Yahoo! enters the arena...

Yahoo! Remember them??? 

Well in keeping with their already established sports platform Yahoo has announced that they are going to be entering into the world of eSports. 

In a statement where they described their aspirations as wanting to become the "premier destination for 'all things' in the gaming world" one has to wonder what their rivals think to this dramatic and bold statement. No doubt the likes of ESPN, whom themselves announced their interests in the eSports community, over a month ago, and perhaps far more established rival Amazon, whom own the Twitch platform and Activision who in conjunction with their Blizzard operations bought Major League Gaming, are all hoping this is another failed endeavor by the recently floundering Yahoo organization.

Bob Condor, the VP for sports at Yahoo was quoted as saying he was positive about the opportunity it offered and was keen to add the major competitive eSports brand to the existing Yahoo Sports set up. 

The company has dedicated a not insignificant amount of resources to journalism and coverage of the big titles, such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Street Fighter V. They have also announced they will be growing this to expand into other games as time goes on and that Yahoo will be watching as “Games can rise fast, and Yahoo will follow the trend lines.”

Curiously despite its massive success in the world of competitive eSports, Yahoo hasn't chosen to cover Blizzard's Hearthstone in its initial coverage, despite 2015 being a massive break out year for the game and the competitive scene developing through the Western world, but also making real head ways into the Far East. 

Popular commentator and eSports aficionado Travis Gafford has been taken onboard by Yahoo and is looking forward to the opportunity. 

His belief is that, whilst some platforms have been incredibly successful in the way that they cover eSports; the likes of Twitch and what it offers, there has not been an established place where someone can go and watch tournaments, read news, find out what is going on in the realms of eSports. Yahoo has the opportunity in essence to create a "one stop shop" for all your eSports needs?

The news has been harsh on Yahoo over the last few months, with articles asking about its success and whether its brand had diminished over the years, perhaps being headlined by the staff cuts that were announced at the start of the year.

At this point, we can only speculate as to whether or not Yahoo will be able to establish itself as a go to place for the eSports community, but one thing we can say is that, along side its big rivals like ESPN, Twitch, ESL and MLG, this is yet another big name in the world that is recognizing the movement surrounding eSports in general, which validates the growing sector as big businesses begin to recognize that the scene isn't a niche anymore and is something set to rival conventional sports, if not already, certainly within the not to distant future.

Daniel McHugh - Director of Communications and Community - Challengermode