Sports Simulation games are one of the oldest forms of video games around since as far back as the 90s. They have come from being a general single player experience to multi-million and billion dollar franchises. And transitioned into one of the biggest Esports scenes in the past decade.

  

FIFA:

FIFA is a video game series released annually by Electronic arts.It is a football simulator game with teams,player names officially licensed by the Football organisation of the same name. The franchise’s latest release, FIFA 20, has been released worldwide on September 27, 2019 and is available on PS4,Xbox,PC and Switch.

 

 

Tournaments:

FIFA eWorld Cup

The FIFA eWorld Cup, is an Esports tournament held by FIFA and it’s partner EA Sports. Each tournament has players competing on the latest iteration in the series. The open qualifying format allows millions to compete in the initial online stages, which has resulted in the FIWC being recognized as the largest online Esports game by the Guinness World Records.

 

 

Format:

 

1. Online Qualification

The FIFA eWorldCup online qualification takes place on Xbox and Playstation networks on the latest version of FIFA on the consoles. The players qualify via the console playoffs. The top 16 players make it through to the eWorld Cup finals. Players can also qualify by competing in one of the Global Series tournaments throughout the season, with the top 15 at the last event automatically qualifying for the FeWC.

 

1. Grand Finals

32 players compete at the Grand Finals of the FeWC. The players are divided into 4 groups with the top 16 players moving on to the knockout stage. While the group stage, Round of 16, Quarter Finals and semi-finals are played on the consoles, the Final is a two-leg match with one game on each console. The Grand Final is a multi-day event with draw and competition being broken up into 3 days.

 

Prize Money for the FeWC champion 2018 was $250,000 and the chance to meet some of the most popular Football legends.

 

 

 

GLOBAL SERIES 2020

To qualify for the FIFA eWorld Cup 2020, competitors must earn enough EA SPORTS FIFA 20 Global Series Ranking Points through their performances at marquee live events, which players can qualify for through online competitions. The top 128 in the Global Series Rankings will get one more opportunity to earn points at the Playoffs. Then, the top 32 competitors in the Rankings after the playoffs will advance to the FIFA eWorld Cup.

 

 

Schedule:

 

• FIFA eClub World Cup–February 2020
• FIFA eNations Cup–May 2020
• FIFA eWorld Cup– July 2020

 

 

Significant teams (FeWC 2020):

 

North America:

• Complexity Gaming

 

South America:

• Infinity Esports

 

 

Europe:

• AS Roma
• DUX Gaming
• Ellevens
• FaZe Clan
• FK Austria Wien
• FC Basel 1984 Esports
• Fnatic
• Movistar Riders
• R288 Esports
• Borussia-E-Sports
• Fierce Esports
• Manchester City Esports
• Mkers
• Team QLASH
• NEO Esports
• Nordavind DNB

 

Asia Pacific:

• Blue United eFC

 

Middle East

• Nasr Esports
• Redemption Esports

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pro Evolution Soccer (PES)

Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) or eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer is a series of annual football simulation video games developed and produced by Konami since 2001.

 

The Pro Evolution Soccer series has also been used in Esports. PES League (or PES World Finals as it was formerly known) is the official Esports world championship held annually since 2010. PES League features both an individual’s tournament (1v1) and since the 2018 edition a team’s tournament (3v3).

 

 

 

 

Tournaments:

 

eFootball.Open:

eFootball.Open, previously known as PESLeague, is the showpiece event at the end of the competitive PES Season for 1v1 competition. The event was originally founded in 2003 and determines the official 1vs1 Pro Evolution Soccer champion.

 

Current Champion: Walid “usmakabyle” Teban

 

 

 

eFootball.Pro:

eFootball.Pro is the 3v3 team competition version of the competitive PES League.

 

Current Champion: Team “eLiga Sul Stars”

 

 

Teams/Clubs:

AS Monaco

FC Bayern Munchen

Juventus

FC Barcelona

Boavista FC

FC Nantes

Arsenal FC

Celtic FC

Manchester United FC

FC Schalke 04

 

 

 

Schedule:

 

Online qualifiers: December 2019 – February 2020

 

Online Finals: February 2020 – March 2020

 

Regional Finals: May 2020 – June 2020

 

World Finals: July 2020

 

 

 

 

Rocket League

Released in 2015, Rocket League is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. Rocket League can be described as soccer with rocket-powered cars. Rocket League has up to four players assigned to each of the two teams, using rocket-powered vehicles to hit a ball into their opponent’s goal and score points over the course of a match. The game includes single-player and multiplayer modes which can be played both locally and online, including cross-platform play between all versions.

