UK-based esports organisation Guild Esports have entered into an AI (artificial intelligence) research and development partnership ‘for the discovery and development of professional esports players’.
Guild have partnered with Gerford AI, an Australian artificial intelligence and data analytics company. Gerford is a developer of AI, machine learning and computer vision technologies to improve athletic performance. It specialises in emerging sports, predominantly table tennis and swimming.
The partnership will focus on the development of AI-driven technologies ‘to provide accurate, time-saving data analysis, track individual athletes’ performances and optimise pre-game preparation’.
A press release read:
“Data-driven performance analysis is vital to the scouting and the development of players, and AI technology has the ability to assess players without the subjective opinions of coaches.”
Guild and Gerford’s R&D partnership will also explore the development of an esports-focused online censoring tool, designed to address anti-social behaviour online more effectively by automatically filtering harmful language in game, and providing safe spaces for pro players to practice and compete.
Guild said this focus is ‘in-line with the company’s ongoing strategy to make esports more welcoming to all, with a particular focus on providing opportunities for women’, and that the innovations from the R&D could ‘create revenue-generation opportunities’.
Guild also sees long-term potential to use the technology to develop professional and educational curriculums for licensing and sale, servicing the wider esports industry from teams to everyday gamers.
The announcement comes after a Guild CSGO women’s team was announced.
Jasmine Skee, CEO of Guild Esports, commented: “Esports, like any modern sport, is a numbers game. The more information that is available to teams, the more they can improve both their training and in-game performance. However, the vast amounts of data available make it exceptionally difficult for coaches to extract key information from the data generated or comprehend this information in real time.
“By partnering with Gerford, we’ll be able to utilise their AI technologies to improve teams’ performance, and give players greater protection online, ensuring they can focus on gaming in an abuse-free environment. These AI-driven solutions show great promise for Guild, and the entire esports industry.”
Iggy Jovanovic, Founder and CEO of Gerford AI, said: “We’ve seen great success in using our artificial intelligence technologies to improve performance across emerging sports, particularly table tennis and swimming. By partnering with Guild, we can leverage our proprietary technology in the esports space for the first time.
“We see great technological development opportunities by working with Guild’s world-class athletes, working to optimise their preparation and improve coaches’ access to data in real-time competitions. We’re looking forward to working with Guild as we look to create a new dawn for esports coaching.”
Related article: Guild Esports annual results reveal cost-cutting measures
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.
