B/R Weekly Rushdown: TI6 Results, Legal eSports Gambling, Virtus.pro Revelations
Another week, another Rushdown of eSports news! Evo is done. The International 2016 is done. ELEAGUE is done...and there's still plenty to talk about! So jump right on in.
Wings Gaming Takes Home Aegis of Champions at TI6
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The International, the world's premiere Dota 2 tournament, is always a grandiose event, but TI6 was handily the best one ever. The competition was beyond intense with highly competitive matchups throughout. The drama was high, as old friends and storied rivals were forced to knock one another out each round.
In the end, Chinese newcomer Wings Gaming took the top prize and cemented itself as the best, most dynamic team in the world. Wings burst onto the scene in April at ESL One Manila, taking the top prize by defeating Team Liquid, which was widely regarded as one of the world's best teams. Inconsistency plagued the crew from there, as it finished in last place at the Manila Major and posted a sub-.500 record at the Dota 2 Professional League in China, but it jelled early at TI6, and it paid off...literally.
As the winner of the tournament, Wings took home a check worth more than $9.1 million USD. We'll see if it can keep up that level of success going forward. For more info on TI6, check out our results coverage.
Startling Revelation About Virtus.pro
The controversy surrounding skin-betting isn't quite done yet! For months now, controversy has surrounded the many sites that encourage players to wager in-game items on the results of pro Counter-Strike games. But even though skin-betting may be coming to an end due to a mobilization of Valve's legal team, it most certainly isn't done producing news quite yet.
According to eSportsObserver.com's Thiemo Brautigam, CSGOLounge.com, one of the first and most popular skin-betting sites, shares a parent company with prominent European eSports team Virtus.pro in ESforce Holding.
Virtus.pro (VP for short) is one of Europe's biggest and most prominent eSports teams, fielding squads in nearly every major title to date. While many of those teams, particularly its Dota 2 and League of Legends teams, have been short-lived, its CS:GO team has been a force in recent times, most recently winning ELEAGUE's season one tournament.
A major part of the controversy surrounding skin-betting has been a lack of transparency about ownership of the sites. As Brautigam points out, "To be clear: as of today, there is no evidence of foul play across the various ESforce holdings. Potential conflicts of interest are not hard to imagine, though."
For what it's worth, CSGOLounge.com is currently in a restructuring phase to move away from its focus on betting in the wake of Valve's attempts to end skin-betting. Whether or not any backlash comes against VP for this remains to be seen.
The Rise of Actual Gambling on eSports?
While eSports gambling has been mired in the controversy over skin-betting, what if there was a place where someone could just wager money on a game of StarCraft? Well, there is such a place, and it's in Canada. On August 11, Quebec's gaming agency, Loto-Quebec, started taking bets on DreamHack Montreal's StarCraft II World Championship Series Summer Circuit Championship and is looking to expand into eSports even further.
Obviously, there's cause for concern over the effects legitimate gambling could have on eSports. Collusion has long been an issue in competitive gaming, and adding more money in this direction probably won't help matters.
Still, it's good that eSports' economic horsepower is being recognized and that groups like Loto-Quebec are supporting the gaming industry through sponsorships.
Will eSports Take Down Soccer?
Anyone reading this article knows eSports is a big deal, but the majority of mainstream sports and broadcasting personalities still view it as kids playing some games. The Premier League's Richard Scudamore doesn't see it that way, though. Speaking with BBC Radio 5 Live (via ESPN FC), he said the following:
"I see it wider than that. I see gaming, all sorts of digital gaming, I see all sorts of young people spending time on their devices doing all sorts of things to entertain themselves, with social media generally.
We don't necessarily see other sports -- I think that's a little narrow, in terms of our competitors.
We see what's entertaining young people as being a competitor to try to make sure they stay interested in this type of thing, which is why the whole community-based activities, the whole interactive-based activities, are so important.
"
While that looks relatively innocuous on its own, it comes about a month after Manchester City's signing of Kieran "Kez" Brown, a top player of the EA Sports FIFA franchise—which was a reaction to West Ham's signing of Sean "Dragonn" Allen.
With EA Sports poised to expand its presence in the realm of eSports, it is beyond likely that fans see more crossover between the "real" sports leagues and eSports personalities and players. I'm looking forward to it!
Vice Looks into World of Competitive Smite
With games like Dota 2 and League of Legends, it's pretty easy to overlook hack-and-slash-focused multiplayer online battle arena Smite, but there's a lot of fun to be had and stories to be told there. And Vice did a great job of doing so with this mini-documentary on DreamHack Summer 2016's Smite tournament. Make sure to check it out.
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