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Saudi Arabia’s investments in esports and gaming have caused a backlash. SBJ’s Hunter Cooke interviewed the head of the Saudi Esports Federation, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, about the kingdom’s plans and resistance. It is well worth your time. — Jason Wilson

Although it has been a difficult year for the Halo Infinite game, the Halo Championship Series has seen some success. Despite some issues with its quasi-franchise “partnership” decisions, the HCS has rebuilt the once formidable Halo esports ecosystem. It has brought back open brackets (a core ingredient) to Majors while integrating with some of North America’s most powerful organizations such as FaZe Clan and Cloud9.

Tahir “Tashi” Hasandjekic, Viewer’s Leader for the HCS, tweeted this week that the series had more viewers for September’s Orlando Major than for late April’s Kansas City Major. That’s a good indication of growth towards the November Halo World Championship. In addition, the HCS has just announced that Quadrant, the team of F1 driver Lando Norris, is now an official HCS partner. Norris’ helmet for all sessions of the Singapore Grand Prix has been changed to more closely resemble that of the Master Chief.

Halo Infinite is struggling as a live service game. It has a stark lack of content, and certain modes didn’t get specific playlists until late after launch. The lack of Forge, an in-game tool players use to create maps and game modes, remains a glaring omission. Still, Halo Infinite’s basic gameplay is the best the franchise has been in ages, combining the advanced movement of modern Halo games and staying true to the old Halo mechanics. The skeleton of a great multiplayer game is there, even if the HCS is the only thing that currently works. — Hunter Cooke

The gaming and football worlds came together in the lead up to “Sunday Night Football” when Dr. Disrespect, one of the most popular influencers in the streaming space, was part of NBC’s “Football Night in America” ​​pregame show.

dr. Disrespect, whose real name is Guy Beahm, was featured in a segment breaking down the QB battle between the 49ers and Broncos. While some knew he was a 49ers fan, many wondered how this esports and gaming personality with over 4 million subscribers on YouTube made it to the air.

“I spoke to my son about the upcoming 49ers-Broncos game and said I didn’t have much creative on the San Francisco side other than the obvious Jimmy Garoppolo return,” NBC Sports Coordinating Producer Vinny Costello told SBJ. “He said, ‘why not do something with Dr. Disrespect?’ I said, ‘who?’ He told me about him, the character he took on, his strong following in the game world, and his connection to the Niners as a superfan.It seemed like an interesting angle, and (coordinating producer) Matt Casey and the team agreed that we We found out that Dr. Disrespect was at the 49ers training camp over the summer, hanging out with the players and even doing a skit for his followers by throwing a football 70 yards at George Kittle. The team brought us in contacted his manager, and we worked it out for a Saturday morning shoot in LA, and [it was] the next day on air for ‘Football Night’.”

dr. Disrespect is just the latest connection between the NFL and gaming, which includes Ninja appearing in an NFL Super Bowl spot and FaZe Clan teaming up with the league for training camp activations. dr. Disrespect made a name for himself with games like Call of Duty and Valorant and now has more than 1.2 million followers on Instagram. — Kevin Hitt

dr. Disrespect was part of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” pregame show.

dr. Disrespectful Instagram

Activision admitted that sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard fell short of expectations, so the video game publisher should be pleased that fans seem excited about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. Activision said the beta test attracted more players, playing more hours and more games, than in any previous Call of Duty beta prior to launch.

Call of Duty sales remain a cornerstone of Activision’s bottom line, and a good game not only brings in more money, but also more fans for the Call of Duty League. According to Esports Charts, viewership for 2022 has risen year over year for the finals, but the past two years haven’t beaten the 2020 numbers (when it used 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare). And the numbers are still lagging behind 2018. A few factors play a role here. The CDL is still rebuilding its viewership after the (albeit lucrative) move to YouTube in 2020 that caused numbers (fans prefer Twitch for esports).

This means it can be difficult to measure a game’s commercial success based on esports viewership. Activision may also have split its traditional player base with the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone Battle Royale game and Call of Duty Mobile. While those players may still be spending on battle passes and other in-game transactions, they aren’t buying a premium game either.

I expect sales to pick up. Fans have a lot of nostalgia for the original Modern Warfare games, and the reboot and a return to modern weapons could boost sales beyond Vanguard’s missed predictions. Modern Warfare II will be released on October 28. — Jason Wilson

  • Saudi Arabia’s government-funded gaming conglomerate, Savvy Gaming Group, will invest $37.8 billion in gaming as “part of a controversial effort to expand the kingdom’s role in the industry,” Axios notes. Savvy has set aside more than $13 billion to acquire a major game development studio or publisher to become a “strategic partner.”
  • Vinnie Viola, owner of NHL’s Florida Panthers, has acquired esports organization FlyQuest from Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens. FlyQuest has a coveted North American League Championship Series (LCS) spot within League of Legends esports.
  • 100 Thieves has signed a partnership with Rock Entertainment Group, strengthening ties under Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. 100 Thieves has numerous competitive esports teams in games such as League of Legends, Apex Legends and Fortnite and a large number of streamers and YouTubers who create entertaining content.
  • Enthusiast Gaming Group has sold esports publication Upcomer (along with several other websites) to Sydney-based gaming, esports and entertainment media network Gamurs Group (it owns Dot Esports) for $4.97 million.
  • Thorne Health is now the health and wellness sponsor for Team Liquid.
  • Team Gullit, which focuses on FIFA esports, has a new sponsorship deal with Philips OneBlade and will carry the product logo on its shirts.
  • PepsiCo launches the Mountain Dew Real Change Challenge, an effort to boost black representation in esports and gaming. This includes sponsoring an HBCU esports tournament with a $500,000 prize pool.
  • Netflix opens its first in-house game studio and sets up a store in Helsinki (one of the major mobile gaming development hubs) with former EA and Zynga exec Marko Lastikka as director. As Netflix ramps up, Google pulls out and announces the end of its Stadia cloud gaming service.
  • Motorsport Games is making five activations during the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with NASCAR 21: Ignition and the upcoming NASCAR Rivals racing game simulation.
  • Snapdragon Pro Series announced the second season of the esports competition for mobile games, now with eight games under its umbrella: PUBG Mobile, Clash of Clans, Wild Rift and Free Fire mark the list of Brawl Stars, Asphalt 9: Legends, Clash Royale and Legends of Runeterra. Notable new game additions include Wild Rift, Free Fire, and Clash of Clans.
  • Sheridan Shay, who worked as a digital content coordinator related to esports at Learfield (within the LevelNext division), wrote on LinkedIn that she was fired as part of the company’s restructuring efforts, notes James Fudge.