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A message from Esports News UK founder Dom Sacco
It’s Friday morning and I’ve been sitting here at my keyboard for an hour now, thinking about how to write this note for Tuesday.
I even published a little news story about Ruddy’s new NLC Spring 2025 roster to try and help me get over the writer’s block, but that didn’t work either. Ruddy hell.
So I’ll just do what I used to do with my opinion pieces – follow my train of thought and write from the heart.
It brings me a lot of mixed emotions to announce this, and it’s incredibly difficult to write.
I have decided to sell Esports News UK.
I feel like I have built up a deeply personal relationship with you, the readers of this site, and to many others in the UK esports community over the past decade, and I owe it to you to properly explain why I’ve decided to go ahead with the sale. I’ll cover what’s next for the site, and for me.
When I set up this website almost ten years ago, I did so because I identified an interesting space – with super-passionate people and incredible potential – that wasn’t getting the coverage that it needed.
Many of the established sites at the time either focused mainly on general games news, or global esports and the biggest of personalities, but I knew there were hidden gems in them there UK esports hills, many of whom are shining brightly now, from Caedrel to Boaster to Frankie and Banks, to Endpoint and Ruddy and far too many others to list.
I loved the grassroots UK esports space, and still do, but it’s moving at breakneck speed, and this unc is struggling to keep up.
Over the past decade, I’m proud to say that Esports News UK has published 6,225 articles, and I’ve contributed 5,097 of those. That works out just under two per day, not to mention the video and event stuff we’ve done too. I kept my promise of delivering content every day, and I hope you’ve found some of our work interesting, informative and valuable.
So, why the sale? Firstly, this feels like the right time. UK esports is drastically different to how it was ten years ago. It saddens me that a lot of what I wrote about back then doesn’t really exist anymore – ESL UK, the Gfinity Elite Series, Insomnia, teams like MNM Gaming, the list goes on – and many working relationships I formed back then have disappeared. That’s life, I know, and it’s to take nothing away from the newer generation of UK esports talent, personalities and leaders, many of whom I very gratefully have good relations with. You are the future, and you have some brilliant ideas and potential, so I hope you keep on believing, pushing forwards and doing amazing things. I’m sure you will.
Regardless, I’ve felt a little more disconnected from esports in recent years, or perhaps my passion has waned slightly. This may be due to a number of things, like the ‘esports winter’, the move to short form video content, the fact that I’m a jack of all trades covering multiple games, the difficulty in making a living financially in a challenging journalism space, the non-stop workload, being a sort of one-man-band and more.
I kept on trucking through the challenges of esports and journalism. Don’t get me wrong, I still love esports and want to work in it, but am in need of a break, and it’s time for something new.
My content, focus and drive has also changed. I am tired from endless dramas in UK esports, and shy away from the negatives a lot more than I used to. In my opinion, my journalism has suffered for this, and I’ve found myself catering more to Google search and algorithms than crafting a great headline or brave, investigative piece.
I think I’m better suited to magazines, to editing words, and I often think there must be more I can do. I want to write a book, and I want to offer a course for aspiring journalists/online writers in the future. This sale will help me do that.
Anyway, like I say, it’s come at a good time. When I leave things or make a change, I like to leave something on a high. When I ‘quit’ World of Warcraft as a university student 20 years ago, I had no-lifed the Burning Crusade expansion when it came out, and had outgrown my rogue. I leave as owner of Esports News UK at a time when we have some amazing UK talent in esports. For just two quick examples, mezii and Aphi are dominating CS2 with Vitality right now. And our region’s League of Legends circuit, the NLC, is having its best ever year, with a UK-registered org in Los Ratones winning the EMEA Masters for the first time. The offer came around the NLC finals weekend in Nottingham, and there was something about it happening during such a high, that just felt right.
As for the new owners, they have asked not to be named in this announcement. What I will say is of all the offers I’ve received for Esports News UK over the years, they are the ones I have faith with the most, they have a much bigger team than I ever would’ve built doing this myself, and honestly, it’s probably a good thing for the future of the site.
Tracking multiple esports effectively is a gargantuan time-sink, and this larger team will be able to deliver much more content than I ever could by myself and with my small pool of freelancers and volunteers. So I’m excited to see where they will take things in the future.
The site has needed full-time fresh blood for a while. I’m going to be 40 this year, and don’t have the same levels of energy and motivation I used to. When I set Esports News UK up in 2015, I wasn’t a dad, and didn’t have the commitments and newer priorities I now have. My kids and family are everything to me, and it pains me that I can’t spend the time I’d like with them while doing the daily news churn, or travelling to events, or having back-to-back calls, and whatever else I have to do. Either the site suffers because I’m spending time with them in afternoons and weekends, or they suffer because I’m working too much at silly hours. Striking that balance has been incredibly tough. No more.
This sale will free up some of my time and allow me to spent quality time with my kids and my family, which I’m really looking forward to. There are new places for me to go, new friends to make and things in life to catch up on. I feel I have personally missed a lot over the past decade due to the sacrifices I’ve made for Esports News UK.
