The Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) has released two themed tracks ahead of its inaugural season finals later this month.

The two instrumental songs, titled Anthem and Overtime, are available on YouTube and were created by Dutch composer Justin Welgraven. The songs will be used at different points during the OWCS Finals broadcast.

The Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Finals is set to commence on November 22nd during DreamHack Stockholm, a notable gaming and esports festival owned by ESL FACEIT Group. The Overwatch Champions Series is operated by ESL FACEIT Group and is the successor to the Overwatch League following its closure in 2023.

Interestingly this is not the first time that ESL FACEIT Group has utilised music to bolster the identity of a tournament. In 2022, when the company was ESL Gaming, it launched a ‘sonic identity’ and an official anthem that is used throughout its events and content. Similarly, the Overwatch theme songs were created to be used in competitive Overwatch and become recognisable to fans and viewers.

The first track, called Anthem, is the hero track for the tournament series and will be played after a team wins the round, as well as during other important events in the league. It is a more majestic song, with lots of strings and orchestral segments that are similar to Overwatch’s existing in-game music.

The second track, called Overtime, is a more modern take on the main theme, with more electronic elements that, according to an interview in Rolling Stone, works well when commentary is laid out on top of it. As such, it is expected that the Overtime song will likely be played during post-match segments, for example.

The upcoming Overwatch Champions Series World Finals has launched an in-game crowdfunding bundle that will contribute directly to its prize pool.

The bundle, called the Neon Streets Mega Bundle, will feature skins inspired by Overwatch League 2023 champion Florida Mayhem.

The World Finals is the season-ending event in the inaugural season of the OWCS, the new Overwatch league operated by the ESL FACEIT Group after the dissolution of the Overwatch League. The idea of crowdfunding the prize pools was first explored during the OWCS Dallas Major earlier this year.

The prize pool for the event will be increased through the sales of the Neon Streets Collection, a set of three separate bundles that can themselves be bundled into a Mega Collection. These include skins for heroes Mei, Tracer and Junkrat, as well as weapon skins, charms, emotes, name tags and sprays. The bundles range in price between 1600 and 2200 OW Coins, and the Mega Bundle costs 3,000 coins. 25% of the sales will go directly to the prize pool of the event.

For comparison, a pack of 1,000 coins usually costs around £10, $10 and €10 through the Blizzard store. Design-wise, the items are based around Florida Mayhem’s victory at the 2023 Overwatch League Championship.

To help boost viewership, the event’s Twitch and YouTube streams will hand out drops for viewers who spend at least one hour watching. These drops will be exclusive to the streams and will change each day of the event.

The World Finals will feature eight of the best Overwatch teams, including former Overwatch League teams Toronto Defiant and NRG Shock. The event will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, as a part of the DreamHack Stockholm from November 22nd to the 24th..

Esports tournament organiser ESL FACEIT Group has announced the launch of the ESL Saudi Challenge, a tournament series open exclusively to gamers located in Saudi Arabia.

The inaugural tournament will see players from the country compete in Overwatch 2.

The tournament takes place from October 18th and runs until December 7th with open qualifications and a playoff phase. The grand finals will take place at Riyadh-based gaming venue VOV Gaming. In addition, the tournament will feature a $20,000 (~£15,301) prize pool.

The ESL Saudi Challenge is the first time an ESL-branded tournament has taken place in Saudi Arabia. The tournament acts as an opportunity for local talent to showcase their skills ‘on a global stage’ with viewers from across the world tuning into the action.

Saudi Arabia has become a hotbed of activity for the esports industry throughout 2024. In August, the Saudi Esports Federation and MOONTON Games signed an MoU to grow the industry in the country. The same month Korean esports organisation Gen.G announced plans to open a dedicated hub in Riyadh.

ESL FACEIT Group remains one of the largest esports tournament organisers in the world. In October, it appointed Esports Engine Co-founder Adam Apicella as its Senior Vice President of Esports for North America.

Franck Guignery, Senior Vice President of Middle East and Africa at ESL FACEIT Group, spoke on the news: “The ESL Saudi Challenge is more than just a tournament—it’s the beginning of a new chapter for esports in Saudi Arabia.

