Joel Holmes-Darby, the co-founder of Excel Esports, has joined another big UK esports organisation today: Method.
As general manager, he will be working with Method’s World of Warcraft guild and future Method teams ‘to optimise performance’ as well as play a key role in Method’s ongoing rebuild from the staff side.
Joel will oversee the day-to-day operations at Method, providing solutions to business issues and implementing strategies, policies and processes for the organisation.
Most recently, Joel worked as chief people officer at Excel, which he stepped away from in October 2020. He co-founded Excel six years ago with his brother Kieran Holmes-Darby, who is still at Excel as chief gaming officer.
Joel has also previously worked at Gfinity Esports as franchise lead on the Gfinity Elite Series and at KPMG in roles spanning management consulting and audit.
“I intend to help enable Method to achieve its rebuild objectives and bring on incredible talent and teams that demonstrate Method’s continued commitment to competitive success.”
Joel Holmes-Darby, Method
He holds an MSc in Human Resource Management from the Edinburgh Institute of Leadership and Management, as well as a BA (Hons) in Management with Leadership from the University of Exeter.
Joel said: “I am delighted to join Method as their new general manager.
“For my next adventure in the esports industry I was looking for a home that would provide me with two things.
“Firstly, I wanted a new challenge and Method’s rebuild was the perfect fit. Method as a brand has achieved many impressive feats in the past and over the last six months Method has put significant work in to rebuilding the organisation internally.
“They have learned from their mistakes, and in doing so have paved the way for an improved version of the organisation that can thrive in 2021 and beyond.
“Secondly, I was looking for a role that I felt I could add significant value to.
“My experience in the industry thus far has given me a very unique perspective and a strong operational skillset, which I intend to bring to this new role to help enable the organisation to achieve its rebuild objectives and bring on incredible talent and teams that demonstrate Method’s continued commitment to competitive success.
The news comes after Method finished 7th in the Castle Nathria Race to World First in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, following its rebuild and acquisition of Reason’s raid team, after Method’s 2020 abuse scandal.
Yesterday, Method founder and CEO Scott ‘Sco’ McMillan published an update on Method:
“We are as committed as ever to building out the Method guild over the Shadowlands expansion to compete for World First again,” Sco said.
“I am incredibly proud of the effort the guild put in this tier. Finishing 7th exceeded expectations and it is more than I could have hoped for when I was reading through community applications and speaking with Reason’s officer team only a couple of months ago.
“2020 ushered in a new beginning for Method. Now 70 total staff, players, and creators are wearing Method’s colours, alongside a community team of 2,300+ members strong as we continue to grow.
“We’ll continue to look to the community to strengthen the raid team further in 2021.”
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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.
