ESPORTS INSIDER — Tournament organiser DreamHack has established a partnership with Mastercard for its Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC).

Mastercard will serve as the official payment partner of the competition for the 2020 season.

As part of the deal, Mastercard will offer “Priceless Play of the Match” rewards for those who watch the NLC throughout the year. Last August, financial services corporation expanded its global partnership with Riot Games to cover North American league LCS.

Roger Lodewick, Co-CEO of DreamHack, spoke on the deal in a release: “Esports continue to grow and thrive, so we couldn’t be happier to welcome Mastercard to the DreamHack family and their ongoing support of this industry. We greatly value this partnership and look forward to offering even more content to our fans of the NLC.” [MORE]

ATLANTA INNO — If you’re a startup or an entrepreneur grinding it out, we see you. And we want to celebrate you.

For the second year in a row, we’re announcing the 50 people and companies that are crushing it in Atlanta. Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight a few of these companies in stories and in our newsletter, The Beat.

Softgiving – Softgiving is a fintech startup that develops fundraising software for nonprofits that allows donors to make contributions in smaller increments. The startup has been successful in partnering with celebrity fundraisers, such as Jeezy’s Street Dreamz Foundation in 2019, and many causes dedicated to helping those in need during the pandemic.

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CHECKPOINT XP — Global esports team, the Pittsburgh Knights, and charity fundraising platform, Softgiving, have announced a partnership to create live-streamed charity events together. The first event, the Wiz and Friends Charity Livestream will take place on Saturday, July 11, 2020, and will be hosted by multi-platinum recording artist Wiz Khalifa in his first-ever gaming live stream. Wiz is a strategic partner for the Knights and will be the featured personality at the center of these new philanthropic initiatives by the team. Additional charity stream events for 2020 will be announced.

In addition to Wiz, Twitch streamer Austin (formerly “RajjPatel”) will be featured at the event. Additional talent will be announced.

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OZ MAGAZINE — Minno, a new children’s digital media network, was launched in partnership with Atlanta’s design firm, Primal Screen.

Minno is an ad free subscription based digital video platform offering Christian educational choices including the world’s largest selection of Veggie Tales. Minno is available across six existing platforms including Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, IOS, Android and the web. The subscription video on demand (SVOD) service will give direct access to fresh content. “We have big plans for the SVOD platform which gives such direct access to the viewer in a variety of ways untapped by most streamers,” executive producer, Fatimah Abdullah, said. [MORE]

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER — Multiple major competitive gaming events saw postponements or outright cancellations due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic this past week.

DreamHack announced the postponement of three of its top events — DreamHack Summer, DreamHack Dallas and DreamHack Montreal — until 2021, with DreamHack Valencia delayed to Oct. 8-12. The next event on the DreamHack schedule is the Masters Spring Group Stage for the European and North American regions, set for May 19-30. [MORE]

COMICBOOK.COM — The coronavirus pandemic has led to a number of different delays. One such delay is GameMaster, an upcoming reality show centered on esports and hosted by Wil Wheaton. With production on the series halted, producers and crew members from the show are shifting focus to 3D printing and distributing masks for first responders. One of the show's brand partners, Micro Center, is providing the team with the 3D printers and filament. The team is also taking requests, and looking to coordinate with other groups willing to create and distribute the masks. The initial run will be 1000 masks, but more will be made based on requests, which can be made on the show's website. [MORE]

BUILT IN — Primal Screen develops branding work for television, film, environmental media and the web. The company specializes in children’s entertainment branding and curriculum-based content, working with clients related to film, broadcast, education and gaming. Primal Screen boasts in-house capabilities in motion graphics, animation, live action, audio, music composition and interactive development.

ESPORTS INSIDER — Misfits Gaming Group has announced a partnership with online fundraising platform Softgiving, with plans to use the platform for online charity events throughout 2020.

The first online streaming event will take place between April 16-19th and benefit the Gift of Life Marrow Registry, which is currently assisting patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. [MORE]

REUTERS — DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 is moving online in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Due to the ongoing health and safety concerns in the world, and in the interest of the safety and health of our players and staff, DreamHack Masters has been rescheduled and moved to an online format in order to fulfill our promise of bringing the CS:GO community the world’s best action,” DreamHack announced Friday on its website.

DreamHack Masters Spring has a total prize pool of $300,000 and includes teams in Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania.[MORE]

DALLAS MORNING NEWS — Esports events in the North Texas area continued to hit roadblocks as DreamHack announced in a release Thursday that two of its events, including DreamHack Dallas, were rescheduled to later in the year due to health and safety concerns regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19).

DreamHack Dallas, a festival-type event that included competition in StarCraft II, fighting games and an opportunity to try out new games from Indie Developers, was rescheduled from its original dates of May 22-24 to August 14-16. It will still be at Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in downtown Dallas. [MORE]

THE GAME HAUS — It was the worst of times, until, all at once, it was the best of times.

After two miserable weeks of play, with a 2-12 map record and no match wins, the Houston Outlaws headed into their first homestand with a lot to prove. The team made big roster changes over the off-season, losing some key names and officially gaining ‘mixed roster’ status. Fans and staff alike came into 2020 expecting major improvements from a team that’s been in the middle of the pack (at best) since its inception.

What they got was the opposite of that. The beginning of the Outlaws’ season was dismal. The first two games weren’t just losses, but disastrous ones. The next two saw improvement, but not enough to get a win on the board. They limped back to H-Town with an 0-4 record, and the internet collectively hoping that maybe the lack of travel and the supportive crowd would help put a little wind back in their sails.

But even the Internet wasn’t ready for what descended on Harris County last weekend

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OVERWATCHLEAGUE.COM — Five hours before the first match of the Houston Outlaws homestand, Frank LaSpina, the Overwatch League’s Global Broadcast Director, approached the Revention Music Center for his call time. He was far from the first to arrive. A crowd of fans wearing Outlaws jerseys were already lined up, excited to welcome their team home.

“I’ve been at a homestand each week so far, and each city brings its own unique energy to it,” LaSpina said. “What Houston’s really brought is this pent-up demand for Overwatch esports. We saw that when we were at the Blizzard Arena the past two years—when Houston would play, you’d see their fans always in the front row. Now that we are here, it’s just been electric.”

With the Overwatch League’s first few homestands complete, the impact of local fans celebrating the long-awaited promise of geolocation has been immeasurable. From the Philadelphia Fusion crowd truly living up to the city’s reputation with their ruthless response for away teams to Washington DC’s pure joy and unyielding support for their charismatic home team, each city has radiated a distinct energy. [MORE]