Sponsorship

To help support Fortnite content creators of all sizes, Epic Games has launched a new program called Support-A-Creator.

From now until December 31, you can choose to input the name of any supported creator when you spend V-Bucks in-game.

Doing so will help the creator to get paid a small sum of money based on how much V-Bucks you spend. Creators will be rewarded money regardless of whether you paid for the V-Bucks or if you earned it through the Battle Pass.

Everybody from Ninja to small streamers on YouTube and Twitch are eligible to sign up to the Support-A-Creator program.

As of writing, there are already 4,000 creators on the program and Epic Games are being rather lenient with new sign ups. If you are a Fortnite content creator with a small audience and you are struggling to bring in revenue, you may want to visit the Fortnite creators page to sign up.

You can then ask your audience to input your name when they spend V-Bucks and you will be rewarded.

ROX has taken their first steps into the world of fighting games by signing legendary Tekken 7 player Knee.

Knee is a South Korean Tekken 7 player that's currently considered to be amongst the very best. Knee is a very respected Tekken player, and many in the Tekken community will often look up to him and his fighter tier lists.

After Knee's recent performance at the 2017 Evolution Championship Series, in which Knee placed third, ROX approached Knee with a deal. As expected, Knee happily took the deal and he's now a part of the ever-growing ROX family.

Knee has pulled in wins and trophies from around the world in Tekken tournaments since 2007. 10 years later, Knee is still going strong and he's still considered to be one of the best players, if not the best, in the scene.

ROX made a statement on the recent acquisition of Knee. "We were impressed with Knee's consistent level of play and his ability to perform at the highest level for over a decade now," said Eliot

You may not have heard of Tencent yet, but if you're into eSports, you'll certainly be introduced to them during the next few years.

Tencent is a Chinese internet investment company that has purchased or invested in some of the biggest names in internet and video game history. Tencent has subsidiaries including Riot Games (League of Legends), Supercell, (Clash Royale) Epic Games, (Gears of War) and a range of other internet companies.

Over the next five years, Tencent has pledged to invest close to $15 billion dollars in the eSports industry. This $15 billion will go towards running tournaments across the globe, improving prize pools and payouts, developing new talent, and helping to lay the groundwork for the future of eSports and providing tools for upcoming teams and organizations to get off of the ground.

Tencent hasn't given too much information about what exact plans they have prepared for the next five years, but they seem very dedicated to turning eSports into

Intel and ESL have taken to the stage of E3 to announce their plans for partnership on bringing esports to a bigger crowd.

ESL has long been one of the biggest players in the esports event industry, so it's clear that Intel is serious about making esports big with their new esports partnership.

Some may not be aware, but Intel has also been in the esports game for a long time. The ESL and Intel partnership has also been ongoing for a good few years. The IEM (Intel Extreme Masters) esports event, for example, started back in 2007.

IEM has always been an event co-hosted by Intel and ESL, so with this new partnership, you may be wondering what will actually come out of it that hasn't already been done in the past.

Intel will essentially be the driving force of all Intel events going forth - Intel will be responsible for the operation of all PCs needed for eSports events, and Intel will also be in control of all live streaming events.

Intel has also confirmed

eSports is going to be huge in 2017. NRG eSports has just picked up a sponsorship deal that hits the six-figure mark.

The new NRG sponsor is none other than the city of Washington D.C.

D.C. Events is the convention and sports authority arm of Washington D.C. and their recent sponsorship with NRG eSports has shown the world that they're serious about putting their heart (and money) into the eSports industry.

The city of Washington D.C. has sponsored many companies in the past, but this is the first venture the capital has made within the eSports industry.

You may be wondering how this deal will benefit Washington as a city. The head of the convention and sports authority arm of D.C. hopes that this new sponsorship will help bring in more tourism and open up opportunities for hosted eSports events within local stadiums. This should help to bring in interest and sell tickets to those from all over the United States, but it reaches out to an international audience

NBA fans rejoice, Take-Two and The NBA have just announced an eLeague for their NBA video games. The esports league will focus on the NBA 2K game series and will open up the opportunity for players to compete at a competitive level for monetary prizes.

