Formation | 21 March 2016 |
---|---|
Founder | Chester King (President) |
Legal status | Private limited Company |
Purpose | National Body Esports |
Headquarters | Sunderland |
Vice chair | Ed Vaizey |
Key people | Andy Payne OBE Chester King Tom Dore [1] |
Subsidiaries | Women in Esports |
Website | britishesports |
The British Esports Federation (also known as British Esports) is the national body for esports (or competitive video gaming) in the United Kingdom. It was established in March 2016 as the British Esports Association to help develop the UK's grassroots esports scene and provide an infrastructure to nurture future talent.
The association's chair is Andy Payne OBE, who has worked for the Mastertronic software publishing group, AppyNation, Just Flight and is a board member of UKIE, the trade body for the UK games industry. [2] Former Minister and MP Ed Vaizey joined the association as vice chair in October 2017.[ citation needed ] Andy Miah joined as advisory board member in November 2019. [3]
In April 2017, British Esports announced its first game advisers, who provide input and expertise to make sure the association can support and understand each game's community effectively. [4]
British Esports held an after-school esports club pilot scheme for school children at Maida Vale Library in Summer 2017. [5]
British Esports joined Ukie in early 2018, [6] the Creative Industries Federation [7] and the Sport and Recreation Alliance, as well as being a prominent member of the Global Esports Federation.
In early 2018, the inaugural British Esports Championships were announced. [8] The pilot Championships for schools and colleges ran from February to April 2018 [9] and the first full Championships ran from October 2018, in partnership with Twitch Student and AoC Colleges Sport, concluding with finals at the Insomnia Gaming Festival in 2019. [10] Following a rebrand in 2021, the British Esports Student Champs runs in two splits (Winter and Spring) across the academic year for students to compete for a spot at the live grand finals event. The 2022 Grand Finals are set to be held in conjunction with the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies in Nottingham.
In September 2018, British Esports teamed up with West Ham United Foundation, London Sport, Archery GB and GAME to host an activity week merging esports with sport, including football, archery and Rocket League. [11]
In December 2021, Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed in the first-ever Global Esports Games in Singapore. [12] Teams competed in Dota 2, Street Fighter V, and eFootball PES against one another, with the Dota 2 Women's team coming home with a silver medal at the end of the event.
In January 2022, it was announced that British Esports will be opening the National Esports Performance Centre in Sunderland. [13] The campus will act as a headquarters for the organisation, and will allow for further developments to the esports scene throughout the United Kingdom.
In February 2022, it was announced that the pilot for the Commonwealth Esports Championships is being supported by British Esports. The tournament will take place alongside the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July 2022. [14]
In October 2023, British eSports announced a partnership with the Saudi eSports Federation. [15] It was touted as being a collaboration aimed to set "new standards of excellence, education and innovation throughout the world of esports". This would include a variety of endeavours between the two parties, including internships, training programs and research projects.
The announcement was met with a large negative response on social media, with many concerns being raised around issues with Saudi Arabia's poor human rights records . In response British eSports issued a further statement on social media [16] clarifying that "no monetary contributions of any kind were received".
The British Esports Student Champs cover 4 main esports titles: Rocket League, League of Legends, Overwatch 2 and Valorant. Each tournament consists of a Winter Season with initial regionalisation and divisions, and a Spring Season with the chance of promotion into an higher division or the Nationals. [17] Teams can enter in the Spring Season without completing the Winter Season, but they will have to go through the same seeding process to determine their division placement.
Since 2021 the Spring Season/Split sees the introduction of the AOC Sport FIFA Cup, [18] and would normally involve the current version of the game. The AOC Sport FIFA 22 Cup contained two leagues for XBOX and Playstation, [19] due to the lack of cross-platform play in the FIFA series.
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams.
Kappa is an Italian sportswear brand founded in Turin, Piedmont, Italy in 1978 by Marco Boglione, as a sportswear branch of the already existing "Robe di Kappa".
