1. EDG and Tissot officially announced the cooperation
Cooperation type: co-branded products
Cooperation Overview: On March 14, EDG League of Legends Branch officially announced the cooperation with Swiss watch brand Tissot, and six members of EDG Team became Tissot's "brand friends". The two parties cooperated with Tissot to create a total of 6 PRX Super Gamer series watches, each team member has their own corresponding joint style, and Tissot also gave customers a limited number of PRX luggage.
Meta Summary: This year's LPL has added several more trendy luxury brands, which may be due to the brand's comprehensive judgment on the consumption power of the e-sports group. But in fact, Tissot's LOGO has already appeared on EDG's Weibo cover, I wonder if this is a small marketing accident?
2. iG reached a long-term cooperation with the keyboard shaft brand Jadalon
Co-op Type: Clan Sponsored
Cooperation Overview: LEAGUE OF LEGENDS LPL TEAM IG and gateron jadalon have reached a long-term cooperation to jointly develop new esports equipment for professional players and players. Jiadalon is one of the three giants of domestic mechanical keyboard shaft body brand, on a par with Kaihua and TTC.
Meta Synopsis: Shortly after the official announcement of the Spicy Prince, it was rumored that Michelle Ice City would become the third sponsor of iG, but the final cooperation was Jiadalon, compared to the peripheral brands that can be seen everywhere, shaft brand sponsorship as a spare part is a new thing in recent years.
3. Checkmate.live entered into a cooperation with Tencent Cloud
Cooperation type: platform cooperation
Cooperation Overview: Online chess battle and live streaming platform Checkmate.live recently announced a partnership with Tencent's Tencent Cloud. The partnership will bring Tencent's cloud services into Checkmate's platform. As a result, the platform will get cloud infrastructure, metaverse products, and scalable solutions.
The Checkmate.live platform, powered by Web3, is the result of the Asian Chess Federation's partnership with production and media company VADR Media. Its core business is the production and broadcasting of online chess matches, as well as XR linear chess matches. Users can utilize the platform to compete for prizes and collectibles.
Interestingly, Checkmate is also a partner of the Arab Esports League, helping to bridge the gap between chess and esports and gaming.
Meta Synopsis: The value of the project was further enhanced after Xiangqi was included in the Olympic eSports Week, but the official platform shortlisted is Chess.com, arguably a direct competitor to Checkmate's platform.
4. Newzoo, a well-known game analysis company, will no longer conduct esports industry data analysis alone
Cooperation type: platform cooperation
Collaboration Overview: Recently, game analytics company Newzoo announced that they will stop producing dedicated esports industry data reports.
Newzoo's esports report has served as the industry's premier source of growth figures for the past few years. In a recent report, they said that the company ended its data cooperation with esports companies many months ago. Newzoo's esports report includes a breakdown of current and projected esports industry revenue, as well as estimates and forecasts for esports audience growth, among other data and analysis.
Newzoo's most recent esports report is the 2022 Global Esports and Live Streaming Market Report. The report estimates that esports industry revenue will be US$1.38 billion (approximately £1.16 billion) by the end of 2022 and will grow to US$1.87 billion (approximately £1.57 billion) by 2025, with esports viewers including 532 million viewers.
The company has earned revenue and other data from partnerships with numerous esports organizations and companies, including Astralis, Fnatic, FURIA, TeamLiquid, G2 Esports, DreamHack, and other well-known esports businesses.
While there will no longer be a dedicated esports report, the company's global gaming market reports and subscriptions will contain qualitative analysis on esports market trends and developments. "When it comes to reporting specifically, most of our clients typically look to cloud, esports, and mobile as part of their overall gaming market strategy, which has led us to incorporate these insights into our long-standing global gaming market reports," Newzoo said. ”
Meta Synopsis: Newzoo's business changes are a big event in the industry, but for the time being, it seems that they are adapting to the needs of customers, not because the esports industry has lost its research value. More companies are not simply esports companies, but game developers or operators, which may also be a current trend, and these companies firmly hold the dominance of esports upstream.
5. Valorant Preseason skins generated over $10 million for the team
Co-op Type: Clan Co-op
Collaboration Overview: Riot Games recently announced sales of Valorant Preseason Invitational skin bundles. The tournament-themed bundle will be available in-game on February 8 and will end on March 7. 50% of the bundle sales were split among the teams participating in the Preseason Invitational, and together they generated more than $10 million in revenue for the team, which translates to more than $20 million in total sales of the bundle. The Valorant Pact Global Championship, held late last year, has generated more than $16 million in total revenue for teams.
