REUTERS — DreamHack postponed the remaining 2020 live events until next year due to ongoing concerns surrounding the coronavirus, the tournament organizer announced Monday.

“The goal for all of us at DreamHack is to provide great experiences at our events, which thrive by bringing communities together for these shared and beloved festival weekends all around the globe,” DreamHack co-CEO Marcus Lindmark said. “We have never had to postpone events like this before -- but these are extraordinary times, and the safety of our attendees and staff has never been more important than now.” [MORE]

FORBES — Virtual concerts are finally getting more interactive.

Four months into the pivot to the lion’s share of live music being delivered largely via live streams, a host of shows, charity events and even festivals are cropping up in with varying levels of interaction that herald deeper engagement for both fans and brands.

The evolution is both promising and necessary. While a virtual show will never replace the communal sway and sweat of an in-venue experience, fans fatigued by mediocre one-way music delivery need more immersion, and artists need ways to earn more money for themselves and the causes they support.

… The weekend also saw some success stories. Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa staged two benefit shows—a July 9 concert that launched new experiential platform Genius Live and a July 11 show in conjunction with esports team the Pittsburgh Knights (he’s a longtime strategic partner) staged on the Knights YouTube channel and Twitch. [MORE]

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION — Wiz Khalifa is teaming with the Pittsburgh Knights esports team and the Atlanta-based charity fundraising platform Softgiving for a livestream July 11.

The “Wiz and Friends Charity Livestream” will benefit Rise Above the Disorder, which provides mental health services to people of color. [MORE]

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]