Guild Esports debuts men's Counter-Strike team
investee company () said it has added a second professional team to compete in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a team-based first-person shooter. The new team marks the company's entry into men's competitive Counter-Strike. Guild already fields an all-female Counter-Strike team that was added in March.
The new team will comprise of 5 players plus coaching staff, with Guild to release the full roster "in due course". Guild said it made the decision to launch the team following the success of the all-female team, as well as Valve's announcement of the upcoming launch of Counter-Strike 2, the long awaited sequel to the iconic esports title.
Guild said it has identified several sponsorship and revenue-generation opportunities as a result of the new team, as Counter-Strike has more permissive policies on advertising compared to other esports. Without giving details, the company said that funding to launch the team has been provided by multiple sources, including a national esports federation.
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As Guild continues to grow, this latest addition of a Counter-Strike team will open up additional revenue generating opportunities, building on the success of Guild's all-female Counter-Strike team introduced in March. Counter-Strike is among the world's most popular esports, continuing to grow at a steady pace. The Paris Major in March 2023 - one of Counter-Strike's most competitive tournaments - had an average viewership of 507,688 across 116 hours of airtime, peaking at 1,528,724 concurrent viewers.
The esport is bound to grow further in light of Valve's recent announcement of its long-awaited sequel Counter-Strike 2, expected to be released by end of September 2023. Valve has not made large-scale changes to Counter-Strike since the release of Global Offensive in 2012, therefore there is much excitement in the fanbase about what the first true sequel will bring.
Alongside the Counter-Strike 2 announcement, Valve also 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.
In its interim results released in May, Guild reported a revenue increase of 241% to £3.7m compared to £1.1m in H1 2022, driven by significant growth in sponsorship income. Gross profit also rose 256% to £2.5m from £0.7m a year ago. The company's loss before tax halved to £2.3m from £4.96 in H1 2022, reflecting increased sponsorship revenue and reduced operating expenses. Net cash stood at £1.1m on 31 March 2023.
Momentum is positive into H2 2023 with a strong contracted orderbook and diversification of revenue streams, such as with the launch of the new Counter-Strike team and Guild's recent expansion into sim racing. We expect H2 2023 revenues to show further year-on-year growth.
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