Copyright: ESL | Helena-Kristiansson?
Earlier this week, ESL announced that they have extended their partnership with Intel, which will result in $100 million invested in esports initiatives over the course of the next 3 years to “shape the future landscape of esports.”
ESL claims that this is the largest brand and technology partnership in esports history. ESL has revealed that this money would be invested into esports events, starting with the IEM season 14 which kicks off in 2019. They also have revealed that this investment will extend into ESL’s live circuits, like the ESL One events, the $1 million Intel Grand Slam, and the CS:GO Pro League.
Interestingly, ESL also revealed their plans for introducing and hosting large-scale events in the APAC region as part of the announcement.
“ESL and Intel have worked side by side on growing esports for nearly two decades,” said Ralf Reichert, founder and co-CEO at ESL. “We built a number of cornerstones of this industry together and helped many gamers in becoming legends of the sport. The long-term extended partnership with Intel opens even more opportunities for us to take our efforts to a whole different level on a global scale.”
Alongside this announcement, ESL also chose to highlight a few of their achievements which included: 15,000 daily visitors to 10 different events in 2018, 169,000 fans attending IEM Katowice earlier in 2018, and IEM running 73 events over the past decade that have gone uninterrupted.
With investment pouring in from all sides, the future of esports definitely looks bright heading into 2019.