ESL Gaming is a big organization with operations and offices worldwide. Yet, we all tend to work together at one point or another, resulting in many cultures coming together to create a world where everybody can be somebody. To do this, we employ people from all walks of life, with different backgrounds and experiences, and in a wide variety of professions. Today we’re meeting four of our employees who all have their own stories.
Is mobile the future of esports? We at ESL Gaming think so, which is why we’re now announcing the new ESL Mobile ecosystem for which we have partnered with top game publishers and developers such as Supercell, Gameloft, Tencent and Riot. The ecosystem is designed for players of all skill levels, providing people in over 80 countries an opportunity to earn a spot on the biggest stages in esports.
Is mobile the future of esports? We at ESL Gaming think so, which is why we’re now announcing the new ESL Mobile ecosystem for which we have partnered with top game publishers and developers such as Supercell, Gameloft, Tencent and Riot. The ecosystem is designed for players of all skill levels, providing people in over 80 countries an opportunity to earn a spot on the biggest stages in esports.
Esports has a long and successful history of producing online leagues and tournaments. In fact, it was — alongside LAN events — the very heart of esports for many years. More recently, we have seen esports competitions sell out stadiums all over the world. While the online elements remained important, they also remained less visible. However, times change. As the world was struck by the Covid-19 global pandemic in early 2020, events everywhere were forced to shutter.
With our strong, online history, both esports and ESL Gaming were poised to quickly adapt to this new reality by transitioning to an engaging online environment, while simultaneously working on innovations to bring part of the arena experience to audiences around the world in a safe way. Enter remote productions.
Intel® Extreme Masters Katowice Finals 2021 (IEM Katowice) is, in every sense, a very special event as it’s the final tournament of the ESL Pro Tour 2020/21 Circuit. Not only is it considered one of the most important esports events of the year, it is also one with a strong legacy — the event was established in 2013 as the first ESL event held at a professional entertainment/sporting stadium, including when Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) made its debut in 2014 with the EMS One Katowice CSGO Major.
As we close the first month of the new year, it’s time to look at what the rest of 2021 will bring from ESL Gaming. As we all continue wading into this new reality, we will all, together, also continue to tackle challenges while finding creative ways to serve our fans and community — whether in person, online, or both.
As we close out 2020, consider putting aside the laptop to take part in the festivities of the holiday season. While our holiday experiences may be different this year, just as most of 2020, one thing remains consistent — our commitment to our gaming community and fans.
“DreamHack Day” has always been a celebration of the company’s early beginnings in 1994 — 26 years since a gathering of friends and their computers in a school cafeteria with no online access has grown into a beacon of internet culture, and a gathering place for gamers worldwide.
This month, we proudly celebrated 20 years of ESL Gaming. When it all began, the year was 2000, which marked the beginning of the new millennium with headlines circling about the first-ever resident crew on the International Space Station, the dreaded Y2K bug, the bursting of the dot.com bubble, the Sydney Summer Olympics, and more.
We lead the industry with numerous online and offline competitions, digital platforms as well as gaming lifestyle festivals.