In addition to the share of skin sales, all 30 participating teams will receive at least $500,000 in prize money. The event also became the second-most-watched event in Valorant history, with an average online audience of 430,000 and a peak viewership of 1.43 million, compared to its short total broadcast time, which was just over 100 hours.
Meta Synopsis: The sales advantage of Intrepid in skin bundles is not only reflected in the novelty it brings to everyone as a new game, the fist has worked skin design, the characteristics of FPS game guns and character skin separation, and some innovative mechanisms of Intrepid in skin sales, such as limited-time offers such as "Night Market" and limited-time skin mechanics, are the reasons why they achieved $20 million in revenue.
6. Usain Bolt's esports team partnered with PUMA
Co-op Type: Clan Sponsored
Retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt joined Ireland's esports club WYLDE Esports as a co-founder last year. Recently, they announced a multi-year partnership with sportswear brand PUMA. PUMA will be the club's official equipment partner and all WYLDE players will be wearing PUMA jerseys. The parties did not disclose further plans or financial aspects of the partnership.
WYLDE has recently gained a lot of attention after winning the Rainbow Six GSA League and signed a major partnership with British telecommunications company Virgin Media in 2022.
Meta Synopsis: As the lifelong spokesperson of PUMA, Usain Bolt is a top quality publicity channel for PUMA itself, but judging from the trend of esports sponsorship, PUMA may not get much in return from team uniform sponsorship.
7. The Giants Club enters into a partnership with SPORTFIVE
Co-op Type: Clan Co-op
Overview of the partnership: Spanish esports club Giants has announced a partnership with sports and esports marketing agency SPORTFIVE.
SPORTFIVE'S MISSION IS TO IMPROVE THE ORGANIZATION'S SPONSORSHIP CAPABILITIES. In particular, the agency will market three segments: naming rights and a primary sponsorship of Giants, as well as a title sponsorship of its Malaga headquarters. In the period 2018-2021, telecommunications provider Vodafone became the title sponsor of the club.
Founded in 2008, Giants is one of Spain's leading esports clubs and is currently the Intrepid EMEA seat team.
Meta Feed: Spain's gaming, esports and streaming industries are on the rise, and streaming and esports brand KOI has taken a step ahead. Under the planning of SPORTFIVE, Giants may further establish its own popularity in Europe.
8) Talon Esports has partnered with Secretlab
Co-op Type: Clan Sponsored
Overview of the partnership: Talon Esports, a well-known esports club in Asia, has partnered with e-sports chair brand Secretlab, which will become the e-sports chair partner of Talon Intrepid Covenant Division. In addition, the two parties will collaborate on a content creation. The partnership also marked Talon's change of sponsorship of its own chairs, and in 2020, Recaro began supplying esports chairs to the club.
Meta Synopsis: After the announcement of the Valorant Compact Team in 2023, they have also become the target of sponsors.
9. HyperX expands its partnership with the Valorant Champions Tour
Cooperation Type: Event Sponsorship
Collaboration Overview: HyperX expands the scope of VCT's partnership, which will continue to provide keyboards, mice, and mouse pads for VCT events over the years of the partnership, including all of the remaining VCT series events this year.
Meta Synopsis: Interestingly, compared to storage devices and headsets, HyperX products are relatively less well-known are keyboard and mouse pads, and through the cooperation with VCT, HyperX is expected to make this product line mainstream in the market.
10. Challengeermode partnered with BLAST to host the Rainbow Six Major
Cooperation type: platform cooperation
Collaboration overview: Esports competition platform Challengermode has partnered with BLAST to create a new Major for Ubisoft's esports game Rainbow Six: Siege, two Major events in May and November, with 24 teams competing for $750,000 in prize money. Challengermode will be the official platform for the event, mainly for qualifying rounds, while the main event will remain offline, in Denmark and the United States.
BLAST signed a multi-year agreement with Ubisoft in December to carry out activities for Ubisoft's esports in several countries around the world.
