Esportimes: Hi thanks for being here, can you talk about yourself for a bit?

Age of Noob: Of course, I am known as Age of Noob. I started my YouTube channel 3 years ago. Ethnically I am a Turk and have been living in Canada for a decade. I have finished my university here and I am currently working in the software industry. Age of Empires have been in my life since childhood. I started with the Age of Empires 1 and then went on to play the other games in the series. I used to play the games with my friends, we had a lot of LAN parties when Age of Empires 2 came out. When I was in high school there was Forgotten Empires, which was an unofficial mod for AoE 2. At the time the game was played mainly through Voobly. The game’s scene was much smaller compared to today. When Age of Empires 2 HD Edition came out, I started watching Viper & T90. Several years later Microsoft announced the Age of Empires Definite Edition, which stocked my interest. I was in all the betas, though I wished they changed some core mechanics to make it comparable to what we have with AoE 2’s Definitive Edition.

Esportimes: So, is there an interesting backstory behind your name?

Age of Noob: Before I started the channel there weren’t any notable small scale AoE content creators. The community itself was very niche and geared towards the pros. When I got into the content creation side, I picked Age of Noob to emphasize that the majority of the community was consisted of noobs or non-pro players. I was also not that good at the game myself, around 1400 ELO.

Esportimes: You have been quite popular when it comes Age of Empires 4. Can you talk about that?

Age of Noob: Overall my channel has risen steadily, though at times there were some spikes in viewership. The first of these spikes happened when I mashed a Lord of the Rings scene with Age of Empires. I did a similar thing with Game of Thrones. Afterwards I had a huge increase in viewership during the first months of Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition.  There were so many bugs at the time… When I made videos about these bugs my viewership spiked. When Age of Empires 4 got announced I promised myself to increase the overall content quality of my channel. For example, at the time most of the Age of Empires content was not on the level of Spirit of the Law. I changed my microphone with higher quality one and also started using scripts for my content. After that a started to focus exclusively on AoE 4. However, I still make some videos on the older games. At this point, if I post a quality video, no matter the game a have a consist viewership base. Though I still think I haven’t achieved the results that are on part with my efforts.

Esportimes: So, this is not your main job at the moment?

Age of Noob: Of course not, if that was the case, I would have been posting way more videos. All the effort that I have been putting for my videos… I do that in my free time. At the moment I spend 20% of my time on the channel. If I had focused more on the channel, I probably would have been more successful.

Esportimes: Can you speak more about your experiences on YouTube?

Age of Noob: First of all, reaching a point where you have a core viewership base is really hard. I currently have 22 thousand subscribers and let me tell you most of them are people who are truly hard-core fans of age of empires. Achieving this is really hard. Other channels with large subscriber base usually don’t get an equal number of views. Most of my subscribers usually watch most of my videos. For example, I reviewed an RTS game called Fertile Crescent and I got around 10 thousand views. It was an unknown indie game, so these numbers are pretty good for me. I started on twitch and a had a little following around 50. I started to put my Twitch streams on YouTube. These videos had around 100 views. At the moment a lot of people call me Spirit of the Law of Age of Empires 4. Several people started with that premise however with low viewers most of them stopped. I continued doing this for about 1.5 years with almost no viewership before I started to get some traction. To be successful on YouTube you need patience and luck.

Esportimes: Let’s talk about the games. What are your favorite civilizations?

Age of Noob: Franks in AoE 4 because they fit my playstyle. They are easy to boom with, their technologies are cheap, and they have high mobility. I have a lot of favorites in AoE 2. I love playing as Britons when I am in flanks. If I am playing as a pocket its Franks. In arena I like playing as Turks and Portuguese. Though I have to stay I usually random queue because I like to change my style. Lastly, for AoE 1 I like Babylonians solely because their workers have giant bone weapons that I liked as a kid. I have no knowledge of the meta so that’s the only reason.

Esportimes: What do you think about the future of AoE 4?

