With the 74th NBA season kicking off Oct. 22 and running through June of 2020, eSports companies and app developers are gearing up to take advantage of the impending basketball fan mania.
Today ePlay Digital Inc. [stock_market_widget type="inline" template="generic" color="default" assets="EPY.CN" markup="(CSE: {symbol} {currency_symbol}{price} ({change_pct}))" api="yf"] pushed an updated version of the company’s flagship Big Shot Basketball augmented reality game to both the Google Play store and the iOS app store.
That updated version includes the addition of extra journal features, a revamped UI for the augmented reality feature, several bug fixes, and a host of new challenges for the impending 2019 / 2020 NBA season.
Described as Pokemon Go meets the NBA, Big Shot allows users to build their own perfect team while earning points when their selected players score on the court in real life.
Last week ePlay cited an increased interaction from players on Big Shot with 50,000 multiplayer head-to-head, mini-game challenges taking place during the month of August.
Discussing the impending season’s start and how the company intends to monetize player engagement, Chief Executive Officer Trevor Doerksen commented:
In other NBA news, tech giant and eSports mainstay Tencent Holdings Limited recently extended its international partnership with the National Basketball Association through the 2025 season. Under the terms of that deal, Tencent will handle non-North American NBA apps, loyalty programs, and streaming services, with a particular focus on Chinese fans.
On the console and PC gaming front, Take-Two Interactive Software is about to launch the NBA 2K20 Global Championships, which will run from October through February. In a change from other recent major eSports tournament launches, this new Global Championship will have an open registration period allowing any NBA 2K20 player in the world to take part in online qualifiers.
The 2020 editions of most major branded sports games have already arrived and have their championships either finished or in full swing, while WWE 2K20 is finally due to land on Oct. 22.
