Tencent will produce a scripted TV series around its mobile MOBA hit Honor of Kings. The series will follow a fictional HoK player, on his path to become a professional player. HoK grossed 4B yuan ($630M) in Q1 2018 and added a city-based component to its top competition, the King Pro League. The game has... View the full article

This week on The Esports Roundtable, host Joe Hills welcomes Jonathon Oudthone, President of NGAGE Esports as his guest. Together, they discuss Oudthone’s experience and history in esports, how the newly-announced Esports Stadium in Arlington came to be, and the potential for social change through esports investment in local communities. As always on the podcast, the guest gives a little insight into their past to give listeners an idea as to how they got to their current position. In Oudthone’s case, he was an avid Street Fighter player – which led to his time as a Broadcast Director in the fighting game community – working for Capcom, the EVO Championship Series, and Namco. He founded Panda x Gaming – a grass roots broadcast and events management company for the Fighting Game Community- back in January 2009. Jonathon Oudthone, NGAGE EsportsThe conversation shifts to NGAGE Esports, one of the companies under Infinite Esports and Entertainment – alongside OpTic Gaming, Houston Outlaws, GG Esports Academy, No Scope Media, Triggerfish Partnerships, Team Allegiance, and Obey Alliance. Oudthone explains exactly what NGAGE Esports is: it’s an events management and production company that specialises in brand activation and fan engagement in esports. Oudthone and co. knew that they needed to “come out swinging” with NGAGE if it wanted to really make a wave in the industry. So far – with Houston Outlaws’ Texas Tour, the upcoming OpTic Arena event, and the aforementioned Esports Stadium –  NGAGE Esports has done just that. The first year of the company is dedicated to building up a portfolio and showing what it can do. From there, the topic switches to the process of building an esports stadium, especially in an area that’s mostly uninformed about the industry, how it works, and how it’s thriving. Oudthone explains that NGAGE Esports is playing the long game when it comes to the Arlington project – the esports industry is growing monumentally and demand for esports-dedicated venues is only going to grow. For example, franchises in the Overwatch League will be required to compete from their own arenas in the near future. Oudthone left a comment after his time on the podcast: “We are delighted with our partnership with the City of Arlington for Esports Stadium this year. Real estate investment is ramping up across the global industry and we want to set the standard for the technical capabilities of our space as well as for authentic integration into the local community.” Joe Hills, LFG and The Esports RoundtableSpeaking to Esports Insider, Joe Hills, Founder and Host of The Esports Roundtable, also commented: “News around Esports Stadium’s scale and advanced stage setup gave me goosebumps. I can’t wait to see how the venue rallies the local esports fan base and regenerates the community around celebrating the best of gaming competition.” Hills is the Founder of Looking for Group, an esports executive recruitment company and has worked to achieve placements for many high profile individuals in the burgeoning esports industry. View the full article

The Ledger Group has announced that it has closed the first tranche of a planned $1.5M investment into esports team org Splyce. The investment group will rename to OverActive Media to reflect ownership of esports platforms. Other investments include ESP parent company Askott Entertainment, and EGLX organizer Enthusiast Gaming. Splyce currently competes in the EU... View the full article

Marketing agency Lagardère Sports has been appointed as the exclusive partnership sales house of RFRSH Entertainment. Lagardère Sports will be responsible for all sales promotion for esports teams Astralis and Heroic, as well as CS:GO tournament series BLAST Pro Series. The BLAST Pro Series launched in Copenhagen in 2017, and will be returning this year... View the full article

Gaming peripheral company Razer has been invested in MOL Global since June 2017 and has now proposed to acquire the companies remaining shares to gain full ownership. The company has reportedly offered $61m for the remaining shares after investing $20m last year. Razer has been moving heavier and heavier into ecommerce lately with the release of their Steam-alternate Game Store earlier this month. It’s Game Store offers codes per purchase that can be used for exclusive peripheral offers and even game vouchers. They’ve also added their zGold and zSilver currency into the Game Store along with giving users more ways to earn them and exchange them for hardware. MOL Global operates payments through MOLPoints for games off and online in Southeast Asia as credit cards are rarely used. This allows for large developers like PlayStation and Facebook to monetize their games in that region which will in-turn boost Razer’s ecosystem. Razer co-founder Min-Liang Tan says the acquisition will allow the company to take over one of Southeast Asia’s largest e-payment networks, deepen its presence in Asia, and created one of the world’s largest virtual credit platforms specifically for gamers. Esports Insider says: This is an obvious move from Razer. As it’s Game Store recently launched along with the store currency it’s smart to gain full ownership of the largest virtual credit platform along with stretching its reach to Southeast Asia. The popularity of the Game Store will grow as Razer invests more into perks for using it. View the full article