Announced barely over a week ago, ESL’s new live-streaming partnership with Facebook has attracted significant criticism from the hardcore Dota 2 community, who dislike the social media platform as a live-streaming platform.

In an official Reddit post from ESL’s managing director Ulrich Schulze, the ESL team unequivocally apologises to esports fans, streamers and the Dota 2 community as a whole for the standard of broadcasting presently offered on Facebook and the way they handled the severe backlash this past week.

“We were wrong in how we kicked off streaming on Facebook and we were wrong in handling the follow-up with the community, the communication here and the DMCAs which we have since retracted,” Schulze said.

“The introduction of Facebook as our new broadcast platform did not go as it should have. Instead of focusing on ironing out the kinks, engaging in the right kind of dialogue with you and incorporating your legitimate feedback we were busy following protocol and defending our actions.

“We should have simply let the community streamers do their thing while focusing on getting our end right. Regardless of having or not having the right to do so, taking down streamers that provide a good experience while we aren’t is not the way to go about things. We were in the wrong. We will learn from it and go forward.”

The drama initially began when Dota 2 fans complained about the technical issues and difficulty in finding the official streams for ESL One Genting, the first Dota 2 esports event held this year to stream only on Facebook.

In response to the problems, many fans called for Twitch to be re-instated as the primary broadcasting medium, and several Dota 2 game streamers opted to share unofficial footage of ESL One Genting on Twitch and YouTube with their own commentary.

However, many streamers were banned from Twitch following the unauthorised streams and it was quickly discovered ESL issued hundreds of DMCA copyright strikes against these channels.

Despite Schulze hosting an earlier Reddit AmA to give fans a proper forum for feedback, the outrage was significant enough that fans planned a protest against watching any ESL Dota 2 streams on Facebook.

But the true damage was done when Dota 2’s creator Valve felt compelled to issue a statement on the improper use of DCMA takedown notices.

“The first issue we’ve been seeing discussed is regarding DMCA notices. This one is very simple: No one besides Valve is allowed to send DMCA notices for games streamed off of DotaTV that aren’t using the broadcasters’ unique content (camera movements, voice, etc),” the official blog post said.

With the DMCA notices retracted and ESL One Genting over, ESL have just under two weeks until the CS:GO Pro League kicks off on February 13 to iron out the issues with Facebook to improve the viewing experience.

ESL has previously stated the partnership with Facebook is based on better long-term growth estimations than streaming it across multiple platforms like Twitch and YouTube.

Considering the amount of Dota 2 fans still refusing to watch the official streams on Facebook, the future success of the deal is at the mercy of the community unless ESL make significant changes.

Do you agree with the way Dota 2 fans have reacted to the ESL/Facebook broadcasting deal? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

The post ESL issues apology to Dota 2 fans for Facebook streaming fiasco appeared first on Esport Bet.

In an official ESL blog post, the organisation confirmed all upcoming events in both leagues will be only available to watch on the popular social media platform, along with embedded streams on the event websites, as part of a new partnership.

The streams are available to both Facebook users and those without an account, meaning you do not have to register to access the live-streamed tournament coverage as before.

ESL has previously shared clips and stories of their esports tournaments on Facebook, but the next stage will involve “providing a much more advanced viewing experience which also connects to the existing Facebook pages of teams, players and talents.”

This will involve the Facebook Watch feature, which ESL says it will use to provide streams of their tournaments in full 1080p resolution and 60fps, a common request from the hardcore esports audience. You can also choose to watch live-streams in a virtual reality headset such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

In addition, a weekly esports show for Dota 2 will be aired through Facebook Watch, with further details to be announced at a later date.

The new collaborative video features on Facebook, which allow users to watch live-streams with friends and jump in both general and private chat-rooms while watching the same broadcast, is the main feature ESL points to as the solution for further developing the social esports viewing experience.

“Having two of ESL’s most adored properties for CS:GO and Dota 2 streaming exclusively on Facebook is the next step in our efforts to delight the passionate esports community on Facebook,” said Leo Olebe, Director of Facebook Games Partnerships. “The ability to now watch esports in 1080p and in VR underscores our commitment to adding more ways for fans to watch and connect with each other around the esports content they love most.”

All CS:GO Pro League and ESL One live-streams on Facebook will be broadcast in English and Portuguese, with other language options available.

The first ESL event to launch this year will be Dota 2 at ESL One Genting 2018 on January 23 – 28, followed by CS:GO Pro League on February 13, which we will be covering as it unfolds.

In the mean-time, keep www.damnsnaps.com bookmarked for the latest betting predictions, team news and other industry updates.

The post ESL One and CS:GO Pro League confirm Facebook as main broadcaster appeared first on Esport Bet.