World sports group

Top 5 Richest E-Sports Teams Of All Time Since the rise of e-sports in the early 2000s, professional gaming organizations, teams and players were not only getting the fame and recognition for being gaming’s most elite, but they were also making a lot of dough. Back then, earnings usually arrived in the form of sponsorships for professional teams. Today however, the landscape has evolved and e-sports is now a multi-million dollar industry, with tournaments being held that offered as much as USD 3 million in prize pool money. So which teams have benefited the most? We take a look at the top 5 richest e-sports teams in history. 5. SK Telecom T1 South Korea’s SK Telecom T1 was initially a sports organization that opened it’s e-sports division way back in 2003. The South Korean franchise is famous for putting together a squad of the nation’s best Starcraft players, who now have sealed their legacies as their nation’s greatest ever. The franchise is still active … [Read more...] about Top 5 Richest E-Sports Teams Of All Time

Do you believe that time travel is possible? It most certain is in the realm of fantasy virtual worlds. Legacy servers from many early MMORPGs are popping up all over the world. Recently, I had the privilege to take a time machine and travel back to Azeroth exactly the way it was back in November of 2004 on the Elysium vanilla WoW server. Since then I have been enchanted and captivated yet again by the enthralling World of Warcraft MMORPG. This was all made possible by the hard work and dedication of the Elysium vanilla WoW team. Why are legacy servers so popular? It’s very simple. After years of bad design decisions made more out of concern for growing the demographic to increase profits than for the good of the game, the current version of World of Warcraft comes off as a pitiful shadow of its former self. Like a cheap knockoff of a Rolex watch sold by a street vendor, the WoW of today is WoW in name only. Over the years, WoW has been continually dumbed down and degraded … [Read more...] about The Majesty of Elysium’s Vanilla World of Warcraft

ESL Gaming announced this afternoon that following two last e-sports cups next week, its Guild Wars 2 division will close. “It’s the end of an era – sadly, the GW2 section of ESL will be closed as of next week,” the group writes. “From all of us here at ESLGW2, we thank you for the last few years.” What exactly that means for the future of Guild Wars 2 e-sports on the whole is currently unclear. ESL has been partnered with ArenaNet to run its World Championship series for the last couple of years; in 2016, the prize pool reached $200,000. Prior to his departure from the company last year, former Lead Developer Colin Johanson argued that e-sports programs are “extremely successful” and crucial to the growth of the game. “Rooting against programs like pro league is basically rooting against GW2 growing,” he told Reddit at the time. We’ve reached out to the studio and PR for clarity and will update when we have it. … [Read more...] about ESL Gaming is shutting down Guild Wars 2’s e-sports section

The subject of gender imbalance in gaming, especially in professional e-sports, and how to rectify it has been a matter of debate within gaming communities for quite some time. A recent article by GamesIndustry.biz’s Haydn Taylor highlights a paper published by Women in Games that puts the spotlight on the topic, providing suggestions for ways to increase gender diversity in e-sports. Drafted by leaders of women-in-games groups from the UK, France, Germany, and Italy as part of a discussion titled “Increasing female interest and participation in esports careers” held at the inaugural Global Esports Forum organized in conjunction with Intel and e-sport organizer ESL, the paper summarizes the current obstacles inhibiting female participation in e-sports and lays out 12 recommendations for remedying the situation. The post on WomenInGames.org quotes five-time Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive world champion Steph “missharvey” Harvey as … [Read more...] about Women In Games report suggests strategies to promote gender diversity in e-sports

In September, the world learned that former Blizzard Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo launched a new video game studio called Bonfire Studios. Pardo’s biggest claim to fame which earned him a spot-on TIME Magazine’s 100 influential people of 2006 was that he was the prime architect of the record shattering MMORPG: World of Warcraft. Pardo’s success with WoW granted him luminary status in the video game industry. As a frequent speaker in the video game conference circuit, people listen to what he has to say, even the BBC. Recently he told them that he believes that e-sports should be an Olympic sport. It’s now clear that Rob was one of the prime proponents of Blizzard’s initiative in e-sports. It’s hard not to be impressed by Rob’s journey from mere game designer on Starcraft to entertainment visionary. But this journey is far from over. Rob left Blizzard in 2014. When people leave a video game studio the real reasons for their … [Read more...] about Rob Pardo’s Journey of Redemption Begins with Bonfire Studios