Gaming is without a doubt one of the most exciting areas in computing. What once was a niche form of entertainment has expanded way beyond gameplay to include everything from competition to comradery to so much more. It’s also given rise to esports, a cultural phenomenon expected to reach about 500 million fans worldwide by 2020. 500 million. In fact, worldwide esports viewership already surpasses that of traditional sports leagues such as the NHL, MLB and NBA.
Intel has been at the forefront of this evolution for years. Not only have we worked to bring immersive gaming experiences to life through our technology, we’ve helped bring esports to the world through Intel® Extreme Masters and our longtime partnership with ESL*. Today, I’m proud to announce that we are deepening that partnership in a landmark deal that means Intel technology will now power all of ESL’s amateur and pro esports, plus its studio and broadcasting operations. All tournament PCs will now feature the latest Intel® Core™ i7 processors and all of ESL’s production hardware will be based on a combination of Intel® Core™ and Intel® Xeon® processors.