Age of Noob: I have been playing AoE 4 since the closed beta. The marketing of the game was really bad, things such as water affects, and graphics alienated a lot of people. However, people who played the closed beta knew that it wasn’t the case, it was just that the marketing of the game was horrible. Microsoft’s hesitance on showing real in-game footage did some serious damage. When the game released, things such as the lack of hotkey customization and bad icons made it seem half baked. If they had delayed the game and fixed issues like this the game could have had a larger player base. But because of such mistakes a lot of people lost interest. The game had a community council that advised on such things, but it seems the developer did not listen to them on some important issues. I did make videos about the in-game bugs but overall, their existence was damaging to the game.

Still, in my opinion, AoE 4 is better than AoE 2. If they can push forward with updates, I believe, that a lot of issues that plague AoE 2 can be fixed in AoE 4. AoE 4 has the potential because it is more friendly to casual players. The modding support, which was recently added, is extensive and players are already making some mods that improve some core issues such as arrow mechanics. AoE 4’s engine is fantastic and offers a lot of advanced features such as lightning and physics control. Features such as these are still not promoted in the marketing of the game. If this continues, the game might lose all of its steam. Community tournaments are already dying because of a lack in audience. In my opinion, AoE 4 lost a lot of players that are never going to come back. However, if they release a good DLC with tangible content, while also improving things such as modding and UI, we might see a resurgence. It also depends on if Microsoft is willing to continue its support via tournaments.

Esportimes: Lastly, do you think Red Bull Wololo: Legacy 2022 tournament can be a turning point for Age of Empires?

 First of all, Red Bull Wololo 5 was the best tournament I had ever watched. It was great even for people who did not follow Age of Empires. It was a great esports event that was comparable to other big titles. The viewership numbers were also good. AoE 1 is also part of the Legacy 2022 so if that effects the active player base even, I can make some videos for that game. Secondly, AoE 2 and 4 will have separate tournaments at the same time so it will be interesting to see some AoE 2 players returning to 4. I think that was the intention of Microsoft, I don’t know the exact format but there is a chance for player base transfer. So, I am hopeful for Legacy 2022.

We thank Age of Noob for accepting our interview offer and wish him good luck in his future endeavors. You can reach and support him through the following channels:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Discord
• Twitch
• Patreon

The post Our Interview With Age of Noob appeared first on Esportimes.

The CDL community has spoken – voting players into two All-Star teams, placing the top two SMG and top two AR players in the First Team, and the third and fourth highest-voted SMG and AR players into the Second Team. All-Star teams will be announced prior to games on Thursday, August 4. Additionally, the community voted for season MVP and Rookie of the Year, which will be announced prior to games on Friday, August 5. 

Each of the eight All-Star players will receive a prize of $5k and a commemorative All-Star jacket, and MVP and ROTY will each receive $5k and a trophy.

Check out the Championship Weekend schedule here, and then tune into the Call of Duty League Championship Weekend here to see who takes home the coveted titles, and to watch the action live.

Fans can also earn viewership incentives and have a chance to receive Open Beta early access to Modern Warfare II when they watch matches live or purchase tickets for the event. Learn more about Championship Weekend Viewership Rewards here.

Only the top eight teams qualify for the Call of Duty League Championship Weekend. Each of the eight teams will be seeded into the bracket based on the CDL Points they’ve earned throughout the year at each of the four Majors.

All eight teams will be seeded into Winners Round 1. If they lose, they’ll head down to the Elimination Round for a chance at redemption.

Below are the start times for the Championship Weekend broadcast:

• Thursday: 19:30 p.m. BST
• Friday: 19:45 p.m. BST
• Saturday: 18:15 p.m. BST
• Sunday: 19:45 p.m. BST

The post Call of Duty 2022 Championship Weekend Begins Now! appeared first on Esportimes.

