This week in TPoI, we covered several important industry news stories outside of E3, including Gawker’s bankruptcy, Overwatch’s first major tournament, and Michael Bay’s journey into VR gaming. Additionally, if you’d like to hear about some of the top announcements at E3 this year, please check out our roundup on the TriplePoint blog, here. 

Gawker Media Bankruptcy

Gawker Media is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after its messy battle against Peter Thiel and Hulk Hogan resulted in a $140 legal judgement from the invasion-of-privacy lawsuit. As the parent company of gaming blog Kotaku, the company has already received an offer from Ziff Davis for less than $100 million for the entire operation, reports Re/Code. Under this pending acquisition, Kotaku, among other Gawker blogs, may soon be joining the Ziff Davis family alongside publications like IGN, Geek.com, Askmen, and PC Magazine.

Overwatch Ramps Up its eSports Scene

The Daily Dot reports that Overwatch has reached 10 million players in its first month. Overwatch’s esports scene is also growing; ESL will be hosting a $100K tournament at Gamescom in August for the game. The Overwatch Atlantic Showdown will be Overwatch’s first major tournament since the game’s debut, with eight teams pulled from qualifiers starting June 27.

Michael Bay Joins the VR Gaming Club

The Rogue Initiative, the transmedia studio started by Ex-Infinity Ward producer Pete Blumel, recently revealed that Hollywood director Michael Bay would be joining the team as a strategic advisor. Blumel earlier had been quoted saying, “I’ve always loved finding ways of bringing Hollywood creatives together with AAA video game developers. Virtual reality is another great catalyst in building that bridge.” Bay will be directing The Rogue Initiative’s first “cinematic-style VR” project with the studio supporting development and production, reports GamesIndustry.