 

Rocket League has one of the largest and most popular Esports in the world in 2020.

 

 

Tournaments:

 

Rocket League Championship Series

The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) is a biannual Rocket League video game tournament series produced by Psyonix. It was first announced in 2016 by Psyonix.  It consists of qualification rounds in North America, South America, Europe and Oceania.

 

It consists of a twelve-team playoff bracket with four teams from North America and Europe, and two teams from Oceania and South America. The qualification rounds are played in different cities, the most recent being in Madrid.

 

Significant teams:

 

European Region

• Team Reciprocity
• Renault Vitality
• Veloce Esports
• Dignitas
• FC Barcelona
• Mousesports
• Singularity
• Team SoloMid

 

 

North America

• NRG Esports
• Pittsburgh Knights
• Spacestation Gaming
• eUnited
• Rogue
• G2 Esports
• Cloud9

Oceania

• Renegades
• Canberra Havoc
• Ground Zero Gaming
• Mindfreak
• Overt
• Justice Esports

 

South America

• The Three Sins
• Lowkey Esports

 

 

Schedule:

 

Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Season 9 – North America Feb 9 – Mar 29,2020

Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Season 9 – Europe Feb 8 – Mar 28,2020

Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Season 9 – Finals  April24 – 26,2020(Delayed)

due to COVID-19 outbreak.

 

 

 

 

 

NBA2K

NBA 2K is a series of high school resolution basketball sports simulation video games developed and released annually since 1999. The game attempts to emulate the National Basketball Association. It has been released across several platforms and has a decent-sized Esports scene.

 

The NBA 2K20 is the latest iteration of the game in the series.

 

 

Tournaments/Leagues:

 

NBA 2K League

The NBA 2K League is an Esports league joint venture between the National Basketball Association and the developers of NBA 2K games, Take-Two Interactive. The league was announced on February 9,2017.

 

 

The league is structured similarly to the NBA. Teams are operated by NBA franchises and feature 5 professional Esports players. The league features a regular season, as well as playoffs and finals.

 

The regular season takes place over 15 weeks with 12 weeks for weekly matchups and the other three being for tournaments. All teams will play in a minimum of 19 games, including 14 regular season games and the tournament games. Weekly matchups will take place on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

 

League Teams:

• 76ers GC
• Blazer5 Gaming
• Cavs Legion GC
• Grizz Gaming
• Hornets Venom GT
• Knicks Gaming
• Mavs Gaming
• Pistons GT
• Warrios Gaming Squad
• Celtics Crossover Gaming
• Hawks Talon GC
• Jazz Gaming
• Lakers Gaming
• NetsGC
• Raptors Uprising GC
• Bucks Gaming
• G Tigers
• Heat Check Gaming
• Kings Guard Gaming
• Magic Gaming
• Pacers Gaming
• T-Wolves Gaming
• Wizards District Gaming

 

 

Schedule:

 

NBA 2K 2020 Regular Season start-of-season schedule:

Week 1 May 5- May 8

Week 2 May 12- May 12

Week 3 May 19 – May 22

Week 4 May 26 – June 29

Week 5 June 2 – June 5

Week 6 June 9 – June 12

 

NHL

The NHL is a series of professional ice hockey simulation video games developed by EA Canada and published yearly by Electronic Arts. The game is developed under license by the National Hockey League (NHL).

NHL 20 is the latest iteration of the series used in Esports.

 

Tournaments:

 

2020 NHL Gaming World Championship

The 2020 NHL World Championship is an Esports tournament organised by the official NHL organisation. Players need to use the Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) mode on Xbox or PS4.

The play will consist of four 4 rounds, as follows:

• Round 1: An “Online Open Play” round consisting of an approximately four (4) week open-play period.
• Round 2: An “Online Play-in Bracket” round consisting of play-in brackets to qualify for a regional Final.
• Round 3: A “Regional Final” of the top eight players from the Online Play-in Bracket for each of the United States Region, Canadian Region and European Region.
• Round 4: The “World Final” of the top three players from each of the Regional

finals.

