s1mple and electronic are back on the same team.

After years apart, the legendary duo is reunited—this time under the banner of BC.GAME Esports.

BC.GAME Esports has officially signed Denis “electronic” Sharipov. The 2021 CS Major champion and multiple-time HLTV Top player will now play alongside Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, who joined the organization earlier. Together, they form the core firepower duo of BC.GAME Esports’ CS2 roster.

“I am glad to announce that I am joining the BCGame Esports team. I am very happy to play together with S1mple again. Incredibly hungry and motivated to work like never before!”

The two previously spent six years together at Natus Vincere (NaVi), winning top-tier titles such as the PGL Major 2021, BLAST Premier Global Final, and IEM Cologne. Their synergy and clutch consistency earned them a place among the most iconic duos in Counter-Strike history.

In this new environment, electronic will not only serve as a key rifler but also contribute to the team’s broader content strategy—participating in match breakdowns, behind-the-scenes content, livestreams, and regional fan events.

According to BC.GAME Esports, another high-profile player signing is currently in the works, aiming to further strengthen the team’s competitive lineup.

BC.GAME Esports is the esports division of the global iGaming brand. As a platform operating in regulated markets, BC.GAME views esports as a long-term investment and an extension of its entertainment ecosystem. The organization sees its esports initiative as a bridge to connect with a younger, more engaged global audience.

Compared to traditional sports, esports content is more digitally native and easier to distribute across livestreams, short-form platforms, and bilingual formats. It also offers more flexibility and accessibility in reaching global players, creators, and fans. Unlike sports ecosystems built around rigid media rights, esports allows brands to take a more active role in content creation and community development.

About BC.GAME Esports

BC.GAME Esports is the competitive gaming arm of BC.GAME, a crypto-native entertainment platform. Launched in 2024, the team merges top-tier CS2 competition with blockchain-powered community engagement and digital content creation.

Contact

Pr manager

Olivia Dixon

BC.GAME

[email protected]

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Stunning visuals and strong performance make Buffalo Force a standout success

ELA Games’ Buffalo Force has quickly risen to the top of performance charts, just three weeks after its release, showing strong player engagement metrics and turnover growth.

The Wild West-themed brand-new title blends visually rich artwork, dynamic gameplay, and immersive atmospheres to create engaging experiences for players and value for operators. The game showcases ELA Games’ rapid rise to become a leading game development studio, capable of pushing the boundaries of the gaming industry with its innovative solutions.

Inside the Data: How ELA’s Buffalo Force Instantly Soared

This month, Buffalo Force exceeded all plans and surpassed expectations across key performance metrics. The audience immediately embraced the product, with operators reporting positive responses from player bases. With the game’s momentum still building, even stronger results may be on the horizon.

Growth metrics during the first 3 weeks after release highlight Buffalo Force as one of the studio’s strongest titles to date. It showcases the game’s powerful retention appeal and the ability to deliver games that perform consistently across regions, captivating new audiences:

• Actives growth +26%
• Turnover +38%
• GGR total growth +62%
• Rounds count +29%

These results reflect a rise in overall player activity, indicating higher session frequency and more wagers placed. This shows that Buffalo Force has high replay value and is a game that encourages engagement.

[Video https://youtu.be/pBHPyi2vHlY]

Marharyta Yerina, ELA Games’ Managing Director, commented, “Buffalo Force represents the progress our studio has made in understanding what players love and what operators need. What we see with the game’s instant success is a sign that our approach is working and that each new release will set the bar higher in terms of engagement, performance, and enjoyment.”

ELA Games’ Portfolio Continues to Expand

Buffalo Force’s success reflects ELA Games’ development approach, where each release enriches the studio’s portfolio, adding creative innovation, visually rich design, and operator value. Other recent additions, such as Shoot Happens or Rabbit Winpot Deluxe, reinforce this trend, creating a balanced catalogue with plenty of variety.

Joker Winpot is another standout title for ELA Games that has received widespread acclaim. It received key nominations by various institutions for its creativity and innovation, underscoring how ELA Games’ developments are recognised by peers and press alike. Buffalo Force positions itself as a key game for the studio that will contend for similar commercial success and industry recognition.

The post ELA Games’ Buffalo Force Charges to Outstanding Results: 62% GGR Growth in Just 3 Weeks appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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• New Follow Player feature lets fans track their favourite basketball and ice hockey players with real-time notifications, including NBA and NHL

• The NBA competition page received over 1.1 billion opens last season alone, demonstrating the market appetite for more detailed match statistics fans want to access

• This follows the launch of the platform across football in September, activated by 1.3 million fans so far

Flashscore, the world’s most popular live scores and sports news app, has expanded its Follow Player functionality to basketball and ice hockey, allowing users to get real-time updates on their favourite basketball and ice hockey stars in the NBA, NHL and other leagues.

The launch follows the success of the feature for global football fans, launched in September. Within two months of being launched, 1.3 million fans are actively using Follow Player for football, averaging five players each, resulting in around 6.5 million player favourites.

The enhancement allows Flashscore’s 100 million-plus monthly users to add up to 100 of their favourite players to receive personalised notifications. Updates include alerts on whether a player is in the starting lineup, their in-game stats like goals and assists, and post-match performance ratings.

The expansion comes as Flashscore data reveals huge user engagement with the NBA and NHL during the 2024-25 season. In the last NBA season, there were more than 1.1 billion match detail opens across 1,316 games, with an average of around 320,000 users per match.

The most-followed team was the Los Angeles Lakers, attracting an average of 515,000 users to their games. In ice hockey and the NHL, last season saw more than 783 million match detail opens across 1,420 games. The Washington Capitals were the most popular team, with an average of 390,000 users per game.

Company data shows basketball and ice hockey are among the most popular sports with Flashscore users, beyond only football and tennis.

Tomáš Pondělík, Chief Product Officer at Flashscore, said: “Following the hugely successful launch of Follow Player for our football fans, expansion to Basketball and Ice Hockey is the next logical step. Fandom is evolving, and we’re seeing a significant shift from fans, especially with the younger generation, following only their favourite teams to a deeper interest in individual players. We see the same trend in basketball and hockey, where superstars often have a global following that transcends team loyalties. Being able to offer our users the chance to follow real-time updates from their favourite football, basketball and ice hockey stars sets Flashscore apart from other live scores apps.

“Our community has been asking for this feature, and the data shows a clear appetite for in-depth information. With Follow Player now available for basketball and ice hockey, fans can track their heroes in real time with the fast, non-intrusive notifications they expect from us. We’re already working on adding more meaningful player data to give fans a richer understanding of performance, and this is just the beginning.”

The post Flashscore expands Follow Player feature to basketball and ice hockey NBA and NHL stars appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.