Yahoo Launches eSports Vertical Featuring Original Content, Streaming League Matches

Yahoo launched an eSports site Wednesday covering "League of Legends," "Dota 2," "Street Fighter V," "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive," "Heroes of the Storm" and more. The new site will lean heavily on original video content as it attempts to become an eSports destination.

"We're approaching our coverage of eSports with the same tenacity and professionalism we always have with Yahoo Sports, News and Finance," Bob Condor, vice president of Yahoo Sports Media, said in a statement. Yahoo eSports will initially cover the five previously mentioned games but will add new games in the near future. Yahoo additionally mentioned that "Hearthstone," an online competitive card game developed by Blizzard, will be a part of the new coverage plan.

Andrea Rene, host on GameStop TV, will lead the weekly video coverage as on-screen host. Rene will work with Travis Gafford, previously at CBSinteractive, and Taylor Cocke, formerly at gaming sites IGN and Kotaku, on weekly "League of Legends" coverage. Other hosted segments will cover "Heroes of the Storm" and "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" with Dylan Walker, who provided analytics support for Team Liquid.

The Yahoo eSports homepage is separated into three sections. Below the header featuring logos of the five games being covered at launch is the main video section. A second section features news written by the Yahoo staff and aggregated content from gaming sites. A sidebar contains current and upcoming matchups. Live matches can be viewed within the site via an embedded live stream from YouTube.

Each of the major eSports leagues can be accessed through Yahoo eSports. In addition to news and video content, users can find information regarding team lineups and schedules. "Because eSports is 24/7, we'll hide all spoilers by default so fans can enjoy matches on their time," said Matt Edelman, Product Manager, Yahoo eSports.

Yahoo is just the latest mainstream player to set its sights on eSports. ESPN launched a digital vertical covering competitive gaming, while "Heroes of the Dorm," a collegiate "Heroes of the Storm" tournament," will air on ESPN 2 in April. And TBS will air "Eleague," a weekly live tournament, every Friday beginning in May.

The launch comes after Yahoo closed other highly touted content verticals like Yahoo Tech, Yahoo Food, Yahoo Health, Yahoo Travel and others.