ESL is sponsored by Raid: Shadow Legends

ESL gaming has announced their new partnership with the Israeli mobile video game developer Plarium. As a part of this new deal, Plarium will become the official global gaming category partner of the ESL Pro League‘s fourteenth season.

Plarium

If you have watched a YouTube video in the past year and a half, we're sure that you will have heard of Plarium’s most popular mobile title. That’s right, they are the developers of Raid: Shadow Legends. Notorious advertiser and perhaps the game that has propped up more content creators and streamers than any other.

They have developed other titles for mobile, but they are most famous for Raid. They will be integrating Raid: Shadow Legends, Mech Arena: Robot Showdown, and another yet to be announced title from their catalogue into the ESL league.

The partnership

This is an important move for ESL. They have only recently announced their new mobile gaming vertical. By promoting Plarium and their roster of hugely popular mobile titles during one of the biggest CS:GO tournaments they have gained a significant ally in the mobile esports and gaming market.

ESL are certainly not skimping on the partners and sponsors for the fourteenth season of their Pro league. In fact, Plarium is the eighth partner of the league. ESL has some very big names as sponsors. They are also varied and diverse, companies like DHL and Monster Energy are sponsors alongside organisations like the US Air Force. They have even made some inroads in the world of cryptocurrency. In July, ESL partnered with Coinbase to become a major partner across most of their major events.

Comment from ESL

Andreas Jernberg, Senior Key Account Manager of Brand Partnerships at ESL Gaming, said about the partnership:

“We are thrilled to partner with Plarium and to open up a world of possibilities to take both esports and gaming in general to a whole new level. By presenting Raid: Shadow Legends and Mech Arena: Robot Showdown via brand integrations and a unique custom segment we have some great content in store!”

ESL and mobile gaming

ESL has only recently launched a gaming vertical dedicated entirely to the world of mobile esports. I get why it has taken them so long to integrate mobile gaming into their ecosystem. ESL is a European organisation and both Europe and North America were slower on the uptake for the world of mobile gaming. Now that it has spread across the world, western companies are beginning to adapt.

They are even including entirely new ways to advertise. The ESL Mobile Open 2021 fall season will feature the popular mobile title, Asphalt 9: Legends. Gameloft, the developers and publishers of the title, have created an entirely new game mode for the event that offers video and on-track virtual OOH advertising solutions for sponsors.

Now that major organisations are finding unique and innovative ways to advertise and generate revenue, I would expect the mobile gaming genre to expand.