Business
Guild expands Counter-Strike presence
Guild expands Counter-Strike presence.
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[{"type":"text","content":"\n\nPress release\n \n21 August 2023\n \nGuild Esports PLC\n \n(\"Guild Esports\", \"Guild\", or \"the Company\")\n \nGuild expands Counter-Strike presence with men's team\n \nGuild Esports PLC (LSE: GILD; OTCQB: GULDF), a global gaming-focused media business, is pleased to announce it will be fielding a second professional team to compete in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (\"Counter-Strike\"), a team-based, first-person shooter.\n \nThe new team, which will compete under the Guild banner, is Guild's first entry into men's Counter-Strike esports. The team will comprise five players, plus coaching staff, with the Company to announce its roster in due course. The announcement follows the launch of Guild's all-female Counter-Strike team on 8 March 2023.\n \nCounter-Strike is among the world's most popular esports, with an audience that is continuing to grow. The Paris Major in March 2023, among Counter-Strike's most competitive tournaments, had an average viewership of 507,688 across its 116 hours of airtime, peaking at 1,528,724 concurrent viewers (source: Esports Charts, 2023).\n \nIn March 2023, Counter-Strike's developer, Valve, announced the upcoming launch of Counter-Strike 2, a ground-up overhaul of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive experience. Valve had not made significant changes of this scale to Counter-Strike since the launch of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2012. The approaching launch of Counter-Strike 2 has reinvigorated community interest in both the game and its esports ecosystem. Alongside this announcement, Valve has announced new requirements to the competitive Counter-Strike ecosystem which are expected to significantly reduce the entry costs associated with some of the top tier men's tournaments.\n \nFollowing these announcements from Valve, and the positive reception of Guild's all-female Counter-Strike team, the Directors of the Company believe now is an opportune moment for Guild to enter men's Counter-Strike, to capitalise on the increasing audience engagement and lower barriers to entry.\n \nThe Company has identified multiple sponsorship and revenue-generation opportunities as a result of the new team, as Counter-Strike has more permissive policies on advertising compared with other esports. The funding to launch the team has been provided by m...