Electronic Sports League
| ESL | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Owner / user | ESL Gaming (formerly Turtle Entertainment) |
| Introductory year | 2000 |
| Products | u. a. |
| Markets | International |
| Website | www.eslgaming.com |
The ESL (formerly ESPL, previously used full name Electronic Sports League ) is the brand name of the Cologne -based esports company ESL Gaming , which in turn is majority owned by the Swedish media group Modern Times Group . It emerged in 2000 from the German Clan League (DeCL), founded in 1997 by Ralf Reichert , today's managing director , and other partners, making it the oldest esports brand of its kind worldwide. The ESL no longer functions as a league , but as an organizer of various tournaments and leagues in over 50 games. This also includes professional tournaments or tournament series and leagues such as the Intel Extreme Masters and the ESL One Series.
Despite ESL's leading position in the market, the competition organizer has been in the red for years and in some cases makes double-digit million losses per year.
structure
The ESL is represented at both national and international level:
National competitions
The ESL is active at national level with the following brands:
- ESL Championship ( ESLM for short) as the national premier class and e-sports Bundesliga for the best players in the battle for the national championship, previously known as the ESL Pro Series (EPS).
- German Games School Championship as a competition for students from different schools.
International competitions
The ESL is or was active on an international level with the following brands:
- ESL Ladders and ESL A-Series for beginners and hobby players.
- ESL One Series (formerly International Premiership Series and ESL Major Series ) for the best teams in the disciplines Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , Dota 2 and Battlefield 4 . (As of October 2015)
- ESL Intel Extreme Masters ( IEM for short) based on the model of the UEFA Champions League as the top league in clan e-sport for the best teams and players in the disciplines Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , StarCraft II , League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm . (Status: Season X)
- ESL WC3L Series (short WC3L ), the Warcraft III clan league as an international premier class and team world championship .
- ESL Pro League ( EPL for short), international league in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- ESL European Nations Championship ( ENC forshort) as a European championship for national teams . It is determined which nation has the best e-athletes in Europe.
Competitions
The ESL organizes tournaments and leagues both on a national and international level , on its own responsibility or together with partners or game manufacturers such as Blizzard Entertainment , Riot Games , Valve Corporation or Wargaming.net .
ESL Play
ESL Play is one of the leading platforms in esports. For numerous computer games, ESL Play offers registered users the opportunity to compete online in competitions. Competitions of the ESL Open , the lowest level of the ESL league system, are open to everyone. ESL Major represents the next higher level of the ESL. The weekly Go4Cups , the ESL Major League and many other online tournaments with participant restrictions are held on this level . The best ESL Major teams can qualify for tournaments of the highest level ESL Pro .
ESL championship
The ESL championship is the highest class of the Electronic Sports League in German-speaking countries. Until 2015, the competition was known as the ESL Pro Series .
The following games are currently being played in the ESL Championship :
In addition to the ESL championship, the ESL organizes nationally or regionally limited championships in more than ten other countries.
Pro League
The ESL currently organizes seven Pro Leagues in the disciplines Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , Gears of War , Guild Wars 2 , Halo 5: Guardians , Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft , Mortal Kombat X and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege . The Pro League of the ESL represents the highest international league of the Electronic Sports League in the respective discipline. Many of the Pro Leagues are held in cooperation with the game manufacturers.
In the Pro League of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive discipline , more than 1.5 million US dollars in prize money will be distributed in 2016.
Main article: ESL Pro League
ESL One Series
The ESL One Series is an international tournament series. Historically, the participants in the tournament series known until 2014 as the ESL Major Series ( EMS for short ) mostly dueled each other online in games that were not supported by the EPS or the Intel Extreme Masters . The predecessor of the EMS was the IPS ( International Premiership Series ). The EMS was located directly below the Intel Extreme Masters . The ESL One Series also initially offered a platform for disciplines that were not part of the Intel Extreme Masters . With season 10, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive became part of the Intel Extreme Masters . This discipline is therefore also part of the Intel Extreme Masters and the ESL One Series .
The following games are currently being played in the ESL One Series :
ESL WC3L Series
The ESL WC3L Series started on December 12, 2002. It is the highest Warcraft III clan league of the ESL, in which the twelve best teams competed in relegation and qualification tournaments for prize money of up to 30,000 euros per season.
Counter-Strike Champions League
The Counter-Strike Champions League represented the European Counter-Strike League. In it, the best teams from all over Europe competed against each other.
| space |
Season I (Finals: February 22-24, 2005) |
Season II (Finale: July 14-16, 2005) |
Season III (Finale: March 17-19, 2006) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
 Team64 |
 Virtus.pro
|
 fnatic
|
| 2. |
SK Gaming
|
a-losers
|
mousesports
|
| 3. |
 Team9 |
Grip.ru |
mTw
|
| 4th |
 MeetYourMakers
|
 Hostile Records |
 man1a
|
The CSCL was replaced by the Intel Extreme Masters for Europe's best clans in Counter-Strike and the best individual players in Warcraft III. The Intel Extreme Masters differ from the Counter-Strike Champions League primarily in that they have a higher prize money and a worldwide e-sports tour. The disciplines played at the Intel Extreme Masters have changed over the years.
Intel Extreme Masters
Main article: ESL Intel Extreme Masters
The ESL Intel Extreme Masters is the world's highest competition in the Electronic Sports League.
European Nations Championship
The European Nations Championship was a competition for national teams that took place between 2004 and 2010 to determine which nation had the best e-athletes in Europe. The final took place every year in August at Gamescom in Cologne or at the Games Convention in Leipzig .
