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Esports facilities have some of the best tech in the industry. All the better to stream with, my dear. Read more below.

/ BIG 3

Image via Populous

1/Esports facilities make for some high-tech stadiums

In comparison to traditional stadiums, esports facilities only house a fraction of the fans. But when it comes to the technology used, they are second-to-none. Watching games in standard definition just won’t fly nowadays.

Example 1: Just last November, Populous finished work on the largest esports facility in North America with Esports Stadium Arlington. This structure was a $10 million renovation project that used 100,000 square feet of the city’s old convention center to create a highly-adaptable venue that hosts events ranging from 250 to 2,500 people.

Example 2: But renovating convention centers will only go so far. This means more purpose-built esports stadiums need to be constructed. Populous is also designing its first purpose-built stadium with the Fusion Arena, set to be completed in 2021. It is estimated to cost $40 million and is located in the Philadelphia Sports Complex surrounded by the Wells Fargo Center, Lincoln Financial Field, and Citizens Bank Park. It will seat around 3,500 people and includes a training facility, broadcast studio, team offices, and seating options.

2/Interviews over 2019

Over the 2019 year, Invenglobal interviewed a lot of people in the esports industry. They decided to take a look back on things and highlight the myriad individuals spoken with.

Personal interviews

Retirement interviews

Personality interviews

Teams and bootcamp interviews

Organization interviews

Bang Video interviews

3/Top esports players of 2019 by total prize winnings

2019 has been an amazing year in terms of tournament winnings. More than $211 million have been given out in prize money, the most ever given in a single year of esports history. This effectively made 15 players millionaires (some for their second year in a row), compared to the 11 in 2018. Additionally, 245 players made six figures with their winnings, making it an excellent year to be a Dota 2 or Fortnite player.

Winners of 2019

  • Cha “Pio” Seung Hoon earned $638,000 as  top earner and among the few that don’t play Dota 2 or Fortnite.
  • Shane “EpikWhale” Cotton, 16-year-old Fortnite player for NRG Esports, took home $1.2 million.
  • Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen took $1.5 million and is placed number nine in top earners.
  • Harrison “psalm” Chang is the fourth Fortnite player in a row and comes at number seven with prize winnings of more than $1.8 million.
  • Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, a 16-year-old Fortnite player, took home $3 million after winning the Fortnite World Cup in Solos.

/ THE BIZ

/ TOURNEYS

  • The inaugural season for the Call of Duty League will use a tournament-based format.
  • Peacekeeper Elite: Tencent and VSPN are co-hosting the first Championship in Xi’an Qujiang from December 28-29 with a $430,000 prize pool.
  • CS:GO: The results are in after EPICENTER 2019 and the tournament’s broadcasts accrued 51,441,282 views across the streaming platforms with a cumulative hours viewed of 48 million.

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/ GAME ON

  • If you’ve ever romanticized running your own esports team, then give Esports Team Tycoon a play through.
  • Overwatch: After watching game director Jeff Kaplan’s annual Yule Log stream, many fans think they saw a teaser of the net hero to join the game: Junker Queen.

/ THERE IS NO “I” IN TEAM

/ HERE’S THE “I”

Image via Fnatic

/Top millionaires in esports

It wasn’t that long ago that esports first began. Since then, many players have found ways to build up their fortunes by playing the games they love, and playing them well. With just a few years of professional playing under their belts, here are a few individuals who’ve turned themselves into millionaires.

N0tail – $6,882,440.18

Johan was one of the world’s youngest players in the Heroes of Newerth scene, playing the mid-role stage. It wasn’t until switching to Dota 2 that he became more popular for performances as Chen and Wisp. As he settled into the support role, he developed micromanagement skills which then contributed to his popular Meepo game.

ana – $6,000,411.96

As a Dota 2 player in Australia, ana decided that the path to becoming a pro player would ultimately take him to China. He then became a professional player in Shanghai and entered the in-house CDEC League, which allowed him to battle against high-rated Chinese players. His mother was originally only partially supportive of his passion as it ultimately led to dropping from high school. But since then, the family has become a full supporter of something he’s definitely good at.

Topson – $5,489,233.01

Topson first began playing Dota 2 at the urging of his brothers when he was eight years old. He was ready to clock 10 years and more than 10,000 hours behind the game, which is ultimately what his career turned out as. He focused on streaming after trying to join multiple teams and ranked high on European servers. It was joining OG that shocked many, but ultimately paid huge returns as it led to one of the most successful TI finishes of all time.

/ GAMING IN SCHOOL

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