One of the largest
streaming porn sites is extending its reach into the video game world.
YouPorn, one of the
portfolio holdings of MindGeek (formerly Manwin), has locked in a six-month
sponsorship of the Madrid, Spain-based team known as Play2Win. The team will
compete this Friday in the Gamergy competition in Madrid under the name Team
YP.
The site began publicly
mulling the idea of an eSports sponsorship in July with a tweet. The flurry of
reaction spurred YouPorn to follow through.
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generation video games start to shine this holiday
"We're so psyched
to finally make our official entry into gaming and eSports," said Brad
Burns, vice president of YouPorn in a statement. "This partnership has
been a long time coming, and I believe that with our backing, along with the
expertise that each member of Team YP brings to the table on the virtual
battlefield, we can succeed in tearing through the competition."
Professional
gaming—dubbed eSports—can be a confusing topic for non gamers, but it has
exploded onto the pop culture scene in the past three years. The field gathers
the top players in the world in games that range from Activision-Blizzard's
"Call of Duty" and "Hearthstone" to Nintendo's "Super
Smash Bros."
While the idea of
watching people play video games may sound dull, the speed and efficiency at
which some of these players compete is on par with the NBA or NFL. And the fan
base is rabidly enthusiastic. Last year's League of Legends finals sold out the
15,000 seat Staples Center in Los Angeles (home of the LA Lakers) in under an
hour. (Scalpers were soon commanding prices of up to $2,000 per seat, having
paid somewhere between $45 and $100 originally.)
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