Weekly eSports roundup 14/08

Driving forward

Details of the official eSports World Touring Car Cup online championship have been revealed, with a number of current WTCR drivers set to participate.

The competition is set to take place on PC-based racing simulator eSports WTCR Oscaro, which was released on Steam earlier this year. It contains officially licensed WTCR cars and tracks. Gamers will qualify for live-streamed multiplayer races through a time attack, where drivers race against the clock and attempt to top the leaderboards.

All seven rounds will take place on Sunday evenings, and viewers can watch the action on the series' Facebook page and YouTube channel. Yann Ehrlacher, who sits fourth in this year's WTCR drivers' championship, will take part in order to aid his real racing training programme.

The championship will be staged in partnership with real-life and sim racing giants Oscaro as well as Eurosport Events, which promotes WTCR. Qualifying is open from Wednesday, while the first multiplayer race will be held on the Hungaroring on 26 August.

Big business in September

ESI London is a three-day eSports business conference focused on building a bridge between expertise and interest, and explaining the concept of eSports from the inside out.

A full day of eSports-focused workshops and debates covering topics such as how to build a brand, make content and run a team, the importance of PR in eSports, legal and compliance, whether franchised leagues are good or bad for the ecosystem and much more will cover just day one.

Special panels will take a look behind the scenes at what the UK is currently doing to grow eSports locally, and tap into the fifth largest video game market in the world. The conference runs 18-20 September at Olympia London.

$10 million eSports arena

Planet Oasis's developers have announced plans to build a $10 million eSports arena as part of the multibillion-dollar entertainment complex in Delaware.

The planned 30,000 square foot, multi-level, multi-use arena will be targeted towards both competitions and a growing national circuit of eSports teams and events. Naples, an investment group based in Peninsula Lifestyle Capital, is set to spearhead the project and sit on the development board. Jeff Schoonover, principal of Peninsula Lifestyle Capital, said in a statement that the goal is to "make Columbus a destination for fans, millennials, gamers and their families."

The facility is to include features such as a 50-foot LED wall, VIP lounges and exhibition show matches, as well as a broadcast centre and production studio and food and cocktail bar options. It'll also showcase some emerging technologies in gaming, including 8K projection, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

Blue Horseshoe principal Lenni Male said that construction on the eSports facility could begin by the end of the year and open around the first quarter of 2020.