The female gamers competing for thousands of pounds at first event of its kind in UK
The UK’s first professional women’s gaming tournament of its kind starts on Saturday.
Four teams of professional gamers will play the first-person shooter game Valorant, which is the most-watched esports game in women’s leagues.
It is the first time Europe’s best teams have battled it out in the UK, and organisers hope it will bring more women into gaming.
Meg ‘Megsoundslikeegg’ Gardner is one of the hosts of the Red Bull Instalock tournament
“The more people see you can enjoy gaming as somebody who’s not native to it, the more confident they’ll get and the more they’ll enjoy it,” said host and streamer Meg ‘Megsoundslikeegg’ Gardner.
The players are competing over two days at London‘s Red Bull Gaming Sphere for a prize pool of £15,000.
Michaela ‘mimi’ Lintrup, who is the one of world’s best Valorant players and has been professionally gaming since she was 18, said: “Back then it was not a big thing like it is today.”
The 26-year-old Dane added: “We fought for a case of Red Bull or something, it was not a prize pool with money. I just played because I had passion for it and I loved it.”
But that’s all changed.
Last year, fans watched more than 28 million hours of professional women’s esports, according to industry tracker Esports Charts. The competitions are usually streamed on places like Twitch, TikTok and YouTube.
Those figures don’t even include people watching in China, where esports are so big that more people watched them than traditional sports at the 2023 Asian Games.
In esports, where people play competitively in a variety of video games, there are leagues, prizes and hordes of fans just like in other sports.
Professional gamer Mathilde ‘Nelo’ Beltoise plays for French team Karmine Corp
French player Mathilde ‘Nelo’ Beltoise, who is in a team called Karmine Corp, said the level of fandom in France is off the scale.
“Karmine Corp is so huge that everywhere you go, someone will recognise you. Every time I go into the street, I see someone with the jersey. It’s really huge,” she said.
The popularity of her team in France helped Beltoise’s parents, who are teachers, warm to the idea of her playing video games for a living.
“Sometimes one of their students has a Karmine Corp jersey on and they’re like, ‘Is that you?’ Now they just love it,” she explained.
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Being a professional gamer means glamorous-sounding international travel and online streaming, but it is also a regular nine to five job.
“We practice from Monday to Friday but when we get close to tournament time, we will add Sundays,” said Lintrup.
“We have four games a day which usually last for 50 minutes. Then we can talk a little bit about the mistakes we made [for 10 minutes before the next one]. Then we have about one and a half hours of theory time.”
Michaela ‘mimi’ Lindtrup is one of the world’s best Valorant players
Lintrup is the in-game leader of G2 Gozen and her role is fairly similar to that of a football captain.
She said: “After practice, I will usually stream or review which means I will go back and watch our games and point out the mistakes. I have to put in a bit of extra work. I love it like that.”
British competitor Sarah ‘sarah’ Ahmed is 18 years old and from Derby. She has been playing professionally for six months and became interested in gaming because of her brother.
She said: “He had a laptop and I didn’t so when I was 16, I got my first PC, and that’s when I started playing games, just like my brother.”
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Now, she is travelling the world, having recently competed in Turkey in the first-ever mixed-gender tournament. She described the moment she discovered the women’s gaming scene on Valorant.
“When I was younger, none of my friends played video games so whenever I played, it was just by myself, it was hard making girl friends.
“So when I saw there was a big community with a lot of girls just playing, I wanted to be a part of it.”
Sarah ‘sarah’ Ahmed from Derby has been playing professionally for six months
Valorant was released during one of the COVID lockdowns, when there was a surge in the number of people playing video games. Host Meg Gardner thinks it is more popular with women because of its storytelling.
She said: “Valorant is very good at being inclusive so you’ll see a lot of female characters that aren’t just in a supportive role, but like people that are very strong in the game. People want to pick them to play with.”
The Red Bull Instalock tournament is being streamed live on Twitch from 12pm UK time on Saturday and Sunday.
Entertainment
Dane Baptiste apologises to Jewish community for ‘disturbing’ language – and is dropped by agency
Comedian Dane Baptiste has apologised to the “Jewish community, my colleagues and my fans” following criticism over a now-deleted social media post.
The stand-up star, who has appeared on TV shows including 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Live At The Apollo, and Mock The Week, has been dropped by his talent agency Insanity.
The company said the contents of a deleted post were “completely at odds with our values and what we stand for”.
The Metropolitan Police has also been made aware of the post.
Baptiste said he had made “a massive error of judgment” after receiving “a number of threatening and abusive messages from accounts accusing me of antisemitism for having pro-Palestinian views”.
The comedian said his partner had made him aware that “some of these same people” were monitoring her Instagram account.
In an apology posted on social media, Baptiste said: “In a massive error of judgment, I posted an excessive and impulsive response, hoping to dissuade anybody monitoring my family.
