Similar businesses have monetized through providing offline goods like toys, DVDs, video game partnerships, TV programs, and clothing.
Alongside the raise, PlayVS also announced new game partnerships, bringing Rocket League and SMITE into the company's portfolio.
Editor's note: Julien Codorniou is the head of EMEA Game Partnerships at Facebook where he works with the growing social games industry in Europe.
Stephen is joining a collaborative effort between the sports and games partnership teams to support the eSports and gaming communities using our platform".
1.51pm: EA has a new multi-year multi-game partnership with UFC.
The new game marks Nintendo's second mobile games partnership, following a deal struck with fellow Japanese company DeNA in May to make a series of games based on its characters and brands.
Founded by the gymnast of the same name who won three gold medals in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the company is in fierce competition with Nike and Adidas to win over China's growing legion of recreational athletes (it lost the deal for a Beijing-games partnership to Adidas).
"Epic Games' partnership with Improbable, and the integration of Improbable's cloud-based development platform SpatialOS, is based on shared values, and a shared belief in how companies should work together to support mutual customers in a straightforward, no-surprises way," the blog post reads.
A source tells us Ellis will be operating under Guy Cross, Facebook's head of games partnerships for North America.
Sean Ryan, Director of Games Partnerships at Facebook, used to work at Sega, News Corp Games and started a few small companies focusing on virtual world categories of games.
The company has recently posted a job listing for a Head of Games Partnerships, who will be asked to "develop and enhance successful partnerships and influence internal and external partners and industry stakeholders in the Gaming industry".
