UK-based esports organisation Semper Fortis has stepped back from FIFA, Hearthstone and more after posting a £1.22m loss in its financial year ending January 31st 2022.
The organisation made the announcement on Friday in its first annual report and said it is looking to reduce overhead costs due to difficult market conditions. It also said it will be staying in Rocket League, and the report highlighted a lack of sponsors.
Semper said its SMPR Rocket League team had secured its first commercial sponsor, The Topps Company, for a £10,000 deal.
“Whilst this amount is small, the company believe this is something for it to build on,” Semper said.
Semper said there was no other revenue from subscribers, sponsors, advertising and merchandising in the year ‘as the company grew its number of followers’ to 157,000 on SMPR channels, with a total digital footprint of 12.1m across players and Semper ambassadors (including footballers Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Harry Maguire).
Chairman Keith Harris said:
“The board is aware of the current economic uncertainty and difficult capital market conditions and therefore in recent weeks the company has looked to significantly reduce its overheads and conserve cash.”
Keith Harris, Semper Fortis Esports
“This has seen us withdraw from some of the new games we entered into during the year, leaving us to focus on our core Rocket League team which will take part in the Rocket League World Championships in Dallas in August 2022.”
Semper had previously also entered Fortnite, Smash Bros and Tekken.
Semper has now let its FIFA player (Jack ‘GoalPoacher’ Wignall) go after Semper signed the ePremier League champion on what was supposed to be a one-year deal a couple of months ago.
Aside from exiting some esports titles, Semper is also pausing investment on the crypto side of things after previously announcing a Semper play-to-earn division.
“In February 2022, we launched a new blockchain based play-to-earn gaming division, SMPR Guild,” chairman Keith Harris added.
“Play-to-earn is a new category in video gaming where blockchain based games reward players with tokens which are free to convert into cryptocurrency and then into fiat currency. The play-to-earn market was rapidly expanding both in terms of players and audience and the directors felt that a move into play-to-earn would bring the company material revenues. However, the sector has been hit hard by the crypto crash in the second quarter of 2022 and therefore the company has decided to pause any further investment for the near future.
“Moving forward, the company will continue to look at opportunities in and around the esports and gaming sector.”
Semper also announced that on July 20th 2022, Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell stepped down as non-executive director. Atari’s co-founder joined the Sheffield-based esports business Semper Fortis ahead of its stock exchange float last year, when it raised £2.55m.
‘Monetisation a challenge for orgs & UK esports not well developed’ – Semper
Semper added in its financial report: “Brands are realising the potential of this new virtual world and are seeing esports as a valuable conduit between the digital and real world. In recent years we have seen various unlikely collaborations between high-end designer brands and esports organisations. However, despite this growth in the sector, monitisation remains a key challenge for all esports organisations globally.”
Semper also said that the UK esports industry is ‘not well developed’.
“While the directors believe that the industry will continue to grow considerably, there can be no guarantee that it will,” Semper said. “If the industry fails to develop, opportunities to grow the business may not materialise and the performance of the company may be negatively affected.”
Related article: Guild Esports announce job cuts and £5m loss
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.