 

This Tournament is only open to legal residents physically located in the United States Region, the Canadian Region and the European Region.

 

Schedule:

 

Round 1: Online Open Play

• March 11,2020- April 5,2020

 

Round 2: Online Play-In Bracket

• EU: April 11,2020 – April 18,2020
• US: April 18,2020 – April 25 2020
• CA: April 25,2020 – May 2,2020

 

Round 3: Regional Final

• EU: May 16,2020 – May 17,2020
• US: May 22,2020 – May 23,2020
• CA: May 30,2020 – May 31,2020

 

HUT Team Draft (Online) World Final:

• June 3,2020

 

Round 4: World Final:

• June 17,2020 – June 17/18,2020

Other Events:

 

NHL 20 Quarantine Cup (Online, PS4)

25 May,2020 – 16 July 2020

 

NHL 20 Championship(Online, PS4)

22 May 2020 – 31 May 2020

 

EASHL Quarantine Cup (PS4)

21 May 2020 – 1 June 2020

 

NHL 20 Power Cup (Online, PS4)

19 May 2020 – 20 May 2020

 

Esports Betting

Similarly to their real-life counterparts, these sports simulation games have their own very lucrative betting scene. As these sports games are derived from similar concepts from traditional sports, the betting parameters and nuances are quite similar. People who are familiar with traditional sports betting will find it easy to get into this kind of Esports betting.

 

First of all, you need to pick the best websites to bet with, the list of which will be provided below. Most of the best betting websites will be providing users with a chance to try their hand at predicting the outcomes within games and betting on sports games, but there will be some which will not allow for this. Some sports based Esports are not big enough to be lucrative and hence it could be hard to find tournaments to bet on for them.

 

Some popular websites for betting and odds are:

Betonline.ag

ggbetdrive.com

Betway.com

acanebet.com

 

How much to start betting with?

Most betting guides would recommend beginners to start small and only bet an amount they can afford to lose. The amount can vary for different people. For some it can be as little as $5 or $80 for others.

 

Understanding Bets

 

• Money line bets–This type of betting allows players to make a bet on the outcome of a single match-up. The odds are determined by what the general perception of the strengths of each of the players is. To put it simply, this kind of bet says that one player would win against the other in a specific matchup. It is the simplest type of bet to make and it is also the most popular type of bet to make in the world of betting options.

 

• Outright bets–This type of bet tries to predict the future outcomes of the tournament, starting at the very beginning of the tournament. Usually, the bets are placed on teams, regions or the players, trying to guess which two will be making it to the final. The rewards are appropriately quite high if you guess right.

 

• Accumulator bets–these bets are usually a summation of multiple individual bets. The combination bets, as they are alternatively known, result in all the odds multiplied together if the bets guessed the outcomes correctly, which results in larger overall winnings. These are usually high risk and high reward, with the number of bets you make being specifically limited to the number of games within a season.

 

• Special bets–Special bets are basically related to something specific within a game. If you believe that specific events will take place within a game (like one of the side’s team members being kicked out because of a red card), you can place a bet on that. You can also bet on things like the number of goals a player will make, the goal difference, so on and so on. Specialized bets are hard to guess correctly, and the odds usually reflect that.

 

• In-play bets–Basically live-betting. This starts once the game has already begun, and the action is happening. These are usually focused, just like special bets, on the events within a game, and may be related to anything that happens in a match, such as how many blocks a player might perform. These are usually quite hard to predict as well, and live-betting is a bit of a complicated process.

  

Tips for Betting

 

FIFA

The first is understanding how two players match up against each other – in high tier games, it is no longer about the skill of the players, but it is also about their play styles, general strategies and specific performance when faced with distinct tactical disadvantages. These matchups are pretty hard to evaluate correctly all the time though, which is why most people tend to skip on this type of evaluation and move on to the next best thing–understanding the kind of team they have composed.

 

If the players make some dubious choices that those trying to make a bet on FIFA 19 do not necessarily understand, the betters might turn their backs on the player. Team composition plays an important role in determining what the final outcome of a game might be.

