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ESI London is no more, as the new owners that have snapped up publication and events business Esports Insider have no plans for it to continue.
That’s according to Sam Cooke, the co-founder and former MD of Esports Insider, the UK-founded esports industry brand launched in 2016.
Esports Insider, host of ESI esports industry conference events like ESI London, ESI Lisbon and more, has been sold by sports betting specialists Sport Global/SBC to an as-of-yet unnamed buyer. And said buyer will be focusing mainly on the Esports Insider news website rather than events.
While Sam Cooke has left ESI, following departures from the likes of Head of Media & Marketing, Morgan Ashurst, and Media Manager Jake Nordland, editor Tom Daniels has moved across to the new owners to retain his position. And Tom has made a post on LinkedIn saying his new email is [email protected], so it looks like the new owners are Clickout Media.
Sam has also hinted at a new venture, to be announced, which may host events similar to ESI London.
He told Esports News UK:
“We ran a lot of events in all sorts of destinations over the years but ESI London was a special one. It’s home turf after all. From 2018 to 2024, for many in all sorts of sectors, it was their first experience learning about esports, and getting an understanding that it’s very much not just kids playing games at home.”
Sam Cooke, ESI co-founder
“It was a great annual meeting place for those already active in the industry too at all levels, no doubt a lot of hands were shook and deals were done between the walls of Boxpark Wembley, Twickenham and so, and there’ll be a gap with its absence.
“We had some really interesting companies come through and present in start-ups competition The Clutch, too, which was a personal favourite element of mine, and many of whom have gone on to do great things.
“Just recently we saw iTero acquired by GiantX, and Jack [Joseph Williams, founder of iTero] is a case in point of why we ran that competition.
“I’d like to give a huge thank you to all our partners over the years who enabled us to run the events year on year too, Grid for example, were there from the very beginning. As well as of course, every single attendee.
“As for what’s next, I’ll have news soon on my new venture!”
Aside from this new venture, Sam Cooke is also working with wellness tech non-profit ESG Gaming, gaming setup provider Unevn, and London-based Cyberlabs, which this week announced it’s kitting out a new gaming box at Charlton Athletic FC’s stadium.
ESI London is the latest UK gaming event to close, following Insomnia Gaming Festival last year, WASD London and more, with EGX and MCM Comic Con also consolidating.
Farewell to ESI London
A eulogy from ENUK editor Dom Sacco
While Sam says he’s working on something similar to ESI London, which I’m sure will be great, I still can’t help but feel sad about its closure.
I went to my first ESI Forum event back in 2017 (I think!) and all of these events were so valuable for networking, making connections and learning about the industry.
This 2018 event preview video below featured many experienced figures, from Yinsu to James Dean, Christian Sørensen, Lottie Van-Praag, Wouter Sleijffers, Caroline Oakes, Jon Tilbury and Sujoy Roy to name a few.
The old days of ESI and staff members like Mark Mantle, Michael Moriarty, Ollie Ring, Nathan Edmonds, Adam Fitch, Sean Carr, Laura Byrne and more (sorry if I missed you!) will hold a special place in my heart, given this was an exciting time in UK esports before the esports winter, before covid, before consolidation.
The site has also featured a ton of great writers, as well, too many to list.
It’s not just ESI London either, they hosted other events like the ESI Forum Series at the old Fnatic Bunkr, the Hall of Fame, The Clutch, ESI Film Festival and many more around the world.
I was lucky enough to be a part of a few panels, including this stand-out one on UK esports:
So I bid farewell to these events, but I also look forward to seeing what Sam Cooke can cooke up (bad pun intended) in the future.
Good luck also to all the staff, those departing and those staying, to the new owners.
I’ll leave this article with a post from Sam Cooke on LinkedIn reminiscing on ESI 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.
