ChiliZ has announced plans to invest at least $10m (£7.4m) into organisations who compete in Battle Royale esports, with PUBG and Fortnite currently the biggest games in this genre.
ChiliZ said the decision follows Epic Games’ recent announcement of $100m in prize pools for Fortnite esports in its first year. ChiliZ will look to either acquire or invest in small esports organisations, using their investment to enter the Battle Royal scene, or partner with an organisation already in the scene and help them grow.
ChililZ believes that the BR genre offers the best mix of ‘entertainment and sporting values’. Fortnite and PUBG are everpresent in the Twitch top charts, with Fortnite only dropping from top spot during peak League of Legends esports periods, while PUBG is still one of the most popular games on the streaming platform. PUBG is likely to attract even more viewers in the coming months with the games esports plans already in place.
Alex Dreyfus, CEO of chiliZ, had this to say about the news: “We will provide funding and our fan-engagement/fan-
ChiliZ recently secured $27m in investment through its blockchain-related token sale, with the company set to announce the final investment figure soon. Teams looking to make the move into Battle Royal should head over to the chililZ Team Funding Portal and fill out the form.
Esports Insider says: More investment in esports is good news, it’s interesting to see a company make such a quick call after the recent Fortnite news. Fortnite especially is still an unknown, outside of huge celebrity events, the game has not been tested as an esport. The BR genre itself has some issues with randomness and teams hiding for the entire game in the “danger zone” and just healing up, these types of tactics, don’t make for an interesting viewer experience, while also making it harder for the casters to great a story for the event.