Esports Insider has hailed last week’s ESI London business conference as their biggest yet, as more than 300 delegates met at Olympia London.
Leaders from sports, technology and esports attend the biggest esports focused business conference in Europe, whose media partners included Esports News UK.
The show featured exhibition and networking events as well as speaker sessions, including a panel on UK esports, which we’ll write a separate post about as soon as we have the panel’s video footage.
Overall, more than 60 speakers shared their knowledge and experience across the two-day period. Highlights included sessions from tournament organisers such as ESL, StarLadder and FACEIT, teams including compLexity, Vitality, Fnatic, and NiP as well as Leicester City FC footballer Christian Fuchs and more.
The show culminated in the inaugural ESI Hall of Fame, in partnership with GINX Esports TV, on Thursday September 20th September.
London’s Natural History Museum played host to over 600 people as three key industry members were recognised in the ESI Hall of Fame. Those were:
- Michal ‘CARMAC’ Blicharz – VP of Pro Gaming at ESL (pictured right)
- Jason Lake – CEO of compLexity Gaming
- Chris Puckett – Host, producer & caster (pictured left)
“ESI London was our biggest event yet by some margin, and both the attendance and buzz around the conference were further indicators of the current excitement that surrounds this industry.”
Sam Cooke, ESI
The ceremony marked the first annual event which, each year, will commemorate three worthy trailblazers who have carved the path for competitive gaming globally and award them a place in the ESI Hall of Fame.
Following the conference on Friday 21st September, attendees were granted access to the sold-out FACEIT London Major, which drew 1m concurrent viewers online and saw Astralis lift the trophy.
Sam Cooke, MD and co-founder of Esports Insider, said: “ESI London was our biggest event yet by some margin, and both the attendance and buzz around the conference were further indicators of the current excitement that surrounds this industry.
“The conference saw a number of solid debates and insightful talks from industry veterans, and we will have plenty of in-depth coverage, both editorial and video, covering these coming out soon.”
ESI announced that the next ESI event will be held in New York City in April 2019, plus its regular Forum Series will return, which has sparked some interesting debate and comment in the past. It also announced the Esports Insider Trust, which will act as a bridge and support between the esports sector and outside entities to facilitate partnerships.
Photo credit: JakHowardPhoto
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
