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 the Esports World Cup unveiling FC 25, Counterstrike 2 and Overwatch 2 as part of its 2025 tournament.
Marking the second edition of the Esports World Cup, the tournament organisers have been busy unveiling what titles will feature in 2025, with 12 titles confirmed so far.
The three aforementioned games all appeared at the last event, which took the esports industry by storm. Not only did it catch the attention of the sector ahead of its launch, as it awarded more than $60m in prize money – the largest prize pool in esports history – it also recorded impressive viewing figures.
For instance, Last year’s Overwatch 2 competition at the Esports World Cup peaked at 100,000 viewers, while Counter Strike 2 peaked at 756,764 people.
Other titles already announced include Dota 2, Street Fighter 6, mobile battle royal game Free Fire, Honor of Kings, Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege, as well as Activisions’ FPS titles Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty Warzone.
Despite putting a lot of eyes on esports and offering the largest prize pool the industry has ever seen, the tournament still attracts a lot of criticism This is due to Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, however, this doesn’t seem to be affecting its ongoing work on next year’s World Cup.
Xbox throws prizes to fans with Luke Littler sponsorship
Xbox has signed a sponsorship deal with professional darts player Luke Littler ahead of the start of the World Darts Championship (WDC) this weekend.
The 17-year old player, who came second in the WDC final last year against Luke Humphries, will wear the logos of Xbox and its Score More rewards scheme during this year’s tournament.
Throughout his short time in the spotlight, Littler has demonstrated his love for gaming and Xbox. The darts professional has participated and streamed himself playing EA Sports FC.
Samuel Bateman, Xbox Gaming Marketing Lead for the UK and Ireland, commented: “As a huge Xbox fan, it only made sense for us to team up with Luke and celebrate his love for gaming in a way that felt authentic.
“We’re wishing him every success in the upcoming PDC World Darts Championship and encourage fans in the UK to keep their eyes on Xbox UK socials to be in with a chance of winning some awesome prizes, all thanks to his extraordinary performances.”
As mentioned by Bateman, Xbox will provide esports and darts fans a chance to win prizes. Every time Littler scores a 180, secures a nine dart finish or wins a match, a series of fan prizes will be unveiled, mainly centred around the EA Sports FC 25 title.
Commenting on the partnership, Littler said: “I’m looking forward to partnering with Xbox and bringing two of my biggest passions together – darts and gaming.
“I hope I can provide fans with as many rewards as possible through my performances at the PDC World Darts Championship and help them score more with Xbox.”
BETBY maximises customer engagement with enhanced esports offering
Sportsbook provider BETBY has become the latest operator to enhance its esports offering with additional player prop markets.
Esports bettors will gain access to an extended variety of outright options and player-specific betting markets, which BETBY believes will maximise customer engagement opportunities.
Part of BETBY’s new betting markets on offer include Counter-Strike 2’s Tournament Most Valuable Player and AWP Kill Comparisons, as well as others. In Dota, these markets are Most Popular Hero for picks and bans, as well as Hero with Highest Kill Death Assist ratio.
The odds are constantly updated throughout the entirety of the tournaments so that clients can place bets during game or stage breaks. Additional games offered include Escape from Tarkov: Arena and Standoff 2, exclusive to BETBY.
Kirill Nekrasov, Head of BETBY Games, commented: “We decided to accelerate the launch of new outrights and player prop markets for esports because we see a gap in the industry. We wanted to develop our own solutions and noticed that even though providers offer classic pre-tournament outrights, none of them provide continuously updated outrights when the events are in progress.
“Regarding player props, it’s relatively new content as part of our esports feed. If we talk about traditional sports, like soccer or basketball, it’s the standard for the industry. But I foresee that when it comes to esports it will as well be an absolute must-have in the future, with the performance and statistics of teams and players now becoming more widely available.
“Despite the fact that player props are not a new thing in the esports industry, these markets are offered only throughout top-tier tournaments and only for a limited number of teams.
“What we did was push this feature not only for top tournaments but also B-Tier and C-Tier tournaments, whilst at the same time broadening player props coverage to a wider teams coverage.”
Red Bull Gaming Sphere welcomes Xsolla ahead of 2025 events
London-based gaming venue Red Bull Gaming Sphere has announced a partnership with fintech company Xsolla for the former’s Office Hours events.
Under the agreement, Xsolla will become an official supporting partner for payment solutions at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere for its Office Hours initiative, events that aim to encourage collaboration between game developers.
Set to be hosted in January and February 2025, the event will see game developers use the Sphere as a coworking space to share games. Additionally, the venue will allow these developers to network with other professionals in the afternoon of these events.
This isn’t Xsolla’s debut in the esports space. Prior to this agreement, the fintech has partnered with Savvy Games Group, the owners of the ESL FACEIT Group.
Chris Meredith, SVP EMEA at Xsolla, stated: “We believe in providing equal access to opportunities for everyone and are committed to supporting efforts to help grow the local game development community in the UK. Through our advanced payment solutions, we aim to empower developers to bring their creative visions to life.”
