Mentioned in this article
- Quibi will host an esports reality competition in conjunction with FaZe Clan called “FaZe Up.”
- Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg have raised over $1.4B USD for Quibi in funding.
- Whitman has been an investor in the Immortals Gaming Club since 2018.
Quibi, a startup online-video service led by Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg, set to launch on April 6, 2020, will add the esports reality competition show FaZe Up to its content lineup. The show is a video game competition where the grand prize is a cash prize and gaming contract with the esports organization FaZe Clan.
Produced by entertainment and sports media company Whistle, FaZe Up will create and submit videos extolling their video game prowess in the attempt to get noticed and make a case for themselves to make to join the teams. Quibi subscribers will then vote to help determine six finalists. Those six will travel to the headquarters of FaZe Clan to compete in challenges inside and outside of the game. One gamer will be chosen by FaZe Clan to be the winner.
“The ‘FaZe Up’ show represents our next chapter in content creation with our first premium production effort and in collaboration with innovative partners like Whistle and Quibi,” FaZe Clan head of content Oluwafemi Okusanya said in a statement.
The brainchild of Whitman and Katzenberg, Quibi is shorthand for “quick bites,” and is a video subscription service geared towards millennials that created content and tell stories in under 10-minutes. Whitman, who formerly led eBay and Hewlett-Packard, and Katzenberg, formerly of DreamWorks Animation and Disney, have managed to raise over $1.4B USD thus far.
Whitman is no stranger to esports investments: she became an investor in the Immortals Gaming Club (formerly Immortals) back in July of 2018.
FaZe Up will be a part of the Quibi lineup when it launches on Apr. 6, 2020, and will see subscription rates of $4.99 monthly with ads, as well as $7.99 per month ad-free option.