Gone are the days where gamers just compete within the confines of their own homes and celebrate their latest long-distance kill shots with themselves.
Turner Sports and WME/IMG kicked off Season 2 of the ELEAGUE last Friday night, and with the sophomore year comes the opportunity for PC gaming highlights from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) to appear on national television.
Through an integration with Forge, a free recording and sharing video game app, users can bookmark their favorite gaming moments, clip them and upload the 5 to 30-second videos to Twitter. A short caption and the hashtag #ELEAGUEForge must be included in order to be considered for the weekly Friday night broadcast on TBS.
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“Gaming and eSports are powered by video clips shared online, and that’s where Forge really shines,” said Jared Kim, CEO and Founder of Forge in a statement earlier this year. “With Forge, we make sharing your favorite gaming moments effortless.”
In March, Forge announced it had raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by True Ventures and Resolute Ventures, in participation with WME Ventures. Earlier this June, the company also closed another $4.5 million Series A round led by True Ventures.
“At WME we’ve seen first hand how short-form, sharable video clips have helped galvanize and energize fans,” said Beth Ferreira, Managing Partner at WME Ventures in a statement. “We believe there is an opportunity to do the same with gaming and are excited to partner with the Forge team to make sharing and experiencing gaming feats as easy as posting and watching a sports highlight on Vine.”
Added Tony Conrad, Partner at True Ventures: “Jared is a great technical Founder with deep knowledge of the gaming industry. We previously funded his company WeGame (acquired by TAGGED) in 2007 and are thrilled to be backing him once again with Forge. The app has seen impressive traction thus far, and we are excited about the company’s impact on social gaming.”