International esports organization Team Liquid announced a partnership with UNICEF on Friday to champion the charity's work in advocating for children's rights and well-being, and support it through initiatives that revolve around gaming. Team Liquid said in Friday's announcement that this collaboration aims to raise funds to support children around the world through a variety of activities and activations, including special streams, in-game activations, and events focused on Sustainable Development Goal 4 on Quality Education (you can read more about...

Esports gaming data and betting technology platform GRID announced Friday that it has signed a partnership with Sportstensor, the official market maker and liquidity provider for Polymarket. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the terms of this new deal, GRID will become the "official esports data oracle for Sportstensor," providing its esports-related data from various games, including Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, and other titles, through its various partnerships with game publishers and tournament...

Riot Games and Globant announced a multi-year strategic partnership this week related to Riot's fan communities across League of Legends and Valorant esports. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the terms of this new deal, Globant will serve as Riot's "new digital transformation partner" and support the company's exploration and possible transformation related to the use of "AI, esports viewing, and mobile integrations," among other things. More broadly, Globant says it will also provide Riot with a...

Esports-focused agency XDOTG and its founder, Alex Gonzalez, announced their first major deal since launching in September. XDOTG has entered into an agreement with Canucks Sports and Entertainment to operate its Call of Duty League franchise, the Vancouver Surge, for the 2026 season of the Call of Duty League. Financial terms of the new deal were not disclosed. In addition, Gonzalez announced that Ricky "Atura" Lugo, Jaden "Kazbo" Kurtz, and Nate "Swagchecked" Betancourt will join Seattle Surge —all three worked at...

ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has opened a new regional headquarters and flagship esports venue located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the company announced Wednesday. The company said in its announcement that this new regional headquarters represents a "long-term commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its rapidly expanding esports ecosystem, solidifying Riyadh's emergence as a global capital of esports." EFG has offices all over the world, including Germany, London, California, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Spain, and France. It should...

ESL FACEIT Group’s (EFG) DreamHack announced this week that it plans on returning to Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center from May 15–17, 2026, for DreamHack Atlanta 2026. In addition, DreamHack laid out tentative plans for the 2026 event; it will serve as host for a Call of Duty League Major for the very first time in its history, as well as EFG’s Counter-Strike 2 competition, the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Atlanta. The news comes on the heels of DreamHack Atlanta...

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) announced Tuesday that crypto gaming and trading platform Rollbit has joined the organization as its newest tier 1 anti-corruption partner. As a tier 1 anti-corruption partner, Rollbit will "play an active role in advancing ESIC’s mission to safeguard fair competition and protect the esports ecosystem from corruption and betting-related malpractice," according to the announcement. The ESIC Anti-Corruption supporter program taps into betting operators and industry stakeholders who have the capabilities to contribute to the detection,...

Krafton announced a new streamlined system to support third-party tournament organizers in hosting online and offline competitions around its popular mobile battle royale game, PUBG Mobile. This brand new system promises faster approvals, easier license applications, multi-language support, official copyright protection, access to PUBG Mobile asset resources, promotion on the PUBG MOBILE social channels, and much more According to the announcement, the new process for third-party tournament organizers has only a few steps: First, applicants submit tournament details, including prize...

International esports organization NIP Group (NASDAQ: NIPG) announced Monday that it has expanded its efforts in cryptocurrency with additional Bitcoin mining operations utilizing what it calls large-scale crypto and high-performance computing infrastructure. NIP Group will acquire this new mining infrastructure and computational capacity with a combined hash rate of approximately 8.19 EH/s from Apex Cyber Capital Limited, Prosperity Oak Holdings Limited, and other sellers. In return, the company will issue "up to 314,515,762 Class A ordinary shares as consideration, with...

Planned Global Esports Federation (GEF) events in Peru for 2025 are on hold and may not happen, according to people involved in the process. A representative of the Peruvian Esports Federation or Asociación Deportiva Peruana de Esports (ADPES) told The Esports Advocate this week that government action is pending. (Editor’s note: the following is a translation from Spanish.) “It is suspended due to factors external to the federation,” the representative said. “The government, with so many changes, has not yet...