Gfinity

Gfinity, founded in 2012, is a UK based eSports company which operates globally. It is based in London at the UK's only dedicated eSports Arena and is listed on the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market trading under LON:GFIN.^[1]

It hosts daily online tournaments from its online tournament platform as well as regular events at its arena that are broadcast online. It also has a free app for Xbox One; Tournament Builder.^[2] In March 2017 the Gfinity Challenger Series launched, as part of the Elite Series.^[3]

History

2012 - 2014

Gfinity merged with The Warped Gaming League, the online league and tournament platform, in 2013.^[4] It hosted G1 in July 2013 followed by G2 and G3 took place at the Copper Box at the Olympic Park in August 2014; which included a $30,000 Call of Duty, a $7,500 FIFA and a $15,000 StarCraft tournament.^[5]

2015

Gfinity hosted the Call of Duty European Championships at the Royal Opera House in February 2015.^[6]

Gfinity opened the first dedicated eSports Arena in early 2015 in Fulham, London.^[7] when it partnered with Vue Cinemas^[8] and organised over 20 offline events from the Gfinity Arena in the 2015 Gfinity Championships. Games played included Hearthstone, FIFA and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Over $500,000 in prize money was paid out to teams and players. The Championships attracted over 58 million views.^[9]

2016

Gfinity hosted the first FIA Formula E Race Off event in January 2016^[10] and in the same month delivered the Halo World Championship Tour ^[11] followed by the Vainglory European Winter Championship in March 2015,^[12] the second year in the FIFA Play Like a Legend tournament,^[13] it hosted the global reveal of Battlefield 1, premiering the official trailer and live stream from the Gfinity Arena in May 2016,^[14] the $20,000 Call of Duty World League Summer Masters,^[15] the Gears of War European Open tournaments and the Gillette Championship^[16] in July 2016, the Serious Rainbow 6 tournament with grime MC JME^[17] and the Nintendo Summer of Splat Finals^[18] in September 2016. The CS:GO Invitational took place at the Eurogamer Expo in the NEC in Birmingham.^[19] In December 2016 it delivered the $100,000 Gears Pro Circuit: London tournament.^[20]

2017

Gfinity organised the Gears Pro Circuit: Mexico in Mexico City and Call of Duty World League London in January, the EU Halo World Championship London at the Great Hall in Wembley Stadium and the LATAM Halo World Championship in Mexico City in February and the Gears Pro Circuit: Paris in La Gaîté Lyrique in May.

In January a partnership with Mediacom was announced.^[21]

The company was selected by Microsoft^[22] in April to be the exclusive tournament operator for the Forza Racing Championship 2017.^[23]

Online tournaments

Gfinity runs tournaments on its online platform for games on PlayStation 4, Xbox and PC which are open to registered competitors, membership is free. It also hosts competitions for companies such as Activision and Microsoft and has partnered with global brands such as the FIA Formula E,^[24] OMEN by HP, Gillette^[25] and Virgin Media.^[26]

It launched the FIFA 17 Futhead tournament in Europe, North and Latin America in June 2016 in partnership with Futhead.^[27] In March 2017 the tournament expanded to PlayStation 4.

It launched the Gfinity Elite Series in March 2017 with the Challenger Series supporting CS:GO, Rocket League and Street Fighter V.^[28]

References