UK-based esports organisation Guild Esports PLC said they’re pleased to announce they’ll be fielding a second professional team to compete in Counter-Strike.
The new CS team, which will compete under the Guild banner, is Guild’s second entry into Counter-Strike esports. The team will comprise five players, plus coaching staff, with the company to announce the roster in due course.
The announcement follows the launch of the Guild women’s Counter-Strike team earlier this year.
The funding to launch the latest Guild Esports CS team has been provided by multiple sources, including a national esports federation. We reached out to the British Esports Federation to ask if it’s them and they confirmed it is not, but they added they wish Guild well in their endeavour.
Guild mentioned some of Counter-Strike’s stats and highlights in a news release, saying Counter-Strike is among the world’s most popular esports, with an audience that is continuing to grow. The Paris Major in March 2023, among Counter-Strike’s most competitive tournaments, had an average viewership of 507,688 across its 116 hours of airtime, peaking at 1,528,724 concurrent viewers (according to Esports Charts).
“Counter-Strike is an iconic esport, with an immense fanbase and more than ten years after launching it continues to grow in popularity. Our entry into the men’s competitions, underscored by the impending launch of Counter-Strike 2, aligns perfectly with our vision to consistently elevate our brand’s presence on a global scale.”
Jasmine Skee, Guild Esports
A Guild news release stated: “In March 2023, Counter-Strike’s developer, Valve, announced the upcoming launch of Counter-Strike 2, a ground-up overhaul of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive experience. Valve had not made significant changes of this scale to Counter-Strike since the launch of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2012.
“The approaching launch of Counter-Strike 2 has reinvigorated community interest in both the game and its esports ecosystem. Alongside this announcement, Valve has announced new requirements to the competitive Counter-Strike ecosystem which are expected to significantly reduce the entry costs associated with some of the top tier men’s tournaments.”
Following these announcements from Valve, and the positive reception of Guild’s all-female Counter-Strike team, the directors of Guild believe ‘now is an opportune moment for Guild to enter men’s Counter-Strike, to capitalise on the increasing audience engagement and lower barriers to entry’.
Guild said they have identified multiple sponsorship and revenue-generation opportunities as a result of the new team, ‘as Counter-Strike has more permissive policies on advertising compared with other esports’.
Jasmine Skee, CEO of Guild Esports, said: “Counter-Strike is an iconic esport, with an immense fanbase and more than ten years after launching it continues to grow in popularity. Our entry into the men’s competitions, underscored by the impending launch of Counter-Strike 2, aligns perfectly with our vision to consistently elevate our brand’s presence on a global scale.
“Following the outstanding reception to our all-female Counter-Strike team earlier this year, we’re eager to further tap into this burgeoning market, seizing the myriad of sponsorship and revenue opportunities it presents.”
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.