The International Esports Federation (IESF) is a global organization based in South Korea whose mission it is to have esports recognized as a legitimate sport.
The ESL Gaming GmbH, doing business as ESL, is a German esports organizer and production company that produces video game competitions worldwide. ESL was the world's largest esports company in 2015, and the oldest that is still operational. Based in Cologne, Germany, ESL has eleven offices and multiple international TV studios globally. ESL is the largest esports company to broadcast on Twitch.
Complexity Gaming, formerly stylized as compLexity, is an American esports franchise headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The franchise was founded in 2003 by Jason Lake and was co-owned by real estate investor John Goff, and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
PSG.LGD was a professional Dota 2 team based in China. They were formed as a partnership between PSG Esports and LGD Gaming in April 2018 until the end of the partnership in September 2023. PSG.LGD has finished as the runner-up in The International 2018 and 2021.
The League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) is the professional League of Legends esports league run by Riot Games in the EMEA region, in which ten teams compete. Each annual season of play is divided into three splits, winter, spring and summer, all consisting of three weeks of round-robin tournament play, which then conclude with play-off tournaments between the top six teams. At the end of the season, the top performing teams qualify for the annual League of Legends World Championship. The LEC represents the highest level of League of Legends play in the EMEA.
Clement Ivanov, better known as Puppey, is an Estonian professional Dota 2 player for Team Secret. He is the founding member of Team Secret. Together with Natus Vincere, Puppey won The International 2011 in August 2011 for a one million dollar first place prize. They also took runner-up for the next two Internationals.
OG is a professional esports organisation based in Europe. Formed in 2015, they are best known for their Dota 2 team who won The International 2018 and 2019 tournaments. They also have a Counter-Strike 2 and a Rocket League team.
Wings Gaming was a Chinese Dota 2 esports team based in Chongqing. They were best known for winning over US$9 million at The International 2016 (TI6), which was one of the most lucrative esports tournaments in history. Wings were founded in the aftermath of post-The International 2014 roster shuffles in China, with the TI6 winning roster being put together in August 2015.
PSG Esports is a professional esports club which is department of parent French football club Paris Saint-Germain. They have active teams in EA Sports FC, Dota 2, League of Legends, Rocket League and Arena of Valor. Formerly, the club also had teams in Brawl Stars, FIFA Online and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Its headquarters and training center are located at the Studio PSG in Boulogne-Billancourt, which also hosts the Paris Saint-Germain Academy Esports.
FACEIT is an esports platform founded in London in 2012. The company has administered leagues for games such as Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Rocket League, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2.
List of events in 2018 in esports.
LGD Gaming is a Chinese professional esports organization based in Hangzhou. It is one of the oldest esports organizations in China and currently has players competing in Dota 2, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Overwatch, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Anathan Pham, better known as ana, is an Australian professional Dota 2 player. As a member of OG, he has played in three iterations of The International, winning in 2018 and 2019, and has also won two Major championships tournaments.
Galaxy Racer is an esports and gaming organization based in Dubai, UAE and founded in 2019 by Paul Roy. As of 2023, Galaxy Racer's competitive esports division, Nigma Galaxy, has a roster of 13 esports teams playing Battlegrounds Mobile India, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Fortnite, Free Fire, League of Legends, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG Mobile. It also has partnerships with various companies and organizations such as La Liga and Polaris Sports.
The Global Esports Federation (GEF) is a non-governmental organization that convenes the world's esports community. It was established on December 16, 2019, and is headquartered in Singapore, where it is a registered society under the Singapore Registry of Societies.
Esports at the 2022 Asian Games were held at the China Hangzhou Esports Center in Hangzhou, China from 24 September to 2 October 2023.
Team Spirit is an international esports organization based in Belgrade. Founded in 2015, the organization currently has teams competing in Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Hearthstone and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Their Dota 2 squad won two iterations of The International, the former event in which the organisation received the largest single prize money payout in esports history at $18 million. In 2022, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the organization relocated to Belgrade, Serbia.