From CSGO to Valorant, League of Legends and more, a lot happened last year in the world of UK esports – here are some of our most memorable interviews of 2022, in no particular order.
Smooya and Dobbo win their first Insomnia CSGO LAN with Into the Breach amidst server problems
April 2022 saw Insomnia Gaming Festival return for the first time in a couple of years after the pandemic, and we had a mix of talent playing in the LAN Opens.
We had the opportunity to chat to UK CS talent new and old after Into the Breach’s CSGO win, with veteran Smooya and up-and-coming player Dobbo, plus a bonus surprise appearance from Thomas. The interview also came following some major technical issues at the event which affected teams and players – and Smooya gave a surprising answer when asked about this.
Frankie Ward on balancing parenthood with esports, returning to CSGO’s centre stage and the challenges of social media
CSGO was blessed with a few decent majors last year, and rising caster, interviewer and host Tom ‘Sneaky’ Taylor travelled to the PGL Antwerp Major to conduct some interviews. One of which was with charismatic British host Frankie Ward, who had just returned to esports work at the time after becoming a parent, resulting in an open, frank (ahem) and interesting interview.
Interview with Caedrel as he returns to Excel Esports as a content creator
Popular British League of Legends streamer and LEC caster, Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont, returned to Excel Esports as a content creator in February 2022, a role he balanced with his LEC casting. We had an in-depth chat with him over his career and how his streams became so popular.
In-depth video interview: Rams ‘R2K’ Singh on going from pro gamer to esports lecturer, being part of the old Dignitas family, race in esports and how playing got him through some tough times
At Insomnia 68, Esports News UK had the chance to speak with one of the UK’s early pro gamers, Rams ‘R2K’ Singh, who is programme co-ordinator senior lecturer in esports at the University of Chichester.
We spoke with everything from how esports has changed over the past couple of decades, the perception of esports degress and education, and lots more.
Interview with fredy122 on Rogue’s Worlds 2022 progress and the Koi partnership
UK head coach Simon ‘fredy122’ Payne has been with Rogue since their first foray into the LEC in 2019. Megalodontus spoke to him at Worlds 2022 and he talked about Rogue’s form, preparation going into Worlds, as well as some brief thoughts on the Rogue Koi merger.
‘I’m not your typical UK CSGO player’ – Fnatic Mezii interview conducted by James Banks | Powered by MSI
William ‘mezii’ Merriman is one of few UK CSGO pros playing at the top level. Often overlooked for the more public persona of smooya and others, mezii is a solid player and comes across smart, calm and grounded. To get to know him better, we enlisted British esports personality and host, James Banks, to speak to him in this in-depth interview broadcast live on Twitch.
Interview: Head of VCT Game Changers EMEA Ashley Washington answers questions from women in UK Valorant on the effects of Riot’s tournament series and potential future changes
Esports News UK was offered an interview with Head of VCT Game Changers EMEA, Ashley Washington, to ask about the effects Game Changers is having within the game and the industry.
Rather than just have a man ask questions about a scene that’s for women, Esports News UK enlisted a trio of women actually working in the space to ask Ashley guest interview questions direct: British Esports’ Women in Esports manager Billie Purdie, Game Changers tournament admin and NUEL women & non-binary product manager Lauryn Halpenny, and Durham Uni esports lead Kylie Kendrick.
DonJake calls out NLC and UK orgs for not doing enough to build their identity or create better content
Back in June, UK League of Legends personality, Ruddy Esports org owner, content creator and caster DonJake called out NLC orgs in an interview with Esports News UK. DonJake didn’t hold back in this interview, making it one of our most memorable of 2022.
Who actually are the Global Esports Federation? Interview with CEO Paul J. Foster on links with Tencent & Saudi Arabia, its funding model, the Commonwealth Esports Championships & more
Who are the Global Esports Federation? Where does their funding come from? What are their goals? Are they just another IESF or WESA? What are their links with Tencent, Saudi Arabia and others? Why are they here, and why now? Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco had a lot of questions for CEO Paul J. Foster in this extensive interview, and the interview drew many comments from the community on social media.
Never one… without the other: Interview with LoL casters Initialise and Nymaera on grassroots leagues to the LEC, starting LJL Officially Unofficial, thoughts on the EU Masters & more
How can you not love this UK casting duo of Sam ‘Initialise’ Hapgood and Alex ‘Nymaera’ Hapgood? The brothers quickly rose to prominence after starting their amateur casting journey in 2020, going from SQ1 to UKEL, NLC and more, to being part of the LEC broadcast today.
In this interview with Lee Jones, the brothers share their insight into how they got started through a niche fan-led broadcast, focused on improving their craft and finally casting in the LEC with their own father watching in the crowd.
Check out more Esports News UK interviews here
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.
