Visual media company Getty Images has announced that it has partnered with all-female simulation racing competition W Series Esports League.
The exclusive deal will see Getty Images become the official photographic partner of the league.
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The recently0launched sim racing league sees all W Series drivers battle it out on the iRacingplatform. The W Series championship has been postponed until 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Ken Mainardis, Global Head of Content at Getty Images, commented on the partnership in a release: “Ever since Getty Images was founded 25 years ago, our specialist operations team and industry-leading photographic talent have been at the forefront of creating innovative sports photography. This partnership furthers the W Series aim in elevating female esports to a global audience and demonstrates how Getty Images leads the way in delivering cutting-edge content to our customers around the world.”
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With a wealth of experience in sports photography, Getty Image will capture in-game images from the remaining races in the league. It is the second in-game photography deal that the company has signed this year, having secured a partnership to capture the FIA-sanctioned Gran Turismo championships.
Catherine Bond Muir, CEO of W Series, expressed her excitement surrounding the deal: “We at W Series are delighted to partner with Getty Images, whose expertise is unmatched across all sorts of photography and whose brand values in respect of diversity and inclusion are a great fit with those of W Series.
“But although the W Series Esports League provides great on-screen entertainment for fans and poses a stern sporting test for our drivers, there is a bigger purpose to it also: we hope that women and girls who perhaps have not engaged with esports or in particular sim racing, either as viewers or players, will be inspired by the exploits of our 20 female racers to embrace it in greater numbers than they have hitherto.”
Esports Insider says: Having already secured a deal with Gran Turismo, Getty Images has found a niche in capturing the action from within the game and, with sim racing undergoing significant expansion in recent months, it seems like a good place to start in esports.