Esports acquisitions, Virtual Reality and Political Overtones, Oh My!

In the second installment of Lit Screens, I want to talk about some of the recent esports acquisitions and shine a spotlight on the Oculus Rift and the folks behind it. Let’s jump right in, shall we? Celebrities, athletes and billionaires investing in esports organizations Esports investments have been popping up more and more from big-time organizations and individuals. A few weeks back, Team Liquid, an esports organization with a storied history as the go-to StarCraft community website alongside its teams, players and staff, announced the sale of the controlling interest to Peter Guber (co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers) and Ted Leonsis (Washington Capitals and Wizards owner) as well as several other investors. Together, they formed a new esports ownership group called aXiomatic, helmed by CEO Bruce Stein. Just before that, Team Dignitas – another esports organization with a long history across many competitive titles over the last 13 years – also sold a controlling interest to Scott Harris and David Blitzer, co-owner of the New Jersey Devils; and before that Shaquille O’Neal’s organization NRG esports picked up team Mixup (formerly Luminosity Gaming) after this candid tweet: Continuing the trend is electronic music producer, DJ and professional partier Steve Aoki as he invests in team Rogue, who’ve developed quite a name for themselves in both Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Steve has been a long-time gamer and is passionate about esports, and after seeing Rogue’s dominance in Overwatch over the last several months it comes as no surprise someone invested in the team. What’s of particular interest here is the explosive entrance of investors in the past year. There have been no shortage of sponsors over the esports industry’s lifetime, but those have generally been limited to companies trying to push their products or services...