Three years in development, the Dublin RBC of Project Stryker serves as a central broadcasting hub for both regional and global live esports productions across Riot’s trio of esports titles: League of Legends Esports (LoL Esports), VALORANT Esports, and Wild Rift Esports. Broadcast feeds from live esports competitions happening around the world can be sent to the Dublin RBC where content is produced, broadcast, and distributed in multiple languages to millions of esports fans around the world.

“This is truly an exciting day for Riot, esports fans, and players around the world,” said John Needham, President of Esports at Riot Games. “Project Stryker has come a long way from a visionary concept three years in the making, to this incredible state-of-the-art creative space – complete with a disco ball – that further extends Riot’s footprint in the city and showcases the deep ties to entertainment and innovation found in Dublin. We could not have selected a better location for our European headquarters for Project Stryker.” 

A New Era of Entertainment Takes Over an Iconic Dublin Venue

As the first of three global locations selected to host Project Stryker RBCs, Dublin stood out as the ideal destination for the European HQ for Project Stryker due to the quality of its infrastructure, position in the European market, talent pool, and strategic location as part of the esports global ecosystem. 

Following an exhaustive search in the Dublin area, the space of the former Wright Venue in Swords was ultimately selected. Once regarded as one of Dublin’s most iconic entertainment establishments, the storied space will maintain its roots in entertainment with Project Stryker Dublin generating over 6,300 production hours annually for broadcast production, engineering, event, sound, and graphic design professionals.   

Project Stryker is Riot’s second footprint in Dublin, joining its City Centre office with 165 employees specializing in business operations, development, engineering, localization, and player support. The City Centre office currently stands as Riot’s largest office outside its global headquarters in Los Angeles. 

Project Stryker: a Masterclass in Global Collaboration

With ambitions to bring joy to billions of fans around the world through its esports, Riot has taken bold steps in this direction, expanding its esports portfolio with the VALORANT Champions Tour and Wild Rift Esports joining LoL Esports as Riot’s three globally operated esports competition series in the first-person shooter (FPS), mobile MOBA, and online MOBA categories, respectively. The exponential growth of live esports competitions and broadcast productions both at the regional and global level across all three esports was the catalyst to create a cost-efficient production solution with global reach that’s built to scale, reflecting Riot’s future investments in esports and technology. 

The three RBCs making up Project Stryker are strategically located eight hours apart to create a “follow-the-sun” broadcast model to support live esports productions 24/7/365. During a live esports event, a small contributor kit onsite sends live feeds back to the RBC through Riot Direct, the global private internet service provider powering every Riot game packet for every player around the world. The feeds are then routed to control rooms for unique show productions across multiple languages. 

In addition to content production, each RBC will also serve as a centralized storage and shipping location for global competition hardware, prioritizing quality control for products used by esports pros at Riot’s global esports events. Content storage is another element of Project Stryker with each geographic location also housing a data center and media content vault where content is archived correctly for future discovery and viewing. 

The global collaboration seen across Project Stryker is also reflected in the numerous partners and vendors that were instrumental in bringing the concept to life. A Riot Games global partner since 2020, Cisco’s partnership has been instrumental in helping Riot Esports modernize its infrastructure, utilize advanced technologies to support video workflows & expand capacity for new titles and ideas.

Additionally, as part of a new global partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced this week, Project Stryker is now “Powered by AWS” as its official Cloud Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Machine Learning (ML), Cloud Deep Learning (DL), and Cloud Services provider.

Building a Foundation for the Future of Sport, Entertainment

As Riot Games continues to execute on its vision toward creating a new kind of entertainment company rooted in games, the impact of Project Stryker will reach beyond live esports broadcasts. Speciality spaces found at Project Stryker RBCs such as multi-purpose insert studios and AR/XR sound stages unlock potential creative production opportunities for Riot’s games and entertainment studios, while the media content vault ensures accessibility of archived esports content for future viewing experiences. 

