News Blast: R6 Esports in 2023, ESforce CEO Exits Stage Left
Also: G2 invades NA Valorant Challengers in 2023 and Gabe Newell weighs in on Call of Duty's future on Steam.
It’s a very busy Monday for being 15 days away from Christmas, so I thought now would be a good time to put some of that news in your inbox and on your radar. These types of dispatches won’t be a regular occurrence but there are a few notable things happening today that you absolutely need to know about if you care about the business of esports and the people working in it. Let’s go! - James Fudge
Ubisoft and BLAST Partner for Rainbow Six Siege Esports in 2023
Ubisoft announced Monday that it is teaming up with tournament organizer BLAST for a multi-year partnership across the entire Rainbow Six Esports Global Circuit, which will include a wide range of regional programs and international events.
Beginning in March 2023, they will launch a reimagined version of the global esports circuit that will include nine regions (Europe, North America, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Hispanic Latin America, Asia, Oceania, and MENA) and will build out what it calls “more opportunities for high-stake international matches” as well as a path for “up-and-coming teams” to “compete in top level” competitions.
Ubisoft did not reveal details on the overall prize pool for the 2023 season, but information on the format including a new point system can be found in this blog post. In addition, BLAST offers its take on the new partnership here. More importantly for esports organizations competing in Rainbow Six Siege Esports, Ubisoft said that its R6 SHARE program–a revenue-sharing deal between Ubisoft and select esport teams–will continue.
Nikkolai Petrossian Leaves CEO Role at ESforce
After more than four years in multiple roles at ESforce Holding as CEO and media director, the company announced that Nikkolai Petrossian is leaving. His roles will be taken over by what the company calls a "management company" that will "ensure closer integration of the holding with its parent VK Play." It is unclear from the Monday announcement from ESforce if Petrossian is stepping completely away or moving into a role at VK Play.
ESforce is the largest esports operator in the region; it currently owns Russian-language esports mass media company CYBERSPORT.RU, esports/gaming focused content creation studio RUHUB, tournament brand EPICENTER, esports tournament operator Epic Esports Events, Moscow-based esports venue Yota Arena, and its own internal esports marketing agency that services partners within the region.
In case you didn't know, VK Play is part of VK, Russia's largest social media network, or what some call Russia's answer to Facebook. In October, VK announced that it had sold its gaming division–MY.GAMES–for an estimated $642M USD to focus solely on supporting its domestic VK Play service. At the end of September, VK suffered a major setback when Apple removed the app from its App Store globally, claiming that it was complying with British sanctions due to Russia's activities in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
G2 Esports Invades North America for Valorant Challengers
Berlin-based esports organization G2 Esports announced Monday that it has entered the fray in North America with a new men's Valorant team. The expansion into North America will see G2’s team compete in the Valorant Challengers North America league in 2023. The G2 team will feature former CS:GO player and coach (turned Valorant diehard in 2020), Immi. He'll be joined by ShahZaM, Dapronal, Penny, Wippie, and Oxy.
G2 also recently signed a new partnership with U.S. sportswear company Oakley, with a focus on its new gaming glasses line, NXTLVL. The partnership will see the brand releasing a co-branded eyewear product designed specifically for gamers in the future, G2 claims. Oakley joins G2’s global commercial partners that includes Streamcoi, Logitech, Ralph Lauren, Mastercard, Herman Miller, Pringles, and Red Bull.
The move to Valorant Challengers is somewhat of a “fallback” for G2 after it was denied a franchise by Riot Games earlier this year due to its now former CEO Carlos 'Ocelote' Rodríguez’ defiant response when it was revealed that he had been hanging out with controversial figure Andrew Tate.
It should be noted that while Rodríguez “resigned” as CEO of the company, he is still the largest shareholder owning a 29.7% stake and is technically co-managing director of G2 (G Esports Holding GmbH) alongside Alban Dechelotte, who was promoted to the position on Nov. 3, according to the German commercial register.
Valve Boss Gabe Newell Weighs in on Activision Blizzard Buyout
Microsoft’s Head of Xbox Phil Spencer made an interesting comment publicly that might exacerbate the situation with Sony, who is opposing Microsoft's proposed $69B USD acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard. In a recent episode of the Second Request podcast, Spencer said the following: “Sony is leading the dialogue around why the deal shouldn’t go through to protect its dominant position on console, so the thing they grab onto is Call of Duty. The largest console maker in the world raising an objection about the one franchise that we’ve said will continue to ship on the platform.”
Meanwhile, Valve Software boss Gabe Newell says that he trusts the word of Spencer that Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard titles will continue to be available on its PC gaming platform Steam. In a statement to Kotaku, Newell said that even though the company sent him a draft agreement of a 10 year Call of Duty commitment on Steam, it was unnecessary:
“Microsoft offered and even sent us a draft agreement for a long-term Call of Duty commitment but it wasn’t necessary for us because a) we’re not believers in requiring any partner to have an agreement that locks them to shipping games on Steam into the distant future b) Phil and the games team at Microsoft have always followed through on what they told us they would do so we trust their intentions and c) we think Microsoft has all the motivation they need to be on the platforms and devices where Call of Duty customers want to be.”
On Dec, 6, Microsoft’s Head of Xbox Phil Spencer announced on social media that Microsoft had come to an agreement with Nintendo to continue offering Call of Duty on the company’s platforms for 10 years. In addition, Spencer revealed that a similar deal had been reached with Valve Software’s Steam platform. Microsoft offered a similar deal to Sony publicly as a way to calm the waters and moved towards finding solutions to get the acquisition approved. Shortly thereafter the FTC filed a lawsuit to block the proposed buyout.