts on stage in front of an international audience. You earned your trophies and your accolades, and you have my respect. I think if the IOC had simply called it “Virtual Sports Week” there would have been less negative attention, as anyone covering this space or in it has a particular view on what esports is. - James Fudge.
Mogul Games Group Returns to Mining
Australia-based, publicly-traded gaming and esports company Mogul Games Group (you may know it better as Esports Mogul) announced this month that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire lithium and rare earth exploration projects located in Canada and Australia. Over the last year, the company had been talking about a "buy and build strategy" where most assumed that executives were seeking acquisition targets in the esports and gaming space...
The company said in a recent filing that it will change its name to “Lithium Galaxy Limited” and appoint Iggy Tan, former managing director of Galaxy Resources Limited (Galaxy), as its new chairman of the board. It hopes to raise up to AUD $4.5M ($3.08M) before costs via a public offer. Mogul started out as Volta Mining and absorbed Mogul Esports to go public on the ASX.
In all that time since going public in 2016 it has not recorded a profit despite raising tens of millions of dollars. Its principle architects, Gernot Abl (who will be named executive director) and George Lazarou (former CFO and current non-executive director), will take the reins of this new publicly traded company. READ MORE.
GGTech Raises Funds for Expansion into U.S.
Madrid based esports tournament organizer GGTech Entertainment announced this week that it has raised a $12.4M USD investment from Mexico-based growth equity investment firm Glisco Partners, and investment firm Heart Beat. The company will use the funds to shore up its operations around the world, but more importantly, fuel an expansion into the United States.
This lines up with reporting earlier this month that the company was part of a process earlier this year to bid on securing the rights for collegiate and scholastic esports (League of Legends and Valorant) in the U.S. Sources that spoke to The Esports Advocate say that GGTECh will likely win those rights. The company already works with Riot on Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports, facilitating collegiate-level tournaments in Europe and the UK. READ MORE.
Chengdu Hunters Done in OWL
An exclusive report from GGREcon reporter Sascha "Yiska" Heinisch this week confirmed that Chinese Overwatch League team the Chengdu Hunters is officially out of the league. An Overwatch League spokesperson confirmed with the publication that the "Chengdu Hunters have exited the Overwatch League. The organization communicated to the League a shift in their overall strategic objectives, and we wish them well with their new direction." The report confirms reporting from TEA earlier this year that the team had disbanded. The OWL team was operated by Chinese streaming platform Huya, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate and Riot Games owner Tencent Holdings. READ MORE.
Changes to Battle Pass
Valve announced on Monday that it is making drastic changes to the in-game content that contributes a majority of the total prize pool to its annual Dota 2 championship event, The International. The company said in a blog post that it decided earlier this year to shift its development priorities away from creating content specifically for the season-end Battle Pass in favor of creating more content for the game throughout the year. For this year's TI, Valve will create special content for the event that will help grow the prize pool, though it's unknown if it will generate as much as it did in 2022 (around $19M) or the year before ($40M+). READ MORE
People on the Move
Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
Nick Charles has left Team Liquid to join Aftershock Media Group as its new project manager.
Cristina Amaya has left her role as the director of DreamHack in the United States.
Ryan Lau has been promoted to the role of esports team operations at the Golden State Warriors.
Michael Turner is no longer with ESL FACEIT Group's DreamHack division.
Timothy Edmonds has left Oxygen Esports to join Oakley as its new marketing manager for esports.
Chris Pipher was recently promoted director of league operations for Apex Legends esports at EA.
Bastian Pätzold has been promoted to executive director, global partnerships, esports & gaming at SPORTFIVE.
Cole Lovelady recently left his role at ASTRO (a division of Logitech).
Mawaddah Bakader has been promoted to the role of head of general professional events at the Saudi Esports Federation.
Rita Beatriz Landells is no longer serving as the director of marketing at Complexity Gaming.
Cassie Batinich recently left Version1/Minnesota RØKKR to join Utah Jazz as its new director of business PR.
Dakota Cox joins OFFBRAND Studio as creative director. He previously worked at Beyond The Summit.
Ben Gautier recently joined Esports Virtual Arenas as its new chief revenue officer.
Jonas Gundersen (COO of Ninjas in Pyjamas) has launched a new company called Tribos.AI. He will continue in his role at NIP.
Sasa Nikolic will take on the role of creator partnerships manager at ESL FACEIT Group in July.
Warren Leigh recently joined ESL FACEIT Group as its new senior VP of product - digital platform.
Gaming:
Neil Flynn has joined Nintendo UK as its new marketing manager.
Amanda Adams takes on the role of social media coordinator (contract) for Blizzard.
Other:
Fred Rubenstein recently left his role as senior manager, creator acquisition + development at Twitch.
Steve Volchko has been promoted to director of global corporate partnership development at the Cleveland Cavaliers.
E.J Wilson joins India-based gaming talent management firm Maverik as its new senior manager of partnerships.
Dan Ackerman recently joined Gizmodo as its new editor-in-chief.
Lokesh Joshi has joined IGN India as a producer.
Benjamin Kratsch recently joined Jeddah-based gaming and entertainment company Viatrix Studios as VP of the board.
Trent Murray recently joined Esports Illustrated as its senior editor.
Light & Wonder has promoted Katie Byers and Daniel O'Donoghue to senior VP of people capability and chief operating officer, respectively.
In Other News
💰 Guild Esports raises nearly $800K from a public placement.
🐇 Misfits Gaming Group rebrands to reflect its new focus as a game and content creator.
📱 Liquipedia launches a dedicated mobile app for iOS and Android.
🤩Erin Ashley Simon launches a brand new interview series on YouTube.
🏈 NFL Clash and NBA Clash maker Nifty Games shuts down.
⭐United Talent Agency acquires executive search and consulting firm James & Co.