What’s next for me? Like I mentioned, this sale will allow me to get the time to write a book about my time as a journalist in UK esports, which I’ve been planning for a while now, but haven’t really started. So keep your eyes peeled for that over the next year or so. Then I want to do more lecturing and offering a course to aspiring journalists and writers.
I’ve missed out on a lot of other things too, I’m hoping to finally clear through my games/books pile of shame (yeah right)!
Journalism is facing unprecedented challenges these days, and it’s tough to make a living. I’ve quite enjoyed my little video journey on Twitch and TiKTok, but I think I’m a writer at heart, and it’s difficult accepting that young people (in general) want quickfire video content more than well-written stuff nowadays. That’s what the numbers show, anyway.
All these obstacles tell me it’s a good time for a new challenge. Andy Payne, a much valued mentor of mine, told me that a change and a new challenge is healthy, and it lets your mind breathe. I agree with him.
I’m hopefully still going to be doing some part-time work on Esports News UK with the new owners (TBC), as well as freelance work for the British Esports Federation, plus the book and course I want to do.
So I want to make it clear this is not a goodbye. I’ll still be following and posting about esports on my personal Dom Sacco social channels on X and LinkedIn and Instagram, and I’ve also set up a Dom Sacco Subtack. I’ll probably set up a new TikTok and Discord at some point too.
Thank yous
I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years. Elena Strzelczyk and Paul Butler at AGON by AOC, Karen Cheslett and her team representing Acer’s Predator Gaming brand have been the two big brands that have continually stuck by me, and I couldn’t have taken the site full-time in 2021 without their help. The same goes for Rob Baker and Sarah Goldhawk and Alfie Wright, great partnerships managers who have helped me out a lot.
A huge thank you to Elliot Sowersby of RelyWP, who has kept Esports News UK running and handled any tech issues over the years. You’ve been vital, thank you. Thanks also to brands/companies like Intel, Epic.LAN, Ukie/Digital Schoolhouse, ENDX, MSI, SideQuest and GGBET, who have helped me in recent years too. And to British Esports, for allowing me to freelance for you and produce your weekly email newsletter.
And I have to thank those who inspired me to set up ENUK in the early days, and have continued to inspire me. ESL UK and Riot Games for letting me know about the old ESL UK Premiership in League of Legends, to the likes of Richard Lewis for championing decent journalism (“you know when you’ve been Sacco’d”), and industry veterans like ODEE and James Dean, and British Esports’ Chester King and Dave Martin, my old boss Stuart Dinsey of Intent Media to name a few. They have been there for me over the years and given me a chance, and to the younger leaders too, like Nathan Edmonds.
To all the writers and helpers over the years, thank you so much: Finn MacCarthy, Joshua ‘Jace’ Collishaw, Darragh Harbinson, Hannah Marie, Wade ‘Aggresive Duck’ White, Paulina Niewinska, Jack Freeman, Jonno Nicholson, Cecilia Ciocchetti, Jonathon Yau, Olee Clatworthy, Kai England, Callum ‘SpongeyFrog’, Mika, Patty Yu, Reece Barrett, Lee Jones, Megalodontus, Joe Griffin, Peter Wellman, Jake Nordland, Craig Robinson, Jamie Wootton, Laura Byrne, Cameron Peberdy, George Moncaster, Rob Baker, Jamie Hore, Tom Taylor, Jacob Hale, Alex Wright, Serdil ‘Rekttify’ Kaya, David Hollingsworth, Iain Harris and Nick ‘Crane’ Turberville.
To all my current Patreon supporters, who have supported me for some time now, thank you: Adam ‘Adz’ Jessop, Sam Cooke, David Jackson, Lee Willows, Peter ‘Counterfeit’ Hartnell, Morgan Decanter, Harvey Rake and B0mberrr. Please do stick around, I’ll still be doing content and Patreon vlogs, and I’ll drop you all a free copy of my book when it’s ready.
And to my past Patreon supporters: James Dean, Russ Bagot, Ryan ‘Wok’ Liu, Ben Jepson, Alastair ‘McNoob’ Whitham, James Fudge, Tom Wade, David Duffy, Will Busfield, Gary Kimmelman, Mark ‘Oracle’ Hare, Jon Jordan, Cara Ludik, Sam Reynolds, Ash Greenway, Joe ‘Joekerism’ Kent, Nick ‘Crane’ Turberville, Jake Reynolds, Lawrence Ho, Mark Garratt, Darkdron_1987 and David Whitefoot, thank you.
There are countless others who have helped me on my journey. If I have missed anyone, just DM me.
Oh, and I will complete any outstanding interviews and pieces of content before I pass the reins. I know I’ve been slow with a few interviewees, and this partly comes down to the sale, which has distracted me over the past month.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who gave your time to me, interviewees, press officers, countless companies and esports organisations, and to everyone who has checked out my content, helped me out with research, or even just took the time to chat.
Thank you and hello! Here’s to the next decade in UK esports, and I’ll see you soon.
Dom
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.
