Facebook has just announced a partnership with Hi-Rez Studios’s hero-shooter Paladins. The partnership will combine what fans of Paladins were already using Facebook for – such as finding groups and games – with a vastly wider network of streaming content, essentially making Facebook the only source for official Paladins streams as well as the largest source for streaming Paladins content.

Facebook has stated nothing but altruism is behind this expansion of services for Paladins, but it’s likely that this is a first foothold into streaming and esports. Facebook has already shown their interest in streaming and video content – in fact, it’s sort of what they are focusing all their resources on – and they, like many others, are throwing their lot in with the esport crowd. Since traditional TV networks have almost no hold on the esport market, it will fall to major websites like Facebook, Twitch, and Youtube to broadcast esports events.

We suspect a larger strategy towards partnering with Paladins, which has a fairly modest following. With average concurrent users of 5000 and spikes as high as 35,000, Facebook could have chosen a much bigger partner, but we suspect this is a testing of the waters to see how well they can handle and grow a small audience before they decide to try on bigger esports franchises.

Whatever Facebook’s strategy, it is beginning to feel like a starting pistol has been fired in the race towards the top of esports. Blizzard is aggressively marketing and promoting Overwatch with partnerships with numerous sports owners. Meanwhile, CS: GO has a television deal and Riot has cemented franchises for 2018. These big names are currently in the lead, but it is going to be community reception, not cash, that ultimately decides what people watch. PUBG may be the dark horse winner, or even Paladins could start rising up the ranks.

Either way, 2018 is promising to be a new era in esports.