WITH AN AUDIENCE OVER 29,000 CONCURRENT VIEWERS AND MULTIPLE PARTNERS, RAIDIANT AWARDED $15,000 TO COMPETING TEAMS, THE HIGHEST-EVER PRIZE POOL FOR A WOMEN’S ROCKET LEAGUE EVENT
Raidiant, the women in gaming and esports media platform recently launched by New Meta Entertainment, Inc. (NME), has crowned its first Raidiant Rocket League Series champion, Flashes of Brilliance (FoB). The American-based organization won the Raidiant Rocket League Series after a thrilling two-day event that took place February 26-27, 2022.
The first-of-its-kind women’s Rocket League tournament saw 20 teams from across North America and Europe competing for a $15,000 prize pool. In collaboration with Rocket League’s publisher, Psyonix, and live streaming service, Twitch, the Raidiant Rocket League Series offered the opportunity for both professional and amateur all-women’s teams alike to compete for one of the largest women’s prize pools in competitive Rocket League history, and for bragging rights for becoming the top squad.
The event’s broadcast was produced live from the Verizon 5G Gaming Center in Los Angeles, California, which serves as NME’s headquarters. Utilizing Verizon’s impressive XR Stage, over 29,000 concurrent viewers tuned in both Saturday and Sunday, smashing viewership records for competitive Women’s Rocket League tournaments. The broadcast was hosted by Jennifer “LemonKiwi” Pichette, and casted by popular Rocket League personalities Elyse “Herculyse” Herrara – content creator for Dignitas, Jaime “Karma” Bickford – the most successful Women’s Rocket League pro in history, and Rocket League Championship Series broadcast talent Randy “Gibbs” Gibbons and Joey “Jorby” Ahrens.
“We are incredibly proud to award the inaugural Raidiant Rocket League Series crown to Flashes of Brilliance and grateful to the record number of women’s Rocket League teams from North America and Europe that competed,” said Heather Garozzo, VP of Community and Events and Founder of Raidiant. “This tournament is a continuation of our commitment to creating highly produced tournaments that inspire more women to compete in esports.”
The unique tournament was supported by several brands, all eager to support the emerging women’s competitive scene in Rocket League: Chipotle supported the Match MVP and Tournament MVP segments, giving away thousands of free burritos to fans; Pep Boys, the popular Auto Service and Tires brand served as an organic partner fit for the esport designed around rocket-powered cars; NYX Professional Makeup provided talent makeup, gifted products to each of the tournament’s competitors, and supported various content segments; and athleticwear brand VIRUS International provided teams in need with professional jerseys.
In June 2021, NME operated the VALORANT VCT Game Changers, presented by Verizon – part of Riot Games’ all women’s tournament circuit. NME’s broadcast became the most watched women’s PC gaming tournament with over 400,000 hours watched. Following two successful women’s events for both VALORANT and Rocket League, with each becoming two of the most watched women’s esports events in each respective game’s history, Raidiant is actively partnering with game publishers with aspirations to support women-focused events and advance the community. Through high-quality production value and engaging storytelling, Raidiant’s mission is to develop gaming and esports events across multiple video game titles where women are currently underrepresented.
Flashes of Brilliance (FoB) is composed of Team Captain Kira “Kiralina” O’Connor, from North Carolina, teammates Angelica “Angie” Vilches, from California, and Talynn “Talliebird” Brandon, from Colorado, who completed an undefeated run through the event. On the other side of the bracket, the Kansas City Pioneers, one of Rocket League’s most famed women’s rosters, cruised through the bracket to secure a Grand Finals spot against FoB. Emma “ItsEmma” Anouk Krol, from the Netherlands, Erina “Erina” Peperzak”, from the Netherlands, and Courtney “Courtney” Johnson, from Connecticut looked dominant throughout the event, but fell short in the final series. With their victory, FoB won $6,000 while runner-up Kansas City Pioneers took home the $3,000 second place prize.
In addition to Raidiant’s in-studio production and community partner, Women’s Car Ball Championship (WCBC), providing a supporting broadcast, Raidiant opened the opportunity for Twitch live streamers to broadcast the event to their own fan bases. Prominent Rocket League community members Demi “TigerQueen” Green, Maximilian “MK” Kruger, MJ “Widow” Austyn, Cailee “Cailee” Hastings, and Kaciedilla each co-streamed matches throughout the weekend.
Raidiant stemmed from NME’s and Dignitas’ long-time commitment to women gamers, including being one of the first organizations to recruit women content creators in the early 2000’s and home to the multi-time women’s World Champion CS:GO and VALORANT team. Since NME launched its women’s gaming initiatives in August 2020, and since branded as Raidiant in November 2021, the platform has hosted quarterly women-focused events including live panels, ‘Play With Pros’ game nights, and recruited women content creators and esports athletes.
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