From sponsorships to industry-wide announcements, Insider Sport has you covered when it comes to the world of esports.
This week’s edition highlights the latest developments within the sector, including Esports tournament organiser BLAST partnering with men’s health charity Movember to support the mental health of esports players and fans.
Under the agreement, BLAST will connect with teams, players and fans to discuss men’s mental health at its BLAST Premier World Final 2024. In doing so, the organiser will encourage those at the event to support themselves and each other.
Additionally, both parties will collaborate to establish a set of mental health guidelines that will be based on the experiences of esports players. This is designed to ‘level up the impact esports has on people’s mental health with the aim of onboarding new organisations in the future’.
The two organisations have worked previously, with Movember holding workshops with players to better understand the main sources of their issues. Also, the charity opened a barber shop on-site that offered haircuts and provided people with an opportunity to chat about mental health.
Faye Marlborough, Director of Growth for BLAST, commented: “Esports has a huge influence on people all over the world, and through this new partnership we have already started to have industry-led discussions about mental health and deliver interventions in settings where esports players and the community spend their time.”
“We hope this partnership will help leverage Movember’s experience to equip our fans and community with best practices and approaches to dealing with mental health.”
Dan Cooper, Director of Global Innovations at Movember, said: “This partnership between Movember and BLAST Premier is a significant step in highlighting the health challenges facing those in the esports community. We plan to do that in part by collaboratively building guidelines that will act as a set of foundational principles to protect esports players and support the creation of psychologically safe spaces.”
Bayes Esports announce departure of Co-CEO
Bayes Esports, an esports data company, has announced that Co-CEO and Co-Managing Director Martin Dachselt will leave the company after eight years.
Dachselt will leave the company in November to pursue new opportunities. However, he will remain connected to Bayes Esports in a strategic advisory role as of 1 December.
Following his departure, CEO and Managing Director Amir Mirzaee will lead the company, alongside CFO Christopher Bohlmann and CTO Notger Heinz.
Prior to joining Bayes Esports, Dachselt worked in tech for 25 years, notably holding the position of CTO at Delivery Hero, among other jobs.
During his time at the company, he oversaw some of Bayes’ most significant deals, including becoming the data supplier for the Esports World Cup, as reported by Esports Insider. Additionally, Dachselt has had a noticeable impact on the use of data within the sector.
Commenting on the announcement, Mirzaee said: “Martin’s accomplishments in developing industry-leading technology have been instrumental in shaping our success and are reflected in the strong network of partnerships and customers we have today.
“I am excited to continue expanding on the strong product suite we have built and driving innovation and growth in the esports space.”
BLAST eyes up fan engagement opportunities in GRID deal
BLAST has entered into a multi-year partnership with data platform GRID to help engage with fans.
The agreement covers esports data monetisation, as well as the joint development of data-driven products, which will enhance the esports ecosystem while adding new value to BLAST’s CS2 and Dota 2 competitions alongside its streaming platform, BLAST.tv.
Starting with the upcoming BLAST Dota Slam in November, all esports data and live streaming feeds from BLAST tournaments in CS2 and Dota 2 will be exclusively available on the GRID Data Platform. Additionally, GRID will provide BLAST with integrity solutions powered by advanced data technologies.
Charlie Hanley-NIckolls, Chief Procurement Officer at GRID, stated: “BLAST and GRID share a strong belief that technology is the backbone of a connected, interactive, and well-monitored esport.
“Integrating GRID’s game-title-agnostic data infrastructure with BLAST’s tournament solutions, we can equip any game across any genre with a comprehensive, data-driven ecosystem.
“Together we aim to elevate esports with enhanced broadcast experiences, innovative fan engagement tools, and sustainable revenue streams.”
Alexander Lewin, SVP of Commercial Revenue at BLAST, remarked: “Building successful and long-term partnerships in esports is a huge area of focus for BLAST. GRID had already been an excellent partner during BLAST’s early days and with this deal will once more become an important component of our ability to leverage data when creating and delivering world-leading esports ecosystems.”
