Daily Fantasy Sports operator PrizePicks has announced the addition of premier esports titles Call of Duty, Rocket League, and Valorant to its marketplace, a major step toward solidifying PrizePicks as the premier fantasy esports operator in North America.
PrizePicks already features iconic AAA titles Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and League of Legends (LoL) on its platform. The three new titles give PrizePicks members a menu of play options unmatched by any other DFS operator in North America and a virtual monopoly on the dominant first-person shooter (FPS) genre.
“Esports was an important offering for us in early 2020 when the pandemic shut everything down, but not only did our monthly esports handle stay strong when the NBA, NFL and college sports returned, it actually grew in unison with our traditional sports over those last six months of the year. These are franchises with fan bases that span decades in some cases and they’ve historically been underserved by sportsbooks and fantasy platforms. We’re thrilled to offer this variety of playable options,” Adam Wexler, CEO of PrizePicks, said.
PrizePicks entered the esports arena in 2019 through a partnership with Atlanta-based SMITE Pro League. In addition to esports featuring heavily on PrizePicks in early 2020 due to COVID-19 with titles such as iRacing and NBA2K League, PrizePicks deepened its esports presence in November 2020, entering into a strategic partnership with cutting edge franchise Ghost Gaming, which fields teams in Rocket League and recently-added Valorant, among others. The two Atlanta-based companies have been collaborating on a series of initiatives set to debut later this year.
“The more opportunities that esports fans have to engage with their favorite titles and franchises, the better it is for the industry. We were attracted to a partnership with PrizePicks in the first place because they have a vision not just to expand their platform but to create a better fan experience overall,” Stewart Tanner, Head of Partnerships at Ghost Gaming, said.