ESI London 2023 interview with co-founder Sam Cooke on new additions to the esports conference: ‘Creators are a vital part of esports and there was a gap in the market for a dedicated B2B event for the creator economy’

UK-based esports industry conference and networking event, ESI London 2023, is fast approaching, with it returning to Boxpark Wembley on October 19th and 20th.

Aside from it bring a flagship event for the UK esports industry, this year it comes with a number of firsts, including Checkpoint for streamers and content creators, an ESI Film Festival, Lions Clash student tournament finals and more. Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco chats with Esports Insider co-founder Sam Cooke to find out all about it and Sam’s views on the industry.

Thanks for the interview Sam. ESI London is a key annual conference for the esports/gaming industry in the UK. What can delegates expect from this year’s show?

More.

We’ve returned to Boxpark Wembley, and so I’ll stand by my claim that we’ve the best F&B (food and beverage) offering (included in the ticket) of any conference globally, but we’ve changed things up too.

For starters we’ve added Checkpoint, a gaming creator economy event, we’ve introduced a networking app to allow for vastly improved networking, letting attendees maximise their time at the show including pre-scheduled meetings. We have a ‘proper’ exhibition zone for the first time, and on Day 1 evening there’ll be live Rocket League with the finals of Lions Clash, a tournament series for UK university and colleges run by our friends at Lionscreed. We’ve also created a short film festival on the evening of Day 2, though this year it’s by invitation only. Last year, as always, we listened to and discussed feedback and have done our best to deliver on and accommodate those requests.

Once again we’ll have the most fun social options from VR Gaming, to axe throwing, pop golf, and sim racing, and we’ll have a revamped, fit for purpose safe space for when any attendees need a breather and some quiet

There’ll be two content tracks running simultaneously with sessions, featuring speakers at ESI London 2023 from the likes of EA, Pringles, HSBC, EXCEL, G2, Logitech, ESL Pro League, and a whole lot more.

We’ll have some more surprises we’re cooking up too, so be ready chefs. Dom Sacco, this is not just London, this is ESI London.

Understood! The ESI Film Festival is also being introduced this year. What was the thinking behind this and what kind of content will be shown off on the day?

There are so many great stories of both video games and esports making a massive, positive difference in people’s lives all over the world. Whilst gaming has become evermore accepted I’d say that it’s generally still often demonised or looked down on. We believe that film is an exceptional medium to tell these stories, and to show people both in and not ‘in gaming’ that it can be a great and powerful thing.

It’s for this reason that we’ve chosen themes that the short film submissions must related to; one of three in digital inequality, mental health and diversity, and we’re especially excited to host the first edition at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, an iconic film venue in the heart of London.

For the first time this year, ESI London also has a new section just for creators. Tell us about this and why it was introduced – it seems to have been really well-received by content creators

Creators are a vital part of esports, and the way we see it there was a gap in the market for a dedicated B2B event for the creator economy focused on not just esports but video games more broadly. We are looking for this to be a place where gaming content creators can meet and network to discuss challenges, opportunities and potential collaborations with one another, and vice versa with brands, agencies, teams, investors and more.

This is for those in the gaming creator economy space as well as those interested in learning more about it. We’ll have dedicated mainstage panels, as well as more intimate workshops and roundtables, alongside targeted networking sessions. If all goes well, as it seems to be so far given the reception and interest, our plan is absolutely to build this out significantly 2024 onwards.

Are the candidates for this year’s The Clutch investment pitch competition announced? This seems to have got increasingly competitive this year.

Not yet, but coming soon! The big change this time has been that we’ve broadened its horizons to start ups from not just esports, but video games and the creator economy too, so for sure we expect this to be the most competitive edition yet.

Last year Mouseskins won The Clutch and took home first prize of $15,000 thanks to Overwolf, and that made some noise, plus with them going from strength to strength in the months since, it’s another win for The Clutch Alumni and in turn awareness of the competition itself.

This year we have some big headline partners [to be announced], which of course, will make a big statement. Update: partners and candidates announced below

It’s a nod to The Clutch’s success to date and where we believe it can go in contributing to the start-up ecosystem in these sectors, esports very much still included in and central to that. As we started last year, we’ve sector partners to ensure that the winners are supported with more than just a cash injection too which is something important to us; for instance we’ve both the University of Warwick and Socially on board as partners this time and more discussions in the works to add further.

