ESL & FACEIT sold for reportedly $1.5bn

Savvy Gaming Group and The Deal with ESL & FACEIT

Savvy Gaming Group, backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, has successfully acquired the huge organization; ESL, and the substantial eSports platform; FACEIT. It is known that ESL is one of the largest companies in the whole world to ever organize enormous tournaments and competitions such as ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters, ESL Pro Tour, and many more. We must not forget that FACEIT also hosted one of the most momentous majors in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive which was; the FACEIT Major - London (2018). That deal has cost Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund $1.5 billion, making the fund-owned company dominate the field of organizing esports competitions in the world. It was revealed that FACEIT has cost $500m while ESL also has cost $1bn.

The Public Investment Fund

Public Investment Fund (PIS) is the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was established in 1971. It is considered among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the whole world as it is ranked seventh with total assets estimated at $430 billion. Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan is a Saudi businessman who is Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Chairman of Newcastle United, and the Chairman of Saudi Aramco.

The Merge of ESL & FACEIT

As announced on the ESLFACEIT website, the two entities will merge to create the world’s leading competitive gaming platform. As ESL CEO Craig stated “Our mission remains unchanged: to create a world where everybody can be somebody. Our merger with FACEIT, along with the backing of SGG, will give us more know-how, capabilities, and resources than ever before to deliver on this vision. Whether you are competing or watching, doing so socially or at a professional level, every stage of the pathway will be improved through this merger. For gamers, publishers, and partners, this is a hugely exciting proposition, to be able to take everyone on the journey from your first step into competition to playing on the biggest esports stages globally.”

FACEIT CEO Niccolo Maisto also said “In the past years, ESL and FACEIT had a significant positive impact for the growth of the esports industry, bringing a variety of propositions for players, teams, publishers, and developers. By uniting these complementary capabilities, and with the backing of SGG, we are taking a long-term approach to develop a more robust platform to better support the future of the whole competitive gaming ecosystem and generate more value for all its stakeholders in a sustainable way.”

Certainly, this is one of the biggest events in the history of eSports, as ESL and FACEIT were competitors in this eSports industry back in the day. Now that those two diligent organizations will work together, we can pretty much expect enormous prosperity in the eSports industry.

What to expect from ESL FACEIT

1. Better Anti-cheat system as both parts (FACEIT & ESEA) will share their tech, infrastructure, and data capabilities to make an even better anti-cheat system.
2. Promote the eSports scene and bring more excitement to future tournaments.
3. Rewards fans with FACEIT point drops on ESL & FACEIT twitch channels. Funding third-party local organizers to support the development of local scenes.
4. Better eSports Era

Important Things You Should Know

1. In the short term, your accounts will remain the same in FACEIT/ESEA and nothing will change, but in the long term, we should expect a platform that will put FACEIT/ESEA together so it's easier for the user to access different features and services.
2. FACEIT will always remain free and that merge will not change anything according to that. Initially, all the products and FACEIT/ESEA subscriptions will keep operating as it is now.
3. FACEIT will keep focusing on PUG experience, FPL programs, and enabling third-party organizers through tournament tools and HUBS while ESEA will focus on team-based competitions such as league system and cups while FACEIT will keep focusing on PUG experience, FPL programs, and enabling third-party organizers through tournament tools and HUBS.

Did you know that: ESL & Dreamhack also had a Merge

On September 30, ESL has posted on their website that both ESL and Dreamhack have united to become ESL Gaming and they stated: “Together as ESL Gaming, DreamHack and ESL will push forward new innovations to serve fans and communities across events, platforms, formats, and game titles — from casual to professional levels — in every region around the world.”

DreamHack co-CEO Marcus Lindmark also said: “DreamHack has always brought communities together and created the ultimate gaming lifestyle experience for our fans all around the world. This will not change — but by combining our resources with ESL, we can continue to grow these events into something even more spectacular.”

Now that Savvy Gaming Group owns ESL it then means that they own Dreamhack as well.