Saudi Arabia Investment Fund Acquires ESL and FACEIT Esports Companies
The last week has seen the biggest names in esports being swallowed up by larger companies. Last week, Major League Gaming, which is under the Activision-Blizzard banner, was caught up in the massive Microsoft acquisition. This week, two industry stalwarts in ESL and FACEIT have been bought by Savvy Gaming Group, a company created and funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
The purchase of the two companies was reportedly around $1.5 Billion and combines the two companies into one entity under their new ownership. ESL is one of the oldest esports companies founded in Germany in 2000. The company produces some of the biggest esports events like IEM Katowice and DreamHack and is touted as the world's largest esports company. FACEIT, which sold for $500 Million, is a platform that hosts and administrates esports tournaments for Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, DOTA 2, and other popular esports.
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Under the Savvy Gaming Group, the two companies will merge under the new name ESL Faceit Group. The current CEOs of the two companies Craig Levine (ESL) and Niccolo Maisto (FACEIT) will adopt co-CEO roles once the purchase is set to complete in 2022. The two companies will still operate mostly as they do now but will synergize operations to help foster and potentially expand the esports scenes they run. The move to acquire these two esports entities by Savvy Gaming Group is seen as an effort for Saudi Arabia to further diversify the country's appeal in different markets and rely less on the country's oil exports as its sole economic driver.
Many are viewing the purchase as a controversial money move under the guise of «sportswashing,» a practice of
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