Experienced British esports executive Paul Kent has been appointed head of UK production operations at Esports Engine.
The US-based esports operations company has designed and executed esports programs for over 50 different titles for nearly two decades in the industry. Now it is expanding across Europe – and has hired Paul to lead the charge.
He will oversee the production operations and delivery of Esports Engine’s European expansion rollout.
Paul has a ton of experience in esports. He’s one of the longest-serving members of staff at Gfinity, having been one of the company’s initial hires and having worked there for eight years.
As director of esports and esports technology, he was responsible for a range of events and tournaments, and collaborated with global sports right holders to design and execute programs such as the F1 Esports Series and ePremier League. He was responsible for the development of Gfinity’s first tournament platform and its broadcast studios.
“Paul is an A-list hire, and we’re excited to have him leading our European production expansion efforts.”
Adam Apicella, Esports Engine
Prior to that, he worked at Creative Labs. He told Eurogamer back in 2014 he first got involved in esports before it was known as esports, back in the ’90s with Quake. Paul took part in tournaments such as QuakeWorld at CES.
“Paul is an A-list hire, and we’re excited to have him leading our European production expansion efforts,” said Esports Engine president and co-founder Adam Apicella.
“His extensive background in building esports operations from the ground up will allow us to scale our customer offering and continue to deliver best-in-industry experiences for players, teams and publishers alike.”
The Esports Engine team contains several experienced esports executives. Adam was at MLG for 15 years before working as VP of league and event operations at Blizzard Entertainment.
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.
