Gfinity

Gfinity is an international esports company based in London, England. Founded in 2012, it develops and delivers esports experiences and strategies for game publishers, sports rights holders, commercial partners and media companies. Partnerships have included Formula One, the Premier League, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Amazon.com, BT Sport and Sky. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market.

Gfinity plc
TypePublic limited company
LSE: GFIN
Industry
FoundedSeptember 2012 (2012-09) in London, England
FounderNeville Upton
Headquarters
London
,
England, UK
Key people
John Clarke (CEO)
Revenue GB£7.87 million[1] (2019)
Number of employees
62[1] (2020)
Websitewww.gfinityplc.com

Alongside its esports business, Gfinity launched Gfinity Digital Media (GDM) in 2020, which comprises six websites focused on gaming and technology news and features. The Gfinity community has been built over time through online tournaments, professional events and its owned competition platform, the Gfinity Elite Series, which was broadcast through linear and digital channels until 2019. The company launched its first subscription service, Gfinity Plus, in July 2020.

History

Gfinity was founded in 2012 and merged with online league and tournament platform the Warped Gaming League (WGL) in 2013.[2] The company held its first event G1 in July 2013, followed by G2 in October and G3 in August 2014, which included $30,000 Call of Duty, $7,500 FIFA and $15,000 StarCraft tournaments.[3] In February 2015, Gfinity hosted the Call of Duty European Championships at London's Royal Opera House.[4] The following month, it partnered with cinema chain Vue to open the UK's first dedicated esports venue for the inaugural Gfinity Championships, which included tournaments for Hearthstone, FIFA and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[5] The event, which included 23 weekly tournaments, attracted over 58 million viewers.[6]

In 2016, Gfinity hosted the first Formula E Race Off,[7] the Halo World Championship Tour,[8] the Vainglory European Winter Championship,[9] the Call of Duty World League Summer Masters,[10] and many more tournaments. Also in May, the Battlefield 1 global reveal event took place at the Gfinity Arena, including the premiere of the game's official trailer.[11] In 2017, it was announced that Gfinity had partnered with American cable television provider Medicom.[12] Later that year, the company was chosen by Microsoft as the official tournament partner for the Forza Racing Championship.[13] Recent partnerships include Formula One,[14] the Premier League,[15] Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management,[16] Microsoft,[17] Activision Blizzard,[17] Amazon.com,[18] BT Sport[19] and the Sky Group.[15]

In March 2020, Gfinity CEO Graham Wallace and executive chairman Garry Cook stepped down from their roles; they were replaced, respectively, by global brand officer John Clarke and the company's co-founder Neville Upton.[20] The same month, the company was selected to operate the online qualifiers and playoffs for the inaugural ePremier League USA by NBC Sports.[21] In April, Gfinity hosted the ePL Invitational tournament for Sky Sports, from which the prize fund was donated to the #PlayersTogether initiative to benefit the National Health Service.[22] The tournament was viewed by over 150 million people across all channels.[23] After signing a multi-year agreement to deliver the F1 Esports Series, Gfinity delivered eight virtual races during the 2020 Formula One season postponement.[24]

In May 2020, Gfinity announced the creation of a new digital media group within the Company, Gfinity Digital Media (GDM), headed up by Talal Musa.[25] With its launch, GDM also revealed Gfinity Plus, a digital rewards programme that supports gamer forums and facilitates data collection, which launched in July.[26]

Services

Community building

Utilising its own technological intellectual property and production processes, Gfinity creates and delivers virtual and online esports programmes and competitions for publishers, sports rights holders, brands and media organisations, including Activision and 2K Games.[17]

Since April 2020, the company has delivered the Virtual Grand Prix series and the ePremier League Invitationals, delivering record-breaking figures during the cancellation of many sporting events amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[17] The Virtual Grand Prix Series received 30 million views across TV and digital platforms during the lockdown period, whilst the ePremier League Invitational Tournament received over 150 million total video views.[23] Gfinity also partnered with BT Sport to produce the BT Sports FIFA Challenge,[27] and with Willow TV to deliver the eCricket Challenge, a series which saw professional cricketers competing against each other in the video game Cricket 19.[28]

Joint ventures/partnerships

Gfinity also partners with organisations to deliver projects across creative, production, game operations, community building and commercial opportunities.