“Everything we do at Riot is driven by the goal of bringing joy to billions of esports fans around the world,” Needham said. “The capabilities of Project Stryker put Riot in prime position to deliver on that goal, and revolutionize the sports viewing experience for some of the most passionate fans in the world. I can’t say enough how proud I am of our team at Riot that worked tirelessly to bring our Dublin RBC to life, and continues to grind around the clock on the next phases of Project Stryker coming online in the next two years.” 

Project Stryker Dublin executed its first global event earlier this month with Wild Rift Icons, and is currently supporting VALORANT Masters 2 now underway in Copenhagen. The next RBC is currently in development in the greater Seattle area with an estimated completion date of early 2023. The third and final Project Stryker RBC will be located in the APAC and is slated for full operations by Q1 2024. 

The post Riot Games Marks Official Opening of Inaugural Project Stryker Facility in Dublin, Ireland appeared first on Esportimes.

“Riot Games has a long term vision to bring joy to billions of fans around the world through our esports, and we’re extremely excited to partner with Amazon and the technologies of AWS to level up the Riot Esports experience,” said John Needham, President of Esports at Riot Games. “The wide-ranging solutions and expertise of AWS will enhance Riot Games’ esports broadcasts and engage esports fans worldwide. From reimagining how fans view our events and content, to interacting with other players, AWS unlocks endless opportunities for Riot to shape the future of sport.

New Ways to Experience Esports

Riot currently leverages AWS’s services across its games to reinvent how they design and deploy content to provide players the best possible game experience. Now, Riot is working with AWS to enhance its global esports event broadcasts throughout each competitive season for LoL Esports, the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT), and Wild Rift Esports. Similar to the in-depth statistics provided to major global sports leagues, Riot will use AWS’s broad portfolio of cloud capabilities to provide fans with the following new insights and experiences:

• First-ever AWS esports stats: Riot and AWS will introduce Stats powered by AWS during esports broadcasts that will appear before, during, and after Riot’s various global esports broadcasts to educate and inform fans on key data points that are helping drive a team towards victory. Fans will be able to vote on which esports stats will be developed first, which will then debut during the broadcasts of VALORANT Champions in September 2022 and the League of Legends World Championship (Worlds) this fall.

• AWS Global Power Rankings: Using AWS’s analytics capabilities to review competitive gameplay, Riot will launch AWS Global Power Rankings. This will create near real-time rankings of the top pro teams around the world in LoL Esports, VCT, and Wild Rift Esports that will be displayed on-screen during game play.      

• Pick’em powered by AWS: Esports fans will be able to participate in bracket challenges throughout the competitive season and win prizes for correctly selecting the teams that make it to each championship event. Built on AWS’s machine learning technologies, Pick’em powered by AWS will introduce new ways for fans to make team selections based on tournament data and compete for prizes.

Power Rankings and/or Pick’em will be a featured project this fall during a hackathon event hosted by Riot and AWS where fan-created teams will build systems that could be adopted by each sport. Riot and AWS will co-develop an initial build of the platform and then provide participants with capabilities from AWS and data from Riot to build out and optimize the solution to power the esports statistics.

Global Production for a Global Fanbase

Riot and AWS share a vision of bringing esports to fans no matter where they live, how they watch, or what language they speak. To achieve this, Riot is introducing Project Stryker, a series of cloud-first remote broadcast centers (RBC) that leverage AWS technologies. These facilities will support Riot’s current and future ambitions to reimagine the entertainment experience across numerous areas in addition to esports and analytics/stats like music production, animation, and game development.      

These scalable solutions will meet the growing needs of their fans, while ushering in a new era of esports content production. Built on strategically placed RBCs around the world, Riot Games will use a 50,000 square-foot facility in Dublin and a second facility in the greater Seattle area that will come online later this year, to produce and support live content anywhere in the world at any time of day, regardless of where the event is taking place. As part of this collaboration, AWS will have the exclusive naming rights of each remote broadcast center.

