The esports scene of Brazil is the largest in all of Latin America with its audience of 17.7 million esports fans, which includes 7.8 million viewers who tune into at least one esports match a month, according to a report by NewZoo. With Brazil's esports audience only behind the United States and China, the Bazilian esports scene has quickly grown into one of the most lucrative and passionate regions in the world and the industry as a whole. For example, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive superstar Gabriel "Fallen" Toledo has secured over $700,000 in his successful CS:GO career.
One of the esports industry's leaders in Immortals CEO has taken notice of the growth and strength of the Brazilian esports scene and its role in the worldwide and ever growing in the esports industry and is ready to have Immortals fully support the scene.
"What we are seeing [in Brazil] and with the Los Angeles Valiant is something geographic. People cheer for Los Angeles teams because they are from Los Angeles. They cheer for New York teams because they're from New York. I think this is very new for the United States, but it has been happening in Brazil for a long time. We will work with Brazilian teams.This year and next year, we will be 100% involved in Brazilian esports," said Whinston.
One of the first ventures that Immortals has made into the Brazilian esports scene was the acquisition of a professional Rainbow Six: Siege from the region to represent the Immortals name in the Rainbow Six: Siege Pro League that will be taking place in Brazil this upcoming Fall season.
In addition to the entering of Immortals into the professional Rainbow Six: Siege scene with a Brazilian team, the organization will see its CEO in Noah Whinston join William Le Voir-Barry of IBM to deliver a keynote speech titled "The Future of esports and Brazil in the International Scenario” at the 2018 Brazil Independent Games Festival (BIG) on June 29th at 11 AM (UTC-3) in Centro Cultural, São Paulo.
You can find the official description of the BIG 2018 keynote speech by Whinston and Le Voir-Barry below.
"In face of the growing monetary interest in esports, the human factor becomes ever more important. As athletes, young women and men fulfill their dreams making gaming their living and find themselves performing in an environment of extreme pressure. With the expertise gathered from his work with Immortals, Noah is able to convey an inside look into the issue. Immortals is an esports franchise with a high-powered board of advisors from media and sports franchises like Nerdist, Lionsgate, Machinima and the Memphis Grizzlies. The speech will be followed by a discussion mediated by Barbara Gutierrez (Versus) in which the participants attempt to answer the questions of what the future of esports is and what benefits it has for Brazil."
More information on BIG 2018 can be found on the festival's official website.
(cover photo courtesy of The Versed)