In an industry that is infamously hostile to women, there are many notable figures that have been able to craft successful careers in esports. Riot Games recently settled on a lawsuit filed by female employees claiming gender discrimination. There are many other struggles to note over the course of 2019, but let’s focus on the women that have made waves.
Tina “TINARAES” Perez
TINARAES was the first player signed to Gen.G’s Fortnite team in 2018, which eventually rebranded to the Gen.G Bumble female Fortnite team. After a year of working things out with access to resources like a new L.A. facility, private chefs, coaching, she placed first at TwitchCon 2019 with her teammates… it’s been a good time for her.
Xiaomeng “VKLiooon” Li
Not only was Liooon the first woman to qualify for the Hearthstone Global Championship, but she was also the first woman to win it as well. She played with incredible finesse, eventually reaching the final and clinching the victory at 3-0.
Saira Mueller
In 2018, Mueller founded Women of Esports to provide support and resources for women in the industry seeking opportunities. The mentorship group has more than 450 members and offers numerous opportunities to learn from mentors in the industry.
These are just a few examples of the numerous women who’ve made an impression on the esports industry this last year.
GROWTH IS SHOWING ACROSS THE BOARD FOR STREAMING PLATFORMS
December 2019 showed an overall growth increase of 12 percent over hours watched in 2018. Many contenders contributed to the overall increase, though Facebook Gaming and YouTube saw the most impressive growth. Twitch had 727 million hours watched, up from 716 million in 2018, an overall mediocre change.
Big growth: Facebook Gaming, on the other hand, went up to 102 million hours watched, up from just 33 million in December 2018. Then YouTube went up to 332.9 million hours, up from 293 million.
The rest of them: Mixer also saw a year-over-year increase in hours watched, up to 31 million hours over the 24.4 million from the previous year. This change was largely attributed to the move of two streamers to the platform, Ninja and shroud.
RIOT GAMES RELEASES CINEMATIC ENTITLED “WARRIORS”
Riot Games posted their very own rendition of Imagine Dragons’ 2014 song, “Warriors.” This three-minute-long cinematic gives a visual feast with appearances from armor-clad Garen, quick-footed Kai’Sa, a ferocious-looking Urgot, and a giant Galio.
What happens: The cover of the popular song was first performed at the World’s 2014 finals in Seoul, South Korea. But in this cinematic, it takes a more slow and melancholic feel and choruses of harmony rather than the pop-rock of Imagine Dragons. As the song progresses, the heroes of League class in an epic brawl and all-out war. Victory is declared to the light.
Why it rocked: The visuals of the video are on a completely different level from the usual cinematics used. This video demonstrated significant improvement in the realism of expressions and movement. This is paving the way for League’s upcoming animated series, Arcane, expected to release later in the year.