Growing Riot & AWS Relationship

Riot Games and Amazon have worked together on esports broadcasts on Twitch, as well as Prime Gaming content drops for Riot titles. AWS is now a sponsor for Riot Games’ global esports events across LoL Esports and the VALORANT Champions Tour, as well as a founding partner and sponsor of Wild Rift Esports. Additionally, Riot and AWS will also collaborate on developing new social impact programs with the goal of increasing inclusivity and access to the competitive esports environment.

“Our collaboration with Riot Games elevates the entire esports landscape,” said Matt Garman, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Global Services at Amazon Web Services. “This is a win, win, win for Riot, AWS, and most importantly fans. Tournament viewers and teams can now see in real time how different lanes, weapons, and abilities could determine who will become champions, similar to the stats used in other sports broadcasts. We look forward to working with Riot to create more immersive entertainment experiences and bring engaging esports content to billions of fans worldwide.”       

The post Riot Games Teams Up with AWS to Reimagine Esports Experiences appeared first on Esportimes.

Dates

• Week 1 – July 22 – 24
• Week 2 – July 29 – 31

Bye Week – Enjoy the release of Murder at Castle Nathria on August 2

Masters Tour: Murder at Castle Nathria – August 12 – 14

• Week 3 – August 19 – 21
• Week 4 (Playoffs) – August 26 – 31
  

Broadcast Start Time

FRIDAY: GROUP A/B: 2 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. CEST / 6 p.m. KST

SATURDAY: GROUP C/D: 8:15 a.m. PDT / 5:15 p.m. CEST / 12:15 a.m. KST

SUNDAY: TOP 8: 3 a.m. PDT / 12 p.m. CEST / 7 p.m. KST

Casters: Each pairing will cast a third of all matches each day

Week 1 Pairs:

• Amy Chen & Jia
• Raven & Sottle
• Edelweiss & TJ

Prize Pool: Global prizing of $150,000 (USD) and an invite to the 2022 World Championship to the season champion

Language Streams on YouTube:

• English
• Japanese
• Korean
• Portuguese (LATAM)
• Spanish (LATAM)

During weeks 1-3, players will be separated into four groups for dual-tournament play. Unlike in previous GM seasons, all matches will occur live on broadcast. The two winners of each group will then play on Sundays. Players will receive points based on total number of wins each week, which will determine final standings before the Playoffs. The new weekly groups will be posted to the Hearthstone Esports twitter!

• Groups A and C will play first on days 1 and 2 and will always feature Asia-Pacific competitors.
• Groups B and D will play last on days 1 and 2 and always include the Americas competitors.
• The two winners of each group will form a top 8 that will play single-elimination matches to determine the weekly winner.

Gameplay format changes every week:

• Week 1: Best of 5 Conquest
• Week 2: Trio
• Week 3: Last Hero Standing
• Playoffs: Best of 7 Conquest

Players:

Murder at Castle Nathria Drops

You can earn up to 8 total packs as you watch Grandmasters! On any of the above YouTube channels, watch two total hours to receive one pack and two more hours for your second. Time watched is cumulative within each of the four reward blocks, so even if you can’t watch for the entire four hours in one sitting, your time will still count toward earning the Drops.

• Grandmasters Week 1: Murder at Castle Nathria (max 2 packs)
• Grandmasters Week 2: Murder at Castle Nathria (max 2 packs)
• Grandmasters Week 3: Murder at Castle Nathria (max 2 packs)
• Grandmasters Playoffs: Murder at Castle Nathria (max 2 packs)

Connecting Your Accounts

Before you can receive rewards, you’ll need to link your YouTube and Blizzard Battle.net accounts. Here’s how: 

• Log in or create an account on YouTube. 
• Navigate to Account Sharing under “Connected Apps” in Settings. 
• Select “Connect” next to Battle.net.
• Follow the simple prompts to finish connecting accounts. 
• When connecting accounts, be sure that you’re currently logged into the Blizzard account on which you’d like to receive your Drops. 
• Click here for a complete set of official rules for Hearthstone Grandmasters: Last Call YouTube Drops.

The post It’s Last Call for Hearthstone Grandmasters! appeared first on Esportimes.