In June 2020, Gfinity agreed a five-year partnership with Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management.[16] Together, the two companies created the Global Racing Series, of which the first product is the V10 R League. The new racing championship will feature some of the fastest professional simulation racing drivers with a roster of teams from digital motorsport.[29]

Gfinity Digital Media

Gfinity's media arm operates and owns six gaming-based websites: GfinityEsports.com, RealSport101.com, StealthOptional.com, RealGaming101.es, RealGaming101.pt and RealGaming101.me. The sites are monetised through CPM (programmatic static and video advertising), CPA (affiliate sales and brand partnerships), site takeovers and social amplification.[25] The company has partnerships in place with industry leaders Venatus (for ad serving) and Trackonomics (for e-commerce).[25]

The primary website, GfinityEsports.com, saw an increase in monthly users from 5,652 in May 2019 to 6,316,269 by May 2020, delivering over 21 million page views in April 2020.[30] RealSport101.com, which the company acquired for £2.4 million in 2018,[31] increased its user base by almost 70% in the same period, while tech-focused site StealthOptional.com, formed in March 2020, has reached more than 110,000 users since its launch.[30] Gfinity Plus, launched in July 2020, is a reward-based product used by the company to "gather data and pave the way for the company to offer online social tournament play".[32]

References
  1. "Gfinity plc Annual Report & Financial Statements 2019" (PDF). Gfinity. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  2. Robinson, Martin (26 February 2014). "How Gfinity wants to establish eSports in the UK". Eurogamer. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  3. Robinson, Calvin (4 August 2014). "Gfinity – UKs Biggest eSports Tournament Wraps-Up". GodisaGeek.com. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  4. Stuart, Keith (11 February 2015). "Call of Duty European championships to be hosted by Royal Opera House". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  5. Yin-Poole, Wesley (18 February 2015). "UK's first eSports arena opens in London next month". Eurogamer. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  6. "Gfinity blows away targets with 58m viewers in 2015". MCV. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  7. "Senna & Prost trade cars for consoles to race fans in the next generation of gaming". Formula E. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  8. Wright, James (15 January 2016). "Halo World Championship Tour: Watch all the Halo 5 action from the Gfinity Arena". Daily Star. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  9. Pelling, Oscar (22 March 2016). "Team Secret wins Vainglory European Winter Championship at the Gfinity Arena". Esports News UK. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  10. "Gfinity to Host Call of Duty World League: London". PR Newswire. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  11. Skipper, Ben (7 May 2016). "Battlefield 1 interview: EA Studios EVP on World War 1 setting, single player, remasters and horses". International Business Times. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  12. "MediaCom partners with Gfinity". Sport Industry Group. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  13. Ashcroft, Jamie (13 April 2017). "Gfinity and Microsoft partner to host Forza Racing Championship". Proactive Investors. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  14. Sacco, Dom (23 March 2020). "Gfinity to deliver Formula 1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix Series which runs until May". Esports News UK. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  15. Muirhead, Calum (20 April 2020). "Gfinity jumps as it prepares to host inaugural ePremier League Invitational tournament". Proactive Investors. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  16. "Gfinity and Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management to launch new esports championship". SportBusiness. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  17. "Gfinity gets pandemic boost as world turns to esports". Proactive Investors. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  18. "Gfinity selected by Amazon to deliver The Twitch Prime Crown Cup". Gfinity. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  19. McCaskill, Steve (11 May 2020). "BT Sport And Gfinity Develop Esports Formats For U.K. TV During Lockdown". Forbes. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  20. Handrahan, Matthew (25 March 2020). "Gfinity's CEO and chairman step down ahead of 60% cost reduction plan". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  21. Cronin, Ben (26 February 2020). "Gfinity to deliver online qualifiers for ePremier League USA". SportBusiness. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  22. "Gfinity hits the back of the net with the first ePremier League Invitational Tournament". Vox Markets. 20 April 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  23. Parker, Jason (5 May 2020). "Premier League Esports Invitational Secures More Than 150 Million Views". EsportsTalk. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  24. Wootton, Jamie (20 May 2020). "Gfinity continues to operate F1 Esports Series in multi-year deal". Esports Insider. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  25. Ashton, Graham (26 May 2020). "Gfinity Expands With Digital Media Group, Ecommerce, and Digital Rewards". The Esports Observer. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  26. Morgan, Francesca (13 July 2020). "Gfinity to launch Gfinity Plus rewards programme". Vox Markets. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  27. Sacco, Dom (12 May 2020). "Gfinity partners with BT Sport for new FIFA Challenge tournament". Esports News UK. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  28. Sacco, Dom (17 April 2020). "Gfinity to run cricket esports TV series tournament with pro cricketers taking part, including England's Stuart Broad". Esports News UK. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  29. Sacco, Dom (7 June 2020). "Gfinity and Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management to create a jointly owned new esports racing championship". Esports News UK. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  30. Impey, Steven (26 May 2020). "Gfinity launches new digital media arm to boost revenues". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  31. Harrington, John (13 March 2018). "Gfinity buys RealSport e-sports hub for £2.4mln". Proactive Investors. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  32. "Gfinity announces creation of Gfinity Digital Media and new ecommerce and rewards programme initiatives". Gfinity. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
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