Guild Esports has quickly made waves since their establishment. Boasting strong teams for FIFA, Rocket League, Valorant as well as popular content creators among their roster – they have quickly established an impressive presence.
Recently, they listed on the London Stock Exchange, raising $30 million in capital.
Founded in 2019
Guild Esports is a competitive gaming company co-owned by David Beckham that competes in games like Rocket League and FIFA, in addition to an esports academy and training facility. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, its goal is to become one of the world’s top 10 esports franchises within three years and has already hired Carleton Curtis as executive chairman to spearhead this endeavor.
Guild Esports boasts both an online academy and physical training centre in Shoreditch, London. According to Guild’s statement, its online academy has generated great player engagement.
Guild’s revenue sources include tournament prize money, merchandise sales and sponsorship agreements. Unfortunately, esports teams only earn minimally from tournament prize money as most of it goes directly back into player pockets – therefore its growth won’t likely happen quickly without signing high-profile players in order to boost its income streams significantly.
Co-owned by David Beckham
David Beckham, the former English footballer, has made an investment in Guild Esports through DB Ventures and will hold a minority stake. This investment will allow Guild to build training and scouting infrastructure similar to what Premier League teams have established – as well as competing in major eSports tournaments.
Additionally, this company will open an online coaching academy to develop future eSports players. Furthermore, CEO Carleton Curtis previously served as vice president at Activision Blizzard where he helped to establish popular Call of Duty and Overwatch eSports competitions.
Furthermore, the company has also entered an R&D partnership with Australian artificial intelligence developer Gerford AI. The goal of the collaboration is to develop AI-powered technologies which enhance athlete performance, speed up data analysis processes and streamline pre-game preparation.
Competes in Fortnite and Rocket League
Few new esports organizations have generated as much criticism as British-based Guild Esports has. It caused outrage when it listed on the London Stock Exchange without fielding a team or gamer and managed to raise 30 million pounds during this process.
Guild Esports currently competes in Rocket League and FIFA, and recently entered VALORANT through their acquisition of Bonk. Furthermore, Guild Esports provides fashion lines as well as content creators across numerous games and platforms.
Guild believes it can connect and engage key audience groups using the appropriate social channels. After extensive research and analysis, it identified TikTok as its initial platform focus and hopes to increase its owned media reach to two million over two years by forging innovative partnerships that benefit investors as well as consumers; ultimately reducing dependence on sponsorship income for growth.
Founded the Guild Academy
Guild Esports, the expanding competitive gaming company co-owned by David Beckham has launched an online academy for budding esports stars aged 11+. Through the Guild Academy platform, players will have access to training programmes, tournaments and gameplay analysis from Guild’s experts.
The online academy will feature a parental centre to inform players and their families about the industry and assist with career development. It is inspired by football academies set up by leading Premier League clubs, but was designed specifically to support player wellbeing both on-field and off.
Guild Academy has taken an innovative step to enhance player welfare, appointing Kit Brunswick as its safeguarding and wellbeing lead – a first in esports! This move could pave the way for new professional gamers who receive adequate support to remain healthy and content within this fast-paced industry. Although initially focused on Fortnite and Rocket League, in future the Academy plans on expanding to encompass other games.
