Gaming Quick Bits

Blizzard Entertainment x Disney
 
Blizzard Entertainment has recently signed a multi-year deal with Disney to broadcast their Overwatch League (OWL) on ESPN, ABC, and Disney XD.  This is Blizzard’s first multi-year television deal.  Blizzard’s Overwatch League already has an exclusive streaming deal with Twitch for a reported $90 million.  Blizzard is no stranger to the esports craze, as their previous StarCraft series was a huge success in South Korea, where the company did not have broadcasting rights for many years in early to mid 2000’s, ultimately leading to a potential lawsuit over Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
 
Not only will ESPN be a part of the Overwatch League with this new deal, but they also recently signed a deal with Santa Monica, CA based Riot Games to stream the North American League of Legends Championship Series on their ESPN + streaming service.
 
 
 
Gaming x Olympics
 
Former NBA champion Rick Fox will be the moderator for The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Esports Forum.  Fox founded his own esports franchise Echo Fox in 2015 and is also a founding partner of Vision Venture Partners, a private equity firm with multiple esports properties.
 
The forum will be an open dialogue with current and former esports pros, representatives from various esports federations and the IOC about future inclusion in the Olympics as well as some of the hurdles they need to overcome before esports can be included in a future program.
 
 
 
Luminosity Gaming x Universal Music Canada
 
The Toronto, Canada based Luminosity Gaming signed an exclusive partnership deal with Universal Music Canada.
 
Universal Music will advertise their music through Luminosity’s various social and digital platforms.  The deal also includes the potential for Universal artists to appear in livestreams, videos and various other content created by Luminosity.
 
The partnership makes sense, as one of the world’s biggest streamers currently happens to be Luminosity’s very own Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins who almost broke the internet when he live streamed a ‘Fortnite’ match with recording artist Drake.