Update (March 9th 2022): Adamo Gaming has suddenly laid off the majority of its staff amidst pay complaints, with the founder promising those owed money will be paid.
Original article (April 13th 2021): New UK-based esports organisation Adamo Gaming is aiming to make big waves in esports after growing its team.
Adamo plans to run tournaments, field teams, create content and eventually even offer courses in esports.
Its first community tournament it has sponsored – the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Crown Cup – has been announced. This features a £250 prize pool and a 4v4 best-of-five series which will see players rotating on maps and game modes.
It takes place on Saturday April 24th from 1pm BST, with streamer Harri games on board as organiser and caster, and Adamo sponsoring the tournament.
Adamo is building a team of more than 80 staff to help achieve its goals, predominantly using the Government’s Kickstart Scheme. Last month, it brought on board experienced UK esports professional Matt Loftus as general manager.
Matt worked for ESL for more than seven years in a variety of league operations roles. At ESL UK he worked as head of league operations between October 2015 and December 2019, before picking up various freelance roles and working as esports operations manager at Sports Information Services (SIS).
Matt said: “The opportunity to shape the way Adamo Gaming is built and grows is extremely exciting. It is the start of something new, having yet another dedicated platform to help raw talent develop and hone their skills within an academy, growing the talent of the future is the key to what we do.”
The news comes after Adamo announced a rebrand.
In terms of companies, there’s Adamo Gaming Group Ltd, which recently changed its name to RZR GMZ LTD. There’s also Tenstar Personnel Limited, which has been hiring staff via job posts like this and this to grow the Adamo team.
There’s also Adamo Gaming Fellowship Ltd, a separate entity which Tom isn’t a director of.
Adamo founder addresses his past
Tom (full name Carl Thomas Roderick) previously pleaded guilty to operating a mobile phone insurance scam back in 2008.
Tom purchased his business from Raymond Fairclough, who pleaded guilty to benefit fraud in 2014. Raymond has nothing to do with Adamo Gaming as it is now.
A statement about Tom on the ‘about us’ page on the Adamo Gaming website, which was later removed, stated: “Tom heavily promotes inclusion, as an ex-offender himself, Tom has an appreciation for how labels and history can invite prejudice and judgement, he uses his own experience to promote tolerance, opportunity and to challenge stigmatisation.
“Tom’s offence happened over 13 years ago and he still faces challenges and judgement that is often difficult to overcome. These challenges reaffirm his efforts to be different and embrace people from all backgrounds.”
“Tom is involved with a number of charitable causes including MIND, The Royal Voluntary Service and promoting children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.”
This wording was later removed from the website.
Tom added: “My dream and drive for Adamo is to build the most genuinely inclusive, far reaching business that impacts lives positively through the medium of gaming.
“Gaming can create community and belonging at a time when the whole of society and the world has been challenged in a way never seen before. My ultimate aim is to attract, develop and retain young people in an industry they may not ordinarily have access to, whilst providing a level playing field for them to succeed.”
For clarity, Esports News UK’s Dom Sacco had previously agreed to help Adamo with consultancy work, but decided to step away and cut ties after one week.
There’s more info on the Adamo Gaming website
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.
