The future is bright for UK esports if teams work together to grow the scene, says Michael ‘ODEE’ O’Dell in a new mini-documentary on the rise of UK esports.
The ReKTGlobal chief gaming officer, London Royal Ravens MD and founder of Dignitas spoke about the growth of Dignitas before he sold it to The Philadelphia 76ers in 2016, as part of a ‘Fragments’ mini-documentary by Ubisoft’s recently launched gTV channel.
The episode also featured ODEE’s success in the CGS with Birmingham Salvo, clips of early Insomnia LANs (including a fresh-faced journalist by the name of Richard Lewis), host Frankie Ward and the rise of Twitch.
It also featured comments from Endpoint CEO Adam Jessop, who spoke about wanting to be that next British esports powerhouse and following in Dignitas’ footsteps.
“The UK teams at the moment are actually talking to each other more than they ever used to. If they all work together and build the UK scene, it will be better for all. So that’s what I’d say to them.”
ODEE, ReKTGlobal
“For UK esports, the future is extremely bright,” ODEE said. “The UK teams at the moment are actually talking to each other more than they ever used to. If they all work together and build the UK scene, it will be better for all. So that’s what I’d say to them.”
Adam Jessop added: “Let’s try and nurture British talent, let’s try and get another UK powerhouse that people can follow and cheer, let’s try and retain British identity and let’s really put the UK back on the map.”
When talking about setting up Endpoint five years ago, Adam said: “I kind of realised internationally, esports was blowing up, but here in the UK, for whatever reason, it was kind of still stagnant. The only team that had any success was Dignitas, and for me they left a huge gap in the market for someone to come along and be that next British powerhouse.
“[In 2016] I’d recently got married and I decided I wanted to build an organisation again (Endpoint), because I wanted to fill the gap Dignitas had kind of left behind. And so that really was the start of the journey.”
You can watch the 10-minute episode here:
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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.