“Whether you’re an aspiring esports player, a professional  player or a fan, this is your chance to be part of the action and witness the rise of local talent.”

Saudi Arabian esports organisation Twisted Minds has announced winter entertainment festival Riyadh Season as its main sponsor.

Few details have been revealed surrounding the deal, however, the organisation mentioned via LinkedIn that further information would be revealed soon.

Founded in 2021, Twisted Minds competes in a variety of titles such as Rocket League, PUBG Mobile and EA FC. The organisation’s biggest success comes from Overwatch, with Twisted Minds winning the Overwatch Champions Series 2024 — EMEA Stage 1. 

Launched in 2019 by Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, Riyadh Season is a large-scale festival that includes a range of entertainment and sporting events in the country’s capital of Riyadh. 

The festival is no stranger to securing sponsorships, with Riyadh Season also partnering with Spanish football league La Liga and sports streaming platform DAZN earlier this month. 

Riyadh Season joins Twisted Minds’ commercial portfolio, which also includes the likes of VOV Gaming, Steelseries and Alrajhi Bank, among others. 

Riyadh Season’s sponsorship of a local esports organisation comes amid a major push by the Saudi Arabian government into esports and gaming in recent years. Earlier this year Saudi Arabia hosted the Esports World Cup, an annual multi-title esports event that, similarly to Riyadh Season, is part of the country’s Vision 2030 strategy. 

Esports holding company OverActive Media has reported increased revenues for Q2 2024, up by CAD $2.76m (~£1.55m) compared to the same period last year.

The company highlighted its acquisitions of Spanish esports organisations Movistar Riders and KOI as key contributors to the upswing.

According to the company’s financial report, revenue increased from CAD $3.86m (~£2.17m) in Q2 2023 to CAD $6.26m (~£3.51m) in Q2 2024, a 71% improvement. Operating costs also saw an increase from CAD $6.52m (~£3.66m) to CAD $8.66 (~£4.86m) — up 31% — as a result of the acquisitions and “higher roster payroll costs”, per the report.

This led to an overall 52% improvement in adjusted EBITDA from CAD -$2.54m (~-£1.43m) to CAD -£1.23m (~-£690k). Net Income for Q2 2024 was CAD $6.42 (~£3.60m), a significant improvement on the CAD $3.44 (~£1.93m) loss in the same period last year, owing to a CAD $9.8m (~£5.50m) gain following the termination of the Call of Duty League franchise obligations. The termination eliminated CAD $35.2m (~£19.8m) in outstanding entry fees for the company.

The report adds that the company’s Movistar KOI teams competing in the VALORANT Champions Tour, Counter-Strike 2 circuit and League of Legends tier-two Spanish league Superliga “drove increases in revenue from sponsorships and digital merchandise.” The company also saw teams under the Toronto Ultra brand competing in Overwatch 2 and Teamfight Tactics events at the recent Esports World Cup.

On the report, Adam Adamou, CEO of OverActive Media, said: “We have… significantly strengthened our cash and net working capital positions and reduced cash obligations by over $35 million due to the restructuring of the Call of Duty League, leaving us with one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry… Our expanding influence in the esports industry is reflected in our partnerships with top global brands.”

The Esports World Cup (EWC), the world’s largest multi-title esports event, has concluded. EWC 2024 took place over two months and featured more than 20 tournaments, hundreds of players and dozens of organisations from all over the world.

Aimed to be a one-stop event for all esports fans and enthusiasts, the event’s viewership has become an evergrowing topic of discussion. With the event taking place in Saudi Arabia, some sections of the community boycotted the event due to the country’s human rights record, particularly towards LGBTQ+ and Women’s rights. However, now that the event has finished, how many viewers did the $60m (~£45.4M) tournament ultimately attract?

