BMW confirms global esports collaborations and platform expansion

MANILA: Last April 16, the BMW Group declared the expansion of its participation in the esports world. This mainly includes the debut of a new global platform and collaborations with five leading esports organizations in the world, namely T1 (South Korea), G2 Esports (Germany), FunPlus Phoenix (China), Fnatic (UK), and Cloud9 (US). These new partnerships involve technology transfer, information sharing, education, and social media content creation with its designers and engineers for both software and hardware. BMW Motorsport also continues its simulated (sim) racing initiatives.

According to senior vice president for brand and consumer of BMW Jens Thiemer, they are partnering with the best global teams, intending to use their innovation and design skills to aid in shaping discipline and global competitiveness. The esports participation of BMW is a significant achievement, being the pioneer in delivering a new convergence with a diverse and rapidly-growing culture. BMW considers esports as a compelling and expanding addition to its marketing efforts.

T1, G2 Esports, FunPlus Phoenix, Fnatic, and Cloud9 consist of up to 200 players that compete in global gaming tournaments such as Fortnite, Dota 2, and League of Legends, among others. Normally, such events are held in massive multi-purpose venues, given that there are multitudes of fans that attend, engage, and watch online.

BMW will also develop content on different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitch, Instagram, and Twitter using the hashtag, #UnitedInRivalry.

Jack Entienne, the co-founder and CEO of Cloud9, stated that they are excited to extend their collaboration with BMW to the global level and proceed in upholding shared foundations of peak performance and excellence. They are welcoming the outstanding teams that they will work closely with to boost competitive superiority with BMW.

The partnership between the esports group and BMW is very extensive and is beyond pure sponsorship. BMW shares the skills and expertise of its designers and engineers, among all things, to facilitate the production of software and hardware products uniquely tailored to the preferences and needs of the gamers.

The dedication of BMW involves the release of official team vehicles. Aside from these, every organization will have a squad car with a personalized livery plus distinctive design and logo. These attention-grabbing liveries, which the teams and BMW have collectively created, constitute another vital component of this collaboration.

The BMW Group first caught attention in the esports world in 2017. This was the time when the auto brand became the official partner of the European League of Legends final tournament in Paris. Its expansion came just at the right time, following the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused globally. Because of this, several people around the world engaged in “stay-at-home” programs.

BMW boasts of its promotion of a distant, yet healthy and safe strategy of socialization with a single objective of "flattening the curve" worldwide.

In a statement from the vice president of marketing at BMW of North America, Uwe Dreher, all gamers are being praised worldwide, especially for those who have chosen to stay at home. They do their part in maintaining good health. This is also of the ways that BMW is committed in promoting the #UnitedAtHome hashtag. Dreher also added that they wanted to support their iRacing initiatives and teams who are putting their best effort into providing adequate entertainment at the moment.