Azubu was a live streaming

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

website. In May 2017, it shut down and was succeeded by Smashcast.

History

Azubu was founded in 2012 when Lars Windhorst noticed that children were using live streaming services to watch others play

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s, with the biggest game being

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

. Windhorst claimed "it was exotic" to witness people watch others play video games. Over a four-year span, Sapinda Group, the firm that Windhorst owned, invested $40 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

into Azubu. In 2014, Azubu announced a partnership with fourteen League of Legends streamers including Faker of SKT T1 K and MadLife of CJ Entus Frost. Throughout much of 2016, several employees left the company, leaving Sapinda Group to fund Azubu less and less. Windhorst eventually admitted that he had funded Azubu inefficiently and should have provided more sufficient funding. Sapinda Group would "drip-feed" funds to Azubu to accelerate growth. In April 2016 Azubu revealed that they had been developing a better video player and a revenue network that they released for their website. The same year, Esportspedia, owned by Azubu, moved to EsportsWikis.

Closure

In January 2017, Azubu revealed that they were no longer able to stream

due to a $2 million price increase in streaming rights. The same month, Azubu announced that they had acquired and were working on develop a new

eSports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

platform. On May 9, 2017, Hitbox shut down, with the new release of the Azubu team and the Hitbox team's new platform Smashcast. Azubu allegedly have not paid out the prizes for several

events. The current

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, Mike McGarvey, explained the reason as "Azubu’s previous management team made commitments to broadcasters and events far beyond the company’s means".

References

{{Internet streaming services Former video hosting services Internet television channels Mass media companies established in 2012 Internet properties disestablished in 2017 Video game streaming services Video game websites Video hosting