This article dissects Esports World Cup’s viewership, game-by-game, to find out how the tournament ranks among its direct competitors. A total of four games had more than 500,000 peak viewers and 15 games in total had more than 100,000 peak viewers at EWC. The lowest number of viewers watched racing simulation game Rennsport, and the most successful game in terms of viewership was mobile MOBA Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

All data provided is courtesy of esports data and metrics platform Esports Charts and does not include Chinese viewership. It should also be noted that Esports Charts was an official partner of the Esports World Cup.

The Esports World Cup’s League of Legends tournament was one of the competition’s first events to be held this year, in early July.

The event saw fan-favourites T1 walk out victorious over Chinese organisation Top Esports. Overall, the tournament was a success in terms of viewership. 1.1m viewers watched the event at its peak, along with just over 566,000 average viewers. With just 22 hours of air time, the event was the fourth most-watched League of Legends event in 2024. Only international event MSI (2.82m peak) and Korea’s two LCK splits (2.65m for Spring, and Summer is ongoing but has reached 1.27m peak viewers) have performed better so far this year.

By many metrics, Esports World Cup’s CS2 tournament could also be seen as a success. Taking place in mid-July, the CS2 tournament at EWC recorded 756,000 peak viewers and an average of 238,000 viewers with 43 hours of air time. This places the tournament in fifth place amongst the most popular CS2 events of the year, behind the likes of IEM Dallas (823,000), IEM Katowice (972,000), IEM Cologne (1.05m) and the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 (1.85m).

The most-watched event at the Esports World Cup 2024 was the MLBB Mid-Season Cup, which concluded in mid-July. The mobile MOBA is one of the most popular games globally and its popularity translated well into the EWC, largely due to the event being a part of MLBB’s competitive calendar.

The Mid Season Cup 2024 — which was recently rebranded from the Southeast Asia Cup — attracted a peak of 2.38m viewers and an average of 406,000 viewers. This makes it the most popular MLBB tournament of the year, ahead of the 13th season of the MPL Indonesia, the game’s most popular league.

The game’s second tournament, the Women’s Invitational 2024, was also a success. The event had more than 265,000 peak viewers, making it more popular in terms of viewership than many other EWC events, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, Fortnite and other titles. The Women’s Invitational is also the fourth-highest-viewed female esports event of all time.

The mobile version of battle royale game PUBG: Battlegrounds is a very popular mobile game globally, especially in Asia and other emerging markets. The PUBG MOBILE EWC tournament was also a popular event on a global scale, becoming the most-watched PUBG MOBILE tournament of the year.

The event attracted just over 566,000 peak viewers and 206,000 average viewers during nine days of competition. Nevertheless, despite its popularity among PUBG Mobile events this year — including the PUBG Mobile Global Open 2024 (513,600) — the event is 11th in the title’s all-time viewership.

Another mobile game that has found success in Asia, the Honor of Kings tournament at Esports World Cup is also currently the game’s most popular event in 2024, excluding Chinese viewership. Attracting 481,000 peak viewers and 92,000 average viewers, the event is notable for lasting just five days. The short air time of just under 27 hours is also impressive, especially because the second-most watched event of the year — the Honor of Kings Invitational 2024 Season 2 — had 10 more hours of air time and 241,000 peak viewers.

Continuing with the mobile theme, Free Fire, once known for having the world’s most popular esports event, also had the EWC as its most popular event of 2024. The EWC event attracted 471,000 peak viewers and just over 206,000 average viewers with just over 18 hours of air time.

The event with the highest prize pool at the inaugural Esports World Cup ($5m) was the Riyadh Masters in Dota 2.

Despite the event recording 147 hours of air time and almost 27m hours watched, Riyadh Masters attracted just under 419,000 peak viewers and 178,000 average viewers. Compared to last year’s edition, which took place at the Gamers8 festival, the event had around 150,000 less peak viewers but around 20,000 more average viewers. The Riyadh Masters had fewer viewers than the PGL Wallachia Season 1, the most-watched Dota 2 event of the year, which has attracted around 487,000 peak viewers.

It should be noted that The International, Dota 2’s most popular event, will take place later this year.

The popular battle royale game Apex Legends saw decent viewership for its EWC tournament, but not the best of the year. Its 219,000 peak viewership and 98,000 average viewership made the EWC event the second most popular event of the year, with just the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs being more popular with 567,000 peak viewers.

