Esports event organizer ESL and Facebook have decided to extend their agreement to various ESL tournaments and competitions, but this time with one significant difference.
Some of ESL's most important events, including Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) and ESL One, and the ESL Pro League will be broadcast on Facebook and now on other streaming services.
The new deal comes just a few months after reports that Valve, the publisher of CS:GO, was unhappy with ESL and Facebook over the comparatively low viewership the platform managed to garner for CS:GO events, like Call of Duty on Twitch.
Facebook will still feature ESL events, but they will now be available on other sites like YouTube or Twitch.
This move is not only good news for fans, but also for developers like Valve, who stand to enjoy massive success with their popular shows.
In January 2018, ESL partnered with Facebook to give the social media platform exclusive broadcast rights for ESL One (Dota 2) and ESL Pro League (CS:GO), a move that was met with much backlash from the esports community.
Leo Olebe, Global Director of Games Partnerships at Facebook, said that offering ESL fans a way to watch esports through other platforms is a move they know will be welcomed by their audience.
With the IEM Katowice 2019 CS:GO Major starting on February 13th, fans will be happy to hear that they can watch the tournament somewhere other than Facebook.
