Update (July 4th 2023):
Guild Esports have announced their entry into the 2023 season of the British F4 Esports Championship, marking the organisation’s entry into competitive sim racing for the first time.
Guild will field two professional drivers in British F4 Esports, with the roster to be announced in due course.
The British F4 Esports Championship is fully sanctioned by Motorsport UK, the governing body for motorsport in the UK.
The British F4 Esports 2023 season will begin in September and run until November 2023. It will consist of eight rounds held at digital replications of real-world racetracks. Competing in the championship’s 2023 season are companies featured at the highest echelons of traditional motorsports, including Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant and Williams. The championship will be contested using FIA F4 cars, which are officially licensed by the FIA, the governing body for world motorsport, and modelled on real-world Formula 4 cars.
Alongside its entry into British F4 Esports, Guild has committed to supporting drivers in the UK FF1600 Esports Cup, a dedicated feeder series for the British F4 Esports Championship that is open to underprivileged drivers who do not necessarily own sim racing hardware or have not previously had the opportunity to compete in sim racing.
Update (June 20th 2023):
Guild Esports have completed a £622,200 fundraise ‘for general working capital purposes to drive growth and execute its strategy’, and to invest in the Guild Racing team roster.
This will allow the UK esports organisation to field drivers in professional sim racing and leverage the Guild Sim Racing Facility that was announced last week (see further in this article).
The UK esports organisation raised the capital by way of a share placing and subscription of 103,700,000 new ordinary shares at a price of £0.006 per share.
Tennyson Securities acted as sole bookrunner to the placing.
Jasmine Skee, CEO of Guild Esports, commented: “We are pleased to complete the Fundraise which provides us with sufficient resources to execute our current business plan, and continue to manage the business prudently. This new funding combined with the right sizing of the business positions Guild well for future growth including through investment into new areas such as the exciting sim racing category.”
Original article on Guild Simulator Facility (published June 13th 2023):
UK esports organisation Guild Esports have signed a technical partnership agreement with sim racing hardware brand Fanatec for their new Guild Simulator Facility.
The partnership also marks Guild’s entry into sim racing. Fanatec will supply Guild with a total of eight state-of-the-art sim racing rigs, related hardware and regular technology upgrades under a value-in-kind deal.
The rigs will form the centrepiece for a new Guild Simulator Facility (or sim racing facility) being established at the Sky Guild Gaming Centre, located at the company’s London headquarters.
Fanatec with branding around the simulator facility in the Sky Guild Gaming Centre, as well as logo placements on social media.
Guild Simulator Facility to open up new revenue stream
Guild say that the new facility will serve as a new revenue stream for the esports organisation.
The Guild Simulator Facility will additionally serve as a showroom for Fanatec, providing Guild with affiliate revenue from any on-site or digital sales.
Guild say that the new facility will ‘provide exciting and tailored simulator gameplay and experiential packages for corporates, the wider public, as well as rentable training facilities for professional teams’.
The new offering will be advertised across Guild-owned channels, partner networks and the existing B2B communications channels and outlets used for Guild HQ services.
Guild expect the sim racing facility will begin to generate revenue from the third quarter of the 2023 calendar year. The move into digital motorsports also opens up a range of new sponsorship categories for Guild’s esports division with conversations already underway in this sector.
“With Fanatec’s cutting-edge hardware and expertise, we are confident in our ability to create an exceptional sim racing facility that will not only generate revenue but also serve as a platform for showcasing the incredible potential of esports.”
Jasmine Skee, Guild Esports
Fanatec is a brand of Endor AG, based in Germany, and recently celebrated its 25th anniversary in developing and manufacturing sim racing equipment.
Jasmine Skee, CEO of Guild Esports, commented: “It’s an exciting time for Guild as we embark on our maiden venture into the world of sim racing, by leveraging our existing flagship site in London’s Shoreditch area at minimal capital cost, to generate incremental revenue streams for the company.
“We’re delighted to partner with Fanatec and are proud to name them our Official Sim Racing Peripherals Partner. With Fanatec’s cutting-edge hardware and expertise, we are confident in our ability to create an exceptional sim racing facility that will not only generate revenue but also serve as a platform for showcasing the incredible potential of esports.”
Belma Nadarevic, Chief Marketing Officer at Fanatec, said: “We are very happy to be the official Sim Racing Peripherals Partner of Guild Esports – the home of British Esports. We want to help Guild Esports bring their name, their teams and their talents into the world of sim racing with the best cutting-edge technology of Fanatec Sim Racing Hardware. Together we look forward to a great partnership.”
Related article: Guild launches ‘No Room for Abuse’ campaign with Sky UK, as survey finds half of female gamers have been harassed when playing
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.
