ESL, one of the leading esports tournament organisers, has partnered up with Facebook to bring their livestreams to the platform. This will affect all upcoming ESL One and CS:GO Pro League matches, beginning with ESL One Genting, the Dota 2 Minor event set in Malaysia on January 23-28.
One of the reasons ESL went for Facebook is the new feature called Facebook Watch, a VOD (video on demand) service. Other than that, the appeal of 1080p/60fps streaming, VR support, features where users can view streams with friends in a private chat and of course, the massive audience on the social media platform with up to 2 billion monthly active users, were also the reasons cited for the deal.
The last point might be the biggest reasons of it all. “We’re excited to now be at a stage where we can take the next step towards realizing our shared ambition to grow the overall esports audience and to bring our sports to an even broader group of viewers than ever before,” the company said.
This move will feel odd to a lot of esports fans, since most esports fans and gamers are more prone to using Twitch to watch such streams. Twitch signed a $90 million USD deal to bring the Overwatch League streams on its platform. Fans were asking for the stream to be made available on Twitch, with various articles questioning if it will be on the platform when the league kicks off its inaugural season.
But even if you do not want to watch the streams on Facebook itself, embedded streams will still be available to watch, no Facebook account needed.
Via PC Gamer