In FIFA, Guild’s Argentinian star Nicolas Villalba (“Nicolas99fc”) followed up his recent eChampions League win with a penalty shoot-out loss to RB Leipzig’s 18-year old Umut Gültekin in the final of the FIFA eWorld Cup, winning $100k in prize money. Nicolas will also be representing his country, Argentina, in the FIFAe Nations Series later this month.

Elsewhere, Guild’s Rocket League team consisting of CRR (Spain), Deevo (UK) and Dorito (Spain), placed second at the Gamers8 festival in Saudi Arabia to Brazil’s FURIA, scooping $300k in prize money – with the tournament being the most lucrative competition in Rocket League history, as the team’s results continue to improve.

Also see: Guild Esports Partners With Razer

And finally, Guild’s VALORANT team, which is made up of koldamenta (Spain), Sayf (Sweden) Russ (UK), Leo (Sweden) and trexx (Russia), saw their best ever result – placing 7th at their first major LAN event, the Valorant VCT Masters. The team beat the reigning VALORANT champions, OpTic, in the tournament, which marked only the second time a team making their international debut has ever done so, before scooping $25k in prize money as they ultimately lost to FPX Esports in the Play-offs.

You can see how the action played out across all competitions on the Guild Twitter.

Kal Hourd, CEO of Guild Esports, said: “We’re incredibly proud of all our teams, from the players to the support staff, and they deserve every success they get. Guild is building something unique to change the game in the world of esports – and these results are just the beginning of showing how our model breeds success, and others should be ready to follow suit.”

The results are the latest in a string of successes for Guild Esports in 2022, as the organisation won the FIFA eChampions League, and recently appointed the first ever full-time Safeguarding & Wellbeing Lead for an esports organisation, to lead the holistic care and safeguarding of their esports athletes, academy players and figures throughout Guild.

Earlier this year, Guild launched a new jersey for their elite competitive teams, ahead of the opening of its first Global HQ in London, helping it forge a new level of excellence in competitive gaming, entertainment and culture and reach new audiences, fans and international markets. 

The post Guild Esports Sees Major Success Across FIFA, Rocket League and VALORANT appeared first on Esportimes.

• Faik Necef: Hello, can you tell us about yourself?

Alperen: Hi, I am Alperen Tekinay. I am known as “Alperen” on the internet. I started Age of Empires 2 after the epidemic and opened a Twitch channel and started streaming as a hobby. After a while I thought that I enjoyed streaming a lot and that I could make money from that. Later, with the help of my friends and viewers who believed in me, I decided to do this as a job. In regards to Age of Empires 2, I joined an esports team and became a professional player. I participated in tournaments. I have had some successes. I was in the last 64 in the Red Bull tournament. I was in the top eight in some Turkish tournaments. I also organized my own tournaments.

• FN: Did you start the game professionally after the epidemic or did you play Age of Empires for the first time?

Alperen: I never knew about the game before the pandemic, I started as a hobby. It was a very funny moment for me. I was bored and there was nothing to do. I wrote “best strategy games” to google and looked at the results. I saw Age of Empires 2 there and that day I bought the game from Steam and started playing.

• FN: Normally, Age of Empires players are more experienced. It was very popular in Turkey in the 2000s, for example. It’s really interesting that you started late. However, you’ve come a long way.

Alperen: Thank you. I made it to the top 50 in the world rankings. But as you said, it is a little difficult to play against people with 20 years of experience. I’ve been playing this game for 1 and a half 2 years. So my opponent has been playing for 20 years.

• FN: Is professional gaming your main occupation right now?

Alperen: It is indeed my main profession right now. I play under the umbrella of Pacific eSports. I want to continue to do this as my main profession with the help of those who watch my streams. So, of course, it is very difficult to do this in Turkey since Age of Empires is not as popular as other games. Compared to other games, such as LoL, which has millions of viewers. After all, I live alone and I have to get on with my life. But unfortunately, it is very difficult to do this with only my skills in Age of Empires 2.

