Heroes of the DormTM: The UC Berkeley Golden Bears Are Heroes of the StormTM Collegiate Champions
April 29 2015 - 12:00PM
Business Wire
For the first time ever, live telecast of
collegiate eSports event aired on ESPN2
Thousands of student gamers from more than 460 schools across
the U.S. and Canada entered the Nexus to take part in Heroes of the
Dorm™—a no-holds-barred tournament of epic proportions featuring
Blizzard’s online team brawler, Heroes of the Storm™.
After fighting their way through a formidable pool of
challengers, four teams of college students took to the stage at
the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles on their quest
to become Heroes of the Storm collegiate champions. By defeating
the University of Illinois Mad Banners and weathering an epic five
game onslaught from the Arizona State University Dream Team, the UC
Berkeley Golden Bears emerged victorious, earning the title of
Heroes of the Dorm.
“Competing in the Heroes of the Dorm tournament has been an
amazing experience for our team,” said Golden Bears team captain
Richard ‘PandaJigu’ Xue. “We’ve been fans of Blizzard games for a
long time and we still can’t believe that our passion for gaming
has paid off in college tuition. College eSports is awesome, and we
hope Blizzard and TeSPA bring back the tournament next year so we
can defend our title! GO BEARS!”
The Golden Bears players will be receiving the tournament grand
prize—tuition to cover the remainder of their college careers.
The Heroes of the Dorm Finals took the Twitter world by storm
Sunday evening. Fans of eSports and newcomers alike tuned into the
ESPN2 telecast thanks to the non-stop action on display during the
back-and-forth series and commentary from the announcing team of
Dan ‘Artosis’ Stemkoski, Nick ‘Tasteless’ Plott, Sean ‘Day9’ Plott,
Manuel ‘Grubby’ Schenkhuizen, and Tim ‘Trikslyr’ Frazier. According
to one Twitter user, “going HAM on this core!” is the front-runner
for the “Down goes Frazier” sportscasting call of the century.
The Heroes of the Dorm tournament marked the first time that a
collegiate eSports event has been telecast live on ESPN2. The
“Heroic Four” semi-finals were delivered on ESPN3, followed by the
championship match and closing ceremony in prime time on ESPN2.
ESPN coverage of the event was also viewed online at WatchESPN.com,
on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on
televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV,
Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Heroes of the Dorm also broke new ground for collegiate eSports
by offering nearly half a million dollars in lucrative prizes to
both student competitors and viewers—thousands of members of the
Heroes of the Storm community filled out fantasy brackets with
their predicted winners. In addition to $10,000 going to the viewer
with the “best bracket,” the top 5 bracket predictions will receive
the same epic gaming systems as those awarded to all twenty members
of the “Heroic Four” teams, with many other prizes going out to
randomly selected participants.
“I’d like to congratulate our Heroes of the Dorm, the UC
Berkeley Golden Bears, on their epic victory run,” said Mike
Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Watching
this tournament has been incredibly exciting for me—even if my
bracket didn’t pan out as expected. We’re big fans of eSports at
Blizzard and this event was just one example of our ongoing
commitment to competitive gaming.”
Heroes of the Storm brings together a diverse cast of iconic
characters from Blizzard’s far-flung realms of science fiction and
fantasy, including the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo®
universes, and challenges them to compete in epic,
adrenaline-charged battles. Every student who participated in the
tournament received closed beta access to Heroes of the Storm,
which will be officially launching on June 2, following an open
beta testing period beginning May 19.
To learn more about Heroes of the Storm, head over to the
official website at www.heroesofthestorm.com. With multiple games
in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions
currently available—visit http://jobs.blizzard.com for more
information and to learn how to apply.
About Blizzard Entertainment,
Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of
Warcraft® and the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and
Diablo® franchises, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
(www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:
ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment
software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most
critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record
includes nineteen #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year
awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of
the largest in the world, with millions of active players.
*Sales and/or downloads. Based on internal company records and
reports from key distribution partners.
About TeSPA
TeSPA is the premier college gaming network in North America,
dedicated to creating a home for gamers on every
campus. Recognized as the leader in collegiate gaming, TeSPA
cultivates student communities, known as Local Chapters, which host
epic gaming events on over 90 campuses in the United States and
Canada. TeSPA supports its Local Chapters by connecting them to
national partners for events, hosting cutting-edge competitions for
college gaming athletes, facilitating collaboration between Local
Chapters, and empowering student leaders to become entrepreneurs in
the gaming industry.
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Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.Rob Hilburger, 949-242-8404VP,
Global Communicationsrhilburger@blizzard.comorEmil Rodriguez,
949-955-1380 x12064Director, Global
PRelrodriguez@blizzard.comorChe’von Slaughter, 949-955-1380
x14338PR Managercslaughter@blizzard.com
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