The most-watched fighting game tournament at the Esports World Cup was Street Fighter, one of the most popular games in the genre’s history. The event had just under 155,000 peak viewers and an average of 93,000 viewers.

However, this doesn’t put it in the top five Street Fighter events of 2024 in terms of viewership. For comparison, the most-watched Street Fighter event of the year was the EVO tournament in July, which attracted over 403,000 peak viewers.

Two immensely popular games in the United States and Europe, both Call of Duty and its battle royale mode Warzone did not break more than 150,000 viewers at the EWC. 

The regular Call of Duty event was a bit more successful than Warzone, with 140,000 peak viewers compared to Warzone’s 135,000 (86,000 average viewers compared to Warzone’s 76,000). The two tournaments were also not the most popular event for either game. The Call of Duty League’s Major One, Two and Three, as well as the 2024 playoffs, were all more popular than the EWC event.

Moreover, Warzone’s eFuse Shatter Gauntlet (136,000 peak viewers) is the game’s most popular event of the year.

The world’s most popular football simulation game, EA FC 24, was relatively popular at the EWC, but failed to pass some of the game’s notable events. The EWC tournament attracted 108,000 peak viewers and around 43,300 average viewers, which makes it the third most popular event for the game in 2024.

This means it was behind the FC Pro 24 World Championship (113,000 peak viewers) and the FC Pro 24 Open, the most-watched EA FC event of the year that had just under 320,000 peak viewers.

It should be noted that EA Sports, the creators of the game, are now gearing up for the launch of the new version in September, which means that the EWC is one of the last tournaments in the 24 version of the game. 

The PC version of PUBG: Battlegrounds has performed much worse at the Esports World Cup than its mobile counterpart, PUBG MOBILE. The game saw 105,000 viewers at its peak and around 52,000 average viewers during the EWC. However, this is not a terrible result.

This makes the EWC event the third-most watched tournament for PUBG’s PC version in 2024, behind the PUBG Global Series Phases three and four. Phase 3 had 281,000 peak viewers, and Phase 4 saw 287,000 peak viewers.

A game that is currently experiencing a rebirth of sorts after the Overwatch League was cancelled and the ESL FACEIT Group came to the rescue of the Overwatch scene, Overwatch 2 performed well in terms of viewership. Its tournament saw around 100,000 peak viewers and just 33,000 average viewers, making it the second-highest viewership since the game’s esports scene underwent somewhat of a rebirth this year.

The Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Major was the most-watched event for Overwatch 2 this year, with 125,000 peak viewers, only 25,000 more than EWC.

The first major disappointment in terms of viewership is the Rocket League tournament at the Esports World Cup. Despite being a popular game in terms of viewership worldwide, the EWC Rocket League event attracted relatively low viewership during its three days of competition. The official peak viewer number is just under 100,000 making Rocket League the first game at the EWC that did not surpass the 100,000 mark.

Both 2024 RLCS Majors had more viewers than the EWC tournament in Rocket League, but interestingly the EU qualifiers for both Majors were also more popular than the EWC tournament.

The RLCS Major 1 had 435,000 peak viewers, the Major 2 had 316,000, and the qualifiers ranged from 413,000 peak viewers to 121,700 — all better than EWC.

Continuing with games that might have disappointed during EWC, Fortnite also did not break 100,000 viewers at its peak despite a large prize pool and notable players participating in the event. The Fortnite event had a peak of 72,600 viewers and an average viewer number of 25,500. This amount of viewers was not enough to put the EWC tournament in the game’s top 10 tournaments of the year.

For comparison, its most popular event — FNCS 2024 – Major 1: Europe — had 739,000 peak viewers and a lower prize pool.

Despite not breaking 100,000 viewers, Esports World Cup’s Rainbow Six tournament was actually in line with some of the game’s events this year. Rainbow Six has only broken 100,000 peak viewers on just occasions in 2024. The EWC Rainbow Six: Siege event still did have a low peak, with just 67,800 viewers watching the grand finals, and an average viewer count of 25,000.

