It was revealed over the weekend that Team Bliss had acquired fellow Aussie outfit The Chiefs Esports Club, in a move that will increase the exposure of both on the international stage.

While the two teams will merge and share resources, both will continue to operate as individual brands, keeping both Team Bliss and The Chiefs names active.

“We couldn’t be more excited about what this merger means for the future of Oceanic esports,” Chief Operating Officer of Team Bliss Brendan Harms said.

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“By merging the strengths of two premier organisations, our goal is to make a more substantial mark on the global scene and provide Oceanic esports enthusiasts a formidable team to support.

“Collaborating with the exceptional management team from Chiefs to contribute to the broader OCE industry is indeed a realised dream.”

What is surprising about the merger, is that Team Bliss is the newer entity, having only launched in 2019 while their more senior partner began in 2014 and has had more success globally.

Team Bliss has steadily built its name on the regional esports scene, especially with notable successes in PUBG and Rainbow Six: Siege. By 2023, the team marked its presence in the League of Legends Circuit Oceania (LCO).

On the other hand, The Chiefs’ League of Legends squad clinched victory at the LCO Split 2 in June.

Both teams said discussions about the merger had been ongoing and that they had nurtured a professional relationship over the past year. Their collaboration was evident when they jointly worked with Logitech G for the debut of the Logitech G Pro X2 headset.

While the details of the acquisition remain undisclosed, both parties mentioned that future plans regarding teams or titles to compete in are still under discussion.

In the wake of the merger, Nick Bobir, who held the dual roles of Managing Director for The Chiefs and CEO of ICON ESPORTS (which had acquired The Chiefs in 2021), has resigned.

To ensure a smooth transition, Chris Smith, founder of Business in Games and BIGR AI, has stepped in as an advisor. He aims to provide insights for commercialisation and drive growth over the next two years. Additionally, Mat Jessep from Game Legal will collaborate with the newly merged entity to guarantee its flourishing future.

Australia has a thriving esports scene, including all esports betting sites, featuring markets on Team Bliss and The Chiefs Esports.

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“Aussies, get ready to make some noise again next April 28–30. ESL Challenger Melbourne is returning live to @DreamHack Melbourne next year!” the organizer announced.

ESL has been known for organizing CS: GO tournaments in Australia, hence this revelation did not come as a surprise. The organizer noted the ESL Challenger, which is the 52nd iteration, will be held at Rod Laver Avenue in Melbourne and is scheduled to run from April 28 to April 30, 2022.

The CS: GO event organizer also announced that other perks that come with the $100,000 prize pool include a spot for the winners of the tournament in the 18th season of the ESL Pro League Conference.

This event will have eight European teams competing in the A-tier tournament. Current sponsors of the tournament include technology brand Intel, logistics company DHL, Monster Energy, and 1XBET.

The tournament is structured into a group stage and a playoff stage. The former will have two double-elimination format groups with four teams each. The opening and winners’ matches will be played in Bo1, while the elimination and decider matches will be in Bo3. The two top teams will proceed to the playoff stage, where all matches will be in Bo3.

ESL has promised a worthwhile experience at the tournament. This year saw paiN Gaming emerge as the winner of the tournament; hence, to witness the team that will toil through to first place, Fans are expected to purchase their ticket for the event on DreamHack’s official website starting from December 12.

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The organization is reportedly a step away from liquidation, and their employees have already had their contracts terminated. This includes both players and all the company’s backend staff.

Despite this, ORDER is not at the liquidation stage yet and will discuss the option in a meeting set to be held in the next few weeks. The news of the company’s possible liquidation comes 12 months after they received over $5 million AUD ($2.94 million) in investment. ORDER went into voluntary administration on August 16 after a number of issues.

The company listed cash flow problems, as well as COVID-19, as the primary causes of their collapse. When they made the announcement, ORDER had more than ten non-competing staff and over 20 signed-on professional players who participated in titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and Valorant. They also had several streamers in their employ.

Esports news reporter Andrew Amos gave details concerning the organization’s current situation on his Twitter page.

“#BREAKING: ORDER has failed to find a buyer, and employees have had their contacts terminated today,” he wrote.

“It’s not in liquidation: that’ll be discussed in a meeting in the next 2 weeks. Total debts were in the six-figures, with a full report coming soon.”

Amos also explained that employees in the Australian esports organization were “entitled to a redundancy package.” The current issue now is determining whether the professional players in the squad were legally considered employees or contractors. The answer could significantly affect how the players are compensated after ORDER shuts down.

According to the reporter, although liquidation seems inevitable for the administrators, there is a possibility that a buyer could appear at the last minute. ORDER reportedly had 17 interested parties who offered to buy the company initially. However, none of the offers appealed to them.

As a result of “market voltage” and the health crisis affecting the entire world, investors pulled the plug on ORDER in August.

David Holton, the director of Rodgers Reidy,the company in charge of ORDER’s case, stated that the franchise was put into this situation owing to the financial markets.

“Essentially, it’s a start-up where many people have invested a lot of money in trying to invest in Australia’s best esports teams and get ahead of the curve,” he said.

“Financial markets put their company into a position where their revenue wasn’t as strong as hoped, and they required additional investment.”

Suppose ORDER gets liquidated, then their employees, as well as the contractors, would be compensated first before paying off any of the six-figure debts the organization accrued.

“We’re still dealing with a number of claims against the company or other entities and their legitimacy,” the Rodgers Reidy director continued. “The trade creditors are out $200,000, then you’ve got employee entitlements on top of that, which will crystallize with redundancies for all the staff — but there’s no picture of total entitlements on that yet.”

