BLAST Premier, a leading organizer of some of the most worthwhile Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2 electronic sports tournaments, has teamed up with Underdog, a US-based sports gaming company, Casino Guru News learned in an official press release.
The pair will work on three upcoming events in 2025, including the BLAST Premier Lisbon Open, BLAST Premier Rivals, and BLAST.tv Austin Major in the United States, and Canada. Underdog will be incorporated further into the BLAST ecosystem through both physical and digital assets, as well as part of the organizer’s English broadcast.
BLAST Premier set to enhance fantasy experiences
Underdog will also be featured as part of the BLAST.TV Fantasy mini-game for another chance to see the two companies elicit a stronger response and engagement from Counter-Strike 2 communities in both Canada and the United States. Commenting on this opportunity, BLAST CBO Leo Matlock had this to say:
We’re really excited about this collaboration with Underdog, They are a brand who’ve been a key player in the innovative and growing, sports gaming space for some years. Underdog has chosen a blockbuster time to partner with BLAST ahead of our sold-out BLAST.tv Austin Major in June.
Matlock also praised the opportunity to see BLAST.TV fantasy fans also engage with Underdog over the coming months. For its part, Underdog Director of Partnerships Zach Powell welcomed this new alliance as another way to explore even more innovative collaborations.
The Fantasy feature offered by BLAST.tv is similar to what fantasy leagues and platforms do in mainstream sports. Esports fans are able to put together teams of players who will then score individual performances and contribute them to the team’s total score, based on points.
Esports fans are growing keener on gamification
The fantasy team does not need to be from a single real-world team, as fantasy players are allowed to pick and mix players from different teams.
As a sports fantasy specialist, Underdog is going to help bolster this effort, with esports fans increasingly looking for the type of gamification that fantasy contests offer.
Safety around esports and consumer behavior has also been a hotly debated topic, with Ygam recently announcing its Gaming & Esports Program.
