On the 24th of January 2022, Savvy Gaming Group, which the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund owns, officially bought both ESL Gaming and FACEIT. In total, both companies were estimated at around $1.5 billion.
Once they signed the paperwork, ESL Gaming and FACEIT merged into one company named ESL FACEIT Group. Joining the leading eSports company ESL, with the number one digital platform for gamers in FACEIT, indicates that Savvy Gaming Group wants to develop and grow eSports not just in Arab countries but also worldwide.
ESL Gaming and FACEIT
For over two decades, ESL has been the leading organization in eSports, bringing events and tournaments worldwide. It all started in 2000 when ESL began publishing their own magazine and gave out or rented online servers for competitive gaming. Fast forward to 2015, the Swedish company MTG bought majority stakes in ESL for over $86 million.
Over the next few years, ESL organized some of the biggest eSports events in history, in competitive games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, HALO, Mortal Kombat, and more. Besides ESL, MTG has also owned DreamHack, another big eSports event organizer, and in 2020, MTG decided to merge the two companies, ultimately creating ESL Gaming.
FACEIT, on the other hand, is an eSports platform. Besides creating and hosting tournaments, they also provide a space where players can play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Rocket League, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2.
One of the biggest tournaments that FACEIT has hosted was the 2018 London Major. Valve, the developers of CS: GO, gave the green light to FACEIT to host the thirteenth CS: GO Major. Besides being the first major eSports tournament hosted in the UK, it also had a prize pool of $1 million and held the later stages of the tournament at Wembley Arena.
Goals of ESL FACEIT Group
Individually, ESL and FACEIT have provided their platforms and hosted events and tournaments for gamers over the past two decades. With the merger, the company wants to create a better eSports environment for players, teams, and fans.
The numerous brands connected with both ESL and FACEIT will continue operating as usual. So there is no need to worry about your FACEIT or FPL rank or any changes to ESEA Leagues. Also, you will still be able to watch every upcoming tournament like IEM Rio 2022 or participate in any DreamHack festival.
The coming together of these two giants in eSports will certainly bring growth and evolution to the gaming world. Excellent teams have run the organizations over the years; now that they’ve joined, the future can only be bright.
ESL has also come out with an article showcasing the direction they want to head towards when the new merger is finally completed in the second quarter of 2022.
Finding and Coaching New Talent
With the creation of new online events, ESL FACEIT Group will look for up-and-coming gamers who show passion and love for the games they play. Also, there will be coaching and teaching platforms to bring out the potential of numerous players.
Various Local Online and LAN events
ESL FACEIT Group will support small local organizations that want to host local online or LAN tournaments, to further develop a stable grassroots level. They aim to increase the standards in as many regions as possible for amateur and professional level gamers.
Technology Development for Fair and Competitive Environments
For years, ESL and FACEIT have provided a fair playing field for everyone that wants to compete in their favorite video games.
However, with the merger, there will be more focus on developing a better server infrastructure and various anti-cheat solutions, so there can be a completely equal playing field in the future. Of course, all this tech will be free to all players and fans.
Final Thoughts
When the news was made public back in January, apart from the excitement from the majority of the eSports community, some were a little skeptical about how much the operations of the two organizations will change.
For now, the official press release from the ESL FACEIT Group assures us that the merger will create the biggest and best competitive gaming platform in the world. Changes will happen; however, the quality of service is bound to stay the same, even get better. If you are a gamer, there’s much to be excited about!
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