From sponsorships to industry-wide announcements, Insider Sport has you covered when it comes to the world of esports.
This week’s edition focuses on esports platforms having to find another payments partner after Stripe changed its policies to end payments support for video games.
Stripe ends payment rail support for esports platforms
Payments platform Stripe has opted to no longer provide its services to esports organisations after a change in its policies.
This was highlighted by esports firm start.gg, which noted that Stripe’s ‘Prohibited and Restricted Businesses’ guidelines that outline high-risk risk ventures now include “games of skill including video game and mobile game tournaments/competitions, card games, board games with a monetary or material prize”.
As Stripe is being used by a large number of esports organisations, the news will most likely bring a shift to the professional video gaming sector, with stripe.gg already announcing a PayPal partnership in the making to replace Stripe.
Gen.G reveals new jersey and anthem ahead of LoL World Championship
Esports firm Gen.G has launched its latest fan-oriented initiative by revealing a new jersey and theme song in time for the 2023 League of Legends World Championship.
The new esports team’s anthem is performed by South Korean rapper BIG Naughty, with the new jersey featured in the music video accompanying the song.
For the jersey, Gen.G has collaborated with LA-based apparel company THE HUNDREDS to work on a ‘white tiger’ theme that celebrates both Gen.G’s South Korean heritage and its fandom.
Tundra Esports promotes new Paramount Pictures film ‘Sumotherhood’
Tundra Esports has teamed up with movie production company Paramount Pictures UK for a promotion event of the upcoming movie ‘Sumotherhood’.
The event itself provided fans with an exclusive look into the movie’s background and a chance to see part of its cast compete against each other in the recently-launched EA SPORTS FC 24 video game.
The news follows up on Tundra’s growing partnership portfolio, with the esports organisation recently inking a deal with sports betting operator Winline, as well as ViewSonic and alcoholic beverages company Ballantine’s.
British Esports joins Saudi Arabia to develop esports talent
The British Esports Federation has linked with the Saudi Esports Federation in a deal to increase esports visibility on an international level.
British Esports deemed the deal as ‘historic’ for the industry, as it will create various cross-country projects and activations to develop esports talent.
Some of the planned initiatives include internships, bootcamps, esports training programmes and educational programmes, as well as home and away matches that pit UK and Saudi esports athletes against each other.
Part of the matches will take place in 2024 and will be hosted by the British Esports National Performance Campus in Sunderland.
Entain-owned unikrn scales back B2C services
Esports bookmaker unikrn has announced that it is scaling back its B2C operations as parent Entain restructures its esports offering.
In an email sent to media, Entain said that it will leverage unikrn’s esports betting capabilities across its existing brands, temporarily halting the bookmaker’s deposit processing.
Entain acquired unikrn in 2021, launching a revamped service for Canadian and Brazilian customers in December 2022. Shortly after, unikrn went on to secure partnerships with LatAm esports platform Gamers Club and tournament organiser BLAST.
