Konami : 2019 Season of Pro Baseball Esports League eBASEBALL Pawapuro Pro League Announced!

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. announce that the 2019 season of eBASEBALL Pawapuro Pro League, the professional baseball esports championship jointly organized by NPB and KONAMI, is now official.

eBASEBALL aims to expand baseball's fan base by providing new ways of enjoying baseball through esports. Following pro trials and the eDraft, the 2018-19 eBASEBALL Pawapuro Pro League season got underway in November. After intense competition in the ePennant Race and eLeague Playoffs, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars emerged victorious in the Central League, while the Saitama Seibu Lions were triumphant in the Pacific League. The two teams faced off in the eBASEBALL Pawapuro Pro League 2018-19 SMBC eNippon Series (or the SMBC eNippon Series 2018-19) on Saturday, January 12, and Saitama Seibu Lions was crowned the first eNippon Series champions.

All the action on the field this season, including the fans cheering from their seats, has garnered much attention through sports internet media SPORTS BULL, live game streaming platform OPENREC.tv, live broadcasts on Pacific League official streaming service Pacific League TV, and the KONAMI official website video archive, with the total number of viewers exceeding two million. In addition, companies supporting the eBASEBALL initiative participated in the tournament as sponsors, by advertising their logos in the stadiums where games were played during the season, and running commercials in tournament videos.

Additional tournament information will be posted on official websites. Stay tuned and get excited for more eBASEBALL pro baseball action!

List of eBASEBALL Pawapuro Pro League 2018-19 sponsors*In alphabetical order

Coca-Cola (Japan) Company, Ltd. (manufacturing and sales of soft drinks)
The Lawson Group (development of Lawson's chain stores and Lawson Entertainment, Inc.'s general entertainment enterprise)
Softbank Corp. (provision of mobile communications services, sale of mobile devices, provision of fixed-line telecommunications and ISP services)
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (banking services)

About the Jikkyou Pawafuru Puroyakyu series

A flagship KONAMI IP, the Jikkyou Pawafuru Puroyakyu baseball game series has been enjoyed for over 20 years, going back to its birth as a console title in 1994. In 2014, KONAMI released mobile title 'Jikkyou Pawafuru Puroyakyu,' which features the player training mode known as Success Mode. Series entries have also gathered attention as eSports competition titles; in 2017, an eSports tournament played by means of the Jikkyou Pawafuru Puroyakyu series was held as part of the Culture Program of the National Sports Festival of Japan.

eBASEBALL Pawapuro Pro League 2018-19 official website