It’s very difficult. Because the number of supporters and followers are very small. There are always the same people, no new players. There is no new audience. However, there were months where I earned as much as a broadcaster with 1000 viewers. This is because the age group is older. In other words, since the average age is high, there are some generous people who are willing to donate. In other words, there were many people who believed in me, trusted me, and wanted me to do this as a job. I even shot special videos for them on YouTube.

• FN: So what do you think of the overall Age of Empires 2 competitive scene?

Alperen: Everything is very difficult for a beginner. But for them, I recommend Age of Empires 4. This is because Microsoft is sponsoring it more. It’s a newly released game. There are constant tournaments and there is usually a bigger prize pool. Also, It is really difficult to compete with people who have been playing for 20 years within the scope of Age of Empires 2, it is very challenging.

• FN: You’ve been known for a while, with your Gurjaras picks, a newly added civilization to the game. Why did you choose to play this civilization?

Alperen: Because their gameplay is very different compared to other civilizations. Their special units are very different. While there are normally 2 special units per civilization, Gurjaras have at least three different units. That’s why the gameplay is a little different. I don’t think they’re overly strong right now compared to the others. But it’s still my favorite civilization. My three favorite civilizations are Maya, Aztec, and Gurjaras. Because I like to play aggressively early on. This game is not a farming simulation. So, I like to play aggressively and entertain my audience.

• FN: The world’s biggest Age of Empires tournament, Red Bull Wololo: Legacy, was announced recently. Will you participate in this tournament?

Alperen: Of course I will. I hope I get a good draw. So as long as the group I’m in isn’t in doesn’t have the top 5-10 players, it would be fine. Also, as you know, the tournament will be held Germany. If you make it to the last 16, you will play inside a real castle. To be able to meet and talk there, to reach that stage, not to think about financial difficulties… These are huge things. These are the dreams of every player. Let’s hope I can reach that. But as I said, it’s really hard to compete. So you always have a financial problem in your mind. You play knowing that. In fact, you have to reach a certain point or have certain sponsors to play without that on your mind.

• FN: How do you see the future of Age of Empires? What are your thoughts on this?

Alperen: I started Age of Empires 4 with high hopes. I thought it would make a huge buzz. And it did to an extend… there were around 80-90k players playing daily at one time. But unfortunately it did not get enough support. It had a lot of flaws when it first came out. Once a player sees these, they stop playing after a certain time. Because you’re playing a half backed game, and the game’s makers call it a full release. In addition, Microsoft moved a lot of players from Age of Empires 2 to 4. This split the overall players into 2. Then those who started Age of Empires 4 quit. Because the updates were coming too late. Frankly, I was expecting Microsoft to be more professional on this matter. I think Age of Empires is an a tough situation. I hope that enough attention and support is provided, and it will reach a better spot. Because we all love this game, we don’t want to leave it behind. But no one is helping the beginners either. That’s why a lot of people leave after a while.

• FN: Finally, is there anything you would like to add?

Alperen: Thank you for doing this interview with me.

We thank Alperen Tekinay for accepting our interview request. You can reach him through the following platforms:

• Twitch
• YouTube
• Discord
• Instagram

The post Interview With Age of Empires Pro Player “Alperen” appeared first on Esportimes.

Overwolf is contributing a prize pool of $25,000 to The Clutch’s London edition this year, with the following split: 1st place – $15,000, 2nd place – $7,000 and 3rd place – $3,000. The eligible winning start-up will also be granted the opportunity to travel to Tel Aviv, where Overwolf is headquartered, for a week of in-person mentoring and product acceleration.

