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SOTN: GAMING Inset: Teams at ESL One in Cologne this year battled it out for a US$300,000 prize pool. Below: Blizzard’s Overwatch League is taking esports to the next level. Below centre: Pyramid International has added Crash Bandicoot to its roster of retro gaming brands.
Helena-Kristiansson ESL-One Cologne
Bottom: Spyro the Dragon is another retro game remastered for 2018..
Success for British team
kinds. We are looking forward to providing Fortnite’s growing community of fans a great range of creative items that reflect the game’s attitude and brand DNA.” IMG has been quick to appoint a number of licensees including Fashion UK for daywear, nightwear, outerwear and selected accessories for adults and teens. Products will launch into retail later on this year. “Fortnite is the most talked about game on the market right now and we are excited to represent the brand with our award winning creativity,” says Mickey Mattu, md of Fashion UK and Global Licensing. “This is a great opportunity for us and we are eager to launch the branded collection.” While Fortnite is the new kid on the block, there’s still a lot of love and passion for gaming brands that have been around the block. There’s a big trend at the moment – not just in gaming, but other forms of entertainment too – for nostalgia. Films, TV shows, toys and games from the 80s and 90s are finding new
In January this year a new eSports league began its inaugural season – the Overwatch League - bringing professional eSports to several major cities around the world. British team, London Spitfire won the 2018 championship, taking home a cool $1million in prize money. The twoday event played to a capacity crowd of 20,000 spectators at the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, with more than 300,000 fans watching the concluding minutes live via Twitch. This should certainly be a boost for Blizzard’s Overwatch brand, with a strong licensing programme already in place, including new products from Half Moon Bay, brokered by Bits + Pixels, a specialist gaming licensing agency.
Millennial fans, as well as re-igniting the passion for the fans who remember these brands from the first time around. Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Super Mario and Pokémon are just some of the brands enjoying a revival in popularity. In fact Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was the number one selling remastered collection in PlayStation 4 history in 2017 and is heading to new platforms. In July Activision launched the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy on the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC via Steam, in addition to PlayStation 4. Pyramid International has just added the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon licences to its portfolio and Robert Ling, marketing executive, says of this: “We have seen the success of nostalgic elements with movies and TV shows such as Guardians of the Galaxy Stranger Things. With this in mind, the addition of Crash Bandicoot and LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2018
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