The Six Invitational 2024 is the most-watched event of the year for Rainbow Six esports, seeing a peak of 521,000 viewers. The BLAST R6 Major Mahcnester was also more successful than the EWC, with 162,000 peak viewers.

The oldest game in the EWC and a pioneering esports game series, StarCraft 2 is still a popular esports title despite being launched almost 15 years ago. The game attracted just under 61,000 peak viewers and 24,500 average viewers which makes it very close to Rainbow Six and Fortnite, two much more popular games today. The EWC performance was the second highest for StarCraft this year, with only IEM Katowice (77,200) surpassing it in terms of metrics.

With 60,500 peak viewers and 33,500 average viewers, Tekken 8 at the Esports World Cup performed much worse than Street Fighter, the other FGC game at the event. Still, the Tekken tournament saw decent numbers for a fighting game that does not have as robust of a scene as its competitor. Overall, the EWC tournament is seventh in terms of viewership for the game this year.

The Tekken tournament at the EVO Las Vegas is the game’s most popular this year, with 275,000 viewers.

Riot Games’s auto battler Teamfight Tactics is still a popular esports title despite the genre’s drop in popularity in recent years. 

However, TFT did not perform as well as fans would’ve expected at the EWC, recording a peak of just 35,000 viewers. This places the game 10th in terms of TFT events this year, significantly behind the title’s most popular tournament, Inkborn Fables Tactician’s Crown (149,500).

Despite having two separate tournaments with prize pools amounting to more than £1m, new simulation racing game Rennsport saw just over 10,000 peak viewers at both events combined. The Driver Championship had 5,461 viewers at peak and 4,530 viewers on average, while the Team Championship saw 5,748 viewers at its peak but 3,866 on average. 

It has to be said that the game was also featured at Gamers8 last year, where it had around 13,600 peak viewers. Despite these low figures, the number is somewhat in line with ESL R1 2024 Spring (6,508), the game’s highest-viewed event this year.

Gaming and esports consumers vary greatly from region to region. One esport could be a huge cultural hit in the East, whilst being unknown in the West.

However, the modern esports ecosystem has further incentivised the development of global organisations, filled with teams that compete in titles all across the world. The reason is simple, to diversify revenue streams and enter new markets to attract more fans. This is why some of the biggest organisations in the Western world have begun expanding East — particularly esports powerhouse markets Southeast Asia, Korea, and China.

The selection of these three regions doesn’t come as a big surprise. South Korea has a rich esports history and continues to foster loyal fanbases in the FGC and StarCraft. China, on the other hand, is one of the most mature esports markets in the world, with numerous franchised esports leagues in titles unknown to Western audiences.

Lastly, Southeast Asia continues to dominate the mobile esports space, with games like Arena of Valor, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Free Fire and PUBG Mobile showing immense popularity. This makes it a fertile ground for Western esports organisations looking for a slice of the ever-growing mobile market.

The launch of the Esports World Cup Club Support Programme also pushed many Western esports organisations to invest in new titles – many of which have chosen rosters in the East. The 30 teams in the Club Support Programme have received a stimulus to enter new titles for the Esports World Cup, which is currently underway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Without further ado, let’s detail which Western esports organisations have teams in the East.

North American esports organisation Cloud 9 marked its entry into Starcraft II when it signed Korean player Koh ‘GuMiho’ Byung-jae in November 2023. It isn’t a surprising signing as the region dominates the game’s competitive circuit compared to North America, where Cloud9 is headquartered.

An example of this is the viewership stats for the IEM Katowice 2024, where all the top five matches featured at least one South Korean player, per Esports Charts. 

FaZe Clan realised back in 2020 that PUBG Mobile was a game to invest in — and that the best region to do that was SEA. Thereafter, the organisation signed a team in Thailand.

Its long-term commitment to the game resulted in FaZe Clan becoming a partnered team in PUBG Mobile’s Esports ecosystem in 2023. As a part of this, a slot for the PUBG Mobile Super League (PMSL) SEA, which has three seasons per year, is guaranteed for FaZe Clan.