“I made a point to say Zionist and not Jewish, but I appreciate how disturbing, threatening and incendiary that language is, I would categorically state I have no ill intention towards the Jewish community and never have.
“I have a loving family of which I am massively protective of; I reacted poorly and emotionally to a perceived threat with no considered thought to the consequences, and I apologise profusely for my actions to the Jewish community, my colleagues and my fans.”
Baptiste was the first black comedian to be nominated for the award for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2014, and also fronted the BBC Three sketch programme Bamous.
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In a statement, a spokesperson for Insanity said: “Insanity became aware of a social media post published by Dane on Instagram yesterday.
“The contents of his post are completely at odds with our values and what we stand for. We promptly made this clear to him, and are no longer working with him.
“As an organisation we do not tolerate hate speech of any kind and are committed to the values of respect and tolerance for all.”
Sky News has contacted Baptiste for comment.
Universal Music and TikTok have ended a dispute over royalties after the label pulled millions of songs from the social media platform.
The new licensing agreement means songs by some of the biggest artists in the world, including Drake, Adele and Billie Eilish will return to the site for use within the next two weeks.
TikTok, a short video app, is a valuable marketing and promotional tool for music stars. But in January, Universal claimed it paid artists and songwriters “a fraction” of the rate offered by similar social media platforms, and announced it was pulling its catalogue.
Billie Eilish is also among Universal’s artists. Pic: Reuters
Universal is the biggest music label in the world and also looks after Taylor Swift – who allowed a selection of her songs to return to TikTok as she promoted her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, in April. Swift owns the copyrights to her recordings through her 2018 deal with Universal and can control where her songs are available, according to the Financial Times.
The companies now say they have come to “a new multi-dimensional” licensing agreement that will deliver “significant industry-leading benefits” for Universal’s artists and labels.
In a joint statement, TikTok said it would continue to invest resources into “building artist-centric tools” and work on strengthening online safety protections for artists and their fans.
The AI issue
Drake, another Universal artist, has previously had his voice cloned for AI tracks. Pic: AP
The agreement means all videos that had been muted will be unmuted. It comes just over three months since Universal posted an open letter criticising TikTok, calling for higher payments for artists and songwriters, protection from the “harmful effects” of AI, and online safety.
In their joint statement, the companies now say they will work together to ensure AI development across the industry “will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters”.
They will also work to remove unauthorised AI-generated music from the platform, as well as on tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution, the statement says.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Universal chairman and chief executive Sir Lucian Grainge said the “new chapter” focuses “on the value of music, the primacy of human artistry and the welfare of the creative community”, while TikTok chief executive Shou Chew added: “Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem, and we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group.”
Concerns about AI have grown in the creative community. In April last year, a song featuring the cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd was removed from streaming sites after going viral.
On Tuesday, British singer-songwriter and producer FKA Twigs told a US Senate hearing how she had created her own digital clone – but condemned unauthorised use of her voice and image.
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On Wednesday, a poll by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music found that 83% of UK adults agree that a music artist’s creative “personality” should be protected in law against AI copies and 77% believe it amounts to theft when generated music fails to acknowledge the creator of the original.
In April, more than 200 artists signed an open letter objecting to the “predatory” use of AI to “steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses”.
Wales is to get its own version of talent show The Voice, it has been announced.
The series named Y Llais (Welsh for The Voice) will be presented by Radio 1 DJ Sian Eleri.
The Boom Cymru-produced show will make its debut on S4C next year.
Opera star Sir Bryn Terfel has been announced as one of the four coaches.
Sir Bryn Terfel. Pic: AP
The Grammy award-winning artist performed at the King‘s coronation last May.
The Welsh-language version becomes the 75th international adaptation of The Voice format.
The series sees contestants take part in “blind auditions” as they hope to impress the coaches and prompt them to turn their chairs to proceed to the next round.
Sian Eleri. Pic: S4C
Sir Tom Jones. Pic: ITV/Rachel Joseph/Shutterstock
The ITV series The Voice UK also features a Welshman as part of its coaching line-up, with Sir Tom Jones joining will.i.am, LeAnn Rimes and McFly‘s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones.
The winner of the Welsh version will secure a 12-month mentoring scheme as well as further opportunities to perform on S4C programming.
“It’s great that the Land of Song is getting its own special version of the The Voice series,” Sir Bryn Terfel said.
Sian Eleri said she was “delighted to be presenting one of the biggest shows in the world”.
“For it to be happening on home soil with S4C is next level. Bring on those rotating chairs,” she added.
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“As a nation we have produced some of the most successful singers in the world, and with this format we’re looking forward to discovering the next big voice from Wales,” added S4C’s interim chief content officer Geraint Evans.
The deadline to apply is 21 June, with auditions set to take place in North Wales on 12 July and in South Wales on 15 July.
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