AFK Weekly: FaZe's Stock Sinks After $725M Nasdaq Debut

Hello everyone! This week we finally received some updates about the 19th Asian Games that got postponed due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in China. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced that the event will now be held between Sept. 23 and Oct.8, 2023. The world will be closely watching this iteration of the Asian Games given that the esports category is debuting as an official medal event. 

Esports fans were also treated to some iconic collaborations this week that underlined the industry’s credentials as a mainstream entertainment offering. The reception that the partnership between Valorant pro player Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and Finalmouse received was surreal and almost 40,000 mice were sold out within hours of launch. Meanwhile, Riot Games and its North American League of Legends esports league – LCS – joined hands with the iconic Game of Thrones franchise. The LCS broadcast is gearing up to promote the new HBO original Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, and as part of the deal, players are likely to see “Targaryen banners” across the Rift.

With these top stories out of the way, here’s a breakdown of this week’s most impactful and important esports business news and more in the latest edition of Esports Business Insights by AFK Gaming.

– Sadakshi Kalyan Ramun, Features Writer and Copy Editor, AFK Gaming