Guild Esports (GILD) has launched the Apex Legends Team whereby three top-tier players under the Guild banner will compete in the newly established Apex Legends Global Series
The esports organisation, co-owned by David Beckham, said its sixth professional team will feature three players ranked within the top ten in Europe; this comprises Matej Fekonja 'MaTaFe' (Slovenia), Juho Sillanpää 'Silta' (Finland) and Younes Elkherrat 'Horizxon' (UK).
The Company outlined that all three players, who will compete in Apex Legends, a free-to-play hero shooter game, have now signed one-year contracts with an option to renew for another year. They will each receive an annual salary with performance incentives.
It said the players will kick off their career under the Guild banner by competing in the Apex Legends Global Series, which will start on 16 October 2021 and which has a $5m prize pool.
Guild said its ‘proven world-class coaching and development’ is expected to benefit the team. Meanwhile, viewership for the global series has been increasing rapidly over the past 12 months and the competition has consistently ranked in the top five most-viewed on Twitch.
The Company said players of the franchise surpassed 100 million in 2020 (Source: EA) and that it believes there is potential for the Apex Legends ecosphere to see significant growth.
As a result, Guild believes that its investment in this team will contribute to a further increase in its network audience and open up multiple new revenue opportunities for the long term.
Kal Hourd, Guild’s CEO, said: "From the beginning, our goal has always been to bring together the best and most entertaining esports players to build an organisation that excites fans, attracts brands and provides teams with the opportunity to develop into champions.”
He said the new team will allow Guild “to continue disrupting the industry with advancements into new tournaments and representing Europe as a true force in Apex Legends."
Commenting on the new team, Guild Esports athlete, MaTaFe, stated: "I've been a big fan of what Guild has been doing in the industry for a long time, so when I was given the opportunity to be part of its first ever Apex Legends team it was a no brainer. Together with Silta and Horizxon, I'm excited to push the team to new heights and compete at the highest levels.”
He added, “With Guild's unique and personalised academy training programme, I'm confident that the organisation will only continue to get stronger and I'm looking forward to being a part of that journey."
In its half-year results to 31 March 2021 released in June, Guild Esports said it was on track to achieve its first-year sponsorship revenue targets as revenues continued to grow strongly.
The esports organisation co-owned by David Beckham hailed its position as the First esports team’s organisation to list on the LSE, which executed whilst raising £20m in the process.
At the time, the Company stated that its new business pipeline ‘continues to be robust’ and that it is currently in discussions with potential new sponsors to sign further deals for its core inventory (being main shirt partners, HQ naming rights, academy sponsors and regional partners), as well as exploring opportunities for strategic partnerships and content deals.
Guild Esport’s investors include London-listed Blue Star Capital. To date, the investment company, which is focused on investing in new technologies, has invested around £0.706 million in Guild Esports, and holds around a 5.95% of the issued share capital of Guild.
Guild was admitted to the Official List and started trading on the standard segment of the London Stock Exchange in October 2020 to take advantage of the growing esports markets.
Blue Star says the esports market is experiencing significant growth. In 2020 it was estimated at c.495m viewers and is projected to reach around 646 million viewers by 2023. This is expected to result in revenues growing over the same period from $950m to $1.60bn.
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