Brazilian esports organization FURIA announced Tuesday that it has launched a new facility in Malta as a central location to work from when it is competing in Europe. This expansion into Europe, which was announced recently during an ESL event in the country (ESL FACEIT Group's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition, ESL Pro League), will see the organization work with the support of the Maltese government for a 1,000 square meter (roughly 10,764 square feet) facility capable of housing FURIA teams...

Riot Games and Amazon Prime Gaming have renewed their partnership for "Twitch drops" through the remainder of 2023. Financial terms were not disclosed. Riot will continue to work with Amazon Prime Gaming to offer "exclusive in-game content" (or drops) for Riot titles such as League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, Valorant, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and Teamfight Tactics. Prime Gaming will also continue to serve as global sponsor for various Riot esports including League of Legends and Valorant, and...

Amazon-owned streaming company Twitch announced Monday that it had made an “incredibly difficult” decision to lay off around 400 employees.  In a statement attributed to Twitch President Daniel Clancy, the company said that that factors including the economy and user and revenue growth that has slowed, the company was forced to reduce its overall workforce. “Like many companies, our business has been impacted by the current macroeconomic environment, and user and revenue growth has not kept pace with our expectations....

An undetermined number of employees at media company GAMURS Group were laid off on Monday, according to multiple social media posts on Twitter and LinkedIn.  One post from now-former Dot Esports journalist George Geddes claimed that HR told employees that the reason for this latest round was due to GAMUR’s ties to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The Esports Advocate could not independently verify this, as of this writing, but several sources speaking on background tell us that the...

On March 4, The Esports Advocate reported that two of the games selected for the Olympic Esports Series—Virtual Taekwondo and Tic Tac Bow—were developed by Refract Technologies, a Singapore-based development studio with direct ties to the Global Esports Federation. Tic Tac Bow, a "pay-to-win" mobile game was only recently released, but somehow managed to be the official game to represent the real world sport.   Even after being made aware of TEA's report on the connections between Refract Technologies, Global Esports...

The Esports Advocate has learned that Los Angeles-based scholastic esports company PlayVS has laid off an undetermined number of staff this week. In a public post, one employee described it as “a large round of layoffs,” but a source familiar with the situation tells TEA that the number of affected employees is around 20, or 25% of the entire staff. Sources tell TEA the almost everyone at the company was surprised by these layoffs, particularly upper-management, suggesting that there was...

Longtime TSM Chief Operating Officer Walter Wang announced Friday that he is leaving the company after more than six years of serving in various roles (thanks to Kevin Hitt for visibility on this news via social media).  Wang joined TSM as an advisor in 2017, but was promoted to multiple senior and executive positions over the years including senior director of operations, vice president of operations, and—in November of 2021—chief operating officer. It is unclear, as of this writing, who...

The Esports Advocate has learned that the board of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) voted over the weekend to exclude NBA 2K from its list of approved games for the state-wide 2023 State Series esports competition because it would require a third-party to administer tournaments. It is important to note that the IHSA is an integral part of all interscholastic sports and other after-school activities—including esports—at the high school level in the state and is a founding member of...

Update:  Adam Apicella released a lengthy statement on Friday through social media explaining his exit from Esports Engine, and expressing gratitude to the company for his time there before it was acquired by ESL FACEIT Group earlier this month. You can read his entire statement on LinkedIn or Twitter. Original Story: The Esports Advocate has learned that Esports Engine Co-Founder and President Adam Apicella will be leaving the company. Sources familiar with the situation told TEA on background Thursday that...

Gen.G Esports announced Thursday that it has partnered with the Black Collegiate Gaming Association (BCGA) and franchised fast food restaurant chain McDonald's for the HBCU+ College netWORK Summit. Gen.G and partners hope that this event will serve as a spark to "facilitate conversations and connections by introducing Black college students to professionals and entrepreneurs in the gaming and esports industries," according to a release. The HBCU+ College NetWORK, which is an expansion of the first HBCU NetWORK Conference in 2022,...