These early months of the year are often when the movers and shakers within the esports and esports betting industry are looking to tie up lucrative partnership deals with companies looking to gain exposure within each industry. This week, ESL, DreamHack and Brazilian esports team paiN Gaming have all struck potentially money-spinning deals.
The first deal of the day saw paiN Gaming announce that it had followed in the footsteps of Immortal Gaming Club’s CS:GO team Made in Brazil (MiBR), by agreeing a partnership deal with the famous dating app Tinder.
© paIN Gaming
Korean esports giants Gen.G also linked up with a dating app, Bumble, as part of the deal to put together their all-female Fortnite team.
Launched in 2012, the app has quickly become famous as it allows people to swipe left if they dislike the look of a person on the app, or to swipe right if they like the look of a particular person. If both people like each other, there is an option for them to begin to chat to each other to see where it could lead.
The deal with paiN Gaming will cover a number of different teams within the organisation with Dota 2, Free Fire, Clash Royale and CS:GO squads all believed to be included in the deal.
Although not yet fully confirmed, part of the deal suggests that paiN Gaming would be able to award coveted Tinder Gold codes as promotional material, which would allow the recipients to gain access to the Premium features on the Tinder app.
The latest deal sees Tinder join the likes of BMW, Coca Cola, Razer WD BLACK and TIM Live as some of the main partners with the paiN Gaming organisation.
© DreamHack
Back in 2018, the US Navy decided to put together its own esports team as a strategy to appeal to potential recruits after the numbers of people applying for roles within the Navy had fallen drastically.
That program is still very much in operation and now the US Navy has also announced that in addition to developing a team to compete in esports events, it is also going to start partnering with some of the big companies that run esports tournaments in the United States, namely DreamHack and ESL North America.
The deal sees the US Navy become an Official Festival Partner at two DreamHack events, one to be held in Anaheim and the other later in the year in Dallas. At these events, the Navy will set up a stall at these events where fans can attend and challenge some of the Navy’s esports players across a number of different esports games.
© DreamHack
In addition, Navy branded broadcasts will be included as part of the show.
Despite the news, there is already some trepidation about the deal, with a number of people from within the esports industry worried that the move could simply be another recruitment gimmick. As Andy Chalk at PC Gamer put it:
“Once military branding and personnel are directly involved, particularly with young gamers, you’ve moved beyond marching and flag-waving into active recruitment.”
That concern seems pertinent given that ESL Senior Vice President Paul Brewer is quoted as saying about the agreement.
“Our hope is to expose North American esports fans to the Navy’s offerings and to develop shared experiences that help to support our US Armed Forces.”
The DreamHack Anaheim event takes place from 21st to 23rd February, while DreamHack Dallas is slated to take place from May 22nd to May 24th.
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