Fortnite streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins is what's known in the business as an "influencer." But he's more than just your average, run-of-the-mill guy on YouTube: According to Time, he stands with Brie Larson, The Rock, Nancy Pelosi, Jair Bolsonaro, Brett Kavanaugh, and the Pope as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2019.

Esports organization Gen.G announces it has raised $46 million in a funding round led by some big names in sports and entertainment. This most recent round of investors includes actor Will Smith and Japanese soccer player Keisuke Honda’s Dreamers Fund, as well as Los Angeles Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong and Alibaba Group’s former chairman of U.S. investments, Michael Zeisser.

On a Friday evening in Vancouver, Kristen (KittyPlays) Valnicek is gathering an all-female squad for a round of Fortnite on Twitch, a video streaming platform favoured by gamers.

When I first got into gaming, I was so excited that I joined my school’s club, practised endlessly and then bailed on my first event.

Competitive games like DotA 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) distribute millions in prizes. Therefore, the career of a pro player can be very promising. Pakistani Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan, for example, already made $ 2.4 million playing DotA before turning 18. Here are the top five players who earned big paychecks when they were still minors.

Drury University Athletics is proud to announce it will add esports as a non-NCAA program in the 2019-20 academic year and has hired Michael Jones as head coach.

Concordia has hired Logan Hermes as the first head coach of Golden Bear Esports. Concordia announced the launch of its varsity Esports team in November 2018. The program will have access to scholarships and institutional financial aid opportunities.

Athletic Director Nate Houser announced that Baker University will add eSports to their list of sports for the 2019-2020 school year, bringing their total to 25 sports. Tony Ebel has been named the first Esports coach.

Aquinas College is launching an esports program in fall 2019, providing students a new opportunity to participate in competitive video gaming. AQ will become the fifth institution in Michigan to offer esports at the college level. Adam Antor will be the school's first-ever esports head coach.

The High School Esports League’s Spring Major will feature more than $174K USD in prizing in the form of MSI computers and peripherals. The Spring Major features competition in nine games, including Overwatch, Rocket League, and League of Legends. Each game’s winning team earns an MSI Sports Arena setup for its high school, which includes six desktop PCs and six laptops.

UM is starting a new competitive Esports team in the Fall of 2019. UM is currently recruiting League of Legends players who are looking to achieve a college degree while pursuing their passion of competitive gaming. The goal is to field a varsity team that will compete not only in one-off tournament play, but also within conference play against other colleges and universities.

Western Colorado University Athletics is excited to announce Kyle Jenkins as the new Mountaineer Esports Coach and Manager/Video Coordinator. Jenkins will lead the development of esports at Western, along with overseeing athletic video production.