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TheScore, the Canadian sports news specialists, have released the iOS version of their eSports app after yesterday’s App Store outage.
The app completes the initial launch of theScore’s eSports venture, with an Android app and website opened to the public in February. The service brings live scoring updates and coverage to League of Legends, Dota 2, CS:GO, Call of Duty, StarCraft II and Hearthstone.
“We were blown away by the reception to the launch of theScore eSports by professional gaming fans from all over the world and it’s great we can now bring that experience to those on iOS devices too,” said John Levy, founder and CEO of theScore.
“The feedback from eSports fans over the first month has been fantastic, and the team is already hard at work on the next set of updates, which will deliver even deeper multi-game coverage.”
Certain features of the app, such as live score updates, are currently only active in League of Legends but the company says that the same level of coverage will be coming to other games soon, starting with Dota 2. There is a lot of data to cover for that service, particularly in eSports where, as theScore are discovering, not all matches are in the same league and spaced evenly over a regular schedule like other sports they cover.
“Currently, all of our in-game scoring and statistical data is sourced by our in-house, eSports content team who will be following the action live,” said Benjie Levy, President and COO of theScore. “theScore eSports mirrors the same dedicated mobile-first approach we’ve taken with our flagship mobile sports platform ‘theScore’ by combining the core foundations that run through our company: a best-in-class development team working in tandem with an industry-leading mobile newsroom.”
The company’s investment in eSports has not been half-hearted, either. Looking to provide the same quality of coverage as their physical sports counterparts, the eSports wing of theScore has taken on-board Rod “Slasher” Breslau – journalist and former senior editor of OnGamers – as in-house editor. They have also reached out to prominent, and knowledgeable, commentators of their respective games to provide post-match analysis write-ups and act as ambassadors for the service. One such acquisition, Kevin “Purge” Godec, is best known as the voice of Dota 2’s “Noob Stream” from The International 4, a beginner-friendly alternative commentary to the tournament’s live action.
The choice of analysts and reporters says much about theScore’s intentions with its eSports venture, as Benjie Levy explains. “Until now, there has been no clear mobile companion for eSports fans. Desktop-based online message boards and fan sites have been relied upon for latest news, scores and stats,” he said. “We don’t know what other sports media companies have planned in terms of eSports coverage, but we’re pleased that theScore is leading the way.”
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