Another exciting add on to this year is we’ll have a wild card entry courtesy of Grid’s first Hackathon, and with the quality and quantity of entries to that, we’ve high hopes for whoever comes out on top. 

Speaking of investment and businesses, what are your thoughts on the current state of the esports market, both globally and within the UK? It’s been a tough year so far, you must be privvy to a lot of views and senior management in the industry, what’s their general vibe as we continue moving into the second half of the year?

A mix of bullishness and trepidation, but increasingly more of the former. There remains many reasons to be positive with the recent RLCS breaking viewership records, Counter-Strike doing the same (in players and viewership), in FGC the recent Evo 2023 looked great and enjoyed tremendous numbers, plus there’s a lot to be excited about re new games in that space. Sim racing too of course is on the up and up.

Here in the UK we’ve evermore involvement of esports at a college and university level meaning awareness, reach and understanding is increasing all the time, and whilst far from perfect, there are people and projects in the works that I believe will ensure this particular area continues to improve and grow. The UK has also seen a number of larger events this year from the ALGS to MSI.

I saw a tweet (they’re called X posts now, Mr Cooke, get with the times! – Dom) just before answering these questions too from Adam Apicella who said ‘the Valorant esports stage and production was the best I’ve ever seen and it’s not even close’. He’s been doing this a fair while, so I think this carries some weight! We can always be gloomy, times are indeed tough, but this is where frugality, proper research and fully thought out strategies will come into play. It’s important to remember too, for reasons noted above, there are plenty of reason to be hopeful and positive about the space too.

Hear hear. It’s great to see The Esports Journal physical publication continuing. What can visitors expect from this edition around ESI London?

I’m really rather nervous about it, we’ve brought in some dodgy Arsenal fan from Essex to help support Jake with the editing this time so who knows how it’ll go…

JOKING aside it looks set to be a strong edition, we’ve some really nice long form pieces in the works, including a deep dive on CSGO as that game transitions into its new era, one looking at the Tekken and the FGC scene in Pakistan, and a lot more. We should have a great front cover in the works too.

Looking forward to it! Hopefully that dodgy Arsenal fan doesn’t muck things up. Moving on… tell us about your other events around the world and how they’ve gone, have you taken any learnings from those for ESI London and vice versa?

We had our second Singapore show this year and it went well, people loved the venue, the Asian Civilisations Museum. The venue is a vital one for us, we do our best to ensure they’re interesting spaces people want to be at; it’s our view that this really impacts the events, the atmosphere created and ultimately the experience for all attendees.

For sure we’re always learning, trying new things and adapting accordingly across our events. We continue to consider and reconsider everything from panel length, to session formats, to stage set up through to the socials, F&B, the networking and more.

Why doesn’t Essex have its own esports organisation yet and why haven’t we founded it together? Also, what would it be called?

I meant to tell you sorry Dom, I purchased 10 square metres on the end of Southend Pier in Q1 for our HQ.

We are called The Only Way is Essex, we’re in a court battle because of that but fingers crossed. Will go public in 2024 if we win and transform the entire pier into an egames battle arena.

We’ll enter Geoguessr sports initially with Tiptree Jam as our sponsor, and progress into other titles with a bold, innovation first strategy. I’m going to crowdfund our jerseys, and we’ll launch a crypto coin shortly which will be a unique game changer and the first of its kind. I’m reaching out to Freddy Eastwood’s people to become our ambassador and first creator, and if we get him we’ll enter Pro Evo competitively.

You’re going to be on the next Gavin & Stacey Christmas special as one of Gav’s cousins who has become addicted to gaming. Nathan Edmonds is also in it cast as ‘confused brummie who no one understands but he keeps trying to give everyone sweets’.

Haha I can’t wait to see that! Finally, is there anything else you’d like to add?

Yes, but it’s a secret. Thank you very much for the interview.

ESI London 2023 takes place on October 19th and 20th. For more information on ESI London 2023, including tickets, click here. The full agenda for ESI London 2023 can be found here.

Dom Sacco

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.