FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 4th, 2017

TWITCH TO LIVESTREAM NBC SPORTS GROUP AND FACEIT’S UNIVERSAL OPEN ROCKET LEAGUE ESPORTS TOURNAMENT

Twitch to Stream All Regionals and Grand Finals Coverage, Beginning with East Regional at TCN Studios in Philadelphia on Saturday, August 5

Psyonix to Offer Rocket League Fan Rewards Throughout Universal Open Rocket League Livestreams on Twitch

STAMFORD, Conn. – August 4, 2017 – Social video platform Twitch will provide live streaming coverage of Universal Open Rocket League, NBC Sports Group and FACEIT’s inaugural esports tournament, beginning this weekend with the Regional round at the NBC Sports Regional Networks.

Universal Open Rocket League is a 2v2 tournament featuring Rocket League, the sports-action hit with a community of more than 34 million players, developed and published by San Diego-based game studio, Psyonix. The tournament utilizes FACEIT’s competitive gaming platform, and numerous NBCUniversal and Comcast regional, national and international assets.

Streaming coverage begins with the East Regional at TCN studios in Philadelphia on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by the Northeast Regional at SNY studios in New York City on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET. Universal Open Rocket League will be livestreamed on FACEIT and NBC Sports’ Twitch channels.

“We want to reach as many esports fans as possible with Universal Open Rocket League,” said Rob Simmelkjaer, Senior Vice President, NBC Sports Ventures. “Our partnership with Twitch through the Regionals and Grand Finals provides us with another avenue to maximize our exposure in the esports community.”

“Psyonix’s Rocket League has quickly grown in prominence among the Twitch community because of its original, accessible, and engaging style of gameplay,” said Justin Dellario, Director of Esports Programs, Twitch. “Given its popularity, it’s great to see other marquee brands, such as NBC Sports Group and FACEIT, contributing to its momentum by partnering with us to​ livestream the Universal Open Rocket League.”

Psyonix will also offer Rocket League Fan Rewards on FACEIT’s streaming channel during its Universal Open Rocket League broadcast, which will help users earn new content for Rocket League. Click here for more information on Rocket League Fan Rewards on Twitch.

In addition to livestreamed coverage on Twitch, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app will provide live and unauthenticated streaming coverage throughout the Regionals and Grand Finals.

This weekend’s Regionals are followed by the Midwest Regional on Saturday, August 12, at CSN Chicago studios, followed by the West Regional at NBC Sports Bay Area studios on Sunday, August 13. Click here for more information on this weekend’s coverage.

The tournament will culminate in a two-day Grand Finals on August 26-27 at Esports Arena in Santa Ana, Calif., featuring 16 total teams competing for a $100,000 prize pool. Tickets for the Grand Finals are now available for $15 for one day passes or $25 for weekend passes. Click here for information on tickets.

ABOUT TWITCH

Twitch is the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Each day, millions of community members gather to watch, talk, and chat about shared interests. Twitch’s video platform is the backbone of both live and on-demand distribution for all types of content, including the entire video game ecosystem, the creative arts, vlogging (IRL), and more. Twitch also runs TwitchCon, the annual convention for celebrating the Twitch community. For more information about Twitch, visit our Press CenterTwitter feed (#Twitch), and Blog.


ABOUT NBC SPORTS GROUP

When the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction was completed in January 2011, the sports assets of the two companies combined to form NBC Sports Group, which serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. The sports media company consists of NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, NBCSN, Golf Channel, NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Radio and NBC Sports Digital, which includes NBCSports.com, NBCOlympics.com, GolfChannel.com, the digital assets of the NBC Sports Regional Networks, Rotoworld, the NBC Sports Talk franchise, multiple apps, and two transactional sports businesses, GolfNow and SportsEngine. NBC Sports Group possesses an unparalleled collection of television rights agreements, partnering with some of the most prestigious sports properties in the world: the International Olympic Committee and United States Olympic Committee, the NFL, NHL, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, The R&A, PGA of America, Churchill Downs, Premier League, Tour de France, French Open, Formula One, IndyCar and many more.


ABOUT FACEIT

FACEIT is the leading competitive platform for online multiplayer games, with more than 7 million users competing in over 12 million online game sessions each month. FACEIT allows players to easily play in tournaments and leagues for virtual and real-world prizes through automated tournament management and matchmaking technology. For developers, FACEIT’s advanced software development kit (SDK) allows game creators to easily integrate user-friendly competitions into their titles to allow gamers to organize and take part in online games at all skill levels. esports organizers, players and communities use FACEIT to create and manage online competitions. For more information on FACEIT, please visit http://www.faceit.com.


ABOUT PSYONIX

Based in San Diego, CA, Psyonix is a critically-acclaimed independent video game developer and leading experts in Unreal Engine technology. For more than 15 years, the studio has been a driving force behind some of the most successful games in the industry, including Gears of War, Mass Effect 3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Bulletstorm, Unreal Tournament III, Unreal Tournament 2004, and the award-winning Sports-Action hit, Rocket League®.


ABOUT ROCKET LEAGUE
®

Winner or nominee of more than 150 “Game of the Year” awards, Rocket League is one of the most critically-acclaimed sports games of our generation. Boasting a community of more than 34 million players, Rocket League is a high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem with easy-to-understand controls and fluid, physics-driven competition. Available digitally on Xbox One, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC, Mac, and SteamOS via Steam, Rocket League includes more than 100 billion possible customization combinations, a fully-featured offline season mode, multiple game types, casual and competitive online matches, and special “Mutators” that let you change the rules entirely.

To learn more about Rocket League, please visit www.RocketLeague.com, “Like” it on Facebook, and follow it on Twitter @RocketLeague for all the latest developer updates and news.

Rocket League, Psyonix, and all related marks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Psyonix Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

–NBC SPORTS GROUP–