UK-based esports organisation Fnatic initially signed an Overwatch roster back in 2015, but subsequently left the game before the launch of the Overwatch League. 

However, ahead of the Esports World Cup, the organisation re-entered the game by picking up the Esports World Cup-qualified team, YETI. The unsigned Korean Overwatch team placed fourth in the Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Asia Stage 1, booking a slot in the Riyadh event. Fnatic ultimately lost in Round 1 of the EWC Playoffs.

Overwatch wasn’t Fnatic’s only signing ahead of the Esports World Cup. The esports organisation entered into a partnership with ONIC Esports in 2024, for its MLBB rosters across Indonesia and the Philippines. Notably, Onic has a franchised slot in the MLBB Professional League (MPL) Indonesia as well as the Philippines.

Fnatic ONIC recently won MPL Indonesia Season 13 and was one of the favourites going into the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid-Season Cup 2024. However, the team failed to make it out of the Group Stage. Fnatic ONIC PH, on the other hand, placed fifth in the MPL Philippines Season 13.

Multinational esports organisation G2 Esports secured a notable partnership with China’s Invictus Gaming in December 2023.

Representing the Chinese region, the newly-formed G2.iG has competed in a range of tier-one esports events in 2024, including the Riyadh Masters 2024, PGL Wallachia Season 1, ESL One Birmingham and the Elite League Season 1.

In a release at the time, G2 noted: “China, and Asia in general, has always been a huge priority for G2 as the organisation aspires to expand west to east across the globe.”

Besides this, G2 also experimented with Wild Rift esports by partnering up with one of the Philippines’ most popular esports organisations — Blacklist International. However, the team is no longer active after Riot Games announced in early 2024 that it wouldn’t be focusing on SEA for Wild Rift esports. 

With European rosters in Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2, Gaimin Gladiators also has ties to Asia-Pacific with a Rocket League roster since 2022.

Since then, the organisation has been pretty successful in the local APAC region — making it to the RLCS World Championship in 2022 and 2023.

UK-based esports organisation Guild Esports announced on June 10th, 2024, that it was entering the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang scene with Saudi Arabia-based R8 Esports. This included its men’s and female teams.

However, just four days later after the announcement, Guild.R8 Esports failed to qualify for the Esports World Cup after finishing the MLBB Professional League (MPL) MENA Playoffs in fourth place. The women’s team also failed to make it to the MLBB Women’s Invitational (MWI) 2024. 

In its announcement, though, Guild highlighted that the partnership will extend to the Esports World Cup and beyond. 

NAVI is another esports organisation that has picked up an esports roster in the East as a reaction to the Esports World Cup. 

The organisation announced on June 13th that it was acquiring the South Korean team Dark Horse after it placed second in the Esports World Cup 2024 TFT APAC Closed Qualifier.

NAVI will be competing in the TFT tournament at the EWC 2024 from August 8th – 11th. A prize pool of $500,000 (~£393,600) is on the line for the event.

Team Vitality is one of the top Western esports organisations with significant investments in the East — starting with India. 

The France-based esport organisation has a separate division for India – which doesn’t just extend to esports teams but also content creators. The organisation also announced in May 2024 that it was entering into a partnership with the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) to “help take Indian esports to the world.” The ESFI is a full member of the International Esports Federation (IESF). 

In terms of esports, Team Vitality India currently has a Call of Duty: Mobile lineup, which is amongst the most successful in the region. The esports organisation previously had a Free Fire team as well, but the game was banned in early 2022. With Garena announcing Free Fire India, Team Vitality could make a return to the game when the title is released. 

While TSM and Fnatic had made similar investments in the country, both esports organisations subsequently departed from the market.

Team Vitality entered Mobile Legends: Bang Bang by picking up unarguably the most successful all-female esports lineup in the game, Bigetron Era. The team has almost a flawless record in all-female MLBB esports, winning major tournaments in 2023 and 2022.

The team was one of the favourites to win the MLBB Women’s Invitational (MWI) at the Esports World Cup 2024. However, the team ultimately placed second, losing out to the Philippines’ Omega Empress.

