The Esports Observer

Complexity will once again bring together its partner World of Warcraft guild Limit to defend its crown in the upcoming Race to World First. The event will begin on July 13 with 18 Complexity-Limit guild members competing from the GameStop Performance Center in Texas where they will also livestream their own perspective throughout the event. The RWF is a marathon event with players often competing for 16-18 hours each day until the final boss of the new World of Warcraft raid has been defeated.

New York-based esports organization Andbox has secured a deal that will make USAA the official insurance and military appreciation partner of its Call of Duty League team New York Subliners. The multiyear partnership will make USAA the first partner to be featured on NYSL jerseys both inside the game and out. Financial terms were not disclosed.

After unveiling its plans for the competitive Wild Rift scene in Brazil, Riot Games announced Thursday that the first tournament, Wild Tour, will be an in-person event to be held on Oct. 8 – 10, in the Riot Games studios in São Paulo. The event will not be open to the public due to COVID-19 policies.

Ninjas in Pajamas will join Razer’s stable of esports teams in a new multiyear partnership deal. Razer will become the organization’s peripheral provider and will produce custom gaming peripherals with NIP designs and branding. Earlier this year, shortly after unveiling its updated branding and colors, NIP signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Samsung. The organization also recently became the Rainbow Six Siege world champions after its victory at the Six Invitational in May.

Golden Guardians-affiliated guild BDGG will host its second live broadcast event surrounding next week’s World of Warcraft Race to World First. The guild will livestream its progress through the race live on Twitch. For this event, BDGG has partnered with Blue Microphones, which sponsored Complexity Limit in the previous race, as well as energy and nutrition brand Gamer Supps. Last summer, Golden Guardians partnered with Big Dumb Guild in order to enter the raid racing scene.

TikTok announced on Thursday that it has appointed Brazilian  Free Fire player and esports organization owner Bruno “Nobru” Goes as its first global gaming ambassador. The company has been expanding its presence into esports in general and Brazilian esports in particular. The short-form video app company was a partner of the local Free Fire emulation league NFA for its finals, and owns mobile games developer MOONTON, which made an  incursion into the market with Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

Apple has lost its bid to get a lawsuit filed by Epic Games dismissed in Australia, one of several fronts where the Fortnite developer and publisher is suing the iOS owner for unfair business practices. Because Epic also sued Apple in the U.S., the iPhone and iPad maker argued that the Australian action should be stopped in favor of the U.S. trial. The Australian federal court agreed, and in April gave Apple a stay, but Epic filed an appeal.

Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. has appointed Greg Kim to the position of Head of CLG effective immediately. Kim will oversee all business operations for the esports organization, working alongside MSG Sports VP of Business Operations Daniel Fleeter and CLG Founder George “HotshotGG” Georgallidis. Kim joins CLG after having served as Director of Esports for fellow LCS organization Evil Geniuses.

After sponsoring the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) tournament in Latin America, American electric equipment company APC, owned by the French group Schneider Electric, announced its sponsorship of the female Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and male Free Fire and Rainbow Six Siege teams of W7M Gaming, a Brazilian esports organization held by W7M Investments Group. The Esports Observer spoke to Schneider Electric sales director Kenia Paim about investment.

Helsinki-based startup Loupedeck announced that it has raised a €2 million EUR ($2.36 million USD) investment from zVentures, the corporate venture arm of Razer. The startup, which was founded in 2016 with an oversubscribed crowdfunding campaign, plans to use the investment proceeds to support its growth. Loupedeck specialized in making digital input device consoles for creative software and live streaming.