VR League
The VR League has been held in cooperation with Oculus since 2017 . Disciplines are Echo Arena, Echo Combat, Onward and Spacejunkies
Trusted Player
The ESL offers the user the possibility of being classified as a trusted player, which is primarily intended to prevent blocked players from creating another user account and playing undisturbed without being discovered. Trusted player status is increasingly becoming mandatory in the ESL.
With the introduction of Trusted Pro, the merging of the previous four trust levels is planned. It is not yet clear when this will be implemented. According to the operator, there will then only be two trust levels: Trusted and Trusted Pro.
Trust level 1
In order to receive this trust level, a letter must be requested from the ESL in which a 20-digit code can be found. This must be entered on the ESL page. This letter also contains a player card that can be used to identify yourself at ESL events such as the Intel Friday Night Games . The trust level costs 8.95 euros and must be renewed every three years.
Trust level 2
This trust level requires you to enter your identity card number and is free of charge. The number is not saved and it is necessary that the user already has trust level 1.
Trust level 3
To become Trusted Player 3, you have to send a copy of your identity card and a signed declaration of consent stating that you adhere to the rules of the ESL and only have one user account. You can also get the required documents at an ESL event, e.g. B. an Intel Friday Night Game. A processing fee of around 2 euros is required for both variants. Here, too, the copy of the identity card is destroyed immediately after it has been checked. Trusted Player 3 can also be used with z. B. a valid child ID card or a passport. So no ID is required to become Trusted Player 3. The waiting time to become trust level 3 takes about three to ten days.
Trust level 4
This trust level was achieved by ordering the ESL credit card introduced in 2007. This credit card, technically a regular Visa card from Landesbank Berlin with the ESL logo, was available in three different colors and three different versions. Depending on the card variant, there were monthly fees of € 1.49 or € 2.99. However, these fees were explicitly fees for the Visa card itself, not for trust level 4. Due to the fees incurred and the inaccessibility of the credit card and thus the trust level for minors, according to the ESL, level 4 will never be a required status for an ESL league.
The ESL Visa Card can no longer be ordered due to a redesign of the offer.
Trusted Pro
Trusted Pro was introduced in February 2011. In cooperation with Deutsche Post , this trust level is to become the most secure verification level. The user is clearly identified by the E-Postbrief . In addition to registering for the E-Postbrief, the applicant must prove his identity using the Postident procedure . By entering into a contract with Deutsche Post, the applicant must be at least 18 years old. The price for Trusted Pro is 7.85 € below that for Trusted 1-3. The validity is also three years. Trusted Pro members also receive a player card. First-time customers receive a special first-time customer award, which is displayed in the player profile.
operator
The Electronic Sports League was operated until the end of June 2015 by the German Turtle Entertainment GmbH, founded in 2000 and based in Cologne. The main sources of income are sponsorship income, online advertising, merchandising and the international licensing business. Turtle Entertainment issues licenses to partner companies from all over Europe for the operation of their own national divisions of the ESL. However, the majority of users still come from Germany. In early 2006 , Turtle Entertainment hit the headlines when the largest German competitor, GIGA-Liga , and parts of GIGA itself were bought. In the course of this, the GIGA-Liga was completely removed from the offer. Since the end of 2007, however, Turtle Entertainment has no longer been involved in GIGA.
At the beginning of 2007, Turtle Entertainment announced its cooperation with the Chinese online league ProGamer League (PGL) in order to establish ESL on the Chinese market.
On July 1, 2015, Turtle Entertainment GmbH sold 74% of its shares to the Swedish media group Modern Times Group for € 78 million .
Consoles Sport League
The Consoles Sports League was founded in 2006 and offers a platform for a professionally set up and organized game and league system. Players can find fellow players here and enter results in rankings and tables. In addition, the CSL organizes tournaments for console players with prizes in kind and cash.
literature
- Timo Schöber: Screen Athletes: The Phenomenon e-Sports, BoD, Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3752830774
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cologne e-sports empire is sold. Gründerszene.de, July 1, 2015, accessed on February 27, 2018 .
- ↑ MTG invests in ESL, world's largest esports company. Modern Times Group , July 1, 2015, accessed February 27, 2018 .
- ↑ ESL Play List at the bottom of the page , accessed on February 27, 2018
- ↑ Games economy: Full halls, red numbers: What is going wrong at ESL? In: GamesWirtschaft.de. September 25, 2019, accessed on December 11, 2019 (German).
- ^ German Games School Championship
- ↑ http://www.eslproseries.de/
- ↑ Rod Breslau: ESL raises CS: GO ESL Pro League prize pool to $ 1.5 million for 2016. ESPN, January 18, 2016, accessed on September 29, 2016 .
- ↑ ESL: Big relaunch of the eSports organization. playnation.de, March 9, 2015, accessed October 19, 2015 .
- ↑ http://www.esl-one.com/
- ↑ by Thomas Grohganz in News: Oculus & ESL: Start of the 2nd season of the eSports VR League with prize money of over US $ 220K. In: VR ∙ Nerds. May 19, 2018, accessed on August 7, 2019 (German).
- ↑ News on the merging of Trusted 1 to 4 to form the new Trusted
- ↑ ESL credit card . Electronic Sports League.
- ↑ Official news about the Trusted Pro introduction
- ↑ Official ESL details on Trusted Pro
- ↑ Official news on China expansion
- ↑ ESL sells majority stake to MTG. hltv.org, July 1, 2015, accessed on July 1, 2015 .
Web links
- ESL website
- ESL Gaming website
- Old ESL website ( Memento from March 1, 2001 in the Internet Archive )