"We believe we have a unique opportunity to develop something truly special for our fans and the young and growing eSports community. We look forward to combining our best-in-class NBA sports team operators with Take-Two's competitive gaming expertise to create a brand new league experience."

Don't worry, the real NBA league will still go ahead unaffected, but this branching off by NBA and the subsequent partnering with Take-Two will open up new opportunities, specifically for those that play NBA 2K competitively.

The league will start in 2018. 30 teams will take part in the league and each NBA franchise has been set the task to scout out players for their teams. Each team will have 5 players in total. Interestingly,

Fnatic and AS Roma are giants from the esports and soccer world, respectively, and now they have partnered up to create a brand new FIFA esports team.

Sports organizations have been stepping into the esports world a lot recently, and this recent partnership between Fnatic and AS Roma showcases that these new ventures aren't going to be slowing down anytime soon. Despite FIFA not quite reaching the global stage like CS:GO, Overwatch or League of Legends, AS Roma's passion for the world of soccer has helped Fnatic to source a team of professional FIFA players.

Aman "Aman" Seddiqi, Sam "Poacher" Carmody and Nicolo' "Insa" Mirra will now all be part of the Fnatic/AS Roma FIFA team, being lead by manager Colin Johnson. Fnatics' role will be to "manage the team and offer support for training, events and provide all esports-related logistical knowledge to nurture them," whilst AS Roma are simply looking to expand their club's reach into the esports world.

AS Roma play in the

The movie studio behind hits like The Hunger Games, Power Rangers, and the Expendables has announced its recent investment in esports team, The Immortals.

It seems as if we're seeing investments from all over the place when it comes to eSports, and now Lionsgate has got in on the action. Interestingly, The Immortals has already seen financial support from other popular names including Michael Milken and Steve Kaplan.

Lionsgate didn't share too many details on what their investment would involve or what they would hope to receive from their partnership, but it's clear that they see the expectation in the eSports industry to follow the footsteps of other popular sports industries, such as the NBA and NFL.

This isn't the first time Lionsgate has gotten involved with video games. In fact, they have an entirely separate wing dedicated to interactive experiences and video games.

Lionsgate President of Interactive Ventures and Games mentioned, "We're delighted to be

The Miami Heat sports organization has recently purchased a stake in Misfit eSports.

Whilst unknown to some, the Misfit eSports org includes teams for Smash Bros, Heroes of the Storm and League of Legends. Perhaps their best-known players form their Overwatch team, which has recently performed incredibly well on a global level.

Most individuals would certainly know Miami Heat on the other hand - with a valuation of over $1.3 billion, the sports company is most known for their basketball team. In January 2016 the Miami Heat team was considered the 10th largest NBA franchise.

Considering the huge scale of Miami Heat, it's clear to see that the Misfits eSports organization are going to get all of the funding and support they need to keep their teams progressing towards new levels. Currently, the ownership of Misfit eSports resides with the original owners, but with Miami Heat owning a stake, they have the ability to call some of the shots as far as sponsorship deals, promotions,

In a surprise move, British soccer team West Ham United has picked up an eSports player to add to their player roster. It may be unheard of, but we expect this kind of thing may be happening a lot more in the near future.

The player fittingly has competitive experience in the FIFA franchise and after seeing the player's talent, West Ham United went ahead and brought him under their wing. The player, who is known as Sean 'Dragonn' Allen is now a part of the West Ham family and will even have a West Ham jersey to wear at offline FIFA events. The jersey features the number 50 and his own username. In the recent FIFA 2016 Interactive World Cup, Dragonn came in second place. Despite failing to reach the first place spot, Dragonn was inches away from securing a victory.

After a superbly close 5-5 draw against Mohamad Al-Bacha from Denmark, Dragonn lost on Away goals in the New York finals.

West Ham United aren't the first soccer team to move into the world of eSports. In