Nintendo announces partnership with ESL
Gamescom has been an event that featured many new announcements in the gaming industry. One of the biggest comes from Nintendo who had announced that they would be partnering with the Electronic Sports League (ESL). In order to make a significant jump towards the eSports scene, the company has started making arrangements on a European based online tournament for Splatoon. The event is planned to begin in September and will continue for about six months.The announcement comes before the ESL Play's live ranked battle qualifiers with four of the highest ranked teams in Splatoon. President of Nintendo Europe, Satoru Shibata came out on stage alongside Splatoon's producer Hisashi Nogami to address the crowds and made his announcement:
Gamescom has been an event that featured many new announcements in the gaming industry. One of the biggest comes from Nintendo who had announced that they would be partnering with the Electronic Sports League (ESL). In order to make a significant jump towards the eSports scene, the company has started making arrangements on a European based online tournament for Splatoon. The event is planned to begin in September and will continue for about six months.
The announcement comes before the ESL Play’s live ranked battle qualifiers with four of the highest ranked teams in Splatoon. President of Nintendo Europe, Satoru Shibata came out on stage alongside Splatoon’s producer Hisashi Nogami to address the crowds and made his announcement:
“I’m happy to announce that, starting in early September, Nintendo and ESL will team up for official online Splatoon tournaments in Europe. They’ll last for six months, so we hope you’ll all look forward to taking part.”
Aside from this announcement, details are scarce. There is currently no word on whether or not Nintendo has plans to expand this foothold on the eSports scene to other continents nor the fine details on how the tournament will play out.
This tournament announcement comes in the wake of the end of Nintendo’s in house ‘competition’ service ‘Splatfest’, and the incredible reception that Super Smash Bros. Melee had received at EVO16 this year.