Guild And Sky Launched A Rocket League Esports Competition For Women
Guild Esports, a British esports organization, and Sky Broadband have created a grassroots women's Rocket League championship. Women's teams will play for £5000 in prize money in the Rocket League Boost Championship. Qualifiers will begin on August 5th, with the league open to female gamers wishing to go pro. Four elite European teams will be invited to compete in the league, with four available qualification spots. The top four teams from each week's two games will receive a part of the £5,000 prize pool.
In terms of content, Guild will broadcast a weekly round-up program on the Guild Twitch and Twitter (X) feeds. The show will premiere on August 25th and will feature the league's top moments and matches from the previous week. The event is part of Guild's larger relationship with Sky UK, which was signed last year. When the agreement was launched, it was revealed that it would revolve around three main components: providing esports competitions for Sky VIP, delivering esports performance and coaching, and expanding opportunities for women in esports.
Earlier this year, the two firms launched the 'No Room for Harassment' campaign, which increased awareness of the verbal harassment that female gamers suffer. Guild also launched a women's Rocket League team as part of the partnership. According to a press release, the league will take place in a secure online environment for women. It will entail putting safeguards in place and hiring women and non-binary people to oversee the tournament.
"Ensuring that we're supporting and nurturing women's esports is a huge priority for us here at Guild," said Jasmine Skee, CEO of Guild Esports. "Boost Championship is just one of our many ongoing commitments, in collaboration with our partner Sky Broadband, to the development of women's esports and making the Sky Guild Gaming Centre a safe space for diverse gamers of all backgrounds."
Rocket League, which already has a thriving female esports sector, has recently seen the emergence of several new women's esports championships. DreamHack has announced a $20,000 (£16,000) women's tournament, Radiant has created a year-long women's esports initiative, and Ally Financial has started its own competition in collaboration with Rocket League Esports. With Esports tournaments coming up, GG Bet is all set to host betting markets and offer odds for an involving gambling experience. The new tournaments follow a tumultuous era in which Women's Car Ball, previously the only regular women's esports tournament, was forced to close owing to a lack of funding. Soon after, Gamers First (G1) purchased the tournament.
Rocket League Players Association Launched By Stakeholders
The Rocket League Players Association (RLPA) was founded by prominent stakeholders in the Rocket League esports industry to increase communication with developer Psyonix and advocate on behalf of talent in the scene. The RLPA will be made up of professional Rocket League players and coaches, and its members will be able to raise issues and ask questions, which it will then offer to Psyonix. The Rocket League Players Association was founded by Jonny Davies, a Junior Talent Manager at talent agency Sixteenth, and Noah Hinder, the Rocket League coach for Moist Esports.
The RLPA will operate under an elected model. The organization will be divided into regions, with each significant region electing its own local committee to which members will bring issues. Each regional committee will then elect a chair, and the chairs from each region will meet in an International Committee. The International Committee intends to meet monthly or bimonthly and compile a report, which it aims to deliver to Rocket League developer and publisher Psyonix, which is owned by Epic Games. However, the RLPA has not yet engaged Psyonix about its plans, according to Davies, who stated that they want to attract players and establish legitimacy first. As a result, Psyonix's role in working with the organization is not guaranteed.
Along with Davies, the RLPA will be managed by an operations board of four members: Moist Esports coach 'Noah,' G2 Esports coach Matthew 'Satthew' Ackermann, Team Falcons coach Nicholas Nick Marrone, and professional player Leonardo 'Turinturo' Wilson. All executive board members have given up their voting rights in the organization and are no longer eligible to run in elections. The RLPA currently only accepts RLCS-qualified players and coaches as members. Jonny Davies, the RLPA's co-founder and new Chief Executive, told Esports Insider that the RLPA was formed about eight months ago to enhance communication between Psyonix and the player base. "There's been a call for it within the community," Davies said. "It made so much sense when Noah and I first started talking about it because there was a huge amount of discord on Twitter [amongst players] saying we need some support, we need someone to push the sport forward from the player point of view."
The RLPA, according to Davies, would create a feedback loop between the community and the developer, allowing talent to express complaints, concerns, and questions to Psyonix in a more concise manner than current contact options. Davies also stated that an organization like the RLPA was required due to the young average age of the Rocket League pro community and player base.
Many of the top Rocket League players are under the age of 18. According to Esports Charts data, the median average age of a professional Rocket League player is 21 (the average age in League of Legends and CS:GO is 25 and 26, respectively). "There are a lot of really young players in the scene, and I think something like this bringing a bit of structure can have a really good impact," Davies remarked.
