Follow our lastest announcements, technical updates, cases studies & tips
Toornament is the most powerful Esport platform for tournament organizers and we wanted to offer the same feeling for participants.
We thus developed all the features you need to follow and report on the competitions you participate in. Check them out!
Missed something in the ever-evolving Esports industry? Here’s your weekly recap!
Let’s talk LCS. In the eve of the Summer Split Finals in Europe and North America, an interview sparked a response which sparked a drama which sparked many more responses.
Andy “Reginald” Dinh, owner of fan-favorite Team SoloMid, complained in an interview on how Riot doesn’t care about their LCS teams, throwing game-changing patches days before major tournaments. He went on, comparing the cost-to-revenue ratio of an LCS team compared to Dota or CS:GO sections which generate more money.
Riot co-founder Marc “Tryndamere” Merrill was (maybe too) quick to answer Reginald in an emotional and now infamous/edited reddit post where he called out the TSM owner for investing in other Esports. The community uproar was swift, but the best part was that the other LCS team owners came in defense of Reginald, sharing their own struggles and doubts with the Riot’s way.
We followed and gathered all the drama and discussions on our dedicated Twitter thread.
The latest community witch hunt is about a few people controlling too many Esports organizations. A powerful Russian company named ESForce was recently under the spotlighs for owning organizations such as Virtus.Pro, SK Gaming, media rights for Natus Vincere and numerous Esports websites in the CIS region. The funny part is that the website which published the story is now caught in the same scandal.
The well-respected Esports Observer has financial ties with Jens Hilger, an influencial Esports entrepreneur. Part of the founding ESL team, he then left to start new ventures like Dojomadness.
He’s also involved in numerous companies, which seems normal for an investor and entrepreneur. But some of his investments are in rival teams (G2 Esports and Fnatic) and the self-proclaimed independent Esports Observer. Feels like a drama inception.
On a more serious note, these conflicts will keep on happening as long as there is no legislation to rule all this mess.
Let’s end this digest with the beloved Rocket League which is doing well, very well. The latest numbers show that jet-motorized football is not a fluke. A year after its launch, the latest Psyonix game boasts impressive numbers :
Rocket League is a great case study on how to make a successful competitive game: make a great game, put it in as much players’ hands as possible (Rocket League was free with the PlayStation Plus) and keep on polishing its mechanics while adding new content. Then and only then, launch the Esport efforts.
We’re happy to bring you the Pick & ban Feature for your Hearthstone tournaments!
You will now be able to lock classes for your participants whatever the match format (Conquest, Last Deck Standing etc.). Here’s how it works:
Few tournaments this week, but some interesting discussions about Dota 2, CS:GO and League of Legends. Here’s what you need to know!
For many, Dota 2’s The International 2016 was the best Esport event ever. The level of the teams, the record breaking money prize and the great storylines made it memorable, but a detail struck us and reminded us why we love Esports: for the lol.
These past years, our industry has grown tremendously and gone pro, often looking up to the likes of Football league, the NBA, ESPN… From grassroot events we evolved to professional tournaments. But some of what makes the Esport community unique seemed to be left behind. The clowns, the lol, the memes, the kappa.
After the Shanghai debacle where Valve fired the event host for not being professional enough, we feared that this TI would become a very serious event, with casters in suits and television-like content. We were pleasantly surprised.
Switching from top-notch analysis to savage banter, obnoxious fans bashing or even muppets (!), TI6 delivered each day and conveyed the soul of Esports, a phenomenon born on the Internet. We don’t need to mimic dominant sports to get credibility. Skateboarding got huge and the contest judges didn’t have to wear ties for that. We’ll see if Riot, Blizzard and Activision will take note and stay true to our roots, or go the pure mainstream way.
Valve did good with Dota 2? Valve did wrong with CS:GO, their other top Esport. The publisher reduced the coaches role this week. So far, coaches could talk to their players during a match and even lead the game. Valve felt that coaches had become 6th players and wanted to restrict Counter-Strike to 5 men experience. They can now communicate with players before and after each half-time and during 4 authorized time-outs per map.
The outcry from both the pro teams and the community has been swift and loud, also condemning the ESL for adopting this rule for its non-Valve sponsored events. Even tho this coach approach is already used by LoL or DotA, the CS:GO backlash shows how each Esport is evolving with its own codes. Let’s compare with Sports: NFL coaches have headsets, Football coaches have to scream – and tennis coaches can’t even go on the court…
LoL analyst, caster and personality Monte Cristo has published a very interesting vlog on the struggle to build a professionnal Esport team nowadays, especially for the LCS, Riot’s top league. From the lack of shared revenues, to the sponsor volatility, this video is a must-see if you want to understand the high-risk, low-reward that is running an Esport team.
This piece from Monte Cristo highlights the main differences between Esport and Sport teams in terms of revenue source. The broadcast rights are the main ones for Sports teams, the sponsors are everything for the Esports ones.
We covered the International 2016 since its Regional Qualifiers and now come up with the most exhaustive and comprehensive infographic thanks to our API.
We even went a bit further than our Manila and Shanghai infographics, adding the Open and Regional Qualifiers. Enjoy!
(click on the infographic to watch it in full resolution)
If you want to check all the scores, stats and videos, here are all the tournaments covered.
Also check our infographics for:
Enjoy and share our work if you liked it!