 

PES

While traditional Soccer is a game based on team effort, as an Esports it’s based more on the team management skills of the individual. eFootball.Pro differs here though, in that it is one of the few leagues to require teams of three in its line-up, meaning there is some group work required. Watching closely in how they handle themselves on the field, you need to pay attention to any strengths and weaknesses in their game.

 

Pro Evo Soccer is a game that’s known for its intuitive passing and gameplay, being extremely fluid in style, which is something to remember when considering the interaction between the team. Make sure to watch older games, and you should then get a clearer idea of all the options that are open to you when placing any kind of bet on the league.

 

NBA

 

Unlike other sporting simulation Esports, such as FIFA, each NBA 2K team is made up of five individual players who will play one of the five starting positions you have in a standard Basketball team. As such NBA 2K team squads need to have more players compared to other sports-based Esports. This would require a lot more comprehensive research into individual players,performances,teamwork ,stats etc with more variables.

 

Rocket League

The two biggest advantages Rocket League has over sports such as soccer are the shorter match times and faster pace. With matches lasting only five minutes, the time a bettor needs to allocate to watching and betting on a match is minimal. This makes Rocket League a highly attractive proposition, especially for people with limited experience in betting on Esports.

 

Because a match doesn’t last very long in Rocket League, the early stages are often crucial. Similar to its real-life counterpart, goals are incredibly valuable in comparison to other high-scoring sports.

 

NHL

Focus on the players themselves, not the teams, as it’s their skills that are ultimately driving the game. Whilst it’s good to have an understanding of the NHL as a sport in the traditional sense, you want to pay attention to how the individuals manage their teams. It’s a fast-paced game, and equally fast reactions are needed, as you observe how they handle themselves in-game.

Looking at the bets too, you ideally want to spread them out as much as possible, making the most of any and all props and lines available. Watching older games and seeing who is playing and when, you should get some idea of what goes into a more informed bet.

 

 General Tips

Most of the general advice remains the same for sports simulation Esports due to the nature of the sports. Although with minor differences in rules and mechanics.

• Do your research on different players
  Make a note of things like the platform (PS4, Xbox One or PC) that competing players usually use, where they placed in recent tournaments and how they’ve fared against other competitors. All of this information is readily available on the web and is hugely helpful. The first is understanding how two players match up against each other. In high tier games, it is no longer about the skill of the players, but it is also about their play styles, general strategies and specific performance when faced with distinct tactical disadvantages. 

●     Specialise as much as possible

Focusing your attention on a certain region, clan, or player early on will help you to place more educated bets. Next up, start looking at which events are coming up next.

 

●     Don’t bet on everything

It doesn’t make sense to place wagers on every single game that’s being played. If you wait until the data highlights a clear favourite, for example, you’ll be more likely to bet successfully than if placing wagers at random when competitors are very evenly matched.

●     Look beyond the major events

Major tournaments like the FIFA eWorld Cup,RLCS Finals  will always be a big draw for Esports betting. However, there are tons of smaller events out there that offer huge potential for underdog victories.

●     Keep track of what’s going on behind the scenes

If you knew that your favourite real-life football team were missing several key players, you probably wouldn’t bet on them. In the same way, you might think twice about betting on Esports players who have just left their clan or are coming back after a long absence. Anything that might be a distraction has the potential to affect their performance. 

These are just some of the most basic but also the most important factors to keep in mind before you start betting.

As part of the deal, Frontier Communications has been named the preferred Internet service provider of Envy Gaming and its esports teams including the Dallas Empire, Dallas Fuel and Team Envy.

“Partnering with Frontier was an easy decision for us,” said Geoff Moore, president and COO at Envy Gaming. “Top-tier internet service you can rely on is the foundation of every good online gaming experience, and having Frontier Communications backing us at all 10 of our Dallas Fuel home games this season is a big step towards creating a world-class event not just for our team, but for the fans as well.”

Fans attending the launch of the 2020 Overwatch League season in Dallas will be able to pick up a commemorative event pin – featuring the Overwatch hero Tracer – from the Frontier Communications booth. Tickets to the Dallas Fuel Opening Weekend presented by Frontier, hosted at Esports Stadium Arlington, are available from $39 per day. For more information, visit DallasFuel.com.