Esports Industry Newsletter

Week of June 28, 2021 Edition

A round-up of the biggest news from in-and-around the esports industry over the past week

Organizations & Franchise Spots Changing Hands

This week saw one esports organization become acquired, and another sell its franchise spot in a premier global esports league. First in looking at Complexity Gaming, Tom Daniels of Esports Insider reported here that they had been acquired by GameSquare Esports for approximately $27 million. Complexity’s esports teams — which include rosters in titles such as FIFA, Valorant, Fortnite, and CS:GO — will continue to compete under the Complexity name.

Across the pond in Europe, Schalke 04 announced the sale of its franchise spot in the European League of Legends league (LEC) to Team BDS, a Swiss soccer club, for approximately $32.6 million. Trent Murray of The Esports Observer provided more details in his piece here.

NFTs Continue to Emerge in Esports

Esports organization Dignitas announced this week that it will be unveiling a series of NFTs that will come to life in the form of collections and digital player cards during Q3 of this year. It established a multiyear partnership with Zytara Labs, which as The Esports Observer’s Trent Murray reported here, has been responsible for several notable NFT projects such as a collection introduced by Floyd Mayweather.

Other esports orgs have already been active in this space, and as NFTs continue to become more familiar, and understood, by a wider audience, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the boundaries of how they come to life, and are integrated by esports organizations, continue to be pushed.