95 Facts About eSports

1. Tencent Games is the video game publishing division of Tencent Interactive Entertainment, itself a division of Tencent.

2. Javier Mascherano was not the only man to wax lyrical about the prodigiously talented forward, with Jamie Carragher even retweeting a comment heaping praise on the Chelsea man.

3. On 1 June 2011, Fnatic partnered with EIZO to launch their gaming monitors into the market.

4. On 13 May 2015, Tencent Games acquired a minority stake in mobile developer Pocket Gems, acquiring 20 percent of the company for the price of US$60 million.

5. In 2006, Fnatic acquired a World of Warcraft team, Fnatic.

6. Tencent Games was founded in 2003 to focus on online games.

7. On March 8, 2016, Riot Games announced its acquisition of Radiant Entertainment.

8. On 16 December 2015, Riot Tencent Games sold its remaining equity to Tencent Holdings.

9. Tencent Games has since announced plans to develop a Hong Kong edition of WeGame that can be used by players outside of China, potentially setting up the platform to compete with Valve Corporation's Steam platform.

10. In May 2017, Tencent Games surpassed Wells Fargo to enter the world's top 10 most valuable companies.

11. On 2 April 2017, Fnatic became the champions of HonTour Season 5, defeating [MiXs] Phoenix MiXs on the grand finals.

12. On December 16, 2015, Riot Games sold its remaining equity to Tencent Holdings.

13. In 2010, Javier Mascherano transferred to Barcelona; the Catalonian paid £ 22 million to Liverpool, and the player's salary was € 5,5 million.

14. On 6 October 2017, Fnatic joined the competitive Rocket League scene after acquiring the former roster of Leftovers.

15. In 2012, Riot Games held its tournament at University of Southern California's Galen Center, offering in prize money.

16. In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to Dota 2, acquiring and sponsoring Team Malaysia.

17. On May 10, 2010, Riot Games announced that they would take over distribution and operation of their game in Europe; to do so, Riot Games relocated their European headquarters in Brighton to new offices in Dublin.

18. In 2017, Riot Games held the League of Legends World Championship in China, with the finals taking place in Beijing.

19. On May 10, 2010, Riot Games announced that they would take over distribution and operation of the game in Europe.

20. Tencent Games are a massive company with a lot of moving parts, as you can see from this extensive Contact Us page on their website.

21. Javier Mascherano admired the Spanish team's defense density and emphasized that his teammates had the chance to score only standard goals.

22. Javier Mascherano captained Argentina during the 2011 Copa America on home soil, but the team were defeated by Uruguay at the quarter-final stage.

23. West Ham may not have realised Javier Mascherano was an extraordinary midfielder, but Benitez certainly did—hence why he brought him to Anfield on loan in the winter of 2007.

24. On 18 February 2011, Tencent Games acquired a majority equity interest in Riot Games, developer of League of Legends, for about US$230 million.

25. Javier Mascherano scored his first Premier League and Liverpool goal on 15 March 2008, with a 20-yard strike against Reading.

26. In 2013, Fnatic won the Spring Split of Season 3, but during the Summer Split, the team struggled and decided that a player change was necessary.

27. Javier Mascherano was voted Liverpool's man of the match by the fans on the official Liverpool website.

28. In 2011, Tencent Games started hosting the game League of Legends.

29. On 28 May 2011, Javier Mascherano started alongside Gerard Pique in the 2011 Champions League final against Manchester United.

30. On 27 July 2016, Javier Mascherano signed a new contract with Barcelona, which will keep him at the club until 2019.

31. In September 2017, Tencent Games has announced plans to introduce Chinese online comics to every market around the world, with the first being North America.

32. Tencent Games is best known in China as the operator of WeChat, the app platform that has 1 billion users, and for mobile game blockbusters like Honour of Kings.

33. On 23 October 2014, Tencent Games pitched in $145 million for a 10 percent stake in Koudai Gouwu, a Chinese mobile shopping portal.

34. On 29 April 2015, Tencent Games acquired a minority stake in videogame developer and publisher Glu Mobile, paying US$126 million for 14.6 percent of the company.

35. In 2012, Fnatic picked up the former GamersLeague Dota 2 team in order to compete with other top teams.

36. Tencent Games is the world's largest gaming company by operating revenue.

37. Tencent Games took part in the latest funding round in Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-jek.

38. Tencent Games sells virtual goods for use in their MMOs, its IM client, social networking sites, and for mobile phones.

39. On October 13, 2009, GOA and Riot Games announced that they would start channelling server access for players located in Europe, to GOA's dedicated servers.

40. Javier Mascherano signed for Liverpool from West Ham in the winter of 2007, amid much controversy.

41. The first person Riot Games recruited was Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, a developer on the multiplayer online battle arena game DotA Allstars.

42. Tencent Games offers a variety of services to consumers and businesses.

43. Tencent Games has announced that smash hit battle royale Ring of Elysium has launched in EU territories bringing this year's top battle royale to European players along with a Thanksgiving holiday in-game event.

44. Javier Mascherano had to be pushed from the field of play by Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso.

45. In 2018, Riot Games held the League of Legends World Championship across South Korea, with the finals taking place in Incheon.

46. Tencent Games took a 12 per cent stake in disappearing-messaging app Snap in November 2017, and has invested in electric car maker Tesla and ride services company Lyft.

