The esports industry, still nursing its hangover from the “esports winter,” has stumbled into AI with all the grace of a drunken gamer at a LAN party. Evil Geniuses—yes, the same org that somehow won Valorant in 2023—has unveiled Meesh, an AI chatbot mascot that answers fan questions with the enthusiasm of a sleep-deprived Discord mod.
Meet Meesh: The Mascot Nobody Asked For 🤖
Meesh, a “critter” (because calling it a mascot would be too mainstream), exists to regurgitate match schedules, player stats, and—if you’re lucky—an inside joke or two. Built by Theta Labs, Meesh is essentially a glorified FAQ bot with a personality (read: pre-scripted quirkiness). It types responses because, as CEO Chris DeAppolonio admits, “Meesh is fairly non-verbal.” Translation: They couldn’t afford voice synthesis.
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Evil Geniuses insists this is pioneering AI integration, but let’s be real—this is just another brand trying to stay relevant in a post-hype esports economy. The real innovation? Meesh won’t spew toxic garbage (allegedly), which is more than we can say for most online gaming communities.
Theta’s EdgeCloud: Decentralized or Just Desperate?
Theta Labs, the blockchain-flavored cloud provider behind Meesh, boasts 80 PetaFLOPS of distributed GPU power. Impressive? Maybe. Necessary for a chatbot that could’ve been built on GPT-3.5 Turbo? Absolutely not. But hey, at least Evil Geniuses can now say they’re AI-powered while their merch sales spike 250% (the real victory here).
The Verdict?
Meesh is less revolutionary AI and more corporate mascot with a ChatGPT wrapper. But in an industry where engagement is measured in Discord pings and meme shares, maybe that’s enough. 🎮 Now, if only Meesh could explain why esports orgs keep hemorrhaging money…