Over time, ORDER has won five domestic titles and is set to participate in the DreamHack Melbourne 2022 as their final showing. The organization initially planned to have two teams participate in the first significant Australian esports LAN in around three years.

However, only the franchise’s League of Legends roster will represent them. The team will play against Pentanet.GG to secure a position in the LCO final and qualify for the Worlds 2022.

ORDER’s CS:GO team has currently returned to their Grayhound origins. They are among the ESL Challengers’ losers bracket. In order to avoid elimination, the team will play against the Australian esports organization, Vertex.
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Activision revealed that the Call of Duty: Warzone Invitational will make its way to Australia and New Zealand for the first time. The tournament is scheduled to hold on July 2nd, a day after the official release of the series.

“Australian and New Zealand Call of Duty fans, mark your calendars and get ready for an epic event,” the press release read. “The Terminal List – Warzone Rebirth Island Tournament, takes place on Saturday 2 July and will see Activision Publishing and Prime Video Australia & New Zealand partner for the first time to celebrate the launch of new series, The Terminal List starring Chris Pratt.”

The event is expected to feature top Call of Duty gamers from Australia and New Zealand that make up the 10 participating teams. While the teams will be announced at a later date in June, the Warzone event will feature commentators and guests from the ANZ region.

The event will be broadcasted via the official Call of Duty Twitch channel and will be produced by You Know Media. The tournament will be hosted in the new gaming house of one of the oldest and most successful esports franchises in Australia, the Chiefs Esports Club. Information as it pertains to time schedule, teams and their captains, and possible giveaways for viewers will be announced at a closer date to the event proper.

The tournament has a prize pool of $20,000 AUD and in-game rewards for Amazon Prime Video subscribers. Only ANZ subscribers who watch the tournament via the live Twitch stream will be eligible for the rewards.

Activision has earlier this year announced the return of the Call of Duty Mobile World Championship. The tournament is scheduled to be concluded by December 2022, with the largest prize pool in the history of the game. The participating teams will compete for a part of the $1.7 million prize pool.

The expansion of the title as one of the biggest esports titles continues. With a range of influencer tournaments having to use the Call of Duty Warzone title in recent times. An example of such influencer tournaments includes the Fnatic’s Moonryde Invitational. The invitational was, however, named after its Streamer Dario ‘Moonryde’ Ferracci. With a prize pool of ￡30,000, the tournament featured 35 teams which consisted of top steamers.

Amazon, on the other hand, has since 2016 been active within the esports and gaming scene. The company started out as Twitch Prime before it rebranded its gaming division to Prime Gaming.

It has over time partnered with top esports and game publishers Riot Games and Respawn Entertainment. With the latest partnership of its Prime Video arm with Activision, the brand adds Activision to its rich list of partners within the esports scene.

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The Australian Environment and Communications Committee’s report into video game loot boxes was delivered to the Australian senate last week, noting that a consensus around the world had not been reached on whether the practice should be considered gambling.

The Committee essentially recommended that no action be taken and that loot boxes not come under harsher regulatory framework moving forward.

The senator who chaired the inquiry, Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, said he disagrees with the committee’s finding.

“Many loot boxes utilise a number of psychological mechanisms commonly seen in other forms of gambling, including variable ratio reinforcement schedules, entrapment and ready and constant availability,” Senator Steele-John said.

What exactly are loot boxes?

“Furthermore, it was argued that the risk to children, young people and even vulnerable adults from developing gambling-related harms through interaction with loot boxes was of such significance that regulators should seek to either prohibit, or restrict access to games containing loot boxes.

“As chair, I sought to follow this evidence and recommended the Parliament take action to ensure that no young person who plays video games is exploited by gambling-like mechanisms. Labor and the Coalition combined to outvote me in this effort and replace the committee’s considered and appropriate recommendations with a single watered-down recommendation for a government review.”

The news comes as the USA begins to investigate the practice, that has already gone through significant debate in Belgium, UK, Ireland and most of Europe.

We will continue to bring you news as it comes to hand.

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The move will make the franchise the world’s first fan-owned eSports team.

After opening its crowd-funding page just weeks ago, Team Order quickly went past the $200,000 figure and by the time the page had closed last week, had topped $360,000. The team had attracted 223 investors.

Order was originally founded in late 2017 by esports commentator Jake Tiberi and entrepreneur Gerard Murphy.

Since its inception, the franchise has enjoyed significant growth and success. Order has teams across seven esports and won three separate esports categories in the this year’s Gfinity Australia esports competition.

The move is just the latest in a long line of significant steps taken in Australia towards beefing up its eSports industry:

• Gfinity Esports Australia plans to open up dedicated esports arenas
• The Australian city of Melbourne opened its first dedicated esports bar
• The Essendon Football Club and Adelaide Football Club purchase eSports teams
• The Australian Football League enters the billion dollar eSports industry

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Valve’s appeal was first introduce on February 2017 after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) fined the company for $3 million Australian dollars. On 2017, the company was found guilty of breaking the Australian Consumer Law. The entire process started on 2014 when the ACCC claimed that Valve intentionally misled their customers.

The ACCC also took into consideration Valve’s lack of support for the dissatisfied customers and the poor quality of its products. On their initial statements, the ACCC explained that online customers deserve the same service than a regular customers. After over one year of deliberation, the high court ruled in favor of the ACCC and the appeal was denied. Valve is now set to pay the fine.

This is not Valve’s first scandal. The company is facing charges for the skin gambling and the loot boxes. Games like Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 are under close scrutiny. The current loot box system is not legal according to some authorities. Valve was encouraged to change its policies regarding the loot boxes and skin gambling but the company failed to make the adjustments.

The Australian High Court is yet to set the date for the payment. Valve must pay the fine, otherwise the company would be facing additional charges.

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