Benzinga | Sep 17, 2020 08:14AM EDT

Esports Entertainment Group Says Generated 400% Growth In New Registered Users During Partner Allied Esports' VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series Tournament

VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series Reaches Record 1.7 Million Unique Viewers



Tournament Now the Most-Watched Legend Series Event in Allied Esports History

BIRKIRKARA, Malta, Sept. 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Esports Entertainment Group, Inc. (NasdaqCM: GMBL, GMBLW) (or the "Company"), a licensed online gambling company with a focus on esports wagering and 18+ gaming, today announced new registered users grew 400% and customer deposits increased 300% during the two-week period of the VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series Tournament compared to the same two weeks in the prior month.

The Company's partner, Allied Esports, a global esports entertainment company and a subsidiary of Allied Esports Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AESE), drew 1.7 million unique viewers for the VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series tournament, which ended Sunday, September 13. The two-week competition, which also generated over 1 million hours watched and reached 98,000 peak viewers, is the most-watched Legend Series event since the tournament series was created in 2017.

"We are absolutely thrilled with the viewership numbers for the VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series, a new benchmark for Allied Esports and a great introduction of our VIE.gg brand to fans around the world," commented Grant Johnson, CEO of Esports Entertainment Group. "With a 400% increase in new users and 300% increase in deposits, we've clearly demonstrated there is demand for our platform. This was a great start to our marketing efforts, and we're excited to pursue similar opportunities moving forward."

Each broadcast during the VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series tournament prominently featured a wagering component, including dynamic live odds that were on display for the entirety of each match.

"This tournament was an excellent start to our partnership with Esports Entertainment Group, as we introduced their wagering platform to millions of people around the world, and we look forward to creating more valuable content with them in the near future," said Frank Ng, CEO of Allied Esports Entertainment. "The VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series is a great example of the ability of our tournaments to deliver dedicated content to an enthusiastic, engaged audience, and we will continue to develop these brands to meet the needs of partners as the esports industry continues to evolve."

The professional Counter-Strike tournament, which was produced from Allied Esports' HyperX Esports Studio in Hamburg, Germany, was a global event reaching esports audiences across multiple continents and languages. Allied Esports worked with various partners to broadcast the tournament on Twitch in six languages -- English, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, French and German -- and on Chinese streaming platform HUYA, which carried both English and Chinese streams.

The VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series featured 16 Counter-Strike teams from multiple European countries, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region and South America, including seven teams ranked in the top 50 globally. Kazakhstan's Winstrike, which jumped from No. 60 in the world at the start of the tournament to No. 34, defeated 32nd-ranked Heretics from France 3-0 in the best-of-five Grand Final to secure the first VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series title and (euro)17,000 of the (euro)50,000 total prize pool. Every game from the two-week tournament can be watched in full at youtube.com/alliedesports.

"We are very happy with the results of our first esports tournament sponsorship and the strong uptick in new sign ups and deposits we saw as a result of reaching millions of fans globally," added Magnus Lepp?niemi, Vice President of Marketing and Head of Esports at Vie.gg. "The VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series provided a great opportunity to support tier 2 and tier 3 teams, a large and important segment of the esports community, and we look forward to continuing our support of these teams in the future."

The VIE.gg CS:GO Legend Series was Allied Esports' seventh edition of the CS:GO Legend Series and the 13th Legend Series event overall and part of its efforts to expand the competitive ecosystem and total prize pool for teams ranked outside of the first tier.