47. On 26 July 2012, Javier Mascherano signed a contract extension with Barcelona, keeping him with the Catalan giants until 2016.

48. Javier Mascherano asserted himself vocally, especially during the knockout rounds, where the media described him as Argentina's best player after Messi's prolific scoring stagnated after the group stage.

49. On 10 March 2014, Tencent Games bought a 15 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce website JD.

50. Tencent Games is the video game holding and publishing division of Tencent Interactive Entertainment, itself a division of Chinese conglomerate Tencent.

51. Tencent Games has signed an agreement with Helsinki and World Tourism Cities Federation to provide intelligent tourism services to Chinese tourists, with Helsinki serving as an intelligent tourism model for China's outbound tourism.

52. Tencent Games is threatening Apple and Spotify's market dominance, especially in Southeast Asia.

53. Tencent Games has created an alliance to its own AI self-driving program, similar to Baidu's Apollo Project, recruiting numerous industry players in the automotive industry.

54. On 27 February 2014, Tencent Games purchased a 20-percent stake in restaurant ratings and group buying website Dianping for $400 million.

55. On 26 April 2017, Javier Mascherano scored his first goal for Barcelona, a penalty kick in a La Liga match against Osasuna.

56. Tencent Games Pictures is a Chinese film production company owned by Tencent.

57. Javier Mascherano has several social network accounts: on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

58. In November 2012, Fnatic announced that they picked up a ShootMania Storm team.

59. On October 13, 2009, GOA and Riot Games announced that they would start channeling server access for players located in Europe, to GOA's dedicated servers.

60. In 2008, Tencent Games released a media player, available for free download, under the name QQ Player.

61. On November 8, 2013, Riot Games announced that the company would relocate to a new building in West Los Angeles in 2015.

62. Tencent Games Pictures unveiled that it intends to expand co-operation with overseas film and TV companies on new productions, as well as making more long-term investments in the movie and TV industry.

63. In 2014, Fnatic parted ways with its Dota 2 squad with each member deciding to leave the organization.

64. Javier Mascherano was voted Man of the Match by the fans on Liverpool's official website.

65. Javier Mascherano is one of the seven legionnaires supporting this team.

66. Javier Mascherano played only five games there and transferred to Liverpool in the next season.

67. In 2018, Overwatch League raised over $12.7 million for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which they generated from selling a special character skin where all proceeds went towards it.

68. Tencent Games has announced a partnership with Nintendo to publish its widely popular game Honor of Kings into Nintendo Switch, causing Nintendo's stock to hit a 9-year-high, as well as JD.

69. In total, Javier Mascherano was out of action for six months, only returning on 5 March 2006.

70. In late April 2017, Tencent Games announced it was preparing to launch its virtual reality headset that year.

71. Javier Mascherano scored his first goal for the club in a Chinese FA Cup match against Shandong Luneng Taishan on 2 May 2018.

72. Tencent Games has at least four wholly foreign owned enterprises and nearly twenty subsidiaries.

73. The first season of the Overwatch League started in January 2018, with teams vying for a US$one million League winner prize, alongside other winnings from a total prize pool of US$3.5 million.

74. Javier Mascherano is analysing and thinking about the game in each moment.

75. In September 2017, Tencent Games invested US$90 million in German aviation start-up Lilium Aviation, which specialises in developing and building high speed flying vehicles and electric jets.

76. Tencent Games was reported in 2017 to be working with China's Central Bank to develop a central payments clearing platform for online payments.

77. On 12 April 2018, Fnatic joined the competitive Rainbow Six Siege scene after acquiring the former roster of Mindfreak.

78. On 27 March 2014, it was announced that Tencent Games had agreed to pay about $500 million for a 28 percent stake in South Korea's CJ Games.

79. In July 2016, Tencent Games acquired a majority stake in China Music Corporation.

80. In January 2012, Fnatic took on RaidCall as a sponsor.

81. In July 2013, Fnatic announced changes to their League of Legends roster.

82. On 6 March 2015 Fnatic announced signing the roster of SK Gaming.

83. On 8 June 2008, Javier Mascherano received his first red card for the national team after receiving two yellow cards in a match against the United States.

84. Javier Mascherano made 147 appearances for the Argentina national team and is the most capped player in the country's history.

85. Tencent Games started enforcing real-name registration on Honour of Kings two months ago as part of the game's system revamp.

86. Tencent Games operates its own credit score system called Tencent Credit.

87. Javier Mascherano moved to Brazilian side Corinthians in 2005, winning the Brazilian Serie A in his first season.

88. On 15 January 2014, Tencent Games said it will invest HKD 1.5 billion in logistics and warehouse firm China South City Holdings Ltd to develop its e-commerce and logistics business.

89. In June 2017, Tencent Games became the 8th most valuable company in BrandZ's Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, signalling its growing influence globally as well as the rise of Chinese brands.

90. On 8 November 2014 Fnatic signed its first Smite team, acquiring the roster of Exposed Secrets.

91. In 2008, Riot Games obtained initial funding of US $7 million provided by venture capital firms Benchmark Capital and FirstMark Capital.

92. Javier Mascherano wants to leave Barca after losing his place in the side to Samuel Umtiti.

93. Tencent Games has announced a partnership with blockchain esports entertainment platform Sliver.

94. On July 14, 2009, Riot Games announced that League of Legends will be free with "no catch".

95. In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to Dota 2, acquiring the roster of Team Malaysia.