Intel and the ESL are committing a combined $100 million to new initiatives intended to expand esports globally.
As the official technology partner of the competitive gaming league ESL, Intel announced on Thursday that this latest investment is intended to expand esports through technology, tournaments and events. The brand and technology partnership is the biggest in esports history.
The two organizations aim to grow the worldwide appeal of esports through ESL properties, in part by launching large-scale esports events in new counties within the Asia-Pacific region. They will also work on developing new esports experiences for players and fans around the world.
“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.”
Intel already provides all of the PCs and processors used by ESL. In 2019, in addition to kicking off Season 14 of the Intel Extreme Masters, the longest running pro esports circuit in the world, Intel will begin supporting ESL’s premier live esports circuits, including ESL One powered by Intel, the CS:GO Pro League, and the $1 million Intel Grand Slam.. Intel will also trial new technologies including 5G.
“This joint investment with ESL into the ecosystem means that the esports growth and innovation that we’ve led over the past two decades will continue,” said John Bonini, vice president and general manager of virtual reality, gaming and esports at Intel. “This partnership will advance the rapid evolution of esports.”
SportTechie Takeaway
ESL and Intel have been partnering on initiatives related to esports for 18 years, helping to usher competitive gaming into the mainstream. In 2018, ESL hosted the world’s largest esports event when the Intel Extreme Masters and ESL One powered by Intel in Poland amassed 169,000 fans in attendance onsite and 3.4 billion minutes of content consumed online. The expanded partnership comes as traditional sports teams and leagues have also started to embrace competitive gaming and heavily invest in esports.