With new hires, growth and some big announcements on the horizon, London-based Lionscreed are currently Esports News UK’s organisation to keep an eye on, writes Dom Sacco in this opinion piece.
The lions are at the door.
Over the past three to four years, Lionscreed have gone from humble beginnings in UK League of Legends to gradually making more of an impact. And they have turned a huge corner this year in a number of ways – which I’ll come onto further in this article.
Lionscreed first caught my attention after winning an Arena Clash LoL tournament in 2019, followed by performances in the now-defunct Forge of Champions and UKEL. Lionscreed partnered with Wanyoo (now known as Sidequest) and has made other partnerships.
For some time they’ve been trucking on and bubbling beneath the surface. Until recently.
They’ve made further inroads into Fortnite and content with a couple of new signings. I was very impressed with their recent announcement of content creators P3nguin and BurtleGurtle in particular:
In terms of the production quality, this is the kind of video I’d expect to see from a Guild or a Tundra – it’s really clean and memorable. So credit to Alan Lavery for producing and editing the video. And it’s nice to see Lionscreed finding their style.
But, beyond that, it’s doing something that some other bigger London-based organisations aren’t – understanding London culture. Lionscreed get it, and I think they have the potential to build something special and represent this region well. Ruddy Esports also rep London well, but they’re only just starting out on their journey.
CEO Abdiqani ‘Ab’ Ahmed (aka Abdi) and COO Dale ‘Tr3yal’ Adams have been growing the Lionscreed team, with a few admirable appointments behind the scenes that are set to be announced in the future.
Blix also recently reported that Lionscreed are set to acquire Nyyrikki’s spot in Division 1 of the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC), the European Regional League for the UK, Ireland and Nordics.
All of these things I’ve mentioned are just scratching the surface.
It’s what’s not been written about yet that excites me. And Lionscreed supposedly have a number of big announcements on the way that have made me sit up and take notice, and I’m sure that once they dot the I’s and cross the T’s, others will too.
It’s not all been rosy or perfect. Like many UK esports organisations out there, there have been some controversies, and my own relationship with Lionscreed has had its ups and downs. Their reputation was discussed in this recent Twitter thread, for example.
Abdi is not afraid to speak his mind, and is fiercely defensive of his organisation and their members. At times, his emotions have got the better of him. But to be honest, in esports, who can honestly say theirs haven’t?
Like me, Abdi wears his heart on his sleeve, and and you can’t deny his passion.
But what gives me actual hope for the future of this org is Lionscreed’s willingness to learn, adapt and progress. The ability to put ego to one side, try again, and repair any collateral damage along the way is admirable, and this will set them apart from many of the other UK esports orgs out there, in my opinion, especially those that just attack or block if something doesn’t go their way.
“It’s what’s not been written about yet that excites me. Lionscreed supposedly have a number of big announcements on the way that have made me take notice, and I’m sure that once they dot the I’s and cross the T’s, others will too.”
I’m conscious by publicly writing this article, I may be making myself a bit of a target and have people call into question my views. I know Lionscreed aren’t widely loved by everyone in UK League. But I’ve done research into some rumours, and I’ve always been honest, and I am a believer of second chances where people genuinely show they want to improve.
To end, I’ll leave you with this LinkedIn post from Abdi made yesterday: “I honestly can’t believe it. Lionscreed is almost four years old now and we haven’t seen close to the growth we experienced last month – and we just tripled it this month.
“1) Launched our tiktok account (+3k followers, 1.2m video views, 55k likes), 2) Launched multiple youtube accounts (total 300k views in the last month), 3) Announced our new content creators P3nguin & Burtle and 4) a partnership manager, sport & exercise psychologist, multiple social media managers & marketing.”
So, the lions are at the door. Can they claw through to that difficult-to-reach next level in UK esports?
I’ll be watching with interest.
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.
