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Gaming Quick Bits

ICM Partners x Evolved
 
ICM Partners has recently joined in a venture partnership with Evolved Talent Agency, which focuses on the growing eSports industry as representatives of esports players and content creators.
 
Some of Evolved's repped talent include pro gamers like Overwatch players Jay ‘Sinatraa’ WonBrandon ‘Seagull’ LarnedKim ‘Birdring’ Ji-Hyuk and League of Legends player Apollo ‘Apollo’ Price.
 
Overseeing the collaboration for ICM Partners will be Peter TrinhBennett Sherman and Chris Silbermann.
 
 
eSports News
 
It cost a cool $750,000 to own an NBA2K franchise for the NBA’s inaugural eSports season.  It cost an even cooler $20 million to own a team in the inaugural season of the Overwatch League (OWL). And with that type of money, you expect results.  Maybe even record breaking results. 

Well, the Shanghai Dragons of OWL did just that; they just completed the worst season in eSports history, going a combined ZERO wins with 40 losses.  The Dragons suffered through a very tumultuous season that included their top player (Fang ‘Undead’ Chao) being dropped amid personal relationship issues, as well as a couple of roster shake-ups.  Ultimately, no line-up changes seemed to help.
 
Unlike the Dragons, the Los Angeles Valiant just won the Stage 4 OWL title this past weekend and will be competing for the Overwatch League championship and a $1 million grand prize. They'll be up against the other top 5 teams, starting July 11th in Los Angeles.
 

 
Another year and another E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is in the books.  One of the highlights from last week’s E3 was the ‘Fortnite’ Celebrity Pro Am which featured 50 pro gamers paired up with 50 celebrities across sports, entertainment and social media.  The 50 teams were competing for a cut of a $3 million prize pool for charity.  At one point, peak concurrent viewership reached 700,000 viewers on Twitch’s website.  
 
Fans watched as the most popular ‘Fortnite’ streamer in the world, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins, and his partner, EDM DJ Marshmello, won the duo tournament and the $1 million grand prize for their charity.
 
Epic Games, the developers of ‘Fortnite,’ recently announced that they will be putting up a $100 million for future tournaments in the year to come, as they look to join the eSports craze.