Meta Synopsis: Entering the 8th year, some teams such as TSM have withdrawn from the league and disbanded divisions, and the daily activity of games has declined, and the games and esports competitions of Rainbow Six are increasingly in need of some new content. BLAST is an experienced and high-profile tournament brand, and it may be able to bring something different to Cai6.
11. TSM has partnered with blockchain company Avalanche
Co-op Type: Clan Co-op
Collaboration Overview: TSM, a North American esports organization, has partnered with blockchain platform Avalanche on the club's competitive gaming platform, Blitz. Together, TSM and Avalanche will campaign around fans, contestants and creators.
This important partnership will allow Blitz to use Avalanche's payment system, Core, to provide technical support for all user payments. Blitz will get its own subnet on the Avalanche blockchain, meaning TSM will essentially get a custom blockchain to facilitate its needs. The two companies announced that TSM will host competitions on the Blitz subnet and will also create "Blitz Arenas" to offer prizes to players who participate in the competition.
Meta Synopsis: After the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, one of the biggest victims was TSM, which received a $210 million sponsorship for 10 years, but it seems that they have not lost faith in blockchain companies and are "die-hard fans" in this space.
12. 00Nation has partnered with ENDX, an esports trading platform
Co-op Type: Clan Co-op
Collaboration overview: 00Nation, an esports club with player divisions in Europe and South America, has partnered with ENDX, a platform based on the performance of esports players. After the cooperation is reached, ENDX users can buy the virtual shares of 00Nation's CS:GO team members through real money or cryptocurrency on the platform, and the virtual stock price will rise and fall according to the performance of the team members. With the cooperation between the two parties, ENDX has also expanded its business to South America, and the platform has previously reached cooperation with well-known teams such as Cloud9 and Copenhagen Flame.
Another esports team, Singularity, also joined ENDX in the partnership.
Meta Synopsis: ENDX's gameplay is essentially an esports platform worth US dollars and cryptocurrencies, except that the "stock price" of the players is the part that users really care about, rather than competing through the score of the combined lineup.
13. DRX Esports Club has partnered with LG Display
Co-op Type: Clan Sponsored
Collaboration Overview: South Korea's esports club DRX has partnered with LG Display, a subsidiary of local electronics giant LG Group, to expand LG's marketing and advertising activities through esports teams. The partnership is expected to have an impact on the OLED market, where LG is one of the leading screen manufacturers and supplies products to brands such as LG Electronics and Corsair.
Meta Synopsis: After the League of Legends division and fighting game player Knee won the championship, DRX became more sought after by sponsors, and it was also Knee who appeared in LG commercials this time.
14. Hardware retailer Overlockers extends partnership with Mercedes-Benz Esports Team
Co-op Type: Clan Sponsored
Overview of the partnership: UK-based hardware retailer Overlockers UK has renewed its partnership with Mercedes-AMG. Overlockers will continue to serve as the official esports sponsor of Team Mercedes. The team is also part of the Mercedes-Benz F1 Team's esports division, which competes in a series of simulated racing events. Overclockers UK is a UK-based retailer of gaming and streaming equipment that also makes pre-made gaming computers. These products are also their main sponsorship to the Mercedes team. The first cooperation between the two parties began in 2020.
Meta Summary: Although Mercedes is a German brand, like the other 6 teams, their F1 team is headquartered in the UK, and esports-related hardware, especially computer consoles, has become a trend in UK esports cooperation.
15. The Portuguese Football Federation organizes esports events
Cooperation type: Organization cooperation
Overview of cooperation: The Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body of Portuguese football, has recently launched an esports campaign focused on popularizing esports, especially football simulation games. The campaign, titled "It's never just a game", wants to share information about esports and its possibilities with a wider audience in Portugal. According to the announcement, the event will focus on universities across Portugal.
The Portuguese Football Federation pointed out that the growing popularity of esports and football simulation games has attracted the governing body to support digital football through an overarching campaign. The goal of the campaign is to popularize esports in digital football – eFootball and FIFA – and to help young players compete in a range of events held throughout the year. There is also a dedicated esports department within the Portuguese Football Federation, called FPF eFootball, whose task is to organize e-leagues, as well as prepare for esports competitions for the Portuguese national team.
Meta Summary: Promoting football through esports has become a major trend in football, and in the competition between Pro Evolution Football and FIFA, we see that in the Iberia and Apennine Peninsulas in southern Europe, the new version of live football eFootball dedicated to the development of esports is gradually regaining territory.