“Overwolf has a long history of partnering with leading esports in-game apps from Professor, which helps League of Legends players understand their match statistics, to Tracker Network, which provides a suite of stats apps for many top games including Valorant, Apex, and Fortnite. Through this partnership with Esports Insider, we are excited to find the best upcoming esports in-game apps that help gamers enhance their gameplay experience. The Clutch gives us early access to this rising talent and we can’t wait to hear the pitches”

Uri Marchand, Overwolf CEO

Taking place on September 7th, The Clutch will welcome a panel of esteemed investors to judge three to four esports related startups. The judges involved in the panel will include Shahar Sorek, Chief Marketing Officer at Overwolf and Lisa Hau, COO at Bidstack; with more judges to be announced soon.

The application process for The Clutch is now open and the deadline closes on July 13th. Applicants can apply here.

Launched in 2019 at ESI London, The Clutch began life as an in-person pitch investment competition focused exclusively on esports-related early stage start-ups. Since that edition, it has taken place digitally on multiple occasions during the ESI Digital series of events. To date, there have been four winners: G-Science, TEAMS.gg, Anzu and iTero Gaming.

“Winning The Clutch 2021 was a jump-start for iTero Gaming. The prize, the exposure and joining the ranks of previous winners who have all impressed me would have been enough on its own. The highlight though, was that it became the catalyst for us to work with the team at Overwolf. They really understand our vision and are providing all the support and expertise we could ask for to deliver on it. I’m looking forward to seeing how we can continue to grow this ecosystem together long into the future!”

Jack J Williams, Founder and Data Scientist at iTero Gaming

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According to the release, the parties will foster esports & game industry and host various esports events to successfully launch their esports service in Philippines and Southeast Asia.

As a result of the MOU, a joint venture will be established to develop independent IP and launch a consumer brand.

The companies will cooperate to open local branches for esports education service in Philippines and host game conventions & music festivals.

“We are delighted to build on our partnership with LCS Group as we continue to execute our global strategy. With this initiative, we will work together with various gaming companies hoping to expand overseas, to create synergy with our global esports festival, WCG”

Bigpicture CEO Kwangjun Song

Bigpicture will be signing additional contracts in coming July after performing research on the local market, and further information will be available at its website.

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In celebration of the launch and in gratitude to the more than 35 million people who pre-registered for Diablo Immortal, all players who log in to the game and complete the tutorial within the next 30 days will be able to deck out their characters to battle demons in style with the ceremonial Horadrim Cosmetic Set.

“We’re thrilled to now be able to put the newest entry in the Diablo series in players’ hands. The visceral gameplay, dark story, and depth of character customization that Diablo is known for are all here in Diablo Immortal. And with this being a AAA free-to-play Blizzard game, it was important to us to give players a full and highly engaging core game experience—including upcoming features, character classes, story, and more—completely free.”

Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment

As a massively multiplayer online action-RPG, Diablo Immortal enables players to experience the game solo or together with any of the fellow adventurers they encounter on their journeys through Sanctuary. Players can explore, conquer, and socialise in all new ways in the first MMOARPG set in the Diablo universe. Traverse the lands of Sanctuary while racing to keep the power of creation out of the hands of the Burning Hells. Players form a Warband to test their endurance in eight-player raids, join a Clan, or simply craft, trade, and interact with other players in the busy city of Westmarch. All while amassing enough skill and power to conquer their server in the Cycle of Strife, where they will ultimately fight in brutal 1v30 battles to earn the title of Immortal.

Blizzard’s mobile-first experience is also on Windows PC via Battle.net in Open Beta, allowing players to adventure between platforms with cross-play and cross-progression without skipping a beat—player progress will not be reset at the end of Open Beta, allowing for uninterrupted demon-slaying. On top of the hand-crafted fluid touch controls on mobile and both WASD movement and traditional Diablo point-and-click functionality on PC, Diablo Immortal features integrated controller support regardless of what platform players prefer.

Choose from six iconic classes, explore eight zones, and experience an epic story set between Diablo II and Diablo III in a free-to-play game. And this is just the beginning. Players can revel in fresh content added every few months, including new dungeons, zones, seasons, classes, and even live in-game events. Diablo Immortal is setting the stage for a truly epic new era of demon-slaying.

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