Team Vitality entered Starcraft II in February 2024, in partnership with ONSYDE, a South Korean esports organisation. In a release, Vitality stated that this signing was a ‘part of the global expansion of the Parisian club.’

As a part of this, some of the biggest stars in the game, namely Cho ‘Maru’ Seong-ju, Kim ‘Ryung’ Dong-won, and Kang ‘Solar’ Min-soo, now compete under the organisation’s banner.

Lastly, Team Vitality has one South Korean player in its fighting games roster. Jeon ‘Jeondding’ Sang-hyun was picked up in April 2024 and is amongst the biggest names in the FGC.

The player has qualified for the Esports World Cup 2024 and will be playing in the $1m (~£787,000) Tekken 8 tournament in August.

Team Liquid entered Mobile Legends: Bang Bang by acquiring SEA-based esports org, STUN.GG. As a result, STUN.GG’s properties AURA Esports and ECHO Esports, were rebranded into Team Liquid ID and Team Liquid PH, respectively. Both the teams have slots in MPL Indonesia and MPL Philippines.

Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a part of Riot Games’ franchised league for League of Legends in China, the LoL Professional League (LPL). 

The Sweden-based esports organisation entered the LPL by merging with ESV5 to create the NIP Group. As a part of this, the organisation also entered Honor of Kings esports in China (via eStar Gaming)

With the merger, Victory Five was rebranded into Ninjas in Pyjamas in the LPL. Additionally, the NIP Group is leveraging ESV5’s local partnerships and expertise to enhance its brand recognition in China. 

Alliance initially entered PUBG Mobile in 2021 through a collaboration with Yoodo, a major Malaysian-based telecom provider, forming Yoodo Alliance. However, with the latter announcement that it was discounting the Yoodo brand, Alliance announced on August 5th, 2024, that it was parting ways with its title sponsor.

The team is also a partnered team in the PUBG Mobile esports ecosystem, competing in the PMSL SEA as a Malaysian representative. 

Wolves Esports is the esports division of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite its English roots the club’s esports division largely focuses on the Chinese market. The organisation currently has teams in Chinese esports across VALORANT, Call of Duty: Mobile and Honor of Kings.

Wolves Esports’ CODM team are the reigning world champions. Its VALORANT roster, on the other hand, is a partnered team in the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) China. 

However, Wolves Esports is most established in Honor of Kings and has competed in the King Pro League (KPL) since 2017. As representatives of Chongqing, the team has a fixed seat in the league and has been very successful in the game. Most recently, Wolves Esports won the KPL 2024 Spring, pocketing over $700,000 (~£551,000) of its $2m (~£1.57m) prize pool.

Outlaws Entertainment, the parent company of esports brands Houston Outlaws and Team AXLE, officially closed its doors late last month.

Outlaws released a statement on July 26th thanking fans for their support whilst also noting that the closure is due to being unable to ‘deliver a sustainable business model.’ 

Founded in 2017, Houston Outlaws was one of the inaugural franchises in the Overwatch League. Following the league’s demise, Houston Outlaws pivoted to content creation under the Outlaws Entertainment moniker. The team’s biggest achievement occurred during the final Overwatch League season, claiming second in the Overwatch League 2023 Playoffs.

Whilst being in the franchise league since its inception, Houston Outlaws has undergone three different ownership stints during its lifespan. Firstly, the franchise was owned by Infinite Esports & Entertainment (OpTic Gaming’s parent company at the time). Ownership then changed hands to Immortals Gaming Club in 2019 after acquiring Infinite Esports.

Due to the fact Immortals Gaming Group was already the owner of another OWL franchise, the company sold Houston Outlaws to Beasley Media Group in November 2019. Beasley is primarily known as an American radio broadcasting company which owns 59 stations.

The news of the company’s closure may come as somewhat of a surprise given that Outlaws was recently announced as a participant in ‘e2Real’ racing series Prodigy Racing League.

North American esports brand Team AXLE competed in Rocket League from 2021 until 2023. During that time the team competed in the North American RLCS scene, however, it never qualified for a major.

Following Outlaw Entertainment’s closure, Houston Outlaws’ X (Twitter) account has since been deactivated.

An excerpt of the statement reads: “We wish to convey our sincere appreciation to all the players, coaches, sponsors and fans for being a part of this extraordinary experience. From all of the matches in the early days at Blizzard Arena, to our one-and-only Homestand in Houston.”

Outlaws Entertainment, the parent company of esports brands Houston Outlaws and Team AXLE, officially closed its doors late last month.

Outlaws released a statement on July 26th thanking fans for their support whilst also noting that the closure is due to being unable to ‘deliver a sustainable business model.’ 

Founded in 2017, Houston Outlaws was one of the inaugural franchises in the Overwatch League. Following the league’s demise, Houston Outlaws pivoted to content creation under the Outlaws Entertainment moniker. The team’s biggest achievement occurred during the final Overwatch League season, claiming second in the Overwatch League 2023 Playoffs.

Whilst being in the franchise league since its inception, Houston Outlaws has undergone three different ownership stints during its lifespan. Firstly, the franchise was owned by Infinite Esports & Entertainment (OpTic Gaming’s parent company at the time). Ownership then changed hands to Immortals Gaming Club in 2019 after acquiring Infinite Esports.

Due to the fact Immortals Gaming Group was already the owner of another OWL franchise, the company sold Houston Outlaws to Beasley Media Group in November 2019. Beasley is primarily known as an American radio broadcasting company which owns 59 stations.

The news of the company’s closure may come as somewhat of a surprise given that Outlaws was recently announced as a participant in ‘e2Real’ racing series Prodigy Racing League.

North American esports brand Team AXLE competed in Rocket League from 2021 until 2023. During that time the team competed in the North American RLCS scene, however, it never qualified for a major.

Following Outlaw Entertainment’s closure, Houston Outlaws’ X (Twitter) account has since been deactivated.

An excerpt of the statement reads: “We wish to convey our sincere appreciation to all the players, coaches, sponsors and fans for being a part of this extraordinary experience. From all of the matches in the early days at Blizzard Arena, to our one-and-only Homestand in Houston.”

The Esports World Cup’s Overwatch 2 tournament has recorded a peak viewership of 100,188, a decrease in comparison to last month’s Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Major.

The Overwatch event, which took place at the Qiddiya Arena, also had an average viewership of 33,310 over its 51-hour runtime, according to esports data platform Esports Charts.

This average viewership is just a third of what the Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Major averaged (97,364). However, this was over a much lower runtime of around 27 hours. Meanwhile, peak viewership only decreased by 25,000.

Overwatch was announced to be a part of the Esports World Cup back in May after its esports ecosystem had undergone some serious changes. After the Overwatch League was shut down towards the end of 2023, a deal was reached between the ESL FACEIT Group and Activision Blizzard leading to the creation of the Overwatch Champions Series.

The Esports World Cup Overwatch event was won by Japanese organisation Crazy Raccoon who took down the OverActive Media-owned organisation Toronto Ultra in the Grand Final. Despite finishing as runners-up at the event, Toronto Ultra was the most popular team at the event by hours watched with 674,800 compared to Crazy Raccoon’s 487,800.

Toronto Ultra may have come second, but the English-speaking broadcasts were by far the most watched according to peak viewership with 68,900. The other popular language broadcasts were Arabic (19,997), Spanish (14,378), Japanese (11,492) and Portuguese (9,017).

In terms of streaming platforms Twitch (89,475) continued to dominate over TikTok Live (13,867) whilst YouTube (5,401), Afreeca TV (5,018) and Kick (979) all had a smaller portion of the viewership.

It is worth noting that Esports Charts does not measure viewership from Chinese streaming sites and that Esports Charts was named as an official partner for the Esports World Cup.

The Esports World Cup is currently underway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and features more than 20 tournaments and a $60m (~£48.1m) prize pool, many of which are still underway. The Esports World Cup Foundation, the organisers of the Esports World Cup, is backed by the Saudi Arabian government. As such, the multi-title event has faced criticism from teams and the community over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.