Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco speaks to London Esports co-directors Alfie Wright (left) and Billy Maulkerson (right) about the history of their org, beating Team Envy and their future ambitions in CSGO, Smash and a possible move into League of Legends.
London Esports have won the ESL CSGO Prem and the Grosvenor CSGO tournament in recent months.
They’ve been in Dota, Rocket League and more, and when I talk to them they’re running production at Wanyoo’s League of Legends Championship with their media team. So they’re a storied org – but want more.
So how did they start out and what successes have they seen?
Billy says: “We first started on Dota 2, that was our main focus and we transitioned to Rocket League and the DreamHack in Leipzig.
“We had our first great spell when we knocked out Team Envy, which was a bit success for us. After that we went back to Dota and picked up a European team. We picked up a player called ComeWithMe, who was famous for being in the first ever International in 2011 playing for Online Kingdom with the likes of Clinton “Fear” Loomis. So that was a nice signing for us.
Alfie adds: “With that team we entered The International open qualifiers and made it all the way to the finals of the qualifiers but got beat by Alliance. It was still good for us in terms of experience as we were still quite new at the time.”
On their CSGO successes, Billy comments: “We won the Grosvenor Casinos CSGO tournament and the ESL Prem within quick succession. We picked up another roster and made Mountain Dew League relegations.”
Alfie continues: “We’re the only UK team in it – we just played Endpoint and beat them. It’s a knockout tournament, we’re in there with the likes of Vitality. It’d be good for us as a UK team to get through. So that’s our goal for now.”
What about other games? London Esports also have Smash Ultimate players – and are looking at League of Legends.
Alfie says: “Esports-wise, Smash is still growing but community-wise it’s massive in the UK. We want to help grow that – those are our two targets at the moment.
“We really want to get into League of Legends and LVP’s UKLC [through Forge of Champions].”
“In terms of the UK scene in general, it’s still growing, it’s not at the level it could be. I think organisations have to work together.”
Billy concludes: “It’s about getting the UK teams to a global stage. I think Excel Esports have done that now and I think that’s what we’re trying to do next.
“If we can climb into the CSGO Mountain Dew League, some of the teams in there a massive. We have a full UK roster as well – it’d be really good for people to see that when you’re tuning into the stream.”
Read more about London Esports on their website or Twitter here
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.
