OZ MAGAZINE — The Georgia-based production GAMEMASTER, an esports reality show, recently announced a partnership with MakerForce in order to intensify its strides in the fight against coronavirus. The initiative will allow GAMEMASTER and MakerForce, a grassroots emergency response organization, to give PPE supplies to a broader swath of medical providers.

The new esports show was set to begin production this spring. The show is produced by Georgia-based Peach Maria Productions and sponsored by AMD.

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THE ESPORTS OBSERVER — Global gaming festival operator DreamHack has announced its foray into content creation with a lineup of six original programs. Over the next several days, new shows with a variety of formats will debut online through DreamHack channels with many featuring DreamHack staff and personalities as hosts.

DreamHack global creative director Justin Burnham told The Esports Observer that his aim with this move is in part to “tell a story in between events,” making DreamHack a year-round brand in the minds of its fans rather than a strictly event-based company. He wanted to find a way to “not be like every other event: sell tickets, and then kick [fans] out the door and say goodbye.”

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ESPN — Dreamhack announced Monday that it is bringing back its Fortnite tournament starting July 17.

The fully online event will be broadcast on Twitch and boast a monthly $250,000 prize pool until January 2021. Players in Europe, North America East and North America West will be eligible to play, with the prize pool split between those regions. The regional tournaments will be separate; however, players are allowed to compete in multiple regions … [MORE]

ESPORTS INSIDER — Tournament organiser DreamHack has established a partnership with Mastercard for its Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC).

Mastercard will serve as the official payment partner of the competition for the 2020 season.

As part of the deal, Mastercard will offer “Priceless Play of the Match” rewards for those who watch the NLC throughout the year. Last August, financial services corporation expanded its global partnership with Riot Games to cover North American league LCS.

Roger Lodewick, Co-CEO of DreamHack, spoke on the deal in a release: “Esports continue to grow and thrive, so we couldn’t be happier to welcome Mastercard to the DreamHack family and their ongoing support of this industry. We greatly value this partnership and look forward to offering even more content to our fans of the NLC.” [MORE]

ATLANTA INNO — If you’re a startup or an entrepreneur grinding it out, we see you. And we want to celebrate you.

For the second year in a row, we’re announcing the 50 people and companies that are crushing it in Atlanta. Over the next few weeks, we’ll spotlight a few of these companies in stories and in our newsletter, The Beat.

Softgiving – Softgiving is a fintech startup that develops fundraising software for nonprofits that allows donors to make contributions in smaller increments. The startup has been successful in partnering with celebrity fundraisers, such as Jeezy’s Street Dreamz Foundation in 2019, and many causes dedicated to helping those in need during the pandemic.

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CHECKPOINT XP — Global esports team, the Pittsburgh Knights, and charity fundraising platform, Softgiving, have announced a partnership to create live-streamed charity events together. The first event, the Wiz and Friends Charity Livestream will take place on Saturday, July 11, 2020, and will be hosted by multi-platinum recording artist Wiz Khalifa in his first-ever gaming live stream. Wiz is a strategic partner for the Knights and will be the featured personality at the center of these new philanthropic initiatives by the team. Additional charity stream events for 2020 will be announced.

In addition to Wiz, Twitch streamer Austin (formerly “RajjPatel”) will be featured at the event. Additional talent will be announced.

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OZ MAGAZINE — Minno, a new children’s digital media network, was launched in partnership with Atlanta’s design firm, Primal Screen.

Minno is an ad free subscription based digital video platform offering Christian educational choices including the world’s largest selection of Veggie Tales. Minno is available across six existing platforms including Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, IOS, Android and the web. The subscription video on demand (SVOD) service will give direct access to fresh content. “We have big plans for the SVOD platform which gives such direct access to the viewer in a variety of ways untapped by most streamers,” executive producer, Fatimah Abdullah, said. [MORE]

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER — Multiple major competitive gaming events saw postponements or outright cancellations due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic this past week.

DreamHack announced the postponement of three of its top events — DreamHack Summer, DreamHack Dallas and DreamHack Montreal — until 2021, with DreamHack Valencia delayed to Oct. 8-12. The next event on the DreamHack schedule is the Masters Spring Group Stage for the European and North American regions, set for May 19-30. [MORE]

COMICBOOK.COM — The coronavirus pandemic has led to a number of different delays. One such delay is GameMaster, an upcoming reality show centered on esports and hosted by Wil Wheaton. With production on the series halted, producers and crew members from the show are shifting focus to 3D printing and distributing masks for first responders. One of the show's brand partners, Micro Center, is providing the team with the 3D printers and filament. The team is also taking requests, and looking to coordinate with other groups willing to create and distribute the masks. The initial run will be 1000 masks, but more will be made based on requests, which can be made on the show's website. [MORE]

BUILT IN — Primal Screen develops branding work for television, film, environmental media and the web. The company specializes in children’s entertainment branding and curriculum-based content, working with clients related to film, broadcast, education and gaming. Primal Screen boasts in-house capabilities in motion graphics, animation, live action, audio, music composition and interactive development.

ESPORTS INSIDER — Misfits Gaming Group has announced a partnership with online fundraising platform Softgiving, with plans to use the platform for online charity events throughout 2020.

The first online streaming event will take place between April 16-19th and benefit the Gift of Life Marrow Registry, which is currently assisting patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. [MORE]

REUTERS — DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 is moving online in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Due to the ongoing health and safety concerns in the world, and in the interest of the safety and health of our players and staff, DreamHack Masters has been rescheduled and moved to an online format in order to fulfill our promise of bringing the CS:GO community the world’s best action,” DreamHack announced Friday on its website.

DreamHack Masters Spring has a total prize pool of $300,000 and includes teams in Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania.[MORE]