Since eSports began in 1997, leagues have spread their way across the world. Now one of the world’s most notable leagues is looking to spread its influence even further.
[Europe’s Electronic Sports League (ESL) recently reached out to their Eastern European neighbors in the Baltic States. ESL has teamed up with IT Baltics, a regional IT company which distributes IT equipment as well as run its own eSports league, to help bring the regions separate gaming communities together. Their hope is to create a much more tightly knit community between the leagues in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
“All the different gaming communities in the Baltic States are mostly separated from each other. With the establishment of ESL Baltic we are connecting all the gamers more closely to one big eSports-Community,” said IT Baltics CEO, Marius Markevicius in a recent press release from the ESL.
The partnership will provide the region with its own ESL Pro Series, Go4-Cup Series and ESL Amateur Series. ESL Baltic will also host the Intel Extreme Masters and the ESL Major Series qualifiers for the season. Games will include classic competitive games such as League of Legends, StarCraft II and Counter Strike. Several others will be playable for competitors as well.
Run by Turtle Entertainment, the ESL has been working in the competitive gaming scene since 2000 bringing together most of Europe’s eSports gaming scenes. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany the company has also offered its services from the USA, all way to the east to China as well. They also provide broadcasting through ESL’s web TV service, ESL TV. You expect to see more events with this new partnership in the Baltic States.
As eSports continues to grow so do the communities around the world. Bringing in the often ignored region of Eastern Europe will bring some new and possibly unknown competitors into the competitive gaming scene.
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