eSports

British Esports Association collaborates with IBM and industry specialists to create a safer esports space for young people

Published

4 years ago

February 19, 2021

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The British Esports Association, the not-for-profit organisation set up to promote and support grassroots esports, has revealed first details of its new membership platform.

The platform, scheduled to launch in spring 2021 initially for 12-19 year olds (with plans to expand to other age groups later on), will ensure users are verified at point of entry and that communication within the platform is reviewed to reduce toxicity and cyber threats.

The collaboration with IBM will explore how IBM Watson products can be used to enhance user experience, safety and wellbeing of young gamers.

European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

The Association has also teamed up with safety technology provider GoBubble for real-time content moderation and will deliver accurate age verification using privacy preserving AI technology from Yoti to ensure age appropriate interactions.

Alongside the work of these partners, British Esports consulted with the NSPCC to ensure there are strong and consistent safeguarding procedures in the association.

Finally, British Esports, GoBubble and Yoti have been invited to test the platform within the Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) Sandbox. This is a service developed by the ICO to support organisations who are creating products and services which utilise personal data in innovative and safe ways.

IBM is a global leader in hybrid cloud and AI. The intention is to use IBM Watson Assistant to engage gamers via a virtual assistant in the form of a gaming avatar. The assistant will also utilise IBM Watson Discovery to provide personalised content to enable the gamer to improve their skills, compete in tournaments and find the latest video from their favourite influencer.

The project partners will also explore how Red Hat OpenShift can enable the platform to scale to a global market and even potentially beyond the world of esports. The intention is to containerise the platform, enabling it to be deployed directly onto the cloud infrastructures of other esports bodies and potentially to any organisation that runs a digital community.

Yoti is the world’s leading identity platform with accurate age estimation technology providing a secure way of proving ages, without revealing any personal information. There’s no need for ID documents and images are deleted after the age check. The free Yoti app also enables people to prove their age with one tap, which is verified with a government ID and their unique facial biometrics. Yoti’s combination of AI technology, liveness anti-spoofing and ID document checks ensures businesses can be confident in the age of their customers.

GoBubble’s child-centred ecosystem helps developers safely scale and reduce the risk of children being exposed to anything inappropriate. GoBubbleWrap, GoBubble’s content moderation SaaS API, will be utilised to provide real-time text moderation across the platform to reduce toxicity and steer gamers towards more positive behaviour.

This creates an attractive proposition for parents and teachers looking for a safer space for their children and student gamers to play together.

Chester King, British Esports Association CEO and founder, commented: “Over the past few years we’ve worked hard to build a community of esports fans from schools and colleges across the UK.

“What’s been clear through feedback from parents and teachers is the need to ensure that young people know who they are playing and communicating with, and that where communication takes place, we must work hard to reduce toxicity in all its forms.

“When addressing these concerns, we also must keep in mind the experience for young people, so whilst we have a focus in a safer space, we want to ensure that the experience is relevant and exciting. This will be done through curated relevant content, exclusive offers, discounts and competitions and exciting esports tournaments taking place throughout the year.”

Kay Thompson, Media & Entertainment Industry lead at IBM, said “IBM is hugely excited to be working with the British Esports Association and its partners on this tech for good initiative to protect our children whilst gaming”.

Christian McMullen, Head of Professional Engagement at the NSPCC, said: “We have a mission to ensure every child is safe online and were delighted to be approached by the BEA with an exciting proposal to make the world of esports safer for children.
“The NSPCC worked with the BEA to strengthen their safeguarding procedures as well as develop a code of conduct and content for their safe gaming guidance for children and parents.

“By integrating safety by design into their new platform, the British Esports Association is demonstrating their intention to create a safer space for the gaming community that has the potential to improve young people’s safety in the world of esports.”

Julie Dawson, Director of Regulatory and Policy at Yoti, said: “Through the ICO Sandbox, Yoti, GoBubble and British Esports will develop privacy-preserving and ‘ethics by design’ systems that support under 13s age verification and associated parental consent. This same approach can support many other companies to comply in a friction-free way with the Age Appropriate Design Code and protect children.”

Henry Platten, GoBubble CEO and founder, added: “The dedication British Esports has to unite everyone in a single, safer, healthier and kinder community is inspiring. We’re honoured to help bring our experience and technology in creating safer, scalable and positive communities in 70 countries to benefit British Esports’ vision.”

Further launch information, pricing and other details are to be confirmed nearer the platform’s launch.

eSports

Esports World Cup Foundation Renews Partnership with Albaik

Published

22 hours ago

July 8, 2025

Niji Narayan

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Reading Time: < 1 minute

The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) has announced the renewal of its partnership with Albaik for a second consecutive year, aimed at enriching the experience of both visitors and players participating in the Esports World Cup (EWC). With a deep-rooted history in Saudi Arabia since 1974, Albaik will continue supporting the Kingdom’s gaming and esports sector through this prestigious partnership, aligned with its broader mission to empower youth and foster local talent in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

This partnership is built on a shared commitment to the future – bringing diverse entertainment offerings to the largest esports and gaming event in history. With audiences attending from across the globe, EWC 2025 offers visitors an exciting mix of competitive matches, immersive experiences and cultural programming.

Albaik’s continued involvement in EWC 2025 reflects its long-standing commitment to social, sporting and economic development in the Kingdom. It also reinforces the company’s belief that meaningful community impact is a core part of doing business – a principle that shapes its contributions to national development and youth empowerment.

Returning to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 7 to August 24, 2025, the Esports World Cup will unite global gaming communities for a celebration of esports culture. With 25 tournaments across 24 games, 2000 elite players and 200 Clubs from over 100 countries, the EWC will feature the largest prize pool in esports history, over $70 million. Fans can expect exclusive experiences, from high-stakes competition to live music, anime cafes, retro arcades, cosplay and more, drawing millions of fans online and in person.

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eSports

Esports World Cup Foundation and Lenovo™ Partner to Power the Next Generation of Esports Champions

Published

6 days ago

July 3, 2025

George Miller

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Reading Time: 3 minutes

Lenovo’s Legion premium gaming brand joins the world’s largest esports event to fuel elite performance and elevate the fan experience through world-class hardware

The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) and Lenovo, announced a partnership to make Lenovo’s Legion brand of gaming devices the Official PC & Gaming Hardware partner of the Esports World Cup 2025 (EWC). Lenovo Legion is the one of the world’s leading gaming ecosystem brands, and will be bring its relentless commitment to innovation and performance to the global stage, empowering EWC athletes to compete at their highest level.

From training rooms to tournament zones, EWC athletes will be equipped with Lenovo Legion Towers, Lenovo Legion laptops, and peripherals – built for elite esports play with advanced thermal systems, high-performance silicon, high refresh-rate displays and low latency keyboards and mice that meet the demands of top-level competition.

Key models such as the Legion Tower 7i and Legion Tower 5i will feature across the event’s player infrastructure, delivering the reliability and power needed to perform under the intense pressure of elite competition. Designed for esports, both towers offer expansive I/O for a complete gaming setup and Legion Coldfront: Liquid cooling thermal solutions. The Legion Tower 7i boasts advanced cooling and an NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 5080 Desktop GPU for the extreme performance that top-tier esports athletes rely on, while the Legion Tower 5i pairs intelligent cooling with the RTX 5070 Ti Desktop GPU to deliver focused, winning gameplay.

EWC will also feature Legion Pro 7i laptops to give attendees the full Lenovo Legion experience. Legion laptops untether elite-level gaming experiences from the desk, allowing gamers to win anywhere they find themselves in competition for the top spot with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPUs and Legion Coldfront: Vapor thermal systems, allowing the laptop to deliver up to 250W TDP that brings the most demanding games to life on the 16” PureSight OLED display.

“We’re building the Esports World Cup to set a new global standard — in both competition and the technology behind it,” said Mohammed Al Nimer, Chief Commercial Officer at Esports World Cup Foundation. “Lenovo’s Legion brand understands what elite players need: speed, efficiency, and reliability under pressure. These machines deliver the competitive edge required on the world’s biggest stage, and together we’re pushing the limits of performance — while delivering an experience that meets the expectations of athletes, fans, and the future of global esports.”

“Lenovo Legion equips gamers around the world with outstanding devices to help them achieve their goals and reach their impossible,” said Volker Düring, VP, PC Gaming Business, Lenovo. “The Esports World Cup is the ultimate forum for the world’s best gamers to showcase their mettle and emerge at the top of the world leaderboards, and when the best gamers compete on Lenovo Legion devices, anything is possible.”

As part of the partnership, Lenovo’s Legion branding will appear across EWC’s global broadcast, digital content, and onsite experiences, including fully equipped festival zones with PCs, gear, and laptops available for attendees to play on-site, helping drive deeper engagement with fans while highlighting the ecosystem that supports world-class gaming.

Fans can expect exclusive content, player-focused storytelling, and digital activations across Lenovo Legion’s social channels, offering an inside look at the road to victory – and the technology that powers it.

Returning to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 7 to August 24, 2025, the Esports World Cup will unite global gaming communities for a celebration of esports culture. With 25 tournaments across 24 games, 2,000 elite players, and 200 Clubs from over 100 countries, the EWC will feature the largest prize pool in esports history, over $70 million. Fans can expect exclusive experiences, from high-stakes competition to live music, anime cafes, retro arcades, cosplay, and more, drawing millions of fans online and in person.

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eSports

BETBY REDEFINES CHESS BETTING WITH EXPANDED MARKET OFFERING AHEAD OF ESPORTS WORLD CUP DEBUT

Published

7 days ago

July 2, 2025

George Miller

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

BETBY, the innovative sportsbook supplier, is redefining how chess is experienced in the betting world, launching an innovative suite of markets designed to deepen engagement and bring fresh energy to one of the world’s oldest strategy games.

Marking a new chapter for chess within the iGaming space, BETBY’s upgraded betting content portfolio goes far beyond traditional markets like outright winner or total moves. Bettors can now engage with detailed, event-specific outcomes including the first move made, the first piece captured, number of checks, castlings, and whether a game will feature a pawn promotion, an en passant, or end in stalemate. Several markets also focus on the timing of critical moments, such as whether a checkmate will occur before a certain move, offering more dynamic, real-time decision-making for players.

This launch follows six months of dedicated product development across BETBY’s chess vertical and reflects the company’s long-term vision for the game as a core part of its sportsbook strategy. With chess now officially included in the Esports World Cup, the timing marks a natural convergence of two verticals where BETBY continues to strengthen its position: esports and traditional chess.

As part of this expansion, BETBY is also introducing another exclusive: live betting on the Top Chess Engine Championship (TCEC), a prestigious AI-based tournament. While the event follows a defined schedule, it opens up a new betting experience through intense matchups between powerful engines, enriching the overall chess offering.

Currently, BETBY offers pre-match coverage for around 20 chess tournaments per month, totaling approximately 400 matches. The addition of these expanded markets marks a strategic leap forward in delivering a modern, high-engagement chess product to sportsbook partners and players.

“Chess has always been a passion of ours, and today we’re proud to announce the launch of a truly comprehensive chess offering,” said Kirill Nekrasov, Head of Sportsbook Product at BETBY. “By expanding our market depth and introducing innovative tournaments, including both traditional and AI-driven formats, we’re giving our partners and players a completely new way to engage with the game. Our vision is ambitious: we want chess and betting to become synonymous, to the point where no modern sportsbook feels complete without chess markets. We’ve already done this with Betby.Games and esports, now it’s time to do the same with chess.”

BETBY’s long-term global brand ambassador, five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, will represent Team Liquid at the Esports World Cup. His participation in the tournament, which begins on July 7th, reinforces chess’s growing presence